Morning Mail: fallout from FBI director dismissal, budget 2017 reply day, middle-income families hardest hit in budget

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Guardian Australia's Morning Mail Thursday 10 May 2017 g FBI director's dismissal rocks Washington Good morning, and welcome to the Morning Mail. Among the stories leading our website this morning: Donald Trump's abrupt dismissal of FBI director James Comey has shaken Washington, triggering a torrent of unanswered questions and fears that America is facing its biggest constitutional crisis since the Watergate scandal. Keep up to date with all the news and ongoing reaction in our live blog. First up: Why did Trump fire the FBI director? Some key questions answered. And our editorial: The Guardian view on Trump's behaviour: tyrannical not presidential New reports say that just days before he was fired, the FBI director asked for more resources for his investigation into alleged ties between the Trump election campaign and Russia. That's raised concerns over the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation, and while few Republicans will defend Comey's firing outright, Democrats are comparing it to Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. "This had nothing to do with Russia [..] there's nothing there", says Kellyanne Conway. But there's more here than you can shake a stick at, and I'll leave you with these. The White House closed off US press access to Trump's meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, only allowing Russian state press into the room to cover it. And a journalist was arrested for asking one of Trump's cabinet members about the US healthcare bill Keep reading for the rest of the top stories this morning, with more news from around Australia and the world.

Headlines Middle-income families to be hardest hit by budget, economists say Families earning between $80,000 and $140,000 will lose the largest proportion of their pre-tax income, worth between 0.66% and 0.82%, analysis shows Can we trust the budget figures on wages growth? My eyebrow is raised The projections in the budget papers mostly seem quite reasonable, but they are remarkably optimistic that wages can buck the trend and zoom up James Comey fired 'days after requesting Russia inquiry resources' – live Join Tom McCarthy for all the latest news and reaction as Trump dumps Comey as FBI director Dylan Thomas prize goes to Australian 'genius' Fiona McFarlane Short story collection The High Places, which skips continents, eras and genre, takes £30,000 award Journalist arrested for asking Trump cabinet member about healthcare bill Daniel Heyman, who works for Public News Service in West Virginia, was detained by police and charged with wilful disruption of governmental processes Australian news and politics Federal budget 2017: Bill Shorten 'playing class war' with disabled people, says Morrison – politics live Treasurer attacks Labor leader, who is yet to confirm whether he will support the rise in the Medicare levy for the NDIS. Follow all the developments live ... Australian soldier killed in training exercise in Northern Territory Army suspends training activities across combat brigades after second death during exercises in less than a week Sayed Abdellatif: Interpol to review status of Egyptian asylum seeker held in Australia Interpol Red Notice from Egypt in Abdellatif's name, which had been exposed as erroneous, stalled his claim for protection Budget skills scheme could lead to cut in funding, say unions The $1.5bn plan to fund training from an increase in visa fees could backfire if the number of migrants applying to work in Australia falls, critics say Budget 2017: Bill Shorten to attack lifting of deficit levy on high earners Labor leader will use reply to say government cannot declare 'mission accomplished' on budget repair when the projected deficit has grown tenfold Budget 2017: Coalition's housing package won't fix affordability crisis, experts say Industry lobby applauds decision to leave negative gearing largely untouched but economists and homelessness sector say government's package will do little to reduce house price pressures Coalition accused of letting infrastructure spending 'fall off a cliff' in budget Australian budget figures project a continuous slide in infrastructure spending after a peak in 2017-18 Around the world Universities must do more to tackle use of smart drugs, say experts Academics call on institutions to consider measures such as drug testing to stem UK rise of drugs used to cope with exam stress US decision to arm Kurds in Syria poses threat to Turkey, says Ankara Erdoğan joins his prime minister and other government figures in condemning US decision before meeting with Trump Indian solar power prices hit record low, undercutting fossil fuels Plummeting wholesale prices put the country on track to meet renewable energy targets set out in the Paris agreement Tulum restaurant with $600 menu criticized for being 'not for Mexicans' Acclaimed Danish restaurant Noma opens pop-up with high prices in area where minimum wage is less than $5 a day and half the population lives in poverty Pret a Manger considers putting New York IPO on the menu Owner of sandwich chain reportedly exploring listing on NY stock exchange as part of US expansion plans

One last thing The psychology of the to-do list – why your brain loves ordered tasksStudies have shown that people perform better when they have written down what they need to do. What makes the to-do list such an effective productivity tool? Have an excellent day and if you spot something I've missed, let me know on Twitter at @earleyedition.

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