Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 20 September. Top stories Donald Trump has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea in his first speech to the UN general assembly. The address has been criticised as being the wrong words, at the wrong place, at the wrong time by political analysts. Using bellicose language Trump lashed out at a litany of US adversaries, calling on "righteous" nations to confront them. The speech was greeted in the UN chamber mostly with silence and occasional outbreaks of disapproving murmurs, as the president castigated a succession of hostile regimes. In an address heavy with echoes of George W Bush's "axis of evil" State of the Union address more than 15 years earlier, Trump said: "The scourge of our planet today are a small group of rogue regimes." For annotated analysis of the speech by the Guardian's David Smith, read here, with video highlights available here. Trump kicked off proceedings by recounting North Korea's history of kidnapping, oppression, and missile and nuclear tests. "The US has great strength and patience," he said, but: "If it is forced to defend ourselves or our allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea." As alarmed murmurs spread around the hall, Trump had another barb. Using his newly adopted epithet for Kim Jong-un, he said: "Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime." The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was one of the only world leaders to applaud Trump's inflammatory words: "In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech," he said. There were more gasps and whispering when Trump warned that some parts of the world in conflict were "going to hell". Labor will step up pressure on the Turnbull government to increase transparency in the gas market to help manufacturers, before a public intervention by Australia's competition watchdog on energy. With the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, due to address the National Press Club today on the issue of electricity and gas affordability, Labor is calling for the fast-tracking of reforms. Bill Shorten says the Australian Energy Market Operator should be given "teeth" and has renewed Labor's complaint that the government is yet to pull the trigger on its proposed export controls to keep more gas onshore. The National Disability Insurance Agency lacks the resourcing to properly consider claims for psychosocial disability, potentially putting NDIS rollout targets in jeopardy, the chairman of the National Mental Health Commission, Allan Fels, has warned. Fels has also criticised the increasing use of phone calls to determine whether those with severe mental illness are eligible for the national disability insurance scheme. His intervention comes after Guardian Australia published a list of individuals with severe, long-term mental illness who had been rejected for psychosocial disability support under the NDIS. It included an individual with a 40-year diagnosed history of paranoid schizophrenia, who had been admitted to hospital at least five times. The operators of Melbourne's Federation Square have censored the content of an anti-Adani slideshow presented there, demanding that all images of newspaper headlines and politicians – as well as "explicitly negative" environmental messages – be removed. On Saturday a coalition of environmental groups held a screening of the documentary at the square called Guarding the Galilee about the fight to stop Adani's Carmichael coalmine. In the week before the event, Federation Square demanded to see the slideshow that would be presented before the screening and then demanded much of it be removed. Hurricane Maria remains a category-five storm as it barrels towards the eastern Carribbean Islands, still recovering from the havoc wreaked by Irma less than a week ago. The island of Dominica was "brutalised and devastated" last night, according to the country's prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, who had to be rescued after the roof of his home was ripped off in winds reaching 270km/h. The US National Hurricane Center warned the "major hurricane" would remain "extremely dangerous" as it moved towards Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands on Wednesday. For a full report on Maria read here, and to follow the live blog read here. Sport Sam Kerr has cemented her reputation as one of the world's best players with a brace in a 3-2 win over Brazil in front of a big crowd in Newcastle, where the Matildas equalled their longest winning run, which now stands at five games. With the AFL set to officially lend its support to same-sex marriage, these kinds of social issues are inextricable from sport, argues Kate O'Halloran. Thinking time |
The west wanted Aung San Suu Kyi to be a saint but shouldn't be surprised she's not, writes Alan Davis. The adulation heaped on the Nobel laureate recalled the treatment of Mother Teresa. But her failure to act on the Rohingya crisis has destroyed the myth. "Pro-democracy icons and Nobel peace prizewinners are not supposed to have hearts of stone and turn out to be, well, racist. They certainly aren't supposed to be de facto leaders of countries charged with ethnic cleansing." Meet the volunteers hoping to help change Australia's marriage laws, one phone call at a time. Since 23 August the yes campaign coalition has been hosting calling parties, using an automated phone tool to connect volunteers to presumed yes voters around the country. The goal is to activate those supportive of marriage equality to not only return their ballot but to take action themselves. For those making the calls, the process has been eye-opening, offering first-hand access to a divisiveness that many might not otherwise have encountered. Steph Harmon catches up with one group as their shift ends. "It was heaps harder than I thought it would be," is the general verdict. A good night's rest is the route to happiness, a new report claims, and, after years avoiding bed because it was boring, the Guardian's Nosheen Iqbal finally succumbed to this modern obsession – with interesting results. "Few things offer a more pronounced transition to modern adulthood than developing an obsession with getting sleep. Society traditionally decrees the markers of growing up to revolve around marriage, a mortgage and making a mini-me, but … the true moment you have lost yourself to maturity is when you have caught yourself having a conversation about how tired you are."
Media roundup The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald splash with "Income growth less than a coffee", about how Australian household incomes have grown by less than the price of a coffee ($3) a year since 2008, with the Reserve Bank warning workers to expect low wage growth "for some time" yet. The Canberra Times reveals a number of the capital's nail salons have been put on notice by ACT Health after inspectors discovered blood-stained equipment, skin shavings on the ground and cockroach-infested premises. And Australian researchers have found a virus DNA test is better at detecting cervical cancer than a pap smear, the ABC reports, saying researchers studied data from nearly 5,000 women in Victoria aged between 25 and 65, some of whom were vaccinated against HPV and some who weren't.
Coming up The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman, Rod Sims, will speak at the National Press Club on Australia's energy crisis, how it was created and how the ACCC is responding to the issue of energy affordability. Australia's new $10 note will enter circulation. The new notes, designed to improve security and thwart counterfeiters, also feature "tactile" feature to help the blind and vision-impaired. |
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Donald Trump addresses a general debate of the 72nd session of the UN general assembly. Photograph: Behar/Sipa USA/Rex/Shutterstock 
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