Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 17 October. Top stories The Turnbull government is poised to unveil a new energy investment framework – but sources have confirmed the Coalition will not adopt the clean energy target recommended by Australia's chief scientist, Alan Finkel. Under the new framework the electricity sector will be required to reduce emissions consistent with the Paris agreement and meet new reliability obligations. Meanwhile, the Guardian Essential poll has found 65% support among voters for the now dumped clean energy target. The vociferous internal critics of Finkel's proposal, led by the former prime minister Tony Abbott, have made it clear for months they will not accept any policy that contains new subsidies for renewable energy. Labor has signalled it is highly unlikely to support an energy policy which abandons the core Finkel recommendation, but the shadow climate minister, Mark Butler, said on Monday the opposition held out "some hope" that the government would produce something sensible. Storm Ophelia has brought death and chaos to many parts of Europe, with three people killed in Ireland, where all schools have been closed for two days and 350,000 homes and businesses were left without power. The Irish government sent buses around Dublin to take the city's homeless to shelters, and the prime minister, Leo Varadkar, appealed for people to stay indoors. Ophelia's winds also helped fan catastrophic wildfires in Portugal and Spain, where at least 32 people, including an infant, have been killed. And the combination of debris from those fires and dust from the Sahara dragged across the continent by Ophelia turned skies an eerie red over much of the UK, causing concern for millions of asthma sufferers. A number of flights were diverted because of a smell of smoke inside the cabins, believed to be caused by the atmospheric conditions. Excited scientists around the world are analysing the collision of a pair of neutron stars, marked by ripples through the fabric of space-time and a flash brighter than a billion suns, which has been witnessed for the first time. The extraordinary sequence, in which the two ultra-dense stars spiralled inwards, violently collided and, in all likelihood, immediately collapsed into a black hole, was first picked up by the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, before a global alert went out to astronomers. Its executive director, David Reitze, said: "What is amazing about this discovery is it is the first time we've got a full picture of one of the most violent, cataclysmic events in the universe." The discovery also confirms that gold and other heavy elements found on Earth are likely to be result of cataclysmic stellar collision. Australians on the brink of bankruptcy are spending considerably more on gambling and online betting is to blame, according to research by the Salvation Army. Data gleaned from the charity's support service MoneyCare shows people who sought help and disclosed gambling expenditure in 2016-17 were spending 8.38% of their income on betting, a 363.4% increase from 10 years earlier. The head of the Moneycare service, Tony Devlin, said the increase appeared to be linked to the rise of online sports betting agencies, which were heavily targeted at lower socioeconomic groups. The journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta has been killed by a car bomb near her home. Daphne Caruana Galizia died on Monday afternoon when her car was destroyed by a powerful explosive device. A blogger whose posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of the country's newspapers, Galizia was described by the Politico website as a "one-woman WikiLeaks". Her blogs were a thorn in the side of both the establishment and underworld figures who hold sway in Europe's smallest member state. Sport Manchester United coach José Mourinho wants a big pay rise if he is to sign a new contract with his club, who remain unbeaten this season. Mourinho, who earns about £15m a year, won two trophies last season and wants his new contract to reflect what he sees as his achievements at the club. As the great rugby league convert experiment of the early 2000s showed, there can be rewards amid the risks in taking players from the 13-a-side code to union. With three former NRL players potentially taking the field for Australia against the All Blacks this weekend, Bret Harris asks: are the Wallabies on the cusp of a rugby league-led recovery? Thinking time |
When the New Zealander Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker prize, there wasn't a Christmas party around the country that wasn't abuzz with her success. But since the prestigious prize opened up to US authors in 2014, the award's focus has shifted to established writers in London and New York: think Paul Auster and George Saunders. "Taken as a whole, the shortlist from which this year's judges choose their winner tomorrow night is just more evidence of the continued neocolonial cultural dominance of the UK and the US – the institutions, the power, the money, the contacts., writes Lucy Diver. Will the Booker ever go to an obscure, far-flung writer again? Art in Indigenous communities is taking a practical form in funding local health treatments. Proceeds from the Tarnanthi festival and an auction for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have helped fund a long-awaited dialysis centre in Pukatja in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, sparing its residents a 2,600km round trip to Adelaide for treatment. That means they can spend more time creating art in their dreaming land – a powerful ritual that they say keeps the mind and body healthy. "They start doing their own dreaming, from their grandmother or grandfather," says an artist, Dorothy Ward. "They bring that story up to the canvas … they do it with their mind and heart and it strengthens them and they be, you know, they strong." Greg Jericho looks at the surge of first-home buyers taking advantage of stamp duty cuts, and what it's doing to the housing market. For most of this year the housing market has appeared to be slowing but in the past two months first-home buyers in Sydney and Melbourne have taken advantage of stamp duty cuts, while investor activity has been subdued. First-home buyers will be hoping their renewed appearance at housing auctions doesn't lead to yet another increase in prices fuelled by government policies that bolster demand but do little to assist supply. What's he done now? Despite defeating his opponent nearly a year ago, Donald Trump appears to be looking forward to round two with Hillary Clinton. "I was recently asked if Crooked Hillary Clinton is going to run in 2020? My answer was, "I hope so!," Trump tweeted overnight. In response to his post, dozens of Twitter users asked him to pay attenton to the serious national issues instead. "Mr. President, please mention the California Fires. So many lives were lost and so many people are missing. This is a disaster!" Media roundup The Age says a leaked report has revealed an endemic culture of bullying and sexual harrassment for women at Victoria's Country Fire Authority. The Herald Sun reports that girls in their early teens are selling marijuana at Melbourne Girl's College, with police now investigating after the school called for their assistance. With vinyl making a comeback and streaming services surging, the ABC's cultural reporter thinks it might be high-time to ditch CDs. But how to do so to avoid unnesssary waste – and can you even make money from your dusty collection? Coming up The House of Representatives and the Senate both sit, with energy expected to dominate the parliamentary day. The Coalition party room is expected to debate the new investment framework considered by cabinet and the backbench environment and energy policy on Monday night. The Victorian parliament will begin to debate the state's hotly contested dying with dignity legislation. Supporting the Guardian We'd like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you. |
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Malcolm Turnbull is under pressure to produce an energy policy that all sides of the Coalition can support. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP 
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