Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 5 October. Top stories A Brisbane man who knew Stephen Paddock well in recent years has offered the most detailed public portrait yet of the Las Vegas mass killer. The two came to know each other via their respective girlfriends, Philippine-born sisters – one of whom is Marilou Danley, Paddock's girlfriend, who has returned to the US to be interviewed by the FBI. The man said Paddock was a "guarded" individual who won a fortune applying algorithms to gambling and studied arguments for his right to own weapons under the US constitution. The man, who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity, revealed Paddock's generosity – which had his overseas guests living in "palatial" style – and the existence of a "gun room" at his home in Mesquite, Nevada. "He was extremely intelligent, methodical, conservative – guarded – and strategic. A planning, thinking type of guy," he said. Nothing at the time, including their "robust" discussions about US gun laws, rang alarm bells to suggest that he was capable of "such an inhumane, terrible, vicious act", the man said. Danley was met by federal officers when she touched down in the US on Wednesday. Investigators hope Danley can provide clues to unlock the motives that drove her partner to a premeditated onslaught that killed 59 and injured more than 500 at a country music concert. Paddock reportedly wired Danley $100,000 before carrying out the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history on Sunday night. Australia could ban the importation of highly flammable cladding such as the kind implicated in the Grenfell Tower fire in London. State and federal ministers are meeting today to discuss a national response to the deadly fire and the scope of the potential problem in Australian cities. Melbourne has 900 existing buildings that may have the combustible aluminium composite cladding and Sydney more than 1,000. Any importation ban would likely apply to cladding with a highly flammable 100% polyethylene core. Documents obtained by the Guardian show the push is being supported by the Property Council of Australia, whose members include large developers but also major building owners, who now face potentially massive bills to replace unsafe cladding. A Turkish court has handed down 40 life sentences over a plot to kill the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a failed coup attempt. Nearly 50 defendants stood trial in Muğla, near where soldiers in helicopters stormed a resort hotel where Erdoğan was on holiday in July 2016, just minutes after the Turkish leader had fled. The suspects, who were accused of orchestrating the ambush, include the president's former military aide and other senior officers. The coup was beaten back but 250 people were killed, more than 2,000 injured and the country's parliament was bombed in a traumatic episode that Turkey has yet to come to terms with. There is only one barrier to Australia fully embracing a clean energy future – its politics. That's what a new report from the Climate Council argues, based on a review of major independent reports on the technological, economic and political barriers to a clean, secure, affordable and reliable electricity grid. Reports by the independent operator of the grid, Aemo, the CSIRO and the chief scientist, Alan Finkel, found there were no technical barriers to modernising the grid, the council says. And the surveyed reports also found renewable energy would push down energy prices for consumers. The Climate Council chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said the lack of a bipartisan policy was the only barrier remaining. "The only thing stopping this is political will." Is it legal to drink-drive in a fully automated car? According to Australian law the answer is no. But that would change if the National Transport Commission's latest recommendation is adopted. In a new discussion paper it argues there is a "clear-cut" justification for an exemption from drug and drink-driving laws for people who ride in fully automated vehicles because there is "no possibility that a human could drive a dedicated automated vehicle". "The situation is analogous to a person instructing a taxi driver where to go," the NTC report says. Sport Our team-by-team guide to the new A-League season concludes with a look at the three sides most likely to be battling it out for top honours this season. Step forward Western Sydney Wanderers, Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC. And cartoonist David Squires finds the missing link between the A-League and Andrés Iniesta's second cousin. Seriously, he does, and much more besides. Thinking time |
Rupi Kaur has achieved a rare feat for a modern poet: mainstream popularity. Part of a new generation of instapoets – young poets publishing verse primarily on social media – Kaur has gained millions of fans for her poems on love, sex, rejection and relationships, and her debut collection, Milk and Honey, has sold 1.4m copies. But with her rapid rise has come the inevitable backlash and the Guardian's Priya Khaira-Hanks investigates the fine line Kaur treads between accessibility and over-simplicity, plagiarism charges and why Buzzfeed devoted 3,000 words to criticising her work.
Block parties, "street art" and food trucks are innovative marketing tactics being used by developers to sell apartments in Australian cities. And while there may be nothing wrong with developers contributing to neighbourhoods while attempting to sell properties, are they meeting the needs of long-term residents as well as newcomers? GP Nick Carr has witnessed many deaths throughout his long career but it is the awful ones that haunt him. He enjoys helping people live their lives as fully (and healthily) as possible; which includes helping them end it when and if the time comes, he argues. Here, Carr debunks some of the common arguments against the legalisation of voluntary assisted dying, as the voluntary assisted dying (VAD) bill comes before the Victorian parliament. What's he done now? The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has given a hasty press conference after NBC aired a story saying he called Trump a "moron" at a White House meeting and considered quitting. Tillerson said he was committed to his post but refused to to confirm or deny whether he called his boss a moron. Tweeting en route to Las Vegas, Donald Trump lashed out at NBC, saying they were worse than CNN. "The NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec Tillerson and VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!" Trump wrote. Media roundup The Mercury reports on an "unprecedented" shortage of rental accommodation in Tasmania, with many families forced to give up basic necessities in order to pay sky-high rents. Social welfare groups say Hobart is becoming Australia's most unaffordable capital city. The ABC is leading with the former prime minister Bob Hawke saying the same-sex marriage postal survey is the "worst economic decision made by any prime minister since federation". "Can you imagine that a prime minister would make a decision in these stringent times, spending $122m on a process that can't produce a result, when you could do so much to reduce the gaps the Aboriginal people [face], education and so on, without any question?" Hawke said. The former New South Wales premier Mike Baird has spoken to the AFR about the toll on his family during his time in government and that his critics didn't understand the pressures of the job. "A lot of people who are cynical haven't been there when there are TV cameras out the front of your house early in the morning ... They don't know what it's like to have security guards around your house 24 hours a day," he said. "The other thing people didn't see was the bullying the kids received. My daughters were bullied on the issue of lock-out laws horrendously." Coming up Choice will unveil its Shonky awards for the worst products and services of the past 12 months. The Socceroos will play Syria in Malaysia for the away leg of their play-off for World Cup qualification. The winner of the two-legged playoff will face the fourth-placed team from North and Central America in another two-legged encounter in November for a spot at Russia 2018. 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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Bry Thompson, 21, of Las Vegas kneels at a makeshift memorial. Thompson had friends attending the Route 91 Harvest country music festival when a lone gunman opened fire on the crowd killing at least 59. Photograph: David Becker/Getty Images 
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