Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 30 April. Top stories Several prominent US political reporters have joined Republicans in criticising comedian Michelle Wolf's speech at the White House correspondents' dinner, in which she roasted Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other members of Donald Trump's team. Andrea Mitchell of NBC News called for an apology and two key New York Times reporters expressed distress. Maggie Haberman, who has written some of the most excoriating dispatches on the Trump White House and has been attacked for it by the president, leapt to Sanders' defence, praising her for absorbing the Wolf blitz rather than walking out. Peter Baker, the Times's chief White House correspondent, said: "I don't think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight." But others defended Wolf and decried what they saw as the inability of so many people to take a joke. The actor and comedian Rosie O'Donnell, one of Trump's bĂȘtes noires, slammed those who called Wolf's speech vulgar by replying: "It's a roast – truth telling is required." Australia's education system has "failed a generation" of schoolchildren, a landmark report has found, with student outcomes declining in reading, science and maths over the past 18 years. The review, chaired by businessman David Gonski, found Australia needed to overhaul its "industrial model" of school education, declaring it no longer helped students maximise their learning growth. It said Australia needed to shift away from a year-based curriculum to a curriculum expressed as "learning progressions", independent of year or age. Members of the UN security council have expressed dismay at the "overwhelming" suffering they encountered in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar. The delegation came to hear the first-hand the experiences of 700,000 Rohingya refugees subjected to a campaign of violence, rape and arson at the hands of Myanmar's military since August 2017. Dozens of Rohingya refugees made emotional pleas for the UN to hear their stories, and women wept as they recounted horrific experiences. The delegation will fly to Myanmar on Monday for talks with with Aung San Suu Kyi. Increasing compulsory superannuation payments from 9.5% to 12% could hurt wage growth and cut pensions for low-income workers, according to a new report by the Grattan Institute. It has called on the government to abandon the bipartisan consensus to raise the super guarantee by 2025, saying compulsory contributions are ultimately funded by lower wages. Since pensions are indexed to wage growth, the report warns that increases in the super guarantee to 12% could cost singles $460 and couples $640 each year in pension payments. The massive ExxonMobil-led liquid natural gas project in Papua New Guinea, backed by a $500m Australian government loan, has failed to deliver on a promised economic boom for the country local population, a new report has found. The study, commissioned by research group Jubilee Australia, found the PNG people would have been better off if the project had never happened. The report has prompted renewed criticism of the Australian loan and questions around the company's offshore tax arrangements. Sport Daniel Ricciardo has spectacularly crashed out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as he tried to overtake his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, prompting fury from the team's manager. "They are both to blame," Christian Horner said. "They have been reminded that they are part of a team, they are highly paid individuals and have to act with the team's interests at heart, not just their own." Lewis Hamilton won the race after Valtteri Bottas punctured while leading with two laps to go. Max Gawn was abused by an angry Essendon fan on Sunday, but this incident is now much less common than players being abused online, writes Craig Little. Jake Lever this week revealed he had deleted his Twitter account after a barrage of abuse following the lacklustre start to his career at Melbourne. Thinking time |
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