Your afternoon Briefing

Good afternoon, readers. Here’s what made news this Tuesday.

Good afternoon, readers. Here’s what made news this Tuesday.

FILE - In this March 3, 2016, file photo, Australian cardinal George Pell reads a statement to reporters as he leaves the Quirinale hotel after meeting members of the Australian group of relatives and victims of priestly sex abuses, in Rome, Italy. A lawyer for the most senior Vatican official ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis told an Australian court on Tuesday, April 17, 2018 that Pell could have been targeted with false accusations to punish him for the crimes of other clerics. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, File)

Throw out charges, Pell lawyers urge

Cardinal George Pell’s lawyers have urged the committal magistrate to throw out the historical sex charges against him which they claim were brought by liars who hated the cardinal because of his position within the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pell was charged last June with historical sex offences relating to multiple complainants and Magistrate Belinda Wallington will hand down her decision on May 1 as to whether he should stand trial.

DARWIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY - APRIL 09: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attends a community reception at the Royal Flying Doctors Service Tourist Facility in Darwin on April 9, 2018 in Darwin, Australia. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are on a seven-day tour of Australia, visiting Queensland and the Northern Territory. (Photo by Mick Tsikas - Pool/Getty Images)

PM to have hand in Charles’ fate

Malcolm Turnbull will be involved in negotiations at Windsor Castle to decide if Prince Charles is to succeed in one of the Queens’s major roles.

Australia’s position is to support Prince Charles in the unprecedented

replacement of the head of the Commonwealth, a role the 92-year-old Queen began in 1949 and has held ever since.

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 4, 2018 file photo, a U.S. soldier sits on his armored vehicle on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria. Even as President Donald Trump mulls a U.S. pullout, insisting that the Islamic State is “almost completely defeated,” the extremist group is showing signs of resurgence in Syria. Talk of a U.S. troop withdrawal has alarmed the Unites States’ main ally in Syria, the Kurds, who fought alongside the Americans to roll back the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Arab force to replace US troops

The Trump administration is seeking to assemble an Arab force to replace the US military contingent in Syria and help stabilise the northeastern part of the country after the defeat of Islamic State, US officials said.

Details about the initiative, which haven’t been previously disclosed, have emerged in the days since the US-led strikes on sites associated with the Syrian regime’s chemical-weapons capabilities.

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Peta Credlin has spoken to Josh Frydenberg about his attack on Tony Abbott.

Why is Peta calling the shots?

Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, using the airwaves to tell people she has pulled environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg into line [over his attacks on Tony Abbott] has been met with near-universal ridicule among the political class, writes Peter van Onselen.

Why is Peta Credlin giving Josh Frydenberg the impression she can push him around?

Daydream Island in the Whitsundays.It was one of the area's island's that was hit by Cyclone Debbie in March, 2017.It is expected to reopen in 2018 following refurbishment.

Daydream renovation cost a nightmare

The Shanghai-based owners of Queensland’s Daydream Island Resort and Spa have been forced to double the renovation costs of their beleaguered resort to $100 million, following substantial damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Debbie last year.

The construction time frame has also blown out from an expected completion in the middle of this year to a soft opening not expected until the end of September.