Your morning Briefing

Welcome to your morning digest of the top stories of the day.

Hello readers and welcome to your two-minute digest of what’s making news today.

20180522: The Australian: NEWS: CANBERRA: West Australian Liberal MP for Canning Andrew Hastie in his office at Parliament House in Canberra. Photo by Sean Davey.

Hastie outs ‘CC-3’

A China-born Australian billionaire and political donor has been named in federal parliament as a co-conspirator identified by the FBI in the bribery of a UN ­official and as having close links to the Chinese Communist Party. In allegations levelled last night, the chairman of the joint ­committee on intelligence and ­security, Andrew Hastie, told parliament he could reveal that a ­figure codenamed by the FBI in the bribery case as CC-3 was ­Australian property developer Chau Chak Wing. Meantime, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has blamed Australia for causing the tensions in relations between Canberra and Beijing. Keep up with all the latest from parliament in our live blog, PoliticsNow.

“CC-3 is a Chinese-­Australian citizen. He has also been a very significant donor to both of our major political parties. The Australian people deserve the truth.”

Andrew Hastie

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21 November 2017 Townsville, Queensland - James Cook University Professor Peter Ridd - Photo: Cameron Laird (Ph: 0418 238811)

Reef rebel

Physics professor Peter Ridd, sacked by James Cook University last week for allegedly breaching the institution’s code of conduct, has raised $160,000 in only three days to help fund his legal case against the university. On Saturday, after Professor Ridd’s sacking was revealed in The Australian, the scientist reopened his GoFundMe page and closed it on Monday night after the $160,000 target for his legal defence had been reached.

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Eric Lobbecke Op Ed Cartoon for 23-05-2018Version: Ozoped Artwork (1280x720 - Stretched to Fit)COPYRIGHT: The Australian's artists each have different copyright agreements in place regarding re-use of their work in other publications.Please seek advice from the artists themselves or the Managing Editor of The Australian regarding re-use.

Lost cause

The blinkers are firmly on as the national broadcaster falls in line with more anti-Israel bias, as Janet Albrechtsen concludes it’s too late to reform the ABC.

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Rod Clement Margin Call cartoon for 23-05-2018. Version: Business Cartoon (1280x720 - Aspect ratio preserved, Canvas added)COPYRIGHT: The Australian's artists each have different copyright agreements in place regarding re-use of their work in other publications.Please seek advice from the artists themselves or the Managing Editor of The Australian regarding re-use.

Havens above

Here’s a fun fact for private equiteer Ben Gray’s new investment partner ACTU secretary Sally McManus: Gray’s AustralianSuper-backed $4.1 billion bid for Healthscope involves a complex offshore structure that spreads to the tax haven of Guernsey. Bet Gray didn’t underline that in his investor pitch to the McManus-entangled $120 billion industry fund giant AustralianSuper. Team Gray certainly wasn’t spruiking the tax-minimising structure, writes Margin Call.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 03: Craig Bellamy, coach of the Storm looks on during a Melbourne Storm NRL training session at Gosch's Paddock on May 3, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Bellamy bid

The Broncos have secretly approached Storm coach Craig Bellamy to take over from Wayne Bennett on a deal worth more than $5m. With $12m sitting in the bank, the Broncos are one of the most powerful clubs in the NRL and basically have an open cheque book when it comes to signing a head coach.

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters Cartoon for 23-05-2018Version: Letters Cartoon (1280x720 - Aspect ratio preserved, Canvas added)COPYRIGHT: The Australian's artists each have different copyright agreements in place regarding re-use of their work in other publications.Please seek advice from the artists themselves or the Managing Editor of The Australian regarding re-use.