Your morning Briefing

Welcome to your morning roundup of what’s making news and the must-reads for today.

Good morning readers. Here is your two-minute digest of what’s making news today.

Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen and Labor's candidate for Bennelong, Kristina Keneally leave a press conference where they discussed the Turnbull Government's cuts to services at a press conference, in Sydney, Thursday, December 14, 2017. Labor candidate Kristina Keneally is up against Liberals John Alexander in this Saturdays by-election for the seat of Bennelong. (AAP Image/Jane Dempster) NO ARCHIVING

Gloves off in Bennelong

Kristina Keneally was fending off new claims of overzealous campaigning as her rival John Alexander denied he had failed to declare to parliament income from a $4.8 million luxury holiday rental property in the NSW southern highlands. A day after it was revealed parents at a primary school in Bennelong had complained to police about being “accosted” by Labor volunteers brandishing pamphlets, Ms Keneally’s campaign team was accused of imposing on residents of an aged-care home to hand out campaign material. Ms Keneally brushed off suggestions dementia patients had been approached, saying that she had merely met residents of the facility.

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Rupert Murdoch, shown at WSJ. Magazine’s Innovator Awards in New York on Nov. 1, is eager to focus more on the news business, long his passion, and less on Hollywood. PHOTO: ERIK PENDZICH/REX SHUTTERSTOCK/ZUMA PRESS

Murdoch’s Disney mega-deal

News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch has struck the biggest deal of his career in a $68.3 billion agreement to sell film and television assets from his 21st Century Fox company to Disney. Walt Disney Co has said it would buy select assets from 21st Century Fox for $US52.4bn in stock. Disney’s acquisition includes the company’s Twentieth Century Fox film and television studio and its international cable TV businesses. In the deal, Disney will also assume about $US13.7bn of 21st Century Fox’s debt.

“We are extremely proud of all that we have built at 21st ­Century Fox, and I firmly believe that this combination with Disney will unlock even more value for shareholders ...”

Rupert Murdoch

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Commonwealth Bank logo.

CBA’s terror ‘breach’

The Commonwealth Bank has ­allegedly continued to breach anti-money-laundering laws, as fresh claims emerged yesterday that it had allowed more than $6000 to be withdrawn from an account it had suspected for months belonged to a convicted terrorist. The bank allegedly allowed the cash to be drained from the ­account — after CBA was hit with a lawsuit alleging more than 53,000 breaches of anti-money-laundering legislation — despite having placed a stop on the ­account after several attempts to transfer money to Lebanon.

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Artist's impression from inside one of the residences in One Barangaroo, Crown Residences in Sydney.

Packer’s pad in the sky

The James Packer-backed Crown Resorts has revealed more than $700 million in planned asset sales, including the divestment of its Las Vegas interest, as it continues to focus on reducing debt. The company informed market late yesterday that it had entered several transactions, including the $US300m ($390m) sale of its Las Vegas land. Alon Las Vegas Resorts, which is a majority owned subsidiary of Crown, will sell its interest in a 14-hectare vacant site on Las Vegas Boulevard to a subsidiary of Wynn Resorts. Nick Tabakoff, meantime, takes a peek into Packer’s $60m pad in the sky — a two-storey penthouse in his own $2.4 billion Crown ­Sydney casino development, in a move that will mark his permanent return to his home country in three years.

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Mark Stoneman of England reacts after being hit on the head from a delivery from Josh Hazlewood of Australia on Day 1 of the Third Test match between Australia and England at the WACA in Perth, Thursday, December 14, 2017. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY, IMAGES TO BE USED FOR NEWS REPORTING PURPOSES ONLY, NO COMMERCIAL USE WHATSOEVER, NO USE IN BOOKS WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FROM AAP

WACA bounces back but so do Poms

England have counterpunched hard after the Australian pace attack broke their bats and helmets but not their resolve on a fast day-one pitch in the third Test at the WACA Ground. At last the English batting clicked as Dawid Malan posted his maiden Test ton and his side’s first of the series, guiding them to 4-305 at stumps after an engrossing opening day. Malan (110) and Jonny Bairstow (75) have added 174 to rescue England from a precarious 4-131 after they won the toss and batted.

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Kudelka’s view

Jon Kudelka Letters Cartoon for 15-12-2017Version: (650x366)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.