Your noon Briefing: Labor in dock over $100k ‘straw’ donation

Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.

Hello readers. ICAC probe hears of $100k donation to Labor from Huang Xiangmo, and the Amazon is burning but is it climate armageddon?

20/12/16 Huang Xiangmo YuHu chairman pictured at the Sydney Opera House. Picture Renee Nowytarger / The Australian

Labor in dock over $100k ‘straw’ donation

Billionaire developer Huang Xiangmo allegedly gave the NSW Labor Party a $100,000 donation in cash, ICAC probe hears.

-

U.S. President Donald Trump and France's President Emmanuel Macron gesture after the family photograph during the G7 Summit in the town of Biarritz, 800km south of Paris in France, Sunday, August 25, 2019. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

ASX loses $32bn

Shares are lower by 1.6pc after the US and China raised their tariff threats, while Boral shares slip on its results. Follow the latest ASX movements in our live blog, Trading Day.

-

No reboot without power fix

Josh Frydenberg’s call for more investment can’t succeed if Victoria’s energy lunacy isn’t dealt with, writes Robert Gottliebsen.

-

LEEDS, ENGLAND - AUGUST 24: Steve Smith of Australia bats in the nets during day three of the 3rd Specsavers Ashes Test match between England and Australia at Headingley on August 24, 2019 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Shattered Aussies send Smith SOS

Steve Smith is set to return to action this week as Australia look to rebound from a crushing defeat that has turned the series on its head. Peter Lalor, meantime, looks at the moments that cost the Aussies.

-

26/08/19 Family of Tanya Day (L-R Warren Stevens and Apryl Day) who died in Police custody make their way down to the Victorian coroners court for an inquiry into the Aboriginal womans death. Aaron Francis/The Australian

‘Our mum should be alive’

Tanya Day died in a police cell. Her family says police failed her and want her last moments revealed, writes Remy Varga.

-

Handout aerial picture released by Greenpeace showing smoke billowing from fires in the forest in the Amazon biome in the municipality of Altamira, Para State, Brazil, on August 23, 2019. - Hundreds of new fires are raging in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil, official data showed on August 24, 2019, amid growing international pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro to put out the worst blazes in years. The fires in the world's largest rainforest have triggered a global outcry and are dominating the G7 meeting in Biarritz in southern France. (Photo by Victor MORIYAMA / GREENPEACE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / GREENPEACE / VICTOR MORIYAMA" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

The long read: World’s lungs are burning

The Amazon’s destruction unites the world in condemnation but is it a climate change armaggedon?