Your noon Briefing: Pell sentenced to six years

Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories and a long read for lunchtime.

Hello readers. George Pell gets six years for child sex offences, and Virgin indicates it may scrap its order for Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

George Pell (centre) has been sentenced to six years' jail on child sex abuse offences. Judge Peter Kidd (top right) handed down the sentence today as Pell supporters (top left), media (bottom left) and victim support group members (bottom right) watched on from outside the court.

Pell sentenced to six years

George Pell has been jailed for six years with a non-parole period of three years eight months for child sex offences.

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MPs Tim Wilson (main picture), Trent Zimmerman (inset, top left) and Trevor Evans.

Libs’ 3 stooges

The Liberal Party has three outspoken amigos who might want to do a bit of homework on their government’s energy plan, writes Judith Sloan.

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General, generic, stock photo of a Virgin Australia passenger jet airplane coming in to land at the Cairns Airport, bringing domestic tourists into the Far North Queensland region. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

Virgin may scrap order

Virgin Australia has given its strongest indication yet it’s ready to scrap its order for Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

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Australia's Mitchell Starc with a kookaburra ball being remarked with the McGrath Foundation ahead of the SCG Test match. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Ball overhaul

Test cricket is set for a shake-up, as a committee recommends changes to the type of ball used and other modified rules.

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Mountain View, USA - March 4, 2015: Google headquarters logo on Mountain view California glass office building on a late Winter morning. Wide horizontal panoramic image.

The long read: Taking tech giants down a peg

Concentrating power in too few hands, as has been allowed to happen with the tech giants, is never good for society. David Swan reports.

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Comment of the day

“As a former company director and chairman, I am truly disgusted by this current batch of corporate wimps who succumb to every PC cause, every entreaty from leftist action groups and every new fad dreamt up by industry bodies. Corporations have a responsibility to serve the interests of their shareholders, their customers and other stakeholders but the shareholder - the owner of the business - is king. Too many boardrooms have become PC workshops and laboratories for social engineering and it needs to be called out.”

Tim B in response to ‘Time we took on little nobodies’.