Your noon Briefing: Pell team to confirm High Court challenge

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

Hello readers. George Pell’s legal team to confirm a High Court challenge, and Sao Paulo goes dark as the Amazon burns.

FILE - In this March 5, 2018, file photo, Cardinal George Pell arrives for a hearing at an Australian court in Melbourne, Australia. A lawyer for the most senior Vatican official ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis told the 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/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)

Pell team to confirm High Court challenge

EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal George Pell’s legal team is expected to announce that the former high ranking Vatican official will seek leave to appeal to the High Court to have his child sex convictions overturned. Archbishop Peter Comensoli says he believes Pell’s claims of innocence.

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This satellite image provided by NASA on Aug. 13, 2019 shows several fires burning in the Brazilian Amazon forest. Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, a federal agency monitoring deforestation and wildfires, said the country has seen a record number of wildfires this year, counting 74,155 as of Tuesday, Aug. 20, an 84 percent increase compared to the same period last year. (NASA via AP)

Apocalypse now

Smoke from a record number of wildfires in the world’s largest rainforest has caused ‘apocalyptic’ scenes in Brazil’s biggest city.

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Mild summer or we’re cooked

The stakes are raised each year in the electricity supply gamble and now severe, extended blackouts are the price in play, writes Robert Gottliebsen. The risk of blackouts is set to rise with the closure of Liddell.

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QANTAS Group CEO Alan Joyce joins Fleet Manager B787-9, Captain Lisa Norman in front of the Project Sunrise amp following the QANTAS Group full year results announcement in Sydney, Thursday, August, 22, 2019. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

JFK, LHR to SYD, non-stop

Qantas will stage experimental 20-plus hour flights from London and New York before year end.

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QANTAS Group CEO Alan Joyce speaks to the media as QANTAS Group deliver their full year results in Sydney, Thursday, August, 22, 2019. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

Qantas buyback boosts shares

Stocks are higher after a mixed bag of reports — Qantas has made back early losses while energy companies are surging.