Your noon Briefing: Talk mounts Ciobo, Pyne to quit politics

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

Hello readers. Rumours are swirling that Steve Ciobo and Christopher Pyne are set to quit politics, and George Pell gets a new silk and plans to appeal over a “fundamental irregularity”.

Round table discussion at the Princeton Room, Bond Univeristy, in the wake of the release of the Gonski Report - (l-r) Moncrieff MP Steven Ciobo, Shadow Federal Educatin Minister Christopher Pyne

Pyne, Ciobo to go?

Scott Morrison may be set to lose two more cabinet ministers, with speculation Christopher Pyne and Steve Ciobo intend to retire.

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14/11/2018: Generic picture of National Australia Bank (nab) logo. Hollie Adams/The Australian

NAB fraud bust

A woman has been arrested in Sydney in relation to an investigation into a multi-million dollar fraud at NAB.

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Commissioner Bret Walker SC is seen making his opening comments at the first public hearings of the Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission at the Adelaide Town Hall, King William St, in Adelaide, Monday, June 18, 2018. (AAP Image/Morgan Sette)

Pell’s new silk

Prominent Sydney barrister Bret Walker SC is set to represent George Pell at the Court of Appeal later this year. Pell argues his child sex abuse convictions should be overturned or he should be retried because of a “fundamental irregularity”.

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LOS ANGELES. January 26, 2017. Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone prepares a menu at his Los Angeles restaurant and butcher shop, Gwen, on the sunset strip. The 41-year-old Stone currently stars as a judge on the US version of the Australian cooking show My Kitchen Rules. Picture: Glen McCurtayne

Stone on roll

Curtis Stone became famous by surfing and appearing on supermarket ads. Now he has ridden the wave of success all the way to LA.

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WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. Last year Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, unlawful excessive campaign contributions and lying to Congress as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The long read: The inconstant consigliere

Michael Cohen’s testimony about Donald Trump is compelling, but undermined by his credibility gap. Americans, meanwhile, could view the president as a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize or as a criminal conman.