Your noon Briefing: Trump looks for ‘alternative’ venue

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

Hello readers. Donald Trump is looking for an alternative venue for his State of the Union address, and meet the ex-Muslims liberated by a lack of faith.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., responds to reporters after officially postponing President Donald Trump's State of the Union address until the government is fully reopened, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. The California Democrat told Trump in a letter Wednesday the Democratic-controlled House won't pass the required measure for him to give the nationally televised speech from the House floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

New venue

Donald Trump says he’ll look for an alternative venue for his annual State of the Union address, appearing to capitulate to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demands, writes Cameron Stewart., who also suggests that Ms Pelosi’s stated reasons for denying Mr Trump the House for his address are rubbish and naked politics but her ploy will hurt him.

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Illustration of the Shortfin Barracuda submarine the French company, DCNS, wants to provide to Australia.

Sub standards

The ANAO is considering a wide-ranging inquiry into the government’s acquisition of 12 new submarines.

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Footballer Sala and plane pilot

‘Rusty’ pilot

The pilot of the plane that vanished with football star Emiliano Sala aboard told friends he’d struggled with its instruments, it has emerged.

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Rahaf Mohammed, 18, addresses a press conference in Toronto at the offices of COSTI, a refugee resettling agency, on January 15, 2019. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau notched himself a political win ahead of Canadian legislative elections by granting asylum to the teenage Saudi girl fleeing her parents, experts here say. Trudeau sent Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland to greet 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun as the young woman landed in Toronto on January 12, 2019. (Photo by Cole BURSTON / AFP)

The long read: Liberated by lack of faith

Ex-Muslims are the most oppressed people on earth, facing prison and death, so why is the West so wary of giving them a voice? Caroline Overington reports.

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Comment of the day

“Labor has stalled any sort of reform that the Coalition has wanted to implement — haven’t even come to the party in a sensible bipartisan debate and manner! Now they want to put a strategic fleet in and copy what the Coalition has wanted to do and claim it as their own! “The MUA — painters and dockers —sold our soldiers out during WWII by deliberately delaying strategic supplies. All the MUA cares about is money and power! Not Australia’s strategic interests!”

Angela, in response to ‘ALP ‘locks in’ shipping fleet, MUA believes’.