Your noon Briefing

Welcome to your noon digest of what’s been making news and what to watch for.

Hello readers. Here is your noon round-up of today’s top stories so far and a long read for lunchtime.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop arriving at the Global Malaria Summit in London - London. 18 Apr 2018 Pictured: Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop. Photo credit: Ian Lawrence / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com [phone]

We understand: Bishop

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia “understands” the decision by the White House to re-assign Admiral Harry Harris but expects the appointment of a new ambassador will be a “priority”. The Trump administration has pulled the nomination of Admiral Harry Harris as US ambassador to Australia, sending him to South Korea instead. Cameron Stewart, however, writes that the Trump administration has delivered a diplomatic slap to Canberra with its ham-fisted move.

“This is not unusual, it has happened before, but we look forward to a new ambassador being nominated as soon as possible.”

Julie Bishop

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In this courtroom sketch, Duty counsel Georgia Koulis, from left, Alek Minassian, Justice of the Peace Stephen Waisberg and Crown prosecutor Joe Callaghan appear in court in Toronto on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. The 25-year-old suspect, Minassian, was charged Tuesday with first degree murder in the deaths of 10 pedestrians he mowed down in the rented van he sent careening along the busy walkway. (Alexandra Newbould/The Canadian Press via AP)

‘Overthrow Chads and Stacys’

The suspect in the deadly van attack in Toronto posted a chilling Facebook message just minutes before plowing into a crowded city sidewalk, authorities said Tuesday, raising the possibility that he may have nursed grudges against women. The 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, was charged Tuesday with first degree murder in the deaths of 10 pedestrians he mowed down in the rented van he sent careening along the busy walkway.

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US President Donald Trump (R) clears dandruff from French President Emmanuel Macron's shoulder in the Oval Office before a meeting at the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski

Dandruff diplomacy

There was pomp, there was ceremony ... and then there was dandruff. In the first state visit to Washington of the Trump era, French president Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump appeared to be getting on famously — and then the US President had to go and ruin it all.

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Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy visit the grave of Lucy Turnbull's grand uncle Robert Forrest Hughes at Heilly Station cemetery near Amiens, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Mr Turnbull is in France to commemorate ANZAC Day. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Diggers honoured

The Australian troops 100 years ago could never have imagined this event, writes Paul Kelly. Inside a temporary tent on the high ground occupied by the Australian National Memorial the Sir John Monash Centre was formally opened last evening. The unity between the French people and the Australians that Villers-Bretonneux forever invokes was represented anew with prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Edouard Philippe presiding.

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Man smoking marijuana cigarette soft drug

The long read: The dope on legal weed

A campaign for the legalisation of marijuana faces many hurdles, writes Sean Parnell. Health regulators have sought to make a clear distinction between medicinal cannabis and recre­ation­al marijuana. A line is drawn between those who could obtain health benefits from the part of the plant understood to relieve symptoms of medically diagnosed conditions, and those who simply smoke weed for pleasure.

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Comment of the day

“So, Liz Allen thinks that people are leaving the areas they may have lived for years because of the lack of infrastructure. Ask the people. They’ll tell you it’s because they are overwhelmed at being marginalised in their own suburbs.”

Mark, in response to ‘Citizens quitting migrant hotspots, ABS figures show’.