Your noon Briefing

Hello readers. Here’s the latest on how Thursday has played out and the latest Ashes news from The Gabba.

Hello readers and welcome to your digest of how the day is unfolding so far.

The Queensland election camapign blog.

Fear and gloating on the campaign trail

Don’t miss our rolling coverage of the last day of the election campaign. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is making one last pitch to Queenslanders today as Tim Nicholls darts across the state in a final election campaign effort before tomorrow’s poll. Ms Palaszczuk will address the Queensland Media Club after failing to agree on an earlier date to debate her Liberal National Party opponent. Mr Nicholls, who on Thursday returned to the southeast corner after days spent appealing to battlers in the state’s north, will traverse nine electorates trying to rally support. Pauline Hanson, meantime, rubbishes a poll showing support for One Nation in Queensland has slumped, and insists “people are voting for us”.

“The best thing to do, is to support your local LNP, One N- uhh LNP candidate at the election.”

Tim Nicholls

-

Starc hobbles off as England notch up another 50 partnership

Our live rolling coverage of The Ashes from the Gabba proceeds apace, as fortune’s fickle breezes waft over both teams. Disaster looms as Mitchell Starc is forced off after Shaun Marsh slid into his left knee at fine leg as they moved to cut off a pull shot by Malan. It could be a re-opening of an old injury from September 2016. If you thought the Australians were going to roll through the visitor’s top and middle order, think again, with Malan and Ali building a steady partnership to start the morning session.

-

Chris Kenny on Rudd top 10 achievements as PM

Kenny on Kevin’s ‘Greatest Hits’

Chris Kenny wades in with a trenchant takedown of Kevin Rudd’s self-compiled ‘PM’s greatest hits’. He should not be allowed to get away with his delusional triumphalism 10 years after he won power, ending almost three decades of mainly good government in this nation and precipitating a decade of disaster.

-

Teams in Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters spied on Islamic State jihadis.

Secret Mossad raid led to laptop ban

A ban on laptops being carried in passenger plane cabins was the result of a secret Israeli operation, according to a report. Two helicopters flew commandos from Israel’s elite Sayeret Matkal force, its equivalent of the SAS, and a team of Mossad technical operatives into the desert near the Syrian city of Raqqa. The commandos fanned out while the Mossad team, driving jeeps in the colours of the Assad regime army, placed a listening device in or near a room in which an Islamic State team were talking about bomb-making. The bug picked up the team discussing a technique, thought to be the work of Ibrahim al-Asiri, al-Qa’ida’s master bombmaker, by which a device big enough to destroy an airliner could be fitted into a laptop.

-

Comment of the day

“$500 million in wealth tax — exactly the same amount given to Adani in tax relief in royalties.”

Rod, in response to the Queensland Premier’s mooted wealth tax.