Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 27 March.

Top stories

Twenty countries, including the US, EU nations, Canada and Ukraine, have ordered the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats in response to the nerve agent attack on the former Russian intelligence official Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the UK. More than 100 Russian diplomats alleged to be spies in western countries have been ordered to return to Moscow, with repercussions from Russia likely to swiftly follow.

The British prime minister, Theresa May, said the coordinated response represented the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history. “If the Kremlin’s goal is to divide and intimidate the western alliance, then their efforts have spectacularly backfired,” she said. The Russian government called the expulsions “a provocative gesture” and said it would retaliate in kind, but the US and Europe left the door open to take additional measures against the Kremlin.

The debate on Labor’s signature tax policy could yet go either way, with the latest Guardian Essential poll suggesting voters are divided on the subject. As the party moved to exempt pensioners from its proposal to end cash rebates for excess imputation credits, the poll found only 32% supported the overall policy, while 30% opposed it and 37% were unable to express a view. A majority of voters agreed with the statement “paying people money to compensate for tax they haven’t paid does not make sense” (68%), but only 7% said they knew a lot about dividend imputation and franking credits.

Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who spoke out on US TV on Sunday night about her alleged affair with Trump and threats she said she had received to keep the story secret. Cohen’s lawyer alleges Daniels has made false and defamatory comments, “namely that he [Cohen] was responsible for an alleged thug who supposedly visited” and threatened Daniels.

Millions more Australian workers will soon have the right to five days’ unpaid family violence leave after the Coalition said it would legislate to include it in the Fair Work Act. It follows a Fair Work Commission decision to create the right in modern awards. The move has angered unions, who pressed the commission for 10 days’ paid leave. “It’s simple: without paid leave too many people will be unable to leave dangerous relationships – the FWC have chosen to maintain a broken system which leaves women with nowhere to turn,” said the ACTU secretary, Sally McManus. The commission also rejected union calls for a right to family-flexible hours, agreeing with employer groups that it would remove managerial ability to control rosters.

Renewable energy sources have, for the first time, produced more energy than brown coal during an Australian summer, a new report has found. Between December 2017 and February 2018 renewables accounted for just under 10,000 gigawatt hours while brown coal’s output – reduced by the Hazelwood power plant closure – was just over 9,100 GWh. Renewables produced 40% more than gas, and were exceeded only by black coal. The report, commissioned by GetUp, found renewables were generating particularly large amounts of electricity when it was most needed, producing 32% more than brown coal during summer between 11am and 7pm, when demand peaks.

Sport

Steve Smith looks set to be stripped of the Australian captaincy and could face a ban of up to a year from representing his country for his role in the ball-tampering scandal that has engulfed the tour of South Africa. The only good part of the sorry affair, writes Barney Ronay, is that it shows at least Test cricket still matters.

David Pocock faces his greatest challenge when he makes his comeback for the Brumbies against the NSW Waratahs in Canberra on Saturday. Pocock’s test will not be his head-to-head clash with Waratahs openside flanker Michael Hooper or any other member of the NSW backrow, but the new ruck laws, which threaten to make breakdown specialists obsolete.

Thinking time

Is Wes Anderson’s new film, Isle of Dogs, a loving homage to Japan or cringeworthy cultural appropriation? Critics are claiming the director’s latest work, with its sushi and sumo wrestlers, bastardises Japanese culture, but Steve Rose disagrees. “Isle of Dogs is a movie that seems custom-made to set off appropriation dog whistles but, for all its questionable moves, the result is a story that’s one of a kind. If we police boundaries too strictly, we’re stifling the possibility of cross-fertilisation and invention. If you do it well enough, it’s not appropriation, it’s conversation.”

Eight of Australia’s largest tax concession and exemptions disproportionately benefit high-income and high-wealth households, a report from Anglicare has found. The report, The Cost of Privilege, shows that $68.5bn worth of taxation concessions and exemption goes to the wealthiest 20% of households – more than the annual cost of the disability support pension and assistance to families and children, writes Greg Jericho.

In the 1920s, women were warned not to sing during menstruation; in the 18th century they were advised not to dance; and in medieval times, those who had a “sanious flow together with the menses” were made to sit on a mass of wild rocket. So what can modern science tell us about periods and how best to manage them? Period coaches are a burgeoning industry, so we pick the brains of an expert for advice on getting to know your flow.

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has another book reccomendation for his Twitter followers; his second this year, surprising when he has said he finds reading boring. Trump’s book club pick? What Really Happened: How Donald J Trump Saved America from Hillary Clinton. “Everyone is talking about” the book, Trump claims. Not quite true – it is ranked 892 on Amazon’s bestseller list.

Media roundup

A mother whose son was sent home from Calvary hospital despite having a undiagnosed brain bleed says she has lost faith in the ACT’s health services, the Canberra Times reports. Jocelyn Askew says she contacted the minister for health seven times to raise her concerns and received no response. The NT News continues its coverage of child abuse in the Northern Territory, reporting that a 17-year-old is in police custody after the alleged rape of a four-year-old boy in a remote community near Tennant Creek. And the Conversation reports that men and young people are the most likely to be “ageist”, but overall few Australians hold strongly biased views on older people.

Coming up

About 6,500 early childcare workers are expected to go on strike today in their fight for higher pay. Some centres will close for the day while others will shut from noon.

The Senate is due to release its report into transvaginal mesh implants, encompassing the scale of harm and recommendations for remediation.

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