Good morning, this is Graham Russell bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 15 December.

Top stories

Rupert Murdoch has sold $66bn worth of 21st Century Fox’s assets and a 39% stake in Sky to Disney, in a deal that will transform his media empire – and the fortunes of his sons. The sale includes a Hollywood studio but Murdoch will retain control of some assets including the Fox News channel. “Are we retreating? Absolutely not,” he said during a conference call. “Fox News is probably the strongest brand in all of television. We are pivoting at a pivotal moment.” James Murdoch, the chief executive of 21st Century Fox, has not been named in the new corporate structure, paving the way for his elder brother, Lachlan, to inherit control of the family empire. Lachlan is co-chairman of 21st Century Fox and News Corp. Disney has said the deal will make it an entertainment powerhouse to take on rivals such as Netflix. One fly in the ointment: 21st Century Fox officials have been accused of a bribery-for-broadcasting-rights scheme. It is alleged senior executives agreed for millions of dollars in bribes to be paid to South American football officials to secure major broadcast deals, according to US prosecutors. Fox Sports has denied wrongdoing and no charges have been laid at this stage.

The final report of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will be handed to the governor general, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, today – the final formal act of a five-year process that heard about abuse stretching back decades. In an interactive called The Reckoning: survivors’ stories, we feature eight short excerpts from testimony given by abuse survivors. A warning: the material in these clips is explicit and may be upsetting. The commission heard from more than 1,200 witnesses during the public hearings, examined more than 1.2m documents and generated more than 45,400 pages of transcripts. The interactive accompanies The Reckoning podcast series which you can listen to – the second episode will be launched later today. And you can read Melissa Davey’s report of the commission’s final hearing here and an explainer here.

One of the appointees to the government’s religious freedom review, led by Phillip Ruddock, argued in 2012 that the concept should include sharia law. Prof Nicholas Aroney is an expert on legal pluralism, law and religion who has warned that religious freedom has become a second-class right to anti-discrimination protections and argued in an essay that religious freedom should include a right to practise sharia law within “strictly justifiable limits imposed by the general law”. He has been appointed as one of five members of the review panel. The others are Ruddock; the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Rosalind Croucher; Annabelle Bennett; and Father Frank Brennan. A Just Equal spokesman, Rodney Croome, said: “I am concerned by Nicholas Aroney’s appointment because his writing makes it clear he believes religious freedom trumps other rights, including equality. The Ruddock review should be a balanced assessment of religious freedom but instead the government is stacking the review to appease the religious right after the passage of marriage equality.”

The Republican candidate Roy Moore has refused to concede the Alabama Senate election, releasing a fiery video statement in which he warned “the heart and soul of our country is at stake”. Moore said he was still waiting for the final vote count, which stands at at 49.9% to 48.4%. Alabama voting officials have said it is unlikely the Democrat Doug Jones will not be declared the winner. Undeterred, Moore, who is facing multiple allegations of sexual assault, said: “Immorality sweeps over our land.” He voiced concerns about the future of the US, adding: “Today, we no longer recognise the universal truth that God is the author of our life and liberty. Abortion, sodomy and materialism have taken the place of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”



The National Gallery of Victoria’s VIP preview of its Triennial exhibition was overtaken by politics last night, with protests blocking its main entrances over its use of Wilson Security, which provided security for Australia’s offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru. The protest theme was also picked up within the gallery in the artworks themselves. Richard Mosse, Prix Pictet-winning artist, changed his work Incoming, which is about refugees fleeing Syria, to include footage filmed by the journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani on Manus Island. The South African artist Candice Breitz changed the name of her video installation – which features Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin giving voice to the stories of six refugees who fled oppressive conditions – from Love Story to Wilson Must Go. Breitz said the move was effective until the NGV severed its contract with Wilson Security. She invited other contributing artists to do the same.

Sport

This was England’s best shift on the Ashes tour but it won’t show how hard they had to work for their considerable first-day gains, writes Adam Collins at the Waca. According to CricViz, only once since speed-gun records began has a group of quicks averaged a faster speed than Australia’s on the first day of this Test. Rumbling in the background, the ICC’s anti-corruption unit has confirmed a full investigation will be held into a report the Test has been targeted by match-fixers. There’s no evidence of any wrongdoing at this stage.

Chris Froome has said failing a drug test at the Vuelta a España this year has been “damaging” to his reputation – but again insisted that he had not overstepped any boundaries. “It has come as a huge shock to me. But at the same time, I know that within me I have fundamentally followed the protocol,” said the four-time Tour de France winner. We held a live Q&A to answer your questions on the issue.

‘It was hot but I didn’t go to the beach much because the glare of the sun on my screen made it hard to text.’ Photograph: imageBROKER/Rex/Shutterstock

Thinking time

Cat Person, the short work of fiction in the New Yorker which went viral this week, struck many chords. But while much of the discussion has focused on sex, Brigid Delaney’s diary this week looks at messaging and romance in the time of WhatsApp. “What do I remember about that summer? It was hot but I didn’t go to the beach much because the glare of the sun on my screen made it hard to text. I was constantly anxious about leaving an area where I couldn’t charge my phone. At parties I left half-finished conversations with friends because I heard a ping from my pocket or my phone would shake on the table.” Is this really different, she asks, to the days “when people were away at sea, or in prison, or at war, and there were only letters”. Were the letters were ardent and bold, and sexy and intimate, and just like texting and WhatsApp are today?”

With The Last Jedi I finally got to see my dreams come true. More importantly, in ways far cooler than I ever could imagine. So says Jordan Hoffman, who credits the writer and director, Rian Johnson, with taking his Star Wars reveries and serving them back up with vast improvements. There are some solid nuggets for hardcore fans, but what is so extraordinary is that this is the first post-George Lucas Star Wars film that feels free to dance to its own beat. The franchise, which looked as though it was lumbering after some behind-the-scenes woe, is evolving. Spoiler warning: this article discusses the film’s content.

For the first time since 2015, the Queensland Labor government has a majority – and it plans on using it. High on its agenda will be toughening up land-clearing laws passed by Annastacia Palaszczuk’s predecessor, Campbell Newman. Others hope the premier will use her majority to decriminalise abortion. What’s certain is that after a first term criticised for hesitancy and inaction, and a narrow election win on the back of preferences, Palaszczuk intends to make her mark this time around.

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has happily hit the caps lock to cite the three Ps – patriotism, prosperity and pride – after Republicans reached a deal that will slash taxes for wealthy Americans and lower the corporate tax rate. But behind the joy he might be wondering what “upsetting” stories from the White House that Omarosa Manigault-Newman – formerly the administration’s most high-profile African American woman – plans to share. “When I can tell my story, it is a profound story that I know the world will want to hear,” she said in a media interview.

Media roundup

The Mercury focuses on the backlash from the gambling industry after Labor said it would phase out poker machines if elected in March. Federal Group said it would “decimate” the industry and hurt jobs. “Fight club” is the headline. The Sydney Morning Herald has a frankly beautiful front page today. Front and centre is the royal commission, portrayed via a handwritten quote from an abuse survivor: “I will not let your abuse of power and control take any more from me and my ability to hold on to life, to have hope and to speak out for other survivors.” The SMH joins the other Fairfax papers in also focusing on Bennelong’s John Alexander failing to declare rental income from a property in the southern highlands. The Daily Telegraph and the Courier-Mail follow up the Ashes spot-fixing investigation by their UK stablemate the Sun, splashing on news the ICC is going to hold an inquiry into the allegations. Alongside stills of the alleged “Mr Big”, the Tele has the headline “Wicket plan”, while the Mail goes for “Dirty little earn”.

Coming up

NAB is holding its AGM today. Expect some reaction to the bank’s announcement yesterday that it would no longer lend to thermal coal projects.

There is expected to be a judgment today in the Lloyd Rayney defamation trial. The Perth barrister has argued he is entitled to millions of dollars in compensation after being described by police as a prime suspect in his wife’s 2007 murder. Rayney was charged, tried and acquitted.

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