Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 19 October.

Top stories

The UK trade secretary and the US Treasury secretary have joined key European partners in pulling out out of a major economic forum in Saudi Arabia, in response to the alleged murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. Reports of Khashoggi’s gruesome murder at the hands of a gang of 15 men with links to the Saudi royal court have already led to many western media firms and bankers pulling out, and the political lead from the UK and US is likely to accelerate the boycott. Other major players to drop out include the International Monetary Fund, Google, Uber, the New York Times and the Financial Times.

Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK’s head of policy and government affairs, welcomed the cancellations, calling it “a recognition of the fact that cheerleading for business in Saudi Arabia when the country is accused of murdering a journalist is simply beyond the pale”.

More and more Australians are suffering from loneliness, prompting a state MP to call for the appointment of a minister for loneliness to tackle the problem, which is estimated to affect one in 10 people. A UK study has found that chronic isolation can be as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and lonely people are more likely to have health and social problems. As the problem worsens Fiona Patten, a Victoria upper house MP, has proposed that the state appoint a minister for loneliness to work across health, infrastructure, justice and communities portfolios.

MPs on the joint select committee on recognition have been told that the constitution’s power to “enable” and “permit” racial discrimination should be removed as quickly as possible. The former social justice commissioner Mick Gooda told the committee yesterday that Australia was “the only country in the world that has empowered our federal parliament to make laws based on race” in a provision used against Aboriginal people since 1967. Gooda cited the Northern Territory intervention legislation in 2007 as a time when that power was used to the detriment of Aboriginal people.

The UK is likely to remain under EU rules and laws beyond 2020 to give both sides in the Brexit negotiations time to negotiate a trade deal, the European commission president has said. “This prolongation of the transition period probably will happen,” Jean-Claude Juncker said. “It is a good idea. It is not the best idea the two of us had but it is giving us some room to prepare the future relationship in the best way possible.” When the UK prime minister, Theresa May, requested the transition period, she said it should be limited to a period of about two years, and said she did not believe the British people would “want the UK to stay longer in the existing structures than is necessary”. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, expressed cautious optimism that a Brexit deal is possible. “Where there is a will, there is a way, that is usually the case,” she said.

In five weeks Victorians will vote in elections which could have a crucial impact on what the state will look like in a generation. Both parties are touting lavish infrastructure projects, with the governing Labor party favouring a north Melbourne rail link and the opposition preferring faster trains to regional centres such as Geelong and Ballarat. As campaigning cranks into gear, you can catch up on what’s been happening with our regular weekly check-in.

Sport

Australian football has a grassroots participation base that is the envy of any other code but, after last season’s animosity, friction and wasted energy, season 14 kicks off tonight seeking to get the game back on an even keel, writes Richard Parkin.



Shaun Marsh has departed early as Australia face a second Test defeat to Pakistan. The Aussie struggles are not simply a case of bad luck, writes Geoff Lemon in his match report.

In the netball Australia has beaten New Zealand to retain the Constellation Cup,

with the Diamonds scoring 58-47 to secure the series in Wellington.

Thinking time

In September a coalition of Indigenous leaders, academics and community groups wrote to the federal government calling for urgent action on alarming levels of Indigenous incarceration. The response to the open letter has been disappointing, writes Robert Tickner. “Our vastly disproportionate rates of Indigenous imprisonment continue to shock the international community and leave an indelible stain on Australia’s heart and our human rights record. There is a growing realisation by people of goodwill that prison and criminal justice reform is a cause whose time has also come.”

‘I’ve wanted to do this since I was in diapers,’ says Coty Saucier, one of the drivers at the Sydney leg of the Monster Jam tour, the world’s biggest monster truck rally. Truck fans young and old packed into the ANZ Stadium last weekend to watch the blend of raw power and carnival kitsch. Rhianna Buchanan of Brisbane drives a machine called Wonder Woman. “She stands for strength, boldness, fighting for victory,” Buchanan says. “Monster trucks turn everyone into that seven-year-old kid again.”

The documentary film-maker Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 is a broadside against both the president and the Democratic establishment that failed to defeat him. He sat down with the Guardian’s Owen Jones to outline why he thinks a leftwing comeback is on the cards. “We have the power to crush Trump,” Moore says. “It’s getting more people out to vote. You’re never going to convince people who hate gay people – that’s a waste of time. Our energy has to be getting our own people to polls.”

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has threatened a military closure of the southern US border, in an attempt to stop a migrant caravan making its way north from Honduras. In a stream of twitter posts Trump labelled some of the migrants “criminals” and said he would resort to “stopping all payments” to Central American countries if Mexico did not intervene to “stop the onslaught”.

Media roundup

Brace yourself for higher food prices, says the Australian Financial Review. Higher fuel prices, a weak dollar and crop shortages as a result of the drought have combined to increase the cost of staples such as chicken, bread and cheese. Anti-secrecy campaigners warn South Australian police officers accused of misconduct are protected by a “cone of silence” which keeps internal investigations secret, the Adelaide Advertiser reports, and the “farcical” law urgently needs overhauling. And an Australian company is pushing ahead with plans to open a coal-fired power plant and mine in Papua New Guinea, the ABC reports, despite global calls to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Coming up

The chief executive of NAB bank will be questioned by MPs from the House economics committee.

The serial conman Peter Foster is to be sentenced in Sydney for a sports betting scam.

It’s the final full day of campaigning before the people of Wentworth choose their new MP tomorrow.

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