Fresh Warnings On Nuclear Costs, Us Health Bosses ‘hit List’, Assad Tomb Torched

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Morning, everyone. As the country waits for the Coalition to tell us how much it reckons nuclear power will cost, experts say it could be twice as much as the CSIRO has estimated.

Plus we look at government plans to force tech firms to continue paying for news from Australian media sites, how the US remains gripped by the shooting of the health insurance boss Brian Thompson, and the miraculous survival of a migrant girl off the coast of Italy.

Disease burden | Being overweight has overtaken smoking as the leading risk factor contributing to disease in 2024, the annual burden of disease study shows, with Australians losing 5.8m years of healthy life due to living with illness and injury, or dying prematurely.

Power blowout? | Energy experts have warned that the cost of building nuclear power plants in Australia could be more than double what the CSIRO has suggested, based on international experience.

Tech play | The Albanese government is expected to announce today a new scheme to force big tech companies including Meta to continue paying media publishers for news after a Morrison-era deal expired.

Cabinet sceptic | Queensland’s environment minister has told parliament he stands by his comments more than a decade ago that he was “a bit sceptical” about human involvement in climate change.

Rank behaviour | Victorians overcharged or refused a meter in taxis have little recourse, Australia’s biggest taxi firm says, as it joins a chorus of industry players calling for action to end the national crisis of cab drivers going rogue.