| | 04/02/2025 Sam Kerr in court, Dutton poll boost, Trump delays Mexico tariffs |
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| | | Morning everyone. The long-awaited trial of Sam Kerr on charges of racially aggravated harassment began in London overnight with the court hearing that the incident stemmed from an altercation in a police station in the early hours. We have a full report, plus how more voters are increasingly seeing Peter Dutton as in touch with their concerns than Anthony Albanese, how Mexico’s president has talked Donald Trump down from his tariff threat – for now – and Cate Blanchett on the “distressing” aftermath of #MeToo. |
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| Australia | | Exclusive | More voters see Peter Dutton as in touch with ordinary Australians, decisive and better in a crisis than Anthony Albanese, with the opposition leader’s standing improving on key leadership indicators in our latest Guardian Essential poll. | ‘Stupid and white’ | Sam Kerr called a Metropolitan police officer “fucking stupid and white” after he doubted her claim of being abducted by a taxi driver, a court in London heard overnight. The Matildas star is accused of causing racially aggravated intentional harassment after a row with a cab driver ended up with an altercation with the officer at a police station. | Shark attack | A teenage girl has died after being bitten by a shark off Bribie Island near Brisbane, at a spot popular with surfers. | ‘Dark money’ | Almost $70m of “dark money” flowed to the major parties and the Greens in the past financial year, our analysis reveals, as the Albanese government pushes to pass laws to overhaul the opaque political donations regime. | Exclusive | The Greens have offered to water down their demands on the gambling ads bill in a challenge to Labor to push through legislation that was shelved last year. |
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| World | | Tariff ‘pause’ | Donald Trump and his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, have announced a one-month “pause” in threatened US tariffs after what she described as a “a good conversation” between the two leaders. The US president is having talks with Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, this morning as well. The news helped financial markets recover after they had been rocked amid concerns about US tariffs hurting the global economy. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said the bloc would stand up for itself if its interests were targeted. Former US Senate leader Mitch McConnell called the tariffs a “bad idea” but he is a lone voice as Republicans fall in behind Trump. | Moscow bomb | Armen Sarkisyan, a pro-Russia paramilitary leader from eastern Ukraine, has been killed along with his bodyguard after a bomb went off in the lobby of a Moscow apartment building. | Kiss off | The Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso has told a court that “one of the happiest moments” of her life was ruined when the then president of the Spanish Football Federation grabbed her and kissed her on the lips after Spain’s World Cup win in Sydney in August 2023. | Taliban ban | A senior Taliban minister who expressed support for reversing the ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan appears to have been forced to flee the country. | ‘Quite distressing’ | The Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett has said she finds the lack of change after the #MeToo movement eight years ago “quite distressing”. In France, after a landmark #MeToo trial, film director Christophe Ruggia has been found guilty of sexually assaulting an actor but was not jailed. |
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| Full Story | | | What a caravan filled with explosives has to do with antisemitism Reged Ahmad talks to Caitlin Cassidy and Jordyn Beazley about what happened after a caravan filled with explosives was found on a quiet Sydney street. | |
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| | | | | | | | | The most important news from Australia and the globe, as it breaks |
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| | Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties |
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| In-depth | | A leading energy industry expert says Peter Dutton has “no idea what he is talking about”, after the opposition leader claimed that slowing the rollout of renewable energy and backing nuclear power could bring down bills by 44% “or of that order”. Dr Dylan McConnell, of the University of New South Wales, said Dutton didn’t even understand his own policy. Check out our explainer for more analysis on the Coalition’s nuclear plans. |
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| Not the news | | Tinned sardines with Thai salad or poached chicken and mango salad aren’t the sort of things that kids might be expected to knock up for an after-school snack. But we asked celebrated Australian chefs such as Palisa Anderson and Rowena Chansiri what they liked to cook when they got home from school and this what they said. |
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| Media roundup | The Cairns Post has dramatic first-hand reporting on the flooding in far north Queensland with residents describing homes being “swallowed up” by rising waters. The Albanese government is launching a last-minute bid to toughen the anti-hate laws amid fears of rising antisemitism, the Age claims. The Financial Review boasts an exclusive with a report that the defence minister, Richard Marles, is flying to Washington to shore up relations with the US. |
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| What’s happening today | Sport | Case management hearing at supreme court of Victoria in player concussion cases against AFL. | Environment | NSW parliamentary inquiry into PFAS. | Perth | Sentencing for four climate activists over incident at the home of Woodside chief executive. |
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| Brain teaser | And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. | |
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| Contact us | | If you have a story tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email. If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email [email protected] |
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A message from Lenore Taylor editor of Guardian AustraliaI hope you appreciated this newsletter. Before you move on, I wonder if you would consider supporting our work as we prepare for a pivotal, uncertain year ahead.
The course of world history has taken a sharp and disturbing turn in 2024. Liberalism is under threat from populist authoritarianism. Americans have voted to install a president with no respect for democratic norms, nor the facts that once formed the guardrails of public debate.
That decision means an alliance critical to Australia’s national and economic security is now a series of unpredictable transactions, with a partner no longer committed to multilateralism, nor efforts to curb global heating, the greatest threat we face. We just don’t know where this will lead.
In this uncertain time, fair, fact-based journalism is more important than ever – to record and understand events, to scrutinise the powerful, to give context, and to counter rampant misinformation and falsehoods.
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| Lenore Taylor
Editor, Guardian Australia |
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