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| | | | 05/03/2025 Zelenskyy vows to work with Trump, big tech pushes back on youth ban, Australia lose to India |
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| Martin Farrer |  |
| | | Good morning. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he’s prepared to work under Donald Trump’s “strong leadership” to bring about peace in Ukraine. Meanwhile, British MPs attacked “disrespectful” JD Vance and Justin Trudeau called Trump’s tariffs “very dumb” as the US president prepares for a major speech on trade. At home, technology companies are complaining about what they say is a glaring omission in the Albanese government’s social media ban for under-16s, there are shocking new figures on how much Australians lose on gambling, and Australia have been dumped out of the Champions Trophy by India. |
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Australia | |
| Alfred alarm | Residents of low-lying suburbs in Brisbane are sandbagging their homes and hoping for the best as Tropical Cyclone Alfred threatens another flood in the city to match the 2022 inundation. Here’s what you need to know ahead of landfall, which is forecast for Thursday night. | Tech backlash | Meta, TikTok and Snapchat have criticised the Albanese government’s handling of the social media ban for under-16s, launching a campaign against what they have labelled an “irrational” and “shortsighted” decision to exempt YouTube from the contested legislation. | Bad bets | Australians are losing more money to gambling each year than the federal government spends on aged care and almost as much as it spends on the national disability insurance scheme, a new report has found. | AI fears | Australian writers, literary agents and the industry’s peak body have expressed their concerns after the Melbourne publisher Black Inc Books asked its authors to consent to their work being used to train artificial intelligence. | Heavy metal | Donald Trump’s trade adviser has accused Australian companies of a “frontal assault” on America’s aluminium industry. But Australia only accounts for 3% of US imports of the metal, so what’s he talking about? |
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World | |
| ‘Very dumb’ | China and Canada have announced retaliatory measures against the US after Donald Trump imposed his sweeping tariffs plan. Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, called Trump’s plan “very dumb”. | Zelenskyy pledge | Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed a possible peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, saying he is willing to work “constructively” under Trump’s “strong leadership” and to sign a deal giving the US access to his country’s mineral wealth. British MPs earlier accused JD Vance of being “deeply disrespectful” after he cast doubt on whether troops from “some random country” – currently Britain and France – could keep the peace in Ukraine. The European Commission has an €800bn (A$1.35tn) plan to bolster Europe’s defence industry. All in all, Ukraine has the firepower to fight on. | Trump address | Donald Trump will set out his goals for his second term when he addresses Congress later today. Here’s what you need to know about his speech, which starts around 1pm AEDT – follow it live. His health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has caused alarm with an opinion piece that focuses on vitamin A and nutrition as treatments for measles. | Gaza rebuild | Egypt has proposed a US$53bn ($85bn) plan to rebuild Gaza in a rushed attempt to present an alternative to Donald Trump’s idea for a property development-style plan. | Mammoth effort | A project by US scientists to revive the woolly mammoth has managed to create a new species: the woolly mouse. |
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Full Story | |
| Trump v Zelenskyy and the 10-minute tirade that changed the world Washington bureau chief David Smith tells Nour Haydar why the withholding of US military support is a “devastating blow” to Ukraine and what it means for a changing international order. | | |
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In-depth | |
| After the release of gender pay gap data on Tuesday, we now know which radio station pays men twice as much as women, which bank has a pay gap nearly double the national average, and which large supermarket chain pays the best. Kate Lyons crunches the numbers. |
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Not the news | |
| The latest instalment of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix portfolio landed on the streaming service overnight. Our TV reviewer thinks With Love, Meghan, in which the duchess gives tips on how to be a perfect hostess (or something like that), “vibrates with vacuous joylessness”. Marina Hyde writes that Meghan could have accidentally made an important TV show by inadvertently portraying the death of the social-media/celebrity obsessed world washed away by Trump’s global realpolitik. And then there are five key takeaways on crudites, daytime drinking and gardening porn. |
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Sport | |
| Cricket | Australia’s Champions Trophy hopes are over after their old foe Virat Kohli guided India to a four-wicket win in a blockbuster semi-final showdown in Dubai. | AFL | We continue our countdown to the new AFL season with a prediction of how the top eight will fill out – and ask if this is Collingwood’s last chance before a rebuild? | Football | The proper knockout rounds begin in the Champions League this morning with the pick of the ties being the Real v Atlético Madrid derby and Arsenal’s trip to PSV. Follow the matches live. |
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Media roundup | Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to dump 1,000mm of rain on the Gold Coast when it makes landfall tomorrow, according to the Bulletin. The Telegraph says the coming storm means the Dolphins’ NRL home game against Souths has been moved, and the Herald Sun says AFL’s opening weekend has also been affected. A homeowner in Frankston has agreed to pull down his DIY sea wall after complaints, the Age reports. |
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What’s happening today | Canberra | Economists Cherelle Murphy, Leonora Risse and Diana Mousina address the National Press Club for the Women in Economics Network pre-budget address. | Economy | National income figures released by ABS at 11.30am. |
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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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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.
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| Lenore Taylor
Editor, Guardian Australia |
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