Good morning. The US is reeling after the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook a decade ago. Australia’s foreign relations are looking up, but Anthony Albanese has some tricky economic problems to get into at home. Here are the headlines to lead you into the day.
America is still absorbing the shock of another bloody mass shooting, a day after an 18-year-old man wearing body armour and carrying assault rifles entered a primary school in Texas and gunned to death at least 19 children and two adults. The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, said at a press conference that the shooter had posted on Facebook three times before his attack. The rightwing Abbott has presided over a weakening of gun regulations in Texas, despite repeated mass shootings in the state. He was confronted by the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, who called out: “You are doing nothing. You are all doing nothing.” As the gun control debate rages on, the international press has responded scathingly.
Eight months on from the Aukus rift, France has “huge hopes” of rebuilding its relationship with Australia, according to its ambassador, Jean-Pierre Thébault. He told Guardian Australia the Morrison government had been widely seen as “refusing to take responsibility” to act on the climate crisis, and the Albanese government’s stronger stance was a “gamechanger” that would open doors to more cooperation internationally.
Speaking of foreign policy, former intelligence chief Duncan Lewis has said Australia has been “rather louder than we should have been” in public criticism of China, as the Chinese foreign minister embarks on an “extraordinary” Pacific tour – and that given escalating regional tensions, the wiser approach would’ve been to “speak softly and carry a big stick”.
Meanwhile the UK’s partygate scandal continues. Sue Gray’s damning final report on the string of boozy Downing Street lockdown parties was published yesterday. But Boris Johnson has claimed that the aides who attended “genuinely believed that what they were doing was working” and, despite calls for him to step down, has no plans to resign.
Australia
Colin Boyce, the LNP’s new federal MP for the Queensland seat of Flynn, was a founding member of a club formed to promote climate science denial, and signatory to an international statement claiming “there is no climate emergency”.
Deaths from drug use rose in the first year of the pandemic to a rate not seen since Australia’s late 1990s peak. There were 1,842 drug-induced deaths in 2020, equivalent to five deaths a day, a report has found.
Meta has asked to be spared tighter rules in Australia, saying iPhone’s tracking blocker is hurting business. The company told the consumer watchdog it is set to lose $10bn this year in the wake of an Apple iOS feature hampering its ability to collect user data.
The world
Playing cards adorned with the Australian government’s “Zero Chance” campaign against “illegal migration” were distributed to refugee children in Indonesia by people trespassing on school grounds at the Cisarua refugee learning centre in West Java, the charity running the school alleges.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has accused Nato of “doing literally nothing” in the face of Russia’s invasion of his country. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kuleba praised the EU for its “revolutionary” decisions to back Kyiv but said the Nato military alliance had been “completely sidelined”.
Comments by Joe Biden suggesting major US policy changes in regard to defending Taiwan before Washington quickly rowed back have sparked concern that the confusion could escalate tensions. On Monday the president said the US would “get involved” if China attacked Taiwan, which some saw as a policy shift.
Kate Moss has given brief video testimony in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, dispelling a rumour that Depp had pushed her down a flight of steps when he was her boyfriend in the 1990s.
And in the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, son of the country’s former dictator, has been proclaimed president.
Recommended reads
Miiesha Young was discovered as a teenager in the tiny community of Woorabinda. In 2020, the Indigenous musician won the Aria award for best soul/R&B release for her debut album, Nyaaringu. But in the year after, Australia’s most promising neo-soul singer resolved to give it all up. She talks about losing her beloved grandmother, finding poetry in pain and a transformative trip to the desert.
As winter sets in, many in the southern states are donning scarves, beanies and puffer jackets, bracing for a season of colds and flu – and lower vitamin D levels. While it’s known to impact bone health, there’s growing evidence that vitamin D’s functions could be more extensive, with deficiencies linked to greater risk from respiratory infections. So what’s the deal with the hormone? How do you know if you’re deficient, and where do you get it?
From sluggish wages to red-hot inflation, there are some unusual things happening in Australia’s economy right now, Greg Jericho writes. Anthony Albanese has some tough problems on his plate. Here are seven of them.
Listen
The world may be on the verge of a “deep sea gold rush” with mining companies and countries – including the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru – vying for the rich minerals found on the seafloor. Environmentalists and other Pacific nations are calling for a moratorium on this mining until more can be learned about its impact. Today on Full Story, Kalolaine Fainu reports from Papua New Guinea on how it could threaten daily life in coastal communities.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
As a rookie in her first year on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour, Isabella Nichols coolly defeated seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore at the 2021 Newcastle Cup. She was catapulted into the mainstream by winning this month’s Margaret River Pro, and heads into the next event of the tour – the Roxy Pro at G-land in Indonesia – ranked fourth in the world. Australia’s latest surf star talks her Viking heritage, bouncing back from disappointment and why her role models are not “supermodel skinny”.
Australia’s cricketers have raised ethical concerns about touring Sri Lanka but will support a decision from officials to proceed with next month’s tour. They are due to fly out to Sri Lanka next week, with the island country in the midst of an economic crisis and political unrest.
The inaugural Europa Conference League final, between Roma and Feyenoord, is under way in the Albanian city of Tirana.
Media roundup
Marise Payne was warned flight caps would strand thousands overseas, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. According to the Australian, senior NSW Liberals have denied that failed Warringah candidate Katherine Deves was picked because her anti-trans views might “lure” conservative religious voters. And Perth is about to make the call on a two-year e-scooter trial, the West Australian says.
Coming up
The Yoorrook Justice Commission public hearings are under way in Victoria. The inquest into the death in custody of the Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson continues.
And if you’ve read this far …
Scientists have identified the “trigger molecule” for Covid-related changes to smell, which makes pleasant aromas smell like burning rubbish or sewage. You can blame 2-furanmethanethiol, found in coffee.
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