Midday News Bulletin 20 February 2025

SBS NEWS OK AUDIO 16X9 DAY.png

Source: SBS News

Australia's spy chief details foiled plots by radicalised children; Donald Trump fires back at Volodymyr Zelenskyy in their public feud; And in football, Manchester City out of the Champions League after being crushed by Real Madrid.


Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with

In this bulletin;
  • Australia's spy chief details foiled plots by radicalised children;
  • Donald Trump fires back at Volodymyr Zelenskyy in their public feud;
  • And in football, Manchester City out of the Champions League after being crushed by Real Madrid.
The boss of Australia's top domestic security organisation is warning there's a rising tide of children being targeted by extremist content online- and says big social media companies have to play a big role in stopping it, via algorithms that power their products.

ASIO's Director General, Mike Burgess, has revealed in his annual threat assessment speech ASIO disrupted five plots to perform terrorist attacks in last year- and almost all of them involved children.

He says the digital world is influencing some children more than the face-to-face world, and some children can be radicalised online very quickly.

Mr Burgess says his organisation is having to change the way it does business to counter the threats.

"You cannot spy your way to less youth radicalisation. In this environment, national security truly is national security- it's everybody's business. Intelligence agencies such as ASIO will need to expand their partnerships beyond the traditional, but still critical, law enforcement and security relationships, to include education, health, social services, and big tech."



US President Donald Trump has fired back strongly in his public argument with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying Mr Zelenskyy is a dictator who doesn't hold elections and won't even have a country to lead soon if he doesn't move quickly for peace with Russia.

This came in response to Mr Zelenskyy saying Mr Trump was being influenced by Russian disinformation, in reference to Mr Trump's remarks that Ukraine started the war with Russia.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister has, in turn, hit back at Mr Trump, saying Ukraine will defend its right to exist.

Mr Zelenskyy's latest public comments have been firm, but a little more conciliatory.

He says everyone needs to decide whether they stand with Russian President Vladimir Putin, or stand for peace.

"We stand strong on our two feet. I rely on Ukrainian unity, on our Ukrainian courage, on our relations with partners, on our European solidarity, and on America’s pragmatism, because America needs success just as much as we do. Success brings us together. Our unity is the strongest safeguard of our future, a future not with Putin, but with peace. And this is a choice for the whole world, especially for the strongest nations: to stand with Putin or with peace. The right choice is peace. I thank everyone for their support."



The value of regional properties is growing faster than those in the capital cities.

The latest data from property date firm CoreLogic shows a one per cent rise in regional property values in the three months to January, as opposed to 0.7 per cent fall in the cities.

Places like Gladstone, Townsville, and Mackay in Queensland, and Bunbury and Busselton in Western Australia, have added at least $100,000 to their median property price in the past year.

Accordingly, rents in regional areas went up 1.6 per cent, as opposed to 0.3 per cent in the cities.

But CoreLogic warns regional prices won't be growing this fast for long.

They say the broader annual trend in rental growth is continuing to moderate.



In football, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola says his club has no choice but to accept that they're not as good as they once were.

Manchester City has been eliminated from the European Champions League at the knockout phase playoff stage, after being beaten three goals to one by defending champions Real Madrid.... the final score over the two legs was six goals to three.

Kylian Mbappe scored all three second leg goals for Real.

Guardiola, who will leave his post at Manchester City at the end of this season, has told Stan Sport his club has to be happy with what they have been able to achieve over the years in the competition.

"We were so lucky for many years in this competition. We were so satisfied to win it once, and arrive at the final another time. In the process, we have to accept that, right now, we are not close enough to be there, and we will see what happens in the future."

Elsewhere in the Champions League, Dutch side PSV Eindhoven has upset Italian giants Juventus in extra-time to also qualify for the final sixteen.

Share