TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
The boss of Australia's top domestic security organisation is warning there's a rise in 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."
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US President Donald Trump has responded 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."
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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 are 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.
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The federal government will spend 2.4 billion dollars to bail out the Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia after it was placed into administration, following financial difficulties for the previous owners, the GFG Alliance.
100 million dollars will be spent in immediate, on the ground support.
384 million dollars will be spent to stabilise the steelworks.
And 1.9 billion dollars will be spent to stabilise the steelworks' future, working with a new owner to invest in upgrades and new infrastructure.
The steelworks is one of only two in Australia, and produces 75 per cent of Australia's structural steel.
Mr Albanese says steel manufacturing is too important for the government to take any other course of action.
"All the things that we dig up out of the ground, like our iron ore, like our coal, like everything else that comes out of the ground in this country... we cannot just be a quarry that exports things overseas, waits for jobs to be created, waits for value to be added, and then imports it back. That makes no sense."
That was SBS News In Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
