Your morning Briefing
Welcome to your morning roundup of what’s making news and the must-reads for today.
Good morning readers. Here is your two-minute digest of what’s making news today.
$5bn hit targets tech giants
Tax commissioner Chris Jordan will initiate joint forensic tax audits with other countries’ authorities, in an unprecedented escalation of his crusade to ensure the world’s biggest companies, including Amazon, Google and Facebook, pay their fair share of tax in Australia. In extensive interviews with The Australian, Mr Jordan reveals his blitz on multinationals has already reaped a $5 billion windfall in unpaid taxes for the Australian Taxation Office in just 16 months. He believes many more billions of dollars will come, and warns global giants to pay a proper amount of tax in Australia or face the consequences.
-
May rebukes Trump over tweets
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has rebuked US President Donald Trump after he retweeted videos from a British far-right political party purportedly showing Muslims committing acts of violence. The President retweeted three videos supposedly portraying a Muslim attacking a boy on crutches, another destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary and another showing Muslims beating a teenage boy to death. The videos were initially shared the far right anti-Muslim Britain First political party. Mrs May said: “British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right which is the antithesis of the values this country represents, decency, tolerance and respect.”
“It is wrong for the President to have done this.”
Theresa May
-
The gospel of Milo
Conspiracy theories are taking hold of Western civilisation, writes Milo Yiannopolis. There’s no ‘rape culture’ on college campuses. There’s no ‘gender pay gap’. It’s lies from angry feminists but if you bring any of this up, you’ll be called a misogynist, a sexist, a racist and perhaps something worse. Calling people names has become a substitute for argument for the bossy left-wingers who tell us lies while lecturing us about how we should live. The best weapons to fight back are laughter and facts.
-
GetUp! cashed up
Leftist political activist organisation GetUp! has finished the financial year with almost $3 million in the bank and campaign funding commitments of $1.7m, Margin Call reveals. GetUp!’s just filed accounts reveal the increasingly powerful outfit generated $18m in donations over the past two years, which it has funnelled into its sophisticated campaigns to stymie the conservative side of Australian politics.
-
Ban brawler Ben Stokes: Watson
Shane Watson believes Ben Stokes should be banned from the entire Ashes series, but there are unconfirmed reports the England Cricket Board has plans in place to ensure he could play in the third Test if he is cleared by the police. Stokes’ replacement in the side, Chris Woakes, says the team would “welcome him back with open arms”. The allrounder is under investigation for his part in a violent brawl outside a Bristol nightclub during the side’s one-day series in October.
-
Kudelka’s view
China’s great wall of silence
China deliberately concealed information about the coronavirus, and now it is fighting an inquiry. So what is Beijing hiding?
Your noon Briefing
Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.