BTN Newsbreak 30/05/2025

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

TARIFF UPDATE
US president Donald Trump's tariffs are making headlines again today after hitting a bit of a road bump. It's been a back and forth battle in the world of US Tariffs. A tariff is a tax, or an extra cost, that governments put on products that come from another country. The idea is to encourage companies make their products locally. So how did we get here? At the start of April President Trump announced he'd be using his power as president to put tariffs on all imports to the US from around the world. But just yesterday the U.S. Court of International Trade said nope, because the president wasn't allowed to do that without approval from congress. The next day, the president's team appealed the court decision and won, which means for now the tariffs are still tariffing at least for now. The new court decision just puts a pause on the old court decision, so things could change again.
COVID STRAIN
Experts are worried about a new strain of COVID-19 that's spreading across the country. The NB.1.8.1 variant was first identified in January and health authorities think it could spread faster and more easily. So, they're urging Aussies to get a COVID-19 booster vaccine.
STATE OF ORIGIN
The State of Origin women's series has ended on a bit of a sour note for New South Wales. Despite winning the series after dominating in the first two games, Queensland came up trumps in game 3 last night to deny the Blues a clean sweep.
DINO SCHOOL
Now to rural Queensland, where a school found out that a rock sitting in its foyer is 200 million years old and covered in dinosaur footprints. About twenty years ago, this school in Biloela was given a slab of rock from a nearby mine. Then it just kind of sat in the foyer. But then one day, the school's head teacher decided to take a closer look and called in an expert. Dr Romilio then chucked some silicon on it to make a copy so he could study it and discovered it's covered in real dinosaur footprints. He reckons it was probably a shallow river-bed that a small two legged dinosaur, called an Ornithischian, used like a road, or more like a highway because there's so many footprints! 66 of them across 13 different tracks, making this two-hundred-million year old rock a very rare piece our country's dinosaur past.
FAKE SAUSAGE ROLL
First up, to a real sausage roll. A real fake one. Yes, this is a very realistic wax model, painstakingly created by the team at Madame Tussauds. After making a mould of the clay sculpture, they cast a copy using wax, and spent a long time painting it to get it looking just right. It'll go on display in London ahead of their national sausage roll day on the 5th of June.
REPLICA SHIP
Now, staying in London, where another real replica is on display. This is a copy of the ship on which famous explorer Christopher Columbus sailed when he reached the Americas back in the 15th century. Arguably one of the most famous ships in all of history, this replica is kitted out with period-accurate cannons and journals. It's open to the public to explore before it sets off again next month.
CROCODILE CLASS
At a crocodile park in Morocco, young people are learning the important role reptiles – including crocs – play in the wild. It's part of a special program run by the park, which says it's really important to teach the next generation all about the environment.