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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump flags tariff hike that may impact Australia
Australian exporters may be hit with tariffs of up to 20 percent at the US border, after President Donald Trump flagged a hike in the baseline duty for all imports. Trump suggested the minimum tariff for countries that do not negotiate separate trade deals may double. Speaking at a press conference at his luxury golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland on Monday (Tuesday, AEST), the US president said the blanket tariff would affect 'the rest of the world', having secured exemption deals with major economies including Japan and the European Union. Asked what the new rate would be, he said: 'I would say it'll be somewhere in the 15 to 20 percent range. 'Probably one of those two numbers'. The baseline tariff is currently set at 10 percent and is applied to most goods sent to the US by about 200 countries including Australia. Despite mounting pressures on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his government has been unable to secure an exemption ahead of an August 1 deadline. Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson said the latest announcement exposed the damage caused by Albanese's failure to establish a relationship with Trump, having still not met him face-to-face. The Prime Minister sought to discuss the tariffs with Trump during the G7 summit in Canada last month but the US President left ahead of schedule due to the Israel-Iran conflict. Mr Paterson added it seemed Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd also had no meetings at the White House since Trump was sworn in in January, having previously mocked and criticized the US president. 'I suspect we would know about it if he had, I suspect it would be all over social media if he had, so I think it's a reasonable inference now that there has been no meetings.' For its part, the Albanese government has restated its opposition to the tariffs but downplayed what it said about Australia-US relations. 'We are a country that relies on trade, we are a country with a very high proportion of jobs that rely on trade,' Assistant Treasurer Dan Mulino told Sky News. 'That remains the position of this government. So, we would rather a situation in which the world doesn't go down the path of imposing tariffs. 'But what I can say is that Australia remains in a situation where we've got as good a deal as anybody, and we continue to engage with the US Government intensely on these matters.' A spokesperson for Trade Minister Don Farrell said Australia would continue to engage 'at all levels' to advocate for the removal of the tariffs. 'We, as the opposition, disagree with Trump's tariff policy, but again, it reinforces the urgency and the great disappointment that our prime minister hasn't had a face-to-face meeting with Trump,' he said. 'He needs to go over there and prosecute the case, to argue Australia's case, but also to stand up for free trade across the globe, because the importance of it for us as a trading nation, as Australia.' It comes only days after Australia lifted its ban on importing US beef - eliminating a key reason cited by the Trump administration for its tariff on Aussie goods. Mr Albanese insisted the move was the outcome of a biosecurity review that had been underway for years rather than a backdown in the face of tariffs, but US officials have celebrated it as a win for the president. 'This is yet another example of the kind of market access the president negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way,' US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said.
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Minister 'weaponising' Savile will make Labour MPs queasy - but there's a bigger risk
Why you can trust Sky News Sometimes governments blindly idle into political fights and sometimes they go windmilling in with purpose. The extraordinary row picked by Peter Kyle on Sky News on Tuesday is most definitely the later of these two. The science secretary's reference to Jimmy Savile was no slip of the tongue. Ministers seem to believe Reform UK has made a misjudgement in pledging to scrap internet safety laws, given the massive unease across the country about what children are viewing online. As a result, Kyle is trying to point at their position by stoking a spat with (some would say) inflammatory language that sucks up media attention. It's not exactly a new technique. Think back to 2023 and Labour did something very similar when it ran attack ads accusing Rishi Sunak of not wanting to lock up child abusers - in a bid to draw attention to the criminal justice system. Go even further back, and it's essentially the same strategy employed on the red Brexit bus in 2016 with its pledge to divert money from the EU to the NHS. All heavily disputable claims that are made to start a row and move the spotlight onto a politically convenient topic. But the risk inherent in tactics like this is that it makes some on your own side feel a little icky. The last politician to invoke Jimmy Savile as part of a political attack was Boris Johnson when he accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to investigate the serial child abuser when he was the country's head prosecutor. That led to the resignation of the then prime minister's top policy aide. There will be plenty in Labour who feel similarly queasy about a cabinet minister weaponising one of the country's most notorious paedophiles to lay into an opposition party. The bigger risk though is whether Peter Kyle will really emerge victorious from this fight. Nigel Farage is going for the Online Safety Act in part because it fits with his party's narrative around mainstream politics trying to silence the concerns of ordinary people. Those disenfranchised sections of society are a key group of voters that Reform are trying to reach. Whether they are outweighed by those put off the party by its recent pronouncements remains to be seen.
Sky News
4 hours ago
- Sky News
CTE: Brain disease linked to head impacts in sport 'could have contributed' to Manhattan mass shooting
The man who shot dead four people inside a New York City skyscraper had left a note claiming he had CTE, a brain disease that has been linked to American football. It's believed the gunman, 27-year-old Shane Tamura, was targeting the headquarters of the NFL but took the wrong lift. The NFL occupies floors five to eight in the skyscraper - but Tamura ended up on floor 33. He had driven from Las Vegas, almost the breadth of the country, to reach 345 Park Avenue, in the heart of midtown Manhattan. CTE can only be diagnosed by studying the brain after death, but in a three-page note discovered by police, Tamura made repeated references to the condition. In his note, which was written on notepad paper and using a variety of ink, he writes: "CTE study my brain please. I'm sorry." He also refers to Terry Long, a former NFL player who starred for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was diagnosed with CTE after drinking anti-freeze to take his own life 20 years ago. Of course, there can be no conceivable justification to commit such a horrific act. But the attacker's note will bolster calls for more investigation into a possible link between head injuries on the football field and violent crime. Tamura never played for the NFL but had a very successful high school career in Southern California and was well liked by his coaches and teammates. 1:58 It's not known what he did after high school, however he seemed to harbour animosity towards the NFL. "The league knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits," he writes in his note. "They failed us." A Sky News investigation last year explored the link between CTE and violent attacks, including mass murder. We looked at the case of Noah Green, who was 25 when he crashed into a security cordon protecting the Capitol Building in Washington DC and stabbed police officer William Evans, killing him, before he was shot dead. It was a murder which seemed to have little to do with American football. 9:03 But Green's mother, Mazie, told me she believes his crime was caused by brain injuries sustained on the American football field. He had been a star player in high school but she said his personality changed after repeated concussions. "He started these bad headaches. Real bad headaches," she said "He's like, 'I've got to get out of the country. They're going to kill me'." Mazie believes Noah was suffering paranoia. After his death, the FBI recommended that his brain be examined. The diagnosis came back as stage 1 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. It is a disease caused by repetitive head trauma. Symptoms include paranoia, aggression and impulse control problems. The theory of a link between CTE and violent crime is increasingly cited in court. Kellen Winslow, a former NFL player, argued for his sentence for multiple rapes to be reduced because of head trauma on the football field. Former San Francisco 49ers star Phillip Adams shocked the country when he shot dead six people, including grandparents and their two grandchildren, then himself, in 2021. He had severe CTE. Brain banks, including the National Sports Brain Bank in Pittsburgh, ask former footballers to donate their brains for study after death. Dr Julia Kofler told me she can't rule out a link between CTE and violent crime. "It's really difficult to draw any conclusions about what motivates someone to commit a crime based just on their pathology," she said. "We certainly know that neurodegenerative diseases can cause all sorts of different, behavioural changes and changes in executive function and judgment. So it certainly could have contributed." The horrific mass murder committed by Shane Tamura, coupled with ramblings about CTE in the note he left behind, will intensify calls for further scrutiny of safety precautions that might be taken in contact sports.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
English cricket goes into bat with bulk of £520m Hundred windfall
English cricket's governing body will on Wednesday hail a landmark moment for the sport when it announces that three-quarters of the deals to bring in new investors to The Hundred have been completed. Sky News understands that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) plans to issue a statement confirming that it has received proceeds from the sale of stakes in Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Southern Brave and Welsh Fire. The two other franchise deals - involving the Oval Invincibles and Nottinghamshire's Trent Rockets - will be completed on October 1, the ECB is expected to say. One insider said a statement was likely to be issued on Wednesday, although they cautioned that the timing could slip. When all eight deals are concluded, they will generate a collective windfall of £520m for the sport's strained coffers. Last week, Sky News revealed that unresolved talks between India's richest family and Surrey County Cricket Club - which hosts the Oval Invincibles Hundred team - were threatening to delay the delivery of a vast windfall for the sport. One of the outstanding issues relates to the name under which the Oval Invincibles will play in future years, with the Ambani family keen to use a derivative of the Mumbai Indians brand that it also owns. This week's announcement will come after months of talks after the ECB and the eight Hundred-playing counties agreed exclusivity periods with their preferred investors. The backers include some of the world's most prominent financiers, billionaires and technology executives. Following protracted talks, the ECB has agreed to revised terms with the investors, with host venues now retaining control of their teams' intellectual property rights. The investors will also hold an effective veto over future expansion of the Hundred, while the ECB will be barred from launching any other short-form professional version of the sport while the Hundred remains operational. Meanwhile, the governing body will retain full ownership of the competition itself as well as controlling the regulation of it and the window within which it can be played each year. The ECB has been waiting for investors in the eight franchises to sign participation agreements since an auction in February which valued the participating teams at just over £975m. Some of the deals involve the investors owning 49% of their respective franchise, while India's Sun TV Network has taken full ownership of Yorkshire's Northern Superchargers. The proceeds of its stake sales will be distributed to all of English cricket's professional counties as well as £50m being delivered to the grassroots game. The windfalls are being seen as a lifeline for many cash-strapped counties which have been struggling under significant debt piles for many years. The most valuable Hundred sale saw a group of technology tycoons, including executives from Google and Microsoft, paying about £145m for a 49% stake in Lords-based London Spirit. This year's kicks off next week with fixtures including a clash between the two London-based franchises. The ECB declined to comment.
Sky News
4 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News
English cricket goes into bat with bulk of £520m Hundred windfall
Why you can trust Sky News English cricket's governing body will on Wednesday hail a landmark moment for the sport when it announces that three-quarters of the deals to bring in new investors to The Hundred have been completed. Sky News understands that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) plans to issue a statement confirming that it has received proceeds from the sale of stakes in Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Southern Brave and Welsh Fire. The two other franchise deals - involving the Oval Invincibles and Nottinghamshire's Trent Rockets - will be completed on October 1, the ECB is expected to say. One insider said a statement was likely to be issued on Wednesday, although they cautioned that the timing could slip. When all eight deals are concluded, they will generate a collective windfall of £520m for the sport's strained coffers. Last week, Sky News revealed that unresolved talks between India's richest family and Surrey County Cricket Club - which hosts the Oval Invincibles Hundred team - were threatening to delay the delivery of a vast windfall for the sport. One of the outstanding issues relates to the name under which the Oval Invincibles will play in future years, with the Ambani family keen to use a derivative of the Mumbai Indians brand that it also owns. This week's announcement will come after months of talks after the ECB and the eight Hundred-playing counties agreed exclusivity periods with their preferred investors. The backers include some of the world's most prominent financiers, billionaires and technology executives. Following protracted talks, the ECB has agreed to revised terms with the investors, with host venues now retaining control of their teams' intellectual property rights. The investors will also hold an effective veto over future expansion of the Hundred, while the ECB will be barred from launching any other short-form professional version of the sport while the Hundred remains operational. Meanwhile, the governing body will retain full ownership of the competition itself as well as controlling the regulation of it and the window within which it can be played each year. The ECB has been waiting for investors in the eight franchises to sign participation agreements since an auction in February which valued the participating teams at just over £975m. Some of the deals involve the investors owning 49% of their respective franchise, while India's Sun TV Network has taken full ownership of Yorkshire's Northern Superchargers. The proceeds of its stake sales will be distributed to all of English cricket's professional counties as well as £50m being delivered to the grassroots game. The windfalls are being seen as a lifeline for many cash-strapped counties which have been struggling under significant debt piles for many years. The most valuable Hundred sale saw a group of technology tycoons, including executives from Google and Microsoft, paying about £145m for a 49% stake in Lords-based London Spirit. This year's kicks off next week with fixtures including a clash between the two London-based franchises.
