Donald Trump has held a rally in Washington DC on the night before his second White House stint begins. “Starting tomorrow, I will act with historic speed of strength and fix every single crisis facing our country,” the US president-elect said, teeing up a barrage of executive orders targeting illegal immigration, transgender rights and other rightwing priorities.
The Australian billionaires Anthony Pratt and Gina Rinehart are all aboard the Trump 2.0 train, pledging their loyalty via full-page ads in US newspapers. The rapper Nelly has defended his decision to perform at Trump’s inauguration, which falls on Martin Luther King Day.
Top news
Ninety Palestinian prisoners released by Israel as part of Gaza ceasefire deal
Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan
Two teenagers die after Sunshine Coast waterfall accident and failed rescue attempt
Medics remove tumour using keyhole surgery through eye socket in UK first
In pictures
Our selection of the weekend’s best photos from around the world shows Taylor Swift was an interested onlooker as the NFL playoffs edge closer to the Super Bowl.
What they said …
***
“I considered it to be humour, which is consistent with most things I do.”
The veteran broadcaster Tony Jones has issued an apology to Novak Djokovic after comments he made at the Australian Open led to the Serbian tennis star boycotting Channel Nine’s coverage of the tournament.
In numbers
New analysis shows that local billionaire wealth rose by 8% last year, equating to tycoons such as Gina Rinehart making over 1,300 times more than the average person’s pay.
Before bed read
Navigating the next 100 days of Australian politics online will require sharp teeth to discern fact from fiction, Ed Coper warns, after Meta decided it would “officially end its relationship” with the third-party factcheckers whose job it was to do this for users.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: VENT. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter.
And check out the full list of our local and international newsletters, including The Stakes, your guide to the twists and turns of the US presidential election.
