OECD calls on Australia to raise GST and increase affordable housing amid budget deficit

The OECD has called on the government to broaden the GST, do more to reduce greenhouse emissions and adopt ambitious social housing targets as part of its annual economic survey of Australia.Ahead of Jim Chalmers’ fifth federal budget in May, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Australia’s economy was “now normalising”, after struggling through a lengthy period of weak growth following the pandemic.Interest rate cuts and a rebound in households’ real disposable incomes would drive average economic growth up to “a little more than 2% over the coming years”, it said in the report.Sign up: AU Breaking News email“But longstanding challenges of slower productivity growth, high housing costs and high carbon emissions need to be addressed.”The OECD called out the damage from Australia’s increasingly unaffordable housing market and backed federal and state-level efforts to boost home supply by easing land restrictions and increasing density

Trump paints himself as great white hope in racism-drenched Davos speech

Donald Trump turned up in Davos wielding an insult bazooka. He mocked Emmanuel Macron’s aviator sunglasses, chided Mark Carney (“Canada lives because of the United States”), asserted that the Swiss are “only good because of us” and had a dig at Denmark for losing Greenland “in six hours” during the second world war.But beyond the fractious rhetoric, the US president brought a deeper message on Wednesday that sought to unify the west rather than divide it. It was his most dark, insidious and sinister project of all.Trump surmised: Yes, we might have our internal squabbles, but I am bringing tough love because we are all in this together

My analogue month: would ditching my smartphone make me healthier, happier – or more stressed?

When I swapped my iPhone for a Nokia, Walkman, film camera and physical map, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But my life soon started to changeWhen two balaclava-clad men on a motorbike mounted the pavement to rob me, recently, I remained oblivious. My eyes were pinned to a text message on my phone, and my hands were so clawed around it that they didn’t even bother to grab it. It wasn’t until an elderly woman shrieked and I felt the whoosh of air as the bike launched back on to the road that I looked up at all. They might have been unsuccessful but it did make me think: what else am I missing from the real world around me?Before I’ve poured my first morning coffee I’ve already watched the lives of strangers unfold on Instagram, checked the headlines, responded to texts, swiped through some matches on a dating app, and refreshed my emails, twice

Big tech continues to bend the knee to Trump a year after his inauguration

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, the Guardian’s US tech editor.One year ago today, Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States. Standing alongside him that day were the leaders of the tech industry’s most powerful companies, who had donated to him in an unprecedented bending of the knee. In the ensuing year, the companies have reaped enormous rewards from their alliance with Trump, which my colleague Nick Robins-Early and I wrote about last month after Trump signed an executive order prohibiting states from passing laws regulating AI

Offshore gambling operators using Australian Open to promote illegal services

Offshore gambling operators are using the Australian Open to promote their illegal services, sparking calls for sweeping bans on the unlicensed websites.Australian regulators and sporting professionals have expressed rising concern at the growth of offshore sites, where gamblers are not protected by Australian consumer law and have no guarantee they can withdraw their winnings.One unlicensed offshore e-casino, Vegastars, has offered a giveaway of front row tickets to a night session of the tournament at Rod Laver Arena and a $500 flight voucher.Australian Instagram users were among the 2,500 accounts to comment on Vegastars’ promotional post, which featured the Australian Open logo even though the tournament is not affiliated with the promotion.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailAt least three more unlicensed sites have used the championship’s logo and photos of tennis stars in their social media promotions, while another 10 have advertised Australian Open-themed promotions online

Hans Herrmann obituary

Before leaving his home in Stuttgart to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the summer of 1970, the German racing driver Hans Herrmann promised his wife, Magdalena, that if he won, he would retire from the cockpit. This was his 14th attempt at the French sports car classic and, at 42, he was not expecting to have to honour his pledge.But win he did. He and his co-driver, Richard Attwood, a former Jaguar apprentice, held the lead in their Porsche 917K for the last 12 hours of a race run on a rain-drenched track so treacherous that only seven cars out of 51 starters were able to reach the finish.It was the last event in a career that had seen Herrmann, who has died aged 97, compete in 19 Formula One grands prix for various teams, including Mercedes-Benz, for whom he finished third in the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix on the fast and tricky Bremgarten circuit in Bern