NEWS WRAP

Billion-dollar settlement in Fox election case

• Fox coughs up cash | The defamation case between Fox and voting equipment company Dominion has come to an abrupt end, with Fox agreeing to pay over A$1.1b to settle the defamation lawsuit over its 2020 election coverage. READ MORE HERE
   
• Fight over access to abortion pill looms | US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ordered a temporary halt to a Texas court ruling which would have restricted nation-wide access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Alito's actions give the Supreme Court justices more time to consider emergency appeals over access to the pill, which is used in over half of all US abortions. READ MORE HERE
   
• Gun violence continues nation-wide | A mass shooting at an Alabama birthday party and another shooting at a Louisville, Kentucky park kept gun violence on front pages and front of mind for Americans, even as an investigation into last week's shooting in a Louisville bank continues. READ MORE HERE
   
• UK tilts towards the Indo-Pacific | The United Kingdom joined the Steering Committee of the Blue Dot Network, a US-led infrastructure initiative widely seen as a response to China's Belt and Road Initiative. The announcement comes as UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly arrived in Japan this week as part of a post-Brexit focus on the Indo-Pacific. READ MORE HERE
   
• Disneyland Pride Nite | Disneyland announced it will host its first ever 'Pride Nite' event in June, in the wake of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' removal XXXX due to Disney's public opposition to Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' law. READ MORE HERE

ANALYSIS

Donald Trump joins OJ Simpson in US parade of celebrity, satire and scandal

Stephen Loosley AM, Non-Resident Senior Fellow 

The fascination with celebrity in America is now on full view with the charges against Trump being pursued by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. The surging media at the arraignment hearing in New York City is a reminder of earlier celebrity trials and the pitfalls that need to be avoided. The first and foremost is the loss of the presumption of innocence, whether it be for Trump or anyone else before a court.

The Trump charges raise the most serious challenge to the authority of the president of the United States since Richard Nixon fell on his sword rather than be impeached during the Watergate scandal of 1974.

True, there have been other scandals, such as the Iran Contra affair during the Reagan administration, or Bill Clinton’s tawdry liaison with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. But the charges against Trump involve allegations of consistent criminality.

This article was first published in The Australian.

VIDEO

The fight for democracy in Asia

The USSC and the National Endowment for Democracy hosted a special event to hear from leaders across the region about the state of play for democracy and how aligned countries can work together. The event featured a keynote address by Australian economist Professor Sean Turnell, who was imprisoned in Myanmar from 2021 to 2022, followed by a panel discussion with:

• Ambassador Yukio Takasu, Chair, Future of Democracy Study Project and Former Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
• Dr Sook Jong Lee, President Emeritus, Senior Fellow and Professor of Public Administration, Sungkyunkwan University
• Dr Henry Ivarature, Deputy Director, Strategic Engagement, Australia Pacific Security College, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
• Moderated by Dr Michael Green, CEO, United States Studies Centre

Catch this and other recent events on the USSC YouTube channel!

BY THE NUMBERS

The unit cost of an F-35 has halved

The unit cost of F-35s have tumbled since their first production run over a decade ago from well over US$200m per F-35A in Lot 1 (2007), to less than US$80m in Lot 14 (2020). Increased orders in the United States and abroad have helped to drive down costs.

As Professor Frank L. Smith III writes in the USSC's report released this week, cooperation between allies can help grow defence markets and drive down unit costs. The large sunk costs involved in defence research and production makes economies of scale an essential component of reasonably priced defence procurement.

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

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