Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.
1.
Trump’s trilat: US President Donald Trump said Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine and pledged to pursue a trilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin and Volodymir Zelensky that he said could end the war. Speaking at a hastily arranged White House summit with European leaders just days after meeting with Putin in Alaska, Trump again said a peace deal could be reached without a ceasefire, an idea opposed by Zelensky and most European leaders. “President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine. And this is one of the key points that we need to consider, and we’re going to be considering that at the table,” Trump said. “I’m optimistic that collectively, we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine. We also need to discuss the possible exchange of territory,” Trump added. “Ultimately this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelensky and by the people of Ukraine, working also in agreement with President Putin.” European leaders pushed for strong security guarantees with some also pressing for a cease-fire. Hours earlier, Russian attacks on Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia killed at least 10 civilians, including two children. (Capital Brief)(Bloomberg)(WSJ)(Reuters)(NYT)
2.
AI downunder: The Labor government's point man on the digital economy, Andrew Charlton, held talks with a senior OpenAI executive to pitch the idea of Australia as a data centre hub capable of hosting artificial intelligence platforms. Charlton also met with C-Suite executives from Google, Anthropic, Nvidia, Amazon Web Services and Groq to discuss the data centre hub idea. The visit comes as Tech Council of Australia chair Scott Farquhar's proposal to loosen copyright laws to encourage Big Tech giants to train their AI models in Australia has raised alarms within creative communities and the media. Ahead of the economic roundtable in Canberra, the Productivity Commission also floated the idea that Australia's copyright laws may need to be updated for the AI age. Charlton met with OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap and chief strategy officer Jason Kwon during a trip to the US last week. (Capital Brief)
