1. Trump meets Trudeau
A tale of two leaders.
One promotes so many females he crafts his country's first gender-balanced cabinet.
![US President Donald Trump greets Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.](/web/20170213205442im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/c/4/s/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gub8al.png/1487016656563.jpg)
The other boasts about grabbing them by the you-know-where.
Canada's PM Justin Trudeau has arrived in Washington to talk with US President Donald Trump. Trump has tweeted his meeting will include a group of business women to discuss women in the workforce. [Catherine Lucey/AP]
Justin Trudeau is looking at Trump's hand like he just read the Russian Dossier pic.twitter.com/XGpGF7O7LG
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) February 13, 2017
The two are opposites on a range of issues, not just their attitudes toward women – another obvious difference is Muslim immigration. Nice recap on all those issues by Evan Annett. [The Globe and the Mail]
But will the left's political superhero take on their "bad dude?" Don't count on it.
Trade is likely to be the focus, given Trump wants to rip up the trade agreement between Mexico, the US and Canada, often called NAFTA. [Reuters]
On the domestic front, watch this space on the scandal surrounding Trump's National Security Advisor Michael Flynn who is under fire for contacting the Russians about Obama's sanctions before Trump's inauguration and then lying about it. Like the proverbial bad tradesman, Trump is reportedly unhappy with numerous staff, including press secretary Sean Spicer and those who crafted his now defeated immigration ban. [Politico]
![US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday morning.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170213205442im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/r/f/y/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1486068876465.png)
US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: Bloomberg
In Australia, there's a strain of thinking that Turnbull's phone call managed to set Trump back on the straight and narrow with China and Japan. [Peter Hartcher/The Sydney Morning Herald]
And while we're in this space, Kevin Rudd says Malcolm Turnbull is no "Robinson Crusoe" when it comes to standing up to tetchy US presidents. The former PM pointed to his own dealings with George W. Bush as a prior example. [My Report/Fairfax]
Humming 'anything you can do..." right now...
2. Aus politics
Everyone on the left needs to sit up and notice Yassim Adbel-Magied, who was the star of the ABC's Q&A; last night.
Her debate (at times a yelling match) with the patently anti-Muslim Senator Jacqui Lambie is one of the best fight-backs to the discriminatory views now being normalised by the far-right (and to a degree by the Liberals) that I have seen to date.
Passionate but logical, this Sudanese born Australian is a lady to watch and surely has a big future in the debate in whatever forum she chooses.
And now to the ongoing furore of the WA Liberal Party's decision to aid the normalisation of One Nation, the other prominent Senate voice urging discriminatory policies against Muslims.
![Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170213205442im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/e/f/6/y/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1482360176745.png)
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.
Liberal powerbroker Mathias Cormann is reported to have stepped in to aid the deal with One Nation, along with fellow right-wing conservative Michaelia Cash. Some internal opponents are now blaming the pair. [David Crowe, Rosie Lewis/The Australian]
Another former PMs alert:
The WA Libs are hoping John Howard will bring some razzle dazzle to their campaign. [Andrew Burrell/The Australian]
![Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170213205442im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/i/y/i/e/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1482916460614.png)
Former prime minister Bob Hawke. Photo: James Jessup
Bob Hawke, a long-time supporter of Israel, has condemned Israel's expansionist policy in the West Bank and called for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to recognise Palestine. [Oped/Financial Review]
The AFR has a big story – former Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb has privately pushed Cabinet Minister Kelly O'Dwyer to hold a Royal Commission into the banks, backing Labor's policy. [Joanna Mather, Philip Coorey]
![Treasurer Scott Morrison with minister Christian Porter and minister Senator Simon Brimingham at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 13 February 2017. Photo: Andrew Meares](http://web.archive.org./web/20170213205442im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/b/m/x/m/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1486979130092.png)
Scott Morrison with Christian Porter and Senator Simon Brimingham. Photo: Andrew Meares
Scott Morrison and Christian Porter have decided the best way of securing funding for the publicly supported National Disability Insurance Scheme is to tie funding for the NDIS to their welfare spending cuts. (Insert thinking face emoji here!) [Adam Gartrell/Fairfax]
Timely analysis from Laura Tingle on how Christian Porter and Scott Morrison, two charisma-less leadership hopefuls, lack the political touch. [Financial Review]
And Scott Morrison's characteristic dismissal of calls to cooperate to reform the energy market earn him sharp criticism from Michelle Grattan, who says his approach is the sort of "arrogance that alienates voters." [The Conversation]
3. French elections
Far-right Front National candidate Marine Le Pen has visited Nice and walked along the Promenade des Anglais, where she cited last year's horrific terrorist attack in accusing the government of being soft on extremism. [Sky News]
The candidate in the lead, former Socialist minister now En Marche leader Emmanuel Macron, has become the victim of Russian fake news stories and hacking attacks, a sure sign of the threat he poses to Le Pen, whom Putin would favour given she supports quitting the European Union. [Sky News Britain]
There's a really fabulous profile of Macron in the New York Times. My must-read for today. [Adam Nossiter]
4. Avalanche in the Alps
Staying in France and an avalanche has killed at least four people in the ski resort of Tignes. [Reuters]
5. New destruction of Palymra
Heartbreaking.
Drone footage released by Russia's Defence Ministry shows Islamic State have demolished more parts of the ancient amphitheatre at Palymra. [AP]
6. Press photo of the year
AP's Burhan Ozbilici has won the World Press Photo competition for this photo he took of the Russian ambassador to Turkey's assassination.
.@AP photographer @BurhanOzbilici wins World Press Photo competition for image of Russian ambassador's assassin. https://t.co/4jEfWHBKxI pic.twitter.com/Grdu6XFRfI
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 13, 2017
But at least one of the judges disagrees that this particular image is worth heralding. [Stuart Franklin/The Guardian]
And that's it from me today – you can follow me on Facebook for more.