Good morning.

1. Scott Morrison has pledged at least $2 billion in investment over the next 2 years for a “bushfire recovery fund” to help rebuild devastated regions. The money, which will be allocated by a new agency headed up by former AFP boss Andrew Colvin, will be provided to local governments, farmers and small businesses. Seems like Scott is deflecting the laser beam of criticism directed at him over the past few weeks the old-fashioned way: with cash.

2. While we’re on that, a reminder you can help too. Here are 8 organisations you can donate to to assist with bushfire recovery – every little bit counts.

3. Tourism Australia’s flashy new ad campaign fronted by Kylie Minogue is on pause. The ‘Matesong’ campaign obviously looks a little incongruous with the devastation across the country right now, so it’s probably best to park it. “In light of the current situation in Australia, we have reduced some of our campaign activity in the UK and will continue to review our planned activity over the coming months,” a spokesperson told us.

4. One last bushfires-related update for you. Our gaze turns now to the likely economic effect of the blazes. AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver estimates the fires will wipe off 0.25% to 1% of the country’s GDP growth this year, or roughly somewhere between $3 billion and $13 billion. With that, and ScoMo’s new bushfire recovery fund, the government’s much-vaunted budget surplus looks to be on shaky ground.

5. Los Angeles prosecutors announced new sex crime charges against Harvey Weinstein, right as his trial begins in New York. The indictment from the Los Angeles district attorney’s office lists four total felony counts against Weinstein. The disgraced producer is pleading not guilty in the New York case, and has denied sexual misconduct occurred, or said it was consensual.

6. If you were labouring under the laughable assumption TVs simply could not get any thinner, prepare to eat crow. Samsung unveiled its new 8K TV, the Q950, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – featuring a screen-to-body ratio of almost 99%. I don’t even have a 4K TV yet. The eggheads at the tech companies need to slow down.

7. More on the daring escape of Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn from Japan. Ghosn was concealed in a crate for transporting musical instruments that was too large for the baggage scanners in the private terminal of Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, according to the Wall Street Journal. The crate wasn’t searched, and the former Nissan CEO was able to leave Japan for Lebanon via Turkey entirely undetected on December 29. You gotta respect the effort.

8. A speaker taking part in assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani’s funeral procession said anyone who kills Trump should get $80 million. A nice round figure there. The news this morning on the possible outbreak of World War III is that Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman has been swanning around urging calm among the US and the region before anything serious happens.

9. Airbnb has patented software which digs through a person’s social media and identifies whether they display “narcissism or psychopathy”. It comes amid a series of scandals for the company, which has tried to clamp down on party houses and scams.

10. Netflix’s efforts to sweep Hollywood awards didn’t pay off at the Golden Globes. It took home only one award: best supporting actress for Laura Dern in “Marriage Story”. The company’s other prestige productions, like Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”, walked away with nothing. But the Globes aren’t always an indicator of what will win at the Oscars, as the voting bodies are entirely different.

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Feel free to enjoy government backbencher Craig Kelly – by far the most prolific climate change denier in the federal parliament – stumble his way through a trainwreck interview on Good Morning Britain. He certainly puts a challenge to Scott Morrison’s claim his party are fully onboard with the scientific consensus on climate.

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