Morning!

May the Fourth be with you.

Especially those of us with HECS debt, which is going up by 7.1% on 1 June. I hate being the bearer of bad news, so you can read more here.

I've got 10 seconds

The quote
“I’m drawing a line in the sand and saying enough is enough. Doing nothing will just keep hate afloat” - Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who launched court action against Pauline Hanson under the Racial Discrimination Act yesterday. Hanson tweeted Faruqi should “piss off back to Pakistan” in September last year.

The stat
$100,000
The number of people estimated to have fled Sudan, according to the UN. Here's a podcast episode on what's going on in the country.

Today in history
1959: The first Grammy Awards were presented.

I've got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• The opening of the Snowy 2.0 renewable energy project has been delayed by up to two years. The delay is due to challenges in the global economic market, in addition to implications from COVID and on-site challenges. The project was initially expected to be completed in 2026, and is a key project to aid Australia's renewable energy transition.

• The Beetaloo Basin project in the Northern Territory will proceed with a gas production method known as fracking, the NT Government confirmed on Wednesday. A ban on fracking was previously lifted in the NT to facilitate exploration in the Beetaloo Basin, with the method found to carry risks to the environment. Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has said fracking in the Beetaloo Basin wouldn't come at a cost to Territorians.

I've got 1 minute

The Australian Tax Office has confirmed student loans will be increased by 7.1%.

It applies to debts from the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP, commonly called 'HECS debts') and a few other loans including the VET Student Loan.

Loan amounts are updated once a year in a process called 'indexation'. This is the largest increase in decades.

About indexation:
Indexation is an update to the dollar amount of your loan to reflect today's prices. The Government updates the dollar amount of many of its loans and payments regularly to preserve their 'real' value.

The large increase this year reflects current high inflation (price rises). Inflation was 7% in the year from March 2022 to March 2023.

I've got 2 minutes

The head of football's international governing body has threatened a blackout of this year's Women's World Cup after receiving broadcast offers he believes would "undersell" the competition.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino made the remarks during a panel discussion at the World Trade Organisation this week.

Infantino referenced broadcasters in five major European markets that he believed weren't offering a fair price, saying a potential blackout would be a "real pity".

Why's it happening?
The Women's World Cup will be held from July to August in Australia and New Zealand. It's the first competition in the Southern Hemisphere and the third to be held outside of Europe or North America.

Most games will be played in the evenings, which means they'd be played in the mornings in the Northern Hemisphere and out of 'prime-time' broadcasting hours.

Infantino said time zone differences could be a reason for lower TV offers, but added that many games will still be at a "reasonable time", such as 9am or 10am.

The TV offers:
Infantino specifically mentioned broadcasters in the 'Big Five' European markets – the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain – as providing offers that were "disappointing and simply not acceptable".

He said some broadcasters were only offering up to $AU15 million to show the Women's World Cup, while paying between $AU150-300 million for the Men's competition.

Infantino said the offers for the Women's World Cup were disproportionate, as the Women's tournament accrues 50-60% of the viewers gained in the Men's World Cup.

Will this impact Australia?
Channel 7 and Optus Sport have already been confirmed as the official Australian broadcasters for the Women's World Cup. New Zealand has also finalised their broadcasting arrangements for the World Cup.

The countries at risk of a blackout are those yet to lock in deals with FIFA to broadcast the tournament.

Give me some good news

A German zoo has welcomed its first baby polar bear in 21 years. The polar bear was born in December, and was the first since its mother, Victoria, was born.

The mother and newborn have spent the first few months together completely undisturbed in their cave, with the zoo saying the baby polar bear looks "healthy, lively and alert", and that breeding efforts for the endangered species are "paying off".

Today's podcast

A message from our sponsor

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A TDA tidbit

Have you noticed that Emma Watson, star of Harry Potter, hasn't graced your screens recently?

The actress has explained in an interview that she stepped back from acting, saying she "wasn't very happy...[and] felt a bit caged".

She said: "The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over. To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process."

It's an interesting dilemma, especially when we think about the standards we hold celebrities to.

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