☕️ Trump's paracetamol warning

It’s been a while since a Wednesday Riddle tapped into the maths side of our brains - so here you go.

How can you write down eight eights so that they add up to one thousand?

Answer is in today’s titbit!

“The [court] has proven itself incapable of handling and prosecuting proven war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, and crimes of aggression... becoming a global example of selective justice.”
A joint statement from the governments of the West African nations of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, withdrawing from the International Criminal Court. All three governments are led by military groups that overthrew the existing leadership in recent years.

285km/h
The speed of top wind gusts recorded by local weather stations as Super Typhoon Ragasa moves across the Philippines and towards China. This typhoon is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. Multiple airlines have cancelled flights in and around the area.

Solivagant [soh-LIV-uh-guhnt]
Definition: Solitary wandering or rambling.
Sentence: "After weeks of busy social events, she spent a solivagant weekend hiking in the mountains."

The former President of the Philippines has been charged with three counts of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) .

Rodrigo Duterte has been in ICC custody since March, when he was arrested in Manila. Here’s what you need to know.

Duterte served as mayor of the city of Davao for 22 years before he was elected president in 2016.

As both mayor and president, Duterte ran a wide-reaching anti-drug campaign. Soon after becoming president, he told Filipinos to “go ahead and kill” people addicted to drugs.

Under his presidency, police allegedly carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings (outside the court system).

Human rights groups estimate the crackdown is responsible for tens of thousands of unlawful killings.

The ICC is a UN body tasked with investigating crimes against humanity. It has the power to issue arrest warrants and compel people to appear before a tribunal at the Hague, the Netherlands.

125 countries are parties to the ICC, meaning they recognise its power and must arrest anyone on their soil with an active warrant.

Duterte was arrested after a panel of ICC judges found “reasonable grounds” to believe he was indirectly responsible for murders carried out between 2011 and 2019.

It found there was an “attack directed against a civilian population” while Duterte was in power, which “was both widespread and systematic: the alleged attack… resulted in thousands of deaths.”

ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang alleged Duterte was an “indirect co-perpetrator” of three counts of crimes against humanity.

The three counts are: Murder in Davao City while mayor (19 victims), murder across the Philippines during his presidency (14 victims), and murder and attempted murder in local government operations (45 victims)

Niang alleged Duterte and his alleged co-perpetrators had an agreement to “neutralise” people accused of crimes in the Philippines.

Reporting by Anju Dhanushkodi.

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr have urged pregnant women to avoid using paracetamol.

At a press conference on Monday (local time), Kennedy said there were links between the drug and “adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes,” including autism and ADHD.

Other U.S. bodies have not confirmed the claim, and Australian authorities say the drug is safe.

Trump described the “meteoric rise in autism” as one of America’s “most alarming public health developments in history.”

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a condition diagnosed through developmental assessments and behavioural observations.

The support that Autistic people need can vary widely because autism is a spectrum.

It is often characterised by differences in communication styles and issues with sensory processing.

In the 1990s, a study suggested routine childhood vaccines could cause autism. The study has been debunked, and its author was de-registered as a doctor.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It can make it difficult to concentrate or control impulses.

Symptoms usually appear in childhood and diagnosis requires a thorough behavioural assessment.

Children typically need to visit a paediatrician, while adults usually receive diagnosis and treatment from psychologists or psychiatrists.

It’s estimated around one in 20 Australians have ADHD.

Kennedy has announced a nationwide campaign to crack down on the use of paracetamol (sold in the U.S. as acetaminophen) among pregnant women, cautioning against “adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes”.

In a statement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said: “Some studies have described that the risk may be most pronounced when acetaminophen is taken chronically throughout pregnancy to childbirth.”

However, it said no “causal relationship” had been established.

The U.S. Health and Human Services department, led by Kennedy, advised doctors to “exercise their best judgment” when prescribing paracetamol to pregnant women, encouraging them to prescribe the “lowest effective dose for the shortest duration”.

The FDA has been ordered to begin the process of including a safety warning label on paracetamol prescriptions.

The Government has also allocated $US50 million ($AU76 million) to “uncover the root causes of autism”.

Australian health authorities consider paracetamol safe for use during pregnancy.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) lists the drug as a ‘Pregnancy Category A’ medicine, meaning it is commonly used by pregnant women with no issues.

The TGA confirmed there are no current Australian investigations into links between paracetamol and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.

The Australian Government has cautioned pregnant women not to follow Trump and Kennedy’s advice without first seeking medical guidance.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the Government is working with the TGA to provide advice.

“Paracetamol is not obviously just a pain-killing medication, it’s an important treatment for fever, which can also be dangerous if left untreated while you’re pregnant,” Butler said.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

Did you know your food scraps have superpowers?

Most Victorians now have a lime green food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin – and they’re already proving to be pretty great at using it.

Here’s the deal: food scraps and garden clippings go in the FOGO bin. From there, they’re transformed into compost that helps local farms and gardens thrive – not sent to landfill.

The only catch? Rubbish doesn’t belong – the FOGO bin is just for food scraps and garden clippings. No plastics, containers or even sneaky fruit stickers. If they slip in, the whole load could end up in landfill, where they release methane.

The fix is simple: correctly sort your scraps into the FOGO bin, and you’ll make a real difference every bin night.

🍊 The Rooster set to return to rugby union. Who is he?
🍊 Matt Rowell won the 2025 Brownlow Medal. More details here.
🍊 The WNBA’s first four-time MVP. Read more here.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: F1, soccer, and more…

The researchers have named the species Iridogorgia chewbacca, after the hairy Star Wars character, due to the coral’s numerous long branches. Corals are living organisms that take root on the ocean floor. They form reefs — essential structures that provide habitats and food sources for marine life. While this type of coral had been spotted twice before over the last 20 years, including in the Mariana Trench, it took until now for it to be confirmed as a new species. Study co-author Les Watling from the University of Hawai’i said seeing the coral for the first time was “unforgettable.” He added: “Its long, flexible branches and shape immediately reminded me of Chewbacca. Even after years of deep-sea work, discoveries like this still make me stop and take notice.”

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Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

TDA doesn’t do opinion, but we’ll make an exception just this once: this is the best week of the year.

Why? It’s Fat Bear Week.

Since 2014, the annual online poll has celebrated the hundreds of Brown Bears that live in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. 

Fans vote for the bear they think did the best job to bulk up in preparation for their winter hibernation. 

To vote on this year’s contenders, you can click here.

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

The answer to the riddle is: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000.

One of the world’s most common pain relief medications has dominated headlines after recent comments from the Trump administration linking paracetamol to autism. Warnings from the U.S. about the use of Tylenol (a brand of paracetamol) during pregnancy prompted Australian Health Minister Mark Butler to seek urgent advice from the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Today, we’ll take you through what the U.S. President and other officials said, the backlash, Australia’s response, and what the science actually says about paracetamol.