☕️ Albanese's first meeting with Trump

Here is today’s riddle: How many people is "two pairs of twins twice"?

Answer is in the titbit!

“Today, the simple act of expressing a thought – in a book, on a stage, online – is no longer just a matter of liberty. It is, too often, an act of courage. And in that courage, we find both the danger and the necessity of continuing to speak."
Novelist Salman Rushdie in a statement ahead of his first public speaking event in Australia since surviving a murder attempt in New York in 2022. Iran’s supreme leader put a bounty of $US3 million on Rushdie’s head in 1989 after he published the novel ‘The Satanic Verses’, which the country’s Muslim leadership deemed blasphemous.

$20.7 billion
The amount of money Australian households spent on online shopping in July to September 2025, according to data from Australia Post. The average order was $95.

Noctivagant [nok-TIV-uh-gunt]
Definition: Wandering at night.
Sentence: "The noctivagant cat padded silently across the neighbourhood roofs."

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted Australia will experience hotter than average temperatures this summer, particularly at night.

The forecast comes during an unseasonably warm spring, with the majority of states and territories issuing heatwave warnings this week.

The BoM also warned of “severe weather,” including bushfires and floods, between October and April.

The BoM has released its long-range forecast for November to January.

It found there will be a 60-80% chance that maximum temperatures will be above average across most of the country, except eastern NSW and the country’s far north.

It also found a similar chance minimum temperatures will be above average across the country.

The BoM also said overnight temperatures “are very likely to be above average” across Australia.

Tasmania and central Victoria are the mostly likely to see “unusually high” maximum temperatures this summer.

The BoM said rainfall will also likely be above average in northern Australia and some regions in the south.

Outside of these areas, the BoM said there are “roughly equal chances of above or below average rainfall.”

Australia enters its “severe weather season” between October and April each year.

The BoM said this is the “peak time” for thunderstorms, floods, bushfires, heatwaves, and cyclones.

It advised Australians to prepare their homes and families for emergencies.

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.

🎭 What do you get when the world overheats? A bunch of naked actors (yes, fully nude actors) and a very good time. Naturism is Griffin Theatre Company’s new all-nude comedy about the climate crisis – equal parts hilarious, unhinged and unexpectedly deep. Grab your tickets before it all melts down.

^{Transparency: This is a sponsored section of the newsletter. It's the best way we can keep this newsletter free for you}

U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held their first official meeting on Monday night (AEDT) at the White House.

A critical minerals agreement between the two countries topped the agenda, aimed at securing supply for technology and defence industries.

The meeting came after months of attempts at formal talks, and follows a brief interaction at the UN General Assembly in New York last month.

Both leaders described the talks as a success, with Albanese saying they were “great friends”.

The two leaders signed a multi-billion dollar critical minerals and rare earth elements agreement, aimed at securing the supply needed for “essential for energy security and defence.”

Rare earth elements are a group of minerals used in many modern products, like smartphones and wind turbines.

Australia holds many deposits of these minerals.

The two governments will back two major critical mineral mining projects in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

One will also receive funding from Japan, which has already funded half of its total cost.

Albanese hailed the agreement as a “testament to the trusted partnership” between Australia and the U.S.

Trump described the deal as one the pair has been working on ”for quite a while.”

Trump and Albanese furthered talks about AUKUS, a defence deal between Australia, the UK, and the U.S.

The agreement involves plans to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines within the next 30 years.

The agreement has been broadly seen as an attempt by Western nations to curb China’s influence in the region.

The U.S announced it was reviewing the agreement earlier this year. Trump downplayed concerns about its future at a press conference following the meeting.

Australian superannuation funds are set to increase their investments in the U.S. to more than $US1.4 trillion ($AU2 trillion) by 2035.

Both countries’ space agencies also signed a new partnership to increase collaborations, including plans to use Australian lunar rovers in a U.S. mission to “return astronauts to the Moon”.

The two nations have also agreed to establish a joint pact to invest in AI and quantum technology.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has served as Australia’s ambassador to the U.S. since 2023, managing the two countries’ diplomatic and political relations.

Following Trump’s 2024 re-election, Rudd faced calls for his resignation after since-deleted social media posts criticising Trump resurfaced.

Rudd called Trump “the most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West.”

Reporting by Achol Arok.

Got a bunch of people to thank, celebrate or just show some love to?

GroupTogether has made gifting way easier. Their new Bulk eGift Cards let you send 1 or 1,000 digital gift cards in minutes – no awkward group chats or last-minute scrambles.

Each person gets an AnyCard they can swap for 100+ Aussie favourites like Woolies, endota or Rebel. You can personalise the message, add your logo, and even track who’s opened theirs. Whether it’s for work, uni clubs or mates, GroupTogether makes gifting feel thoughtful and effortless.

🍊 Aussie NBA star signs monster deal. More details here.
🍊 AFL star sues former manager. Read more.
🍊 Former NFL star dies in police custody. Click here to read more.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: cricket, soccer, and more…

Findings in the journal Pediatrics show that since 2015, around 60,000 fewer child cases of peanut allergy have been recorded. The decrease is attributed to an early-introduction approach, which encourages parents to give infants small traces of peanuts from a young age. Study author and allergy researcher Dr. David Hill from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia called the findings “remarkable”. “I can actually come to you and say there are less kids with food allergy today than there would have been if we hadn't implemented this public health effort,” he said.

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Have you seen fewer potatoes at your local supermarket? 

It’s not just you. 

A Woolworths spokesperson told TDA that weather conditions in 2024 and 2025 “have had some impacts on [potato] growing yields.” 

However, the spokesperson added they “still have sufficient supply,” that it’s not “unusual to see supply constraints” during seasonal transitions, and that things will return to normal in a few weeks. 

Reporting by Anju Dhanushkodi.

*

*

*

Riddle answer: Eight. We know. Our brains hurt too.

After months of delays, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House this week.

There was plenty to talk about during the pair’s first formal meeting since Trump's re-election last year, with a major deal on critical minerals, progress on AUKUS, and a tense moment between the U.S. President and former PM Kevin Rudd. Today we're breaking down what happened, why it matters, and what comes next.