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Good morning!
A bunch of the team went to trivia last night and it was unanimously decided that this was the best question of the night:
Which mode of transport is a Western Australia frog named after?
The answer to that question is in the titbit! And you’ll be glad to know that the TDA team came first! (In the interest of transparency, this is not true. But they did come third!)
I’ve got 10 seconds
The quote: "The US is building a functioning operating ecosystem in northern Australia while Australia risks becoming a secondary user of its own strategic geography." A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute argues the U.S. could be on track to have a bigger military presence in the Northern Territory than Australia.
The stat: 18. The number of days Iran’s internet has been shut down, according to digital monitoring group NetBlocks. It is the second time this year the Iranian regime has shut down the country’s internet.
The big question:
Where do you do most of your grocery shopping?
Yesterday’s results: 68% of you said you did not fill up your car as soon as you learnt about the rising petrol prices. [2,379 votes].
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has increased the cash rate from 3.85% to 4.1%. The cash rate is what the RBA charges banks for short-term loans and it affects interest rates across the economy, including home loans. The RBA partly attributed the increase to the conflict in the Middle East, saying it has “resulted in sharply higher fuel prices, which, if sustained, will add to inflation.” The RBA said five members of the Board voted to increase the rate, while four voted to leave it unchanged.
Three teenagers are suing Elon Musk’s xAI, the company behind Grok, alleging it knowingly designed its image generator to allow users to create sexually explicit content using real photos of other people. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in the U.S. state of California, wants the case to proceed as a class action on behalf of people in the United States who were “reasonably identifiable” in sexualised images or videos generated by Grok using real images of themselves. The plaintiffs allege their real images were digitally altered into explicit content, causing emotional distress. xAI said in January that it had blocked all users from editing images of "real people in revealing clothing" in "jurisdictions where it's illegal".
Together with AAP.
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I’ve got 1 minute
The Matildas, Australia’s national women’s football team, have won their Asian Cup semi-final match against defending champions China 2-1.
In the opening half, Australia struck first with a goal from Caitlin Foord before China levelled the scores via a penalty.
Captain Sam Kerr then restored Australia’s lead in the second half with a clinical finish.
What’s next?
The result sees the Matildas advance to the Asian Cup Final, where they will play the winner of tomorrow’s semi-final between South Korea and Japan.
It will mark the Matildas fifth appearance in an Asian Cup Final, with the most recent being in 2018.
The last and only time the side won the tournament was in 2010.
The final will be played on Saturday 21 March in Sydney.
Reporting by Rosa Bowden.
Quick hits
🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, Zara talks about the fall of BuzzFeed, the world’s biggest youth media company.
🏀 Sport news is for everyone. Sign up to TDA Sport here for a daily drop in your inbox.
Good finds
💊 Your PBS prescriptions just got cheaper: If you have a Medicare card, PBS prescription medicines now cost a maximum of $25 – down from $31.60 – the cheapest they've been in over 20 years. If you have a Commonwealth concession card, you’ll continue to pay $7.70 per medicine until 2030. Visit Cheaper Medicines for more info.
*Transparency: This is a sponsored part of the newsletter - the best way to keep the newsletter free for you - in partnership with the Australian Government.
I’ve got 2 minutes
The NSW Government has proposed a new bill criminalising luring victims with the intention to attack or harass them, and increasing penalties for violence and threats towards LGBTQIA+ people.
It follows a series of incidents where young LGBTQIA+ people were lured to meet up with someone they had met online, only to be assaulted.
Premier Chris Minns called the penalties “serious consequences” for “sickening” attacks.
The Coalition Opposition said it needed to review the bill before deciding whether or not to support it.
Background
The NSW Government has proposed a new bill criminalising luring victims with the intention to attack or harass them, and increasing penalties for violence and threats towards LGBTQIA+ people.
It follows a series of incidents where young LGBTQIA+ people were lured to meet up with someone they had met online, only to be assaulted.
Premier Chris Minns called the penalties “serious consequences” for “sickening” attacks.
The Coalition Opposition said it needed to review the bill before deciding whether or not to support it.
New laws
On Tuesday, the Government introduced a bill with a new offence focused on offenders who lure victims for the purpose of committing crimes against them.
It has also proposed increasing the penalty for threatening or inciting violence due to sexuality or gender identity from three to five years’ imprisonment. If violence results from these threats, the sentence would increase to seven years.
Minns called the bill “a clear message” to those who “target someone out of hatred or... lure someone into harm”.
The Government is also seeking to make it easier to prove offenders were motivated by hatred or prejudice.
Crimes deemed to be driven by hate are considered aggravated offences, meaning they attract harsher penalties.
Under the proposed changes, if a perpetrator shows hatred or prejudice at the time of the offence, the aggravating factor will apply.
Attorney-General Michael Daley said the legislation would make it easier for “vulnerable community members to seek justice” and to “charge and prosecute perpetrators of these appalling crimes.”
Crossbench
Greens MP Jenny Leong said the party would look “very closely” at the bill, but that “we cannot police our way out of what is fundamentally a social problem”.
In the 2021 Census, Leong’s electorate of Newtown had the largest percentage of people in same-sex couples in NSW, with 5.3% of residents.
Independent MP Alex Greenwich – who is openly gay – said the bill would make it safer for “everyone who uses an app to meet people.” Greenwich added that he believes the state needs “a fully funded LGBTQ legal service”.
Coalition
Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane said the Coalition is “supportive in principle... but we need to review the legislation.”
“Young people are being groomed and coerced into perpetuating hate speech and violence on others,” Sloane said, which she believes is addressed in the Coalition’s Countering Violent Extremism Bill, introduced in February.
Shadow Attorney-General Damien Tudehope said the Coalition’s bill “directly addresses this wave of violence by creating new offences of grooming, recruiting or coercing people into violent extremism.”
Reporting by Emily Donohoe.
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Give me some good news
Researchers in the U.S. have found that data from wearable devices could help detect insulin resistance, a key precursor to type 2 diabetes.
A study published on Monday in the journal Nature found that data collected by devices like Fitbits and Google Pixel watches, alongside routine blood biomarkers, could predict metabolic risk.
The researchers say earlier detection could support lifestyle changes that help prevent progression to type 2 diabetes.
Reporting by Rosa Bowden.
TDA titbit
Mexico City just turned its main square into a giant soccer class.
Thousands of people packed the Zocalo for a mass training session of 9,500 people that ended with Guinness World Records officials confirming a new record.
It comes two weeks after thousands of Mexican soccer fans gathered to form the world’s biggest image of a shirt, wearing green, red, and white to form the national team’s jersey.
Mexico is one of the three countries set to host the FIFA men’s World Cup later this year, alongside the U.S. and Canada.
Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.
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Trivia answer: The motorbike frog.
TDA asks
