We have great news. If you’ve woken up feeling like a scoop of Messina, you’re in luck.

From now on, we’re offering a free Messina scoop for anyone who gets three other people to subscribe to TDA’s newsletter. You can refer people via our referral program at the bottom of the newsletter.

I highly recommend the hazelnut flavour.

Now onwards to some more good news. It’s riddle day!

Here’s today’s riddle: Two girls were born to the same mother, at the same time, on the same day, in the same month and the same year and yet somehow they’re not twins. Why not?

The quote
“Aren’t there more important things we should be talking about [than] if I dress like a slob?” – U.S. Senator John Fetterman responding to the Senate’s new informal dress code. The change, first reported by Axios, is speculated to have been brought in to allow Fetterman to wear shorts and hoodies to work.

The stat
990
The number of people arrested in Australia in the last week over illicit drugs and organised crime activity. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of illicit drugs were seized.

Today in history
1973: No.1 women’s player in the world, Billie Jean King, defeated 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in straight sets in a tennis match called the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ in Houston, Texas.

Some headlines from this morning:

The Californian Government is suing some of the world’s largest oil corporations, including Shell and BP, over their role in worsening the climate crisis.

The U.S. state says these companies deceived Californians through misleading advertising, and deliberately downplayed the risk of fossil fuels as early as the 1970s.

It claims this led to a “delayed societal response” to climate change.

Background:
California has been hit by several extreme weather events in recent years like floods, fires, and severe heat – including a 10-day heatwave last year, believed to have killed 395 people.

The Government says major oil companies have played a key role in the increasing regularity of these events.

The lawsuit:
On Friday, California’s Government launched legal action against five large oil companies – Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.

It claims Californians have suffered, and will continue to suffer, from negative impacts on the climate, driven by oil and gas operations.

The Government says oil executives prioritised profits over the environment, "while sticking taxpayers with the bill for the damages".

The Californian Government wants the oil companies named in the lawsuit to make regular financial contributions to mitigate the climate damage caused by their operations.

It’s asked the court to add a requirement ensuring the future protection of California’s environment from further pollution caused by oil companies.

Orders to stop false or misleading advertising have also been requested, in addition to fines for alleged breaches of business codes.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has declared an El Niño weather event is officially underway.

This means weather will be hotter and drier in coming months.

It comes after three consecutive La Niña summers in Australia.

What is El Niño?
El Niño is a weather event characterised by unusually warm waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. In Australia, it causes higher temperatures and can lead to droughts.

Unlike increased rain caused by La Niña, the most direct consequence of El Niño is less rainfall.

It also causes more individual days of extreme heat, such as this week’s unseasonably high temperatures in the east coast.

Positive IOD:
The BoM also confirmed a "positive IOD event" is underway.

IOD stands for Indian Ocean Dipole. It refers to the difference in sea surface temperatures between two areas, or poles.

A 'positive' event means warmer sea temperatures in the western Indian Ocean, less cloud cover in Australia’s northwest, and less rainfall in the country’s south and far north.

When a positive IOD event and El Niño happen at the same time, a BoM spokesperson said the combination increases the "severity of rainfall deficiencies... for the southeast of the continent."

Fire danger:
The first total fire ban for Greater Sydney since November 2020 was issued yesterday.

The fire danger for NSW’s South Coast, where 20 schools were closed yesterday, was upgraded to ‘catastrophic’.

Get all the news you need to know today in your ears on The Daily Aus podcast!

An Australian-made drug used to treat symptoms of a rare blood cancer has been approved for use in the U.S.

The drug treats anaemia caused by myelofibrosis, a cancer affecting 25,000 Americans. It’s hoped the drug can “establish a new standard of care” for treating myelofibrosis.

News flashback: GameStop. Remember that? That time ordinary people dared to flip the script on Wall Street and turn a humble video game store into a global sensation. Now, there’s a brand new comedy movie, ‘Dumb Money’ all about what went down.

It all started with Keith Gill, aka 'Roaring Kitty’ on Reddit and Youtube - an everyday guy, financial analyst and investor. When Wall St predicted that GameStop’s shares would go down, Keith Gill decided to pour his life savings into making sure they were wrong, by buying shares in his favourite video game store. He posted about it on Reddit, where he started to go viral. That's when the chaos started - Reddit users worked together to stop rich bankers getting even richer off the back of a collapsing company they loved.

Boasting a star-studded cast including Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, America Ferrera and Seth Rogen, mark your calendars for the cinema debut of Dumb Money on 26 October - or be one of the first to see it at preview screenings this week!

An artist has been forced to repay a grant given to him by a museum after he submitted empty frames as his artwork and called it “Take the Money And Run”.

Jens Haaning was given about $AU118,500 to create his artwork, commissioned by the Kunsten Museum in Aalborg, Denmark.

The pieces were supposed to replicate two of Haaning’s earlier works focused on power and inequality. Instead, the Museum received blank frames.

Haaning previously told local media that “the work is that I have taken their money. It’s not theft. It is a breach of contract, and breach of contract is part of the work”.

The Museum decided to display the frames but took Haaning to court after he refused to return the cash. Copenhagen City Court ruled that Haaning was obligated to repay the money.

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Riddle answer: Because there was a third girl, which makes them triplets!

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