☕️ Erin Patterson to appeal verdict

I’m here to break the fourth wall. Every morning, I wake up early and scramble for creative inspiration for what to write in this intro. Usually it involves me frantically searching who’s having a birthday, what International Day it is, or if there’s an American riddle I can use (I’m sorry, again).

But today is not one of those days. Today I am overwhelmed with options:

So much to talk about. So little space.

“There is no doubt that nuclear can play a part here in Australia. And that's why... it just makes absolute sense for us to enable nuclear to be part of our energy equation going forward, especially given the fact that it is emissions neutral.”

Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan in an interview with ABC Radio National. Liberal and National MPs are divided over the matter, with some advocating to dump the policy altogether, while others want nuclear energy to remain a viable option.

23,000
The amount of books banned in schools across the U.S. since 2021, according to PEN America.

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman filed for divorce from her country singer husband Keith Urban after nearly 20 years of marriage, causing shockwaves across both Aussie and U.S. social media feeds.

Erin Patterson’s legal team has confirmed she will appeal her guilty verdict.

Patterson was found guilty of three charges and one charge of attempted murder for serving her estranged husband’s relatives a beef Wellington lunch that included death cap mushrooms.

She was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years in September.

No details have been released about Patterson’s grounds for appeal.

In July 2023, Erin Patterson hosted her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and her husband’s aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson, for lunch.

Patterson served a beef Wellington which she said contained dried mushrooms.

Following the meal, all four became critically ill. Don, Gail, and Heather died, while Ian spent several weeks in hospital.

In November 2023, Patterson was charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Last month, Victorian Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale handed Erin Patterson three life sentences, with the possibility of parole after 33 years.

Patterson was also sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempted murder. Her sentences are being served concurrently.

Beale found Patterson’s current prison conditions are “harsh,” and that it is likely she will be in solitary confinement “for years to come”.

It has been reported Patterson has hired new lawyers, including a barrister who represented some members of the Bali Nine.

The new legal team announced the intention to appeal in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday morning.

They have not yet provided a reason.

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.

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Internet has been restored to millions of people in Afghanistan, two days after the Taliban suspended service.

It comes weeks after local authorities in one province banned fibre-optic internet as a way to crack down on what they described as immoral behaviour.

The United Nations’ office in the country condemned the move, warning it risked worsening “one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”

The Taliban is an extremist Islamist group that held power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

In 2021, it seized power again after the U.S. (and allies, including Australia) withdrew troops from Afghanistan.

The Taliban has since imposed several restrictions on women, including banning them from high schools, universities, and most forms of employment.

It has said its laws “are derived from Islamic sources”.

On 29 September, international internet watchdog NetBlocks reported a “collapse in internet access” across Afghanistan.

Its live network data showed connectivity had fallen to 30% of normal levels. Kabul, the capital city, was among the hardest hit.

Later that day, NetBlocks said connectivity had halved again, dropping to 14%.

The group said the outage would “severely limit the public’s ability to contact the outside world”.

The following day, NetBlocks confirmed Afghanistan was “in the midst of a total internet blackout”. The UN believes more than 43 million people were impacted.

NetBlocks said multiple networks had been disconnected, with telephone services also affected.

Overnight, the group reported there had been a “partial restoration”.

NetBlocks has accused the Taliban of experimenting with “censorship mechanisms,” and misleading the public with claims of a fibre-optic cable “replacement” program.

The UN issued an urgent warning to the Taliban earlier this week, warning of the blackout’s “immediate and far-reaching consequences”.

The organisation said the outage affected “critical banking and financial systems,” limited residents’ access to emergency services and aid, and disrupted flights.

The UN said the move further breached the “access to information and freedom of expression” in Afghanistan.

Last month, a 6.0-magnitude quake hit eastern Afghanistan. It killed around 2,000 people, injured 3,600, and damaged 8,500 homes.

UN humanitarian coordinator Indrika Ratwatte, who is based in Kabul, said the blackout hindered aid efforts in remote communities that are “still struggling to recover”.

“This is another crisis on top of the existing crisis… the impact is going to be on the lives of people,” Ratwatte said.

The shutdown comes shortly after authorities in the province of Balkh began disconnecting high-speed internet access and banning fibre-optic cables.

The authorities cited an order from the group’s supreme leader, describing the move as a measure to “prevent evil”.

The Taliban has yet to publicly comment on the reason for the national blackout.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

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According to the UN agency, biosphere reserves “safeguard some of the planet’s richest and most fragile ecosystems.” For example, they’re home to more than 60% of all land-dwelling species, 12% of mangroves, 10% of salt marshes and 8% of the world’s seagrass meadows. This week, UNESCO announced 26 new biosphere reserves across 21 countries, including in Iceland, Oman, Ethiopia, China and France. It's the highest number of new designations in 20 years. The network now includes 785 sites in 142 countries, “with an additional one million km² of natural areas brought under protection since 2018 – equivalent to the size of Bolivia,” UNESCO said.

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Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Ever had a doctor's note you couldn’t decipher?

A court in Northern India has ruled residents have a right to be able to read their doctor’s notes.

According to the BBC, Judge Jasgurpreet Singh Puri couldn’t understand a note that was submitted in a case about alleged forgery and sexual assault.

The judge said: “it shook the conscience of this court as not even a word or a letter was legible”.

The court ruled student doctors should get handwriting lessons and digitised prescriptions should be introduced over the next two years.

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse

Earlier this week, the U.S. government shut down after Congress failed to pass funding legislation. It's the 21st shutdown since 1977, and it has triggered the indefinite pause of most federal services, putting tens of thousands of federal employees out of work.

Today we're breaking down what a shutdown actually means, how an entire government just stops, and why this one might be different from past shutdowns.