☕️ France sent to pre-Olympics election

Our newsletter today has a very Parisian theme - from Aussie swimmers making sure they get a ticket to the Olympics, to the host country's President struggling to maintain control over his Parliament. It's a big few months coming up for France.

At least those in France can still read books about farts (please hold your questions until after you've read the tidbit).

“We have introduced a temporary limit of two egg cartons per customer in our national stores, excluding in-store Western Australia.”
Coles, announcing it is limiting the amount of eggs consumers can purchase. It comes after bird flu was found at a fifth poultry farm in Victoria, significantly reducing the state’s supply. Agriculture Victoria has assured customers that eggs and poultry products from supermarkets are safe to consume.

4 in 5
The number of people aged 65 and over who believe their children have it harder than they did, according to new research from AMP.

1964
The Beatles arrived in Australia to begin their first and only tour in the country. One of the biggest turnouts for the band was in Adelaide, where about 300,000 people showed up just to catch a glimpse of the band when they arrived in the city.

The Australian Swimming Trials have kicked off, marking the start of a crucial week for the nation’s top swimmers, who are trying to qualify for the Olympic and Paralympic team heading to Paris in a few weeks.

The trials, held at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, will last six days and culminate in the official announcement of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic swimming team (coined ‘The Dolphins’).

In the opening night, Ariarne Titmus locked in her spot at the Olympics, with a time that was just 0.06 seconds off her own world in the 400m freestyle event. Kaylee McKeown (200m individual medley), Emma McKeon (100m butterfly) and Sam Williamson (100m breaststroke) also all secured their spot on the team.

For a swimmer to qualify for the Olympic team, they must finish in the top two spots in the final of their discipline. They must also meet the qualification time set by Swimming Australia for that event – meaning a swimmer could potentially finish second in their final, but be too slow for Swimming Australia’s benchmark and fail to qualify.

For the Paralympic team, swimmers must finish in the top three of their class and meet Swimming Australia’s qualification time.

The Paralympic team announcement will be at 9:24pm on Friday night, and the Olympic team announcement will be at 9:04pm on Saturday night.

The trials are being broadcast on the Nine Network and 9Now.

French President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved the lower house of Parliament and called for a snap election, to be held on 30 June.

It comes after the far-right party led by his main rival Marine Le Pen delivered a stronger-than-expected result in the European Parliament elections.

In a televised address, Macron announced the dissolution of parliament and told voters, "I cannot act as if nothing had happened."

The European Parliament is the world’s only democratically elected transnational organisation. It consists of representatives from all 27 EU states and passes laws that affect the whole continent.

Over the past week, about 370 million voters in 27 European Union countries have cast ballots to decide the composition of the continent’s 720-member parliament.

Votes are still being counted, but early signs show the European People’s Party, a centre-right party, will be the largest in parliament with 184 elected representatives.

The main takeaway from the night is an historic surge for smaller far-right parties across Europe.

According to Politico, if the far-right parties were to form a single group, it would be the second largest party in Europe behind the EPP.

In the EU parliament vote, 31.5% of French voters supported the ‘National Rally’ - a far-right party led by Marine Le Pen. Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party won about half the number of votes as his opponent.

While EU votes do not directly affect the composition of the French parliament, they are seen as an accurate representation of Macron’s support domestically. In his announcement of a snap election, Macron told France he “heard [their] message, and will not let it go without a response.”

French parliamentary elections will be held in two rounds: the first on 30 June and the second on 7 July.

French voters will be electing 577 members of the lower house.

These elections will not affect Macron’s role as president, as the parliamentary elections are separate from the presidential election. This means Macron will still be France’s leader for another three years.

However, depending on the results, Macron could need to appoint a prime minister from the opposition.

Speaking after Macron’s announcement, Le Pen said her party was “ready to take power if the French people have confidence in [them]”.

Le Pen said: “We are ready to put an end to mass immigration. We are ready to make the purchasing power of the French people a priority, we are ready to start re-industrialising the country.”

Le Pen ran unsuccessfully against Macron in both the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.

Navigating skincare terms on the back of a bottle can often feel like you're deep in code... You might have heard of ingredients like niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, but what about Melasyl?

Melasyl is the key ingredient in La Roche Posay’s new Mela B3 Dark Spot Niacinamide Serum. It is designed to target pigmentation, including sun and age spots. After 18 years of research, this formula has been shown to reduce dark spots by 85%.*

So, next time you encounter those perplexing skincare terms, consider Melasyl—an option for those hoping to address concerns of radiant, spot-free skin.

^{*According to La Roche Posay clinical scoring.}

The organisation was established in 2014 by legendary AFL player and coach Neale Dana-her, who was diagnosed with MND in 2013.

To mark the day, nine Australian celebrities subjected themselves to a waterslide into an ice bath in front of over 84,000 fans at the MCG. Now 63, Daniher was in attendance to watch the event.

If you like books about butts and farts, and you live in Texas, you’re in luck.

An appeals court in the U.S. state has ruled that libraries cannot ban books about content which some officials may not agree with.

The case began when residents complained to their local library about “pornographic and overtly sexual books in the library’s children’s section”, specifically books about “butts and farts”. This led to a judge pulling books from shelves that “depict any type of sexual activity or questionable nudity”.

However, an appeals court has now overturned this decision. The judge overseeing the appeals case started his judgement with a quote from American poet Walt Whitman: “The dirtiest book in all the world is the expurgated book.”

The judgement also stated: “This court has declared that officials may not ‘remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion’.”

May we all now read books about butts and farts in peace.

Yesterday, the Federal Government launched the first-ever nationwide anti-vaping ad campaign. It's called ‘Give Up For Good’ and comes after a rapid surge in the number of young people who vape.

Rates of vaping among 18 to 24-year-olds have quadrupled since 2019. The Government is taking a new messaging approach with its new campaign, aimed at effectively targeting young people.

So, how will it work? We’ll explain everything you need to know in today’s deep dive.