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Good morning!
I promise this is the last time we’ll talk about it for four years, but…
As this newsletter goes out, the World Cup final has more than a billion people around the globe glued to their screens.
If you haven’t been watching, don’t worry you haven’t missed too much (except for an excellent halftime performance from Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber and BTS).
With about 10 minutes still to go, the score is 0-0.
I’ve got 10 seconds
The quote: “We have decided to prosecute Andrew and Tristan Tate for further offences, including rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offences relating to indecent images of a child... They have been arrested and await extradition proceedings to the UK.”
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service, in a statement after Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested by U.S. authorities in Miami.
The stat: 3 minutes 42.66 seconds. The new men’s one-mile world record, set by British runner Josh Kerr at the London Diamond League meet over the weekend. (For those doing the maths, that is a pace of 2:18/km.)
The big question:
Friday’s results: 76% of you have cut back on spending due to the current cost of living, while 24% haven’t. Thanks for voting - your responses inform TDA's journalism and research. [1,963 votes]
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
The U.S. completed an eighth straight night of attacks against Iran after earlier announcing that two U.S. military personnel had been killed in Jordan and another was missing following an Iranian attack. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the airstrikes began at 6pm on Saturday (8am Sunday AEST) at President Donald Trump's direction. "The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night," it said. The U.S. and Iran have intensified attacks since an interim ceasefire deal signed a month ago fell apart last week, raising the possibility of a return to all-out war.
The Victorian Government has proposed new legislation that would force social media companies to identify anonymous accounts accused of online vilification. Under this proposal, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal would be granted "demasking" powers to order platforms to reveal the identities of account holders in those cases. The Government would also lower the legal threshold to sue social media and artificial intelligence platforms for negligence causing psychiatric harm to children. While the Opposition said it supports the proposal in principle, Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury said: "I don't think Elon Musk is looking at Jacinta Allan's announcement today and quaking in his boots.” The next Victorian election will be held in November.
Together with AAP.
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Transparency: This is a sponsored part of the newsletter - the best way to keep the newsletter free for you.
I’ve got 1 minute
The White House has suspended teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez after he allegedly made more than $US100,000 ($AU142,000) by betting on U.S. President Donald Trump’s speeches.
Perez allegedly placed the bets on prediction market Kalshi, which alerted authorities after detecting suspicious activity.
Trump’s press secretary said the President “believes it’s deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.”
Betting
Kalshi is a prediction market where people can place bets on the outcomes of future events, including politics.
Specifically, users can bet in the “mentions” market, predicting which phrases, topics, and words certain public figures might say.
One popular market allows users to bet on what Trump will say in his speeches.
For example, ahead of his address to the nation on Friday (Australian time), users could bet on its contents.
Allegations
Perez has been employed as a White House teleprompter operator since 2016.
Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, addressed the allegations at a press conference on Thursday (local time), saying Kalshi had “notified the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of suspicious activity.”
The CFTC is an independent U.S. regulator overseeing the country’s derivatives markets, including prediction markets such as Kalshi.
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported that Perez allegedly made more than $US100,000 ($AU142,000) by betting on words used in Trump’s speeches.
Leavitt also confirmed Perez had been placed on unpaid administrative leave.
“[Trump] believes it’s deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace,” she said.
Leavitt added that the White House has “extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this.”
Reporting by Emily Donohoe.
Quick hits
🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, multimedia journo Elliot explains why a Sydney nightclub was shut down after only a few days open. Listen or watch on Apple here, Spotify here, or YouTube here.
⚽️ The World Cup is over for another four years. Sign up to TDA Sport here for a full run-down in your inbox at 4.30pm.
Good finds
🙅 Never have I ever snuck in a hidden gym joining fee – neither has Revo Fitness. Join online at revofitness.com.au, on the Revo app, or in club.
Transparency: This is a sponsored part of the newsletter - the best way to keep the newsletter free for you.
I’ve got 2 minutes
British mother-of-two Katie Walker vanished from Sydney’s eastern suburbs more than eight weeks ago.
Her family and friends are challenging what they say is the police’s working theory that she died by suicide.
Early reports misidentified the 46-year-old as a former Married at First Sight Australia producer. Once the error emerged, coverage of her case faded.
Now, a citizen-led investigation has brought renewed attention to the unanswered questions surrounding her disappearance.
Background
Walker, 46, is a British-born jewellery maker and mother of two.
She returned to Sydney in February after spending several years living in the U.S. state of Arizona.
Since returning to Australia, Walker had been staying in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and was known to visit Double Bay, Bondi Junction, and Bondi Beach.
Disappearance
Walker was last spoken to by phone on Friday 22 May. Her family says CCTV captured her in Tamarama at 1.12pm the following day. She was wearing a black jacket, jeans and high heels, and carrying a small red handbag and a black bag.
Her phone later connected to a tower near Bondi Beach at about 7.40pm. Her family says no further CCTV footage has been identified, leaving an unexplained gap of more than six hours.
Police initially placed Walker’s last known movements at Bondi Beach, but later identified Double Bay.
They have not confirmed whether she was seen at either location or whether her movements were determined through phone data.
Nearly two weeks passed before NSW Police issued its first public appeal on 4 June. A second appeal followed on 11 June.
New investigation
Social media creator Joshua Fox, best known for his work on the MAFS Funny podcast, has now launched what he describes as a citizen-led investigation into Walker’s disappearance.
Fox said: “I live where Katie was last seen, I walk these streets daily and when I realised she was still missing, and read the time of day she went missing, I just couldn’t comprehend how that was possible.”
“Since my content started rolling out, so many people who have met Katie recently and also at various stages of her life have reached out, all offering fresh information that is helping piece together her final days.”
Family and friends
Walker’s family says police suggested she may have died by suicide near Mackenzies Bay.
They reject the theory, citing a lack of evidence and questioning how it could have happened unnoticed along the busy Bondi to Coogee coastal walk on a Saturday afternoon.
NSW Police has not publicly confirmed suicide as its leading theory.
Walker’s friend Justine Rose told Fox: “There’s too many puzzling circumstances, something is missing from this story.”
The Daily Aus asked NSW Police whether suicide remains its leading theory and whether detectives are investigating other possible explanations.
Police did not directly address those questions, but confirmed the investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information about Katie Walker’s whereabouts or final movements is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Reporting by Adella Beaini.
In partnership with Anthropic
Aussies are transforming safety for construction workers using AI.
Presien, a physical AI company for heavy industry, used Claude to develop an agentic platform that analyses worksites around the clock - cutting critical safety events by over 70% in three months.
Transparency: This is a sponsored part of the newsletter - the best way to keep the newsletter free for you.
Give me some good news
Photo: PLOS ONE
A new monkey species has been discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In an article published in the journal PLOS ONE, an international team of scientists described the “rare and cryptic monkey” species known to some local communities as Likweli. It’s distinguished by an orange patch around its mouth and lower nose on its otherwise dark face. Researchers think the monkey was first spotted back in 2008 in a photograph that only included part of its body. There was no sign of it for another 10 years, when a 2018 expedition resulted in a new photo of a monkey with a pale patch around its mouth.
Reporting by Lucy Tassell.
TDA titbit
TDA co-founder Sam covered this story for our podcast titbit – the little random bit of news we end each episode with, just like this section – and he's never been more passionate about one, so we thought we'd share it here too.
The titbit is a song from a boy named Miles, the son of Australian actor and presenter Joel Phillips.
The original video did so well that they did a band version, which, as of today, is available on Spotify. Sam is on a mission to get it into Triple J’s Hottest 100.
Reporting by Lucy Tassell.
TDA asks
