☕️ Earthquake in Tibet

It’s time for the first riddle of 2025!

Here is the riddle: If you have three, you have three. If you have two, you have two. But if you have one, you have none. What is it?

Answer is in the tidbit!

“After reportedly trying to ‘piece together a shadow cabinet with a 50-50 split between men and women’, [Victorian Opposition Leader] Brad Battin and the Liberals have given up – making room for eight women in a shadow cabinet of 23.”
Lily D'Ambrosio, the Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, criticising the new shadow cabinet revealed by the Victorian Opposition yesterday.

207 million
The amount paid in yen ($AU2,099,394) for a 276kg blue fine tuna, marking the first tuna auction of the year. This is the second highest price paid since records began in 1999, with a 278kg bluefin in 2019 grossing 333.6 million yen ($AU3,381,369).

2020
Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, announced they would step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent.

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McDonald’s is walking back some of its diversity and inclusion initiatives.

It comes after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023 banned affirmative action in university admissions.

The decision has been cited by other U.S. companies that have stripped back their diversity programs and policies. McDonald’s said in a statement that a “shifting legal landscape” may impact the company.

Here’s what you need to know.

On Monday, McDonald’s emailed its employees and suppliers globally, detailing the fast food giant’s “commitment to inclusion”.

The company said it’s no longer going to work towards specific targets of diverse representation in its U.S. leadership team.

McDonald’s had previously set a goal to have 35% of U.S. leadership roles held by people from “under-represented groups” by the end of this year. The company said this is currently at “around 30%”.

McDonald’s also said it would be “retiring” a previous commitment to ‘diversity, equality, and inclusion’ in the supply chain.

Instead, the company said it planned to have “a more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance”.

McDonald’s also said it would stop “external surveys” but did not provide further details.

In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled universities could no longer consider racial and ethnic diversity when selecting incoming students.

This practice, called ‘affirmative action’, was aimed at correcting historic prejudice.

It was initially implemented in the U.S. following a previous Supreme Court decision in the 1970s.

In 2014, an organisation called ‘Students for Fair Admissions’ alleged Harvard’s affirmative action practices negatively discriminated against white and Asian American students.

In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in the students’ favour, effectively banning affirmative action.

Several universities have since cited a decrease in students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

In response to the court’s decision, a number of companies have rolled back their diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

Donald Trump will be sentenced in his hush money cover-up trial, 10 days before he is sworn in as the next U.S. President.

In May, Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The President-elect repeatedly tried to dismiss the criminal charges and delay his sentencing.

Trump’s lawyers have already flagged they will appeal the judge’s sentence.

When Trump ran for President in 2016, he arranged for a series of payments to be sent to adult film star Stormy Daniels totalling $US130,000 ($AU208,000).

Daniels claims she had sex with Trump 10 years before his 2016 election bid, which he denied.

Prosecutors said Trump made the payments via his lawyer, Michael Cohen, as part of an effort to conceal negative stories about him in the lead-up to the election. The payments were disguised as legitimate expenses.

In April last year, a six-week criminal trial over the cover-up of the payments was held in the state of New York.

Trump pleaded not guilty, accusing the prosecutors of launching a “political witch hunt” and later claiming the trial was “rigged”.

After the trial, a jury declared Trump guilty on all 34 counts.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan initially said he would hand down his sentence in July 2024.

Merchan was delayed by multiple legal developments, including a Supreme Court ruling that U.S. presidents are immune from criminal responsibility when undertaking official duties.

Sentencing was then delayed until after the November presidential election. After Trump won the election, his lawyers further argued that he couldn’t be prosecuted while he is the President-elect.

This week, Judge Merchan dismissed Trump’s efforts to delay the sentencing in his trial.

Merchan called Trump’s legal arguments “unpersuasive”, saying that sentencing him wouldn’t amount to an “injustice”.

As President, Trump has the power to intervene in certain federal cases. This case, however, was brought at the state level, meaning he can’t stop the sentencing from going ahead.

Judge Merchan will hand down his sentence on 10 January.

Merchan said he plans to impose an "unconditional discharge" against Trump. This means Trump is unlikely to face jail time, fines, or probation (police supervision).

The discharge acts as a way of recording Trump's criminal conviction, without imposing any serious penalty.

Trump’s lawyers have already said he will file an appeal.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

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🍊 Hewitt and Tomic out of Aus Open qualifiers. More tennis here.
🍊 The NFL Playoffs are set. This is what you need to know.
🍊 Two athletes received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Here's who.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: ice hockey, golf, and more…

In signing the act that authorises the monument, U.S. President Joe Biden said: “The Women’s Suffrage National Monument will recognise the generations of women who fought to ensure an equal voice for women in our democracy and honour the leaders who fought for the enfranchisement of all women.”

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Have you been seeing Cool Cabanas on Australian beaches over the summer period?

Some people have raised concerns that beachgoers are using these tents to "reserve" spots early in the morning and then returning later in the day.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would like us to know: “That’s not on”.

Speaking on the Today Show yesterday morning, Albanese said: “One of the great things about Australia, unlike some parts of the world [where] you’ve got to pay to go to the beach, here, everyone owns the beach… That’s a breach of that principle, really, to think that you can reserve a little spot as just yours.”

What do you think?

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

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Riddle answer: Choices.

The Australian dollar has hit a five-year low of 61.84 US cents this week - a level last seen during the early stages of the COVID pandemic. With Donald Trump’s move into the White House - and the potential for harsh tariffs on Australia’s major trading partners - only a few weeks away, the currency plunge has sparked fears amongst Australian commentators, some politicians, and financial experts.

But what does a dropped Australian dollar actually mean for us - not just when we’re planning a trip overseas, but in day-to-day life? Why is it happening now? Is there real reason to panic? We answer those questions on today’s podcast.