☕️ DC plane crash: what we know

And just like that, the first month of the year is over. I’m not stoked, because it means we’re all going to need to use my least favourite word: ‘February’.

Is it ‘Feb-er-ree’? ‘Feb-roo-ry’? ‘Feb-you-airy’?

According to Google it’s ‘feh-byoo-uh-ree’. It’s the ‘uh’ that gets me.

“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system. I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary. And then when I left office and [Joe] Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before.”
U.S. President Donald Trump after the plane crash in Virginia yesterday, speaking about whether he believed the crash was the fault of diversity hiring.

$140,000
The fine a Melbourne school has been issued after a 16-year-old student developed diabetes complications during a 2019 school trip to Vietnam and later died in hospital in Melbourne.

2020
The United Kingdom formally left the European Union, more than three years after the country voted for “Brexit.”

Renewable energy sources accounted for almost half of the electricity used in eastern Australia from October to December.

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) latest report showed solar power reached new output records in the late spring and early summer.

AEMO said it was the first time that coal-fired energy didn’t supply the majority of electricity to the southern and eastern regions.

Experts say this is a clear sign that “coal is on its way out”.

Every Australian jurisdiction except WA and the NT gets power from the National Electricity Market (NEM).

The system connects power producers (coal, gas, and renewable) to users (households and businesses), often with an energy retailer in between.

Power producers charge retailers wholesale electricity prices. Retailers pass on these costs when they sell electricity to households and businesses.

AEMO reported coal-fired generators had lower output last year, reducing how much power was provided by black and brown coal. The regulator said less coal availability was partly responsible for higher wholesale power prices in NSW and Qld.

Solar energy was at an all-time quarterly high, 18% higher than the same last the previous year. The variety in energy supply meant the NEM’s total emission levels were at a new record low.

Power demand increased over the quarter as temperatures got hotter.

Nexa is a renewable energy advisory firm.

CEO Stephanie Bashir said many of Australia’s coal power stations “are well past the point where we can rely on them.”

“Delaying coal power station closures will not mean they will provide energy when we need them, and it will cost Australians a double whammy of subsidies and higher bills,” Bashir said.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

Federal and state police are investigating a caravan filled with explosives discovered in north-west Sydney earlier this month.

Multiple news sources report a note found inside the caravan contained a list of addresses of Jewish people and synagogues.

Premier Chris Minns has labelled the incident “terrorism,” and the Prime Minister and senior federal ministers will be briefed later today.

Meanwhile, at least three locations in Sydney’s east were defaced with antisemitic graffiti overnight, including a Jewish primary school.

On Wednesday, NSW police announced a caravan filled with explosives had been found in Dural, a suburb in Sydney’s outer north-west.

After a local resident saw the caravan parked in a “hazardous position,” they moved it to their property on 19 January. When the resident found explosives inside, they called police. The bombs are believed to have been obtained from a mining site.

Police say they are capable of blasts of up to 40 metres in diameter, which Premier Chris Minns said could have caused a “mass casualty” event.

Police are investigating whether the caravan was going to be used in a targeted antisemitic attack.

On Wednesday, The Daily Telegraph cited a police source who said a note found inside the caravan had the addresses of Jewish people and a synagogue.

Police have not publicly verified this report and the name of the synagogue has not been published.

Minns said he believed those behind the alleged planned attack were “bad people” with “bad ideologies, bad morals, bad ethics”.

The owner of the van is already in custody over unrelated charges.

Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said arrests had been made “on the periphery” of the investigation.

Hudson said more than 100 officers are part of the investigation, including counter-terrorism officers, national security agents from ASIO, and police from Victoria and Queensland.

Today, Police Commissioner Karen Webb claimed some information being made public had “compromised” part of the investigation.

Webb said it “has been detrimental to some of the strategies we may have used.”

Police have not yet officially declared the event a terrorist incident. In NSW, once an incident is classified as terrorism, police have the power to search people and properties without a warrant, within a certain area and number of days.

However, Minns described the incident as “terrorism,” which the Prime Minister told ABC radio he agreed with.

“It’s clearly designed to harm people, but it’s also designed to create fear in the community,” Albanese said.

Overnight, antisemitic graffiti was discovered in three parts of Sydney’s east: Maroubra, Eastgardens, and Eastlakes.

In Maroubra, antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on a Jewish primary school, Mount Sinai College, which begins classes for the year this week.

The school is near a childcare centre that was firebombed last week.

Minns condemned the “bastards” who he said would “rip apart a school on one of the first days of school with a racist antisemitic attack.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Peter Wertheim told reporters the Jewish community was filled with “understandable concern and anxiety” and “increasingly... anger”.

Jewish politicians from both maor parties have condemned the alleged plot.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser, whose electorate covers Dural, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the reports.

Labor MP Josh Burns called the threat “extremely frightening”.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

If levelling up your finances was a goal for 2025, there’s someone we’d like you to meet.

Who: Sharesies

What: A long-term investing app for the money you’ve got big plans for.

Who’s it for: With features like auto-invest, round-ups, and AI Search, Sharesies is designed for everyone — whether you’re a beginner or a pro.

How to start: No minimum investment, so you can start investing across US, AU, and NZ shares with any amount you like.

Use the code TDA10 when you sign up, and deposit any amount to get $10 in your Sharesies Wallet, ready to invest.

^{Investing involves risk. Read the relevant disclosure documents before making an investment decision. Promotional terms apply. Visit sharesies.com.au for more information. Image does not represent a real portfolio.}

NASA retrieved the samples of dust and rock from the asteroid Bennu in 2023. Now, scientists have released the strongest evidence yet to prove that the ingredients for life could have been planted here on Earth by asteroid crashes. Findings published in the journal Nature also mean there’s a higher chance of life on other planets in our solar system than previously thought.

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

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

It’s been called the world’s most famous painting, and these days the Mona Lisa is so popular the Louvre will build a second entrance for those who only want to see it.

The change is part of a broader suite of renovations to the iconic museum, expected to cost ​around €700–830 million euros ($AU1.4 billion). Funding will come from the museum's investors, as well as increased ticket prices for visitors from outside the European Union.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped the museum would eventually host 12 million visitors a year.

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Federal and state police are investigating a caravan filled with explosives discovered in north-west Sydney earlier this month. Multiple news sources report a note found inside the caravan contained a list of addresses of Jewish people and synagogues. In today's deep dive, we explain what we know about the incident, the investigation that has followed and the response from the Jewish community.