☕️ Will TikTok actually get banned?

Any Beyoncé fans here will be on the edge of their seats later today.

After the singer’s halftime show during the NFL Christmas Day match, the date ‘1.14.25’ flashed on the screen.

Will it be a new album? The Renaissance World Tour coming to Australia? I’m personally hoping for a part two of her ‘Telephone’ music video with Lady Gaga. The end of the video says ‘To be continued…’ and it’s bothered me ever since that it’s never been continued.

“We know that climate change will have a disproportionate impact on current and future generations, as the world continues to warm and climate disaster increases in frequency and severity … We call on you to acknowledge your duty of care to us. We call on you to ensure that the decisions you make today are made with our health and wellbeing at the forefront of your minds, and that this is guaranteed by law.”
An excerpt from an open letter written to the federal government, urging them to introduce ‘Duty of Care’ legislation to protect future generations from climate change. Activists Grace Tame and Anjali Sharma, as well as Olympian Emma McKeon, are among the Australians who have signed the letter.

$140m
The amount of unclaimed toll relief payments that the NSW Government has said motorists have not yet claimed.

1960
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) commenced operations, establishing a new central bank for Australia.

A U.S. ban on TikTok is set to come into effect next week.

U.S. lawmakers passed the ban last year, citing national security concerns over potential data sharing between the app’s parent company ByteDance and the Chinese Government.

To avoid the ban, ByteDance has to sell its U.S. operations to a non-Chinese entity.

Approximately 170 million Americans use the app.

The TikTok ban is set to come into effect nine months after legislation passed the U.S. Congress with support from both Democrats and Republicans.

According to a lawyer for TikTok, when the ban goes into effect, the app will “go dark” for U.S. users. It will no longer be available to new users through app stores.

The ban also targets any social and digital media apps operated “directly or indirectly” by ByteDance.

Last week, TikTok fronted the U.S’ highest court, the Supreme Court, in an attempt to overturn the ban.

Its lawyers argued the ban would result in “massive and unprecedented censorship” and cause many Americans to lose money. An official decision by the court will be handed down as early as Wednesday (local time), with local media widely reporting it will likely rule to allow the ban.

TikTok estimated that within the first month of the ban, small businesses using the app could lose over $US1 billion ($AU1.62 billion) in revenue, while content creators risk missing out on $US300 million ($AU487 million).

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump announced plans to ban TikTok, citing national security risks.

However, in December, Trump said: “I now have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok.” The president-elect falsely claimed TikTok had helped increase the number of young people who voted for him.

This month, Trump filed a request urging the Supreme Court to temporarily pause the ban.

He will be inaugurated on 20 January, one day after the law takes effect.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has outlined the Coalition’s election platform, which is focused on the cost of living.

Dutton also announced the Coalition’s official slogan: “Let’s get Australia back on track.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been travelling to Queensland and Western Australia to secure support for the Government.

Australia must go to the polls by 17 May.

The Prime Minister needs to provide 33 days notice, so an official announcement has to be made by Monday 14 April.

While political campaigns will not officially begin until after the election is called, both the Labor Government and the Coalition Opposition have begun outlining their policies.

Over the weekend, Dutton delivered a major speech in the Melbourne electorate of Chisholm, which the Liberal Party (part of the Coalition) lost to Labor at the 2022 election.

The cost of living crisis was a central theme of Dutton’s speech.

The Opposition Leader reflected on his suburban Queensland upbringing, in a pitch to outer-suburban voters who may be struggling with the price of everyday goods and services.

He expressed concern about the rising cost of “food, rents, mortgages, power, and insurance”, and promised to limit “inflationary spending”. Dutton blamed Government policies – such as a $300 energy bill discount and HECS debt reductions – for high interest rates and inflation.

The Reserve Bank has kept the cash rate at 4.35% since November 2023. The rate of inflation was 2.3% in the year to November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

During his speech, Dutton said: “I’m in the game of ending government waste.” He accused Labor of “living beyond its means”.

Dutton repeated some of his previous policy commitments, including developing nuclear power and making knife laws consistent across the country.

He repeated his pledge to cut Australia’s migration intake by 25% in the first two years of a Coalition Government, which he first outlined in a speech last May.

In response, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth this morning said Dutton had “no solutions [and] no real ideas for cost of living relief”.

Dutton’s tagline, “Let’s get Australia back on track”, has been compared to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s 2023 election slogan: “Get our country back on track”.

Luxon’s centre-right National Party won the most seats at that election and negotiated a coalition of other right-wing parties to form government.

By contrast, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has framed the election as “a choice between building Australia’s future or taking Australia backwards”.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

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🍊 Jannik Sinner's doping case is still being investigated. Why?
🍊 The College Football Playoffs are set. More details here.
🍊 Australia won the first match of the women's Ashes series.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: basketball, a random fact and more…

The WeWalk Smart Cane 2 uses detection technology to warn users about obstacles through sound and vibration alerts. It features a built-in AI voice assistant that can provide “turn-by-turn navigation, find public transport options, and explore nearby points of interests”. The foldable cane also features a light, designed as a safety feature to make visually impaired people more visible at night.

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

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

A pizza shop in Norwich, England, has taken a bold stance on the age-old debate over pineapple as a pizza topping.

Lupa Pizza is charging £100 ($AU199) for a pineapple pizza on Deliveroo, describing it as a playful jab at the controversial choice. The menu reads: “Yeah, for £100 you can have it… Go on, you monster!”

Staff told The Telegraph this has successfully deterred customers from ordering it.

But there’s a twist. Lupa has launched a poll to settle the matter, with 51% currently in favour of pineapple on pizza. If the pro-pineapple crowd wins, Lupa has promised to add the topping to their menu at a regular price.

What’s your take? Is pineapple on pizza no-go, or does it deserve a place at the table?

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Meta has become the latest company in the U.S. to walk back on its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts — a move numerous corporations are making ahead of a Trump presidency. The parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp said it will no longer have "representation goals for women and ethnic minorities."

In today's deep dive, we look at what's changing at Meta, is there an emerging trend in companies shifting away from diversity and inclusion, and what started this conversation?