☕️ Australian Open gets underway

The Australian Open, one of the biggest sporting event’s in the country’s calendar, is underway! Today is the second day of the three-day first round.

The Aussies in action today include:

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

If you want to keep up with the latest from the courts, sign up to TDA’s daily sport newsletter here!

“I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I was, I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had the lead, very high level of lead and mercury.”
Novak Djokovic in an interview with GQ, alleging he was “poisoned” by the food he ingested while quarantined in Melbourne before the 2022 Australian Open. Djokovic was not able to compete due to being unvaccinated during restrictive COVID-19 lockdown laws.

$7.6m
The amount of additional unpaid wages Monash University has admitted they owe to underpaid casual staff since 2016. This is on top of a previous declaration of $10m unpaid wages.

1978
NASA selected the first women to be trained as astronauts.

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2024 was the hottest year on record, according to the European Union’s climate change service Copernicus.

The global average temperature was 15.1°C in 2024, which is 0.12°C above the 2023 average (the previous warmest year).

It was also the first year to surpass 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Here’s why this matters.

In 2015, world leaders signed the Paris Agreement to limit emissions so that global temperatures don’t increase more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (between 1850 and 1900).

The average temperature in 2024 was 1.6°C above the pre-industrial level – marking the first year the average temperature exceeded 1.5°C.

However, the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C is measured over a longer period of time, so it hasn’t officially been broken yet.

Earlier this month, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said 2024 was the country’s second-hottest year since 1910.

In Australia, 2024 saw a national average temperature that was 1.46°C warmer than the 1961 to 1990 average.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

President-elect Donald Trump has been sentenced for covering up hush money payments.

A New York judge handed Trump an “unconditional discharge”, meaning he won’t face jail or a fine.

He’s the first president in U.S. history to receive a criminal sentencing.

In May, Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to hide payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Here’s what you need to know.

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 a decade 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.

A six-week criminal trial took place in the state of New York in April, and resulted in Trump being found guilty on all 34 counts of covering up the hush money payments. Trump had pleaded not guilty and described the trial as “rigged”.

Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully attempted to throw out the conviction. They argued he couldn’t be convicted after the Supreme Court, the top court in the U.S, found presidents were immune from criminal responsibility when carrying out their official duties.

A final appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected yesterday.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan handed down the sentence earlier today.

Merchan imposed an “unconditional discharge” on Trump. This sentence carries no serious penalty.

This sentence was chosen because it “permits entry of judgment of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land,” the judge said.

The criminal conviction will be marked against Trump’s name, but the sentence is largely symbolic.

Trump is the first U.S. President to be sentenced for a crime. He will be sworn in again in less than two weeks.

Trump’s crimes are classified as “felonies”, meaning they are considered serious. As a convicted felon, he won’t be able to buy a gun in most U.S. states.

Some countries also restrict felons from entering, meaning Trump might need permission to visit.

During the hearing, Trump said the case had been a “very terrible experience”. He added: “The fact is, I’m totally innocent.”

The President-elect will now be able to appeal the conviction.

He is unable to pardon himself however, because the presidential power to wipe convictions does not extend to state charges.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

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Available in over 140 countries, Bluey was 2024’s most-watched series globally on Disney+.

Fans of the animated ABC series will be able to get their hands on six new LEGO sets in June. The Bluey feature film is expected in cinemas in 2027.

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

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Two of the child stars from School of Rock just got married!

22 years after meeting on the film’s set, Angelo Massagli and Caitlin Hale have tied the knot.

Massagli and Hale were 10-years-old when they starred in the 2003 classic alongside Jack Black. The film follows a wannabe rockstar who takes his roommate’s substitute teacher job and turns his students into a rock band. Massagli played Frankie, the “Tough Guy,” while Hale was Marta, the pig-tailed singer nicknamed “Blondie.”

Massagli and Hale reconnected in 2018 after leaving acting and going to uni. Their friendship evolved into a relationship, with the pair getting engaged in 2023. Nine of their School of Rock cast mates attended their wedding.

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Last year, the story of a French rape case and the woman at its centre, Gisèle Pelicot, captured global attention. Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in jail for charges related to drugging, raping, and inviting others to rape his then-wife, Gisèle. 50 others were also found guilty of varying charges including rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault.

The case is back in the headlines after the founder of a website (used by Dominique Pelicot to recruit other men to rape his wife) was charged by French police. In today's deep dive, we take a look at the outlawed chatroom 'Coco' and it's founder, Isaac Steidl.