☕️ MH370 investigation reopens

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"I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages. We are going to be writing every day in support and defence of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others."
Jeff Bezos in an email and social media post addressed to staff at the newspaper he owns, The Washington Post. Bezos said he had offered the current opinion editor the opportunity to continue and implement these changes, but the opinion editor declined and resigned.

6.5 tonnes
The amount of the drug Butanediol (‘bute’), a substance commonly linked to sexual assaults and overdoses, that police seized across various locations in NSW.

Monica Lewinsky appears on the podcast ‘Call Her Daddy’
In the hour-long episode, Lewinsky delves into the details of her affair with U.S. President Bill Clinton, as well as the global fall-out once it became public. Lewinsky was a 22-year-old intern when she met the then 49-year-old President.

A new search to find a missing Malaysian Airlines plane has begun this week.

MH370 disappeared from the radar over the Indian Ocean in 2014, carrying 239 passengers.

Marine exploration company Ocean Infinity has been tasked with the new investigation, which will cover 15,000km².

A 2018 search by the company was unsuccessful, as was a multi-national investigation.

In March 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared from the radar partway through its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The plane was carrying 239 people.

After the disappearance, a large search was conducted by Malaysia, China and Australia. The search lasted four years and cost approximately $AU200 million.

In 2015, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said: “The disappearance of MH370 is without precedent, and... the search [is] by far the most complex and technically challenging in aviation history.”

In December 2024, Malaysia agreed to resume the search with maritime exploration company Ocean Infinity on a “no-find-no-fee” basis.

The Malaysian Government said the company will receive $US70 million ($AU111 million) if the wreckage is found within 18 months.

Ocean Infinity previously conducted an unsuccessful search in 2018.

This time, they plan to search 15,000km² which has not been investigated before.

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the company is “confident this area will come back with a positive result.”

“They have convinced us that they are ready to take the risk and to resume the search. That’s why the Malaysian government is proceeding with it.”

Grace Nathan, whose mother was onboard MH370, told international newswire AFP her family is “very relieved and pleased that the search is resuming once again after such a long hiatus.”

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.

White Ribbon, an organisation that works to prevent gender-based violence against women, has confirmed it no longer works with the NRL.

It comes after invitations were sent to U.S. President Donald Trump and UFC boss Dana White for this weekend’s season opener in Las Vegas.

Both White and Trump have been accused of violence against women.

In response, White Ribbon said it has not worked with the NRL since 2020, and asked to be removed from its website.

The NRL has a five-year deal to open its season in Las Vegas.

Last year, the inaugural games were attended by 40,000 people.

Ahead of the Vegas showcase, Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys invited Trump to attend, saying: “We want to introduce you to the toughest game on Earth”.

It is the second time V’Landys has asked a sitting U.S. President to attend the showcase, having asked then-President Joe Biden to attend in 2024.

Last week, The Sydney Morning Herald reported the Canberra Raiders had invited UFC boss Dana White to blow the ‘Viking Horn’ at their game.

The horn, typically blown by a former Raiders player, initiates a fan chant at games.

Earlier this week, SMH reported White had declined the invitation.

Both Trump and White have previously been accused of violence against women.

In 2023, Trump was found liable for the sexual abuse of American journalist and author E. Jean Carroll.

The same year, footage emerged of White in a physical altercation with his wife at a nightclub in Mexico.

White apologised at the time, saying: “There’s never, ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman”. He was not charged.

Following White and Trump’s invitations, White Ribbon CEO Merinda March announced the organisation wanted to be removed from the NRL’s website.

White Ribbon began working with the NRL in the early 2000s.

March said that despite still being featured on the NRL’s site, the two organisations had not worked together since 2020.

“While the NRL continues to promote their association with us, this decision… lacks integrity and respect.”

March said the organisation “finds the NRL’s decision to associate with well-known perpetrators of abuse... disappointing and frankly, tone deaf.”

“We believe the fans and participants of the NRL – almost half of whom are female – deserve better.”

References to White Ribbon have since been removed from the NRL’s website.

March added White Ribbon would work with the NRL in future if they were “ready to commit to an authentic zero-tolerance stance”.

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Reporting by George Finlayson.

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🍊 Horner disappointed by fans booing Verstappen. More details.
🍊 The Matildas lost to Colombia. Read more here.
🍊 A boxing face-off ended with egg on one athlete’s face. Find out more.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: cricket, basketball and more…

The artefact from the 7th century BCE has been on display in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka the Met) since 1972. It is believed it was stolen from an archaeological museum in Olympia in the 1930s. A representative from Greece will attend a ceremony in New York on Monday, where the Met will formally hand over the statue.

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Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Channel 9 reports an Australian couple had a woman’s corpse placed in the seat next to them on a long-haul Qatar flight last week.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin said the passenger died part-way through the 14 hour flight from Melbourne to Doha. Ring said: “They tried to wheel her up towards business class, but she was quite a large lady and they couldn’t get her through the aisle.”

“They looked a bit frustrated, then they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me.”

Qatar released a statement to Channel 9, saying: “First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight. We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused.”

Qatar has not commented on whether the passengers have been offered any compensation for their experience.

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.

This week, 14 members of a religious group were sentenced over the death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs. Her death was the result of consistently being denied insulin or medical care for type 1 diabetes, under the belief that she would be healed by God. On today’s podcast, we’re going to take you through the events that led up to what a presiding judge described to be a “slow and painful death”.