☕️ TDA interviews the Prime Minister

This morning, we published our full interview with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, where we cover a range of topics including the cost of living, domestic violence, mental health, gambling ads, and the conflict in the Middle East.

Thank you to everyone who sent in question suggestions – it was so helpful in my preparation!

You can listen to the podcast here, watch it on Instagram here, or on YouTube here.

We have put in a request with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s team. They are yet to agree.

“On Friday, I was told by my medical team – which sounds like I’m already very sick, to have a medical team – that I have a brain aneurysm and it requires immediate attention, brain surgery.”
Radio host Kyle Sandilands on air this morning, revealing a sudden health diagnosis he received on Friday.

5,000
The number of Australians that received a text on Friday alerting them that they may have fallen victim to an online romance scam. In a joint statement the AFP, National Anti-Scam Centre, Philippines Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission and National Bureau of Investigation urged victims – who are mostly men over 35-years-old – to not send money to people they have met online.

1995
American astronaut Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, the Discovery.

😁 Light up a room with your smile 😁

With Smilie’s, gentle, dentist-approved formula you can lighten your teeth by up to six shades in just one week.

Ready to turn heads? Shop their Summer Sale for up to 50% off now!

^{Transparency: This is a sponsored section of the newsletter. It's the best way we can keep this newsletter free for you}

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has warned parents that “happy snaps of smiling students” are at risk of being used in online child abuse material.

The AFP said school photos are increasingly becoming the target of “highly sexualised and inappropriate comments or role-play”.

Authorities have also asked parents to talk to their children about how they use the internet, particularly during and after school holidays.

AFP Human Exploitation Commander Helen Schneider reminded parents that “small actions can mitigate big risks”.

“Something as simple as blurring or obscuring the logo of your child’s school on their uniform or in the background of an image can help ensure they don’t become a target,” Schneider said.

“Seemingly innocuous details – such as a... favourite hobby or a street address visible on the front door – can enable offenders to build a profile of the child with the intent of grooming them,” she added.

During the 2023/24 financial year, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) received almost 59,000 reports of online child sexual exploitation.

This marked a 45% increase from the previous year.

Since the ACCCE began its operations in 2018, it has recorded a year-on-year increase in the number of reports.

These reports also increased around school holidays, when many children have less supervision over their internet use.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

The United Nations has warned the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is on the brink of a regional war, amid escalating violence in the city of Goma.

A rebel group called M23 took control of the city last week, cutting off access to main roads and the airport. Other nations and the UN have accused Rwanda of backing M23, which the country’s government denies.

The UN has said dead bodies are currently lining the streets.

This latest surge in violence is the latest stage in a long, complex conflict.

The DRC is a central African nation which borders several others, including Rwanda.

It is rich in natural resources, but its people live in extreme poverty, mainly due to hundreds of years of colonisation, conflict and exploitation.

Ongoing violent conflict in the late 1990s and early 2000s related to ethnic tensions in the region further destabilised the DRC.

In 1994, extremists from a Rwandan ethnic group called the Hutus mounted a genocide against another group, the Tutsis. The genocide was also perpetrated against some Hutus.

Many Hutus who were not involved with the genocide fled across the border into the DRC. Following a war, Tutsis took control of Rwanda’s government and soon invaded the DRC on the grounds of self-defence.

The Tutsis were joined by troops and militias from other countries in back-to-back wars in the DRC from 1996-97 and 1998-2003.

The violence this week has centred on the city of Goma, on the DRC’s border with Rwanda.

A rebel group called M23, made up of Tutsi rebels, pushed into Goma and cut off the main roads and the airport.

This has made it impossible for civilians to flee the city.

M23 have seized Goma once before, in 2012. After the U.S. and UK pulled funding from the Rwandan Government, the group relinquished the city.

Now, the UN and representatives from countries including France allege Rwandan troops are helping M23 secure Goma again. It’s believed control of the city will give Rwanda more power over key trade routes along the border.

Rwanda has said it is defending itself from Congolese militias on the border.

UN staff have alleged M23 have opened fire on patients at hospitals, and left dead bodies in the streets.

The militia bombed a maternity hospital, killing pregnant women and newborns.

A UN official working in the DRC, Vivian van de Perre, said the organisation’s bases were overloaded with refugees and had been bombed, damaging the water system.

“The degree of suffering that the population here in Goma and its environs is enduring is truly unimaginable,” van de Perre said.

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

Elevate your cleaning game with Skipper

Australia's leading just-add-water home and body care brand, Skipper’s innovative tablet-based system offers concentrated alternatives for everything from household cleaners to body wash products.

Using tablets wrapped in compostable packaging, Skipper's stylish dispensers are designed to be refilled, reused, and on display, so you can keep your home looking and feeling fresh.

Is your home and body care routine ready for a sea change? Build your own bundle and get up to $120 off.

Scientists were able to grow the patches from stem cells, which were then used in an operation on a 46-year-old woman who had suffered a heart attack. The patches implanted 400 million cells which formed blood vessels to stabilise and strengthen her heart muscle. Researchers with the University Medical Center Göttingen hope the treatment will be used to prolong the lives of people with advanced heart failure who are awaiting a heart transplant.

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 newly discovered 100-metre-wide asteroid, 2024 YR4, could collide with earth on December 22, 2032. There’s a 1% chance of it hitting earth (and a 99% chance it doesn’t!), according to NASA.

It’s about 40 to 90 metres wide.

Experts worldwide have started preparing for planet defence, including intercepts through spacecraft. In 2028, it will have a follow-up observation opportunity.

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Some time before mid-May, every Australian over 18 is going to walk into a polling booth and cast their ballot.

As the road to the 2025 election becomes shorter, the political, social and economic conversations about the decisions in front of us are becoming more frequent.

On today’s episode, we sit down with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese.