☕️ Is Paris ready to host the Olympics?

In today’s podcast, we discuss whether Paris is ready to host the Olympics, which begins later this week. You can listen here.

Meanwhile, here’s today’s riddle (after an embarrassing amount of time testing potential riddles on Nandini). I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?

Answer’s in the tidbit!

“Violence against women and girls has reached epidemic levels… in terms of its scale, complexity and impact on victims.”
UK College of Policing Deputy CEO Maggie Blyth, in a new report on gendered violence against women in England and Wales.

$US81 million ($AU122 million)
The amount of money U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign raised in donations in its first 24 hours. Yesterday, Harris secured enough support within her party to be the Democratic presidential nominee. It means she is almost certain to be confirmed as her party’s candidate at next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1969
Apollo 11 returns to Earth. This was NASA’s mission to the moon carrying Neil Armstrong.

Around 70% of Australians with chronic pain have been unable to work, according to new data from Chronic Pain Australia (CPA).

The not-for-profit’s annual National Pain Report found around 3.6 million Australians have chronic pain.

According to CPA, chronic pain refers to pain involving the nervous system that can persist for three or more months. It can impact a person’s emotional, financial, and social situation.

The report found several factors, including time and cost, are preventing people from getting a diagnosis and treatment.

CPA surveyed around 2,600 adults and asked them about their experiences of chronic pain between April-June 2024.

Around 80% of respondents were female, 17% were male, and the remainder were non-binary or didn’t say.

According to the Victorian Department of Health, women are more likely to be impacted by chronic pain than men.

“Women generally experience more recurrent pain, more severe pain, and longer-lasting pain than men,” it said.

Women and non-binary people experienced higher rates of stigma from GPs, compared to men.

Around one in five respondents experienced stigma from employees, or life partners.

9 in 10 respondents said chronic pain had disturbed their sleep.

Around a third of respondents have used medicinal cannabis for pain management. A further 38% said they want to or are planning to use medicinal cannabis.

A third of respondents also said driving restrictions on prescribed cannabis was a barrier to use. Nearly half said cost was the main barrier to medicinal cannabis.

Chronic pain treatments cost more than half of respondents $50 to $200 a week.

27% of respondents said they cut spending on food to afford pain treatment.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

A U.S. journalist has been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison on spying charges.

Evan Gershkovich is a reporter with the Wall Street Journal. The publication has condemned his sentencing as a “disgraceful, sham conviction”.

Gershkovich was reporting in Yekaterinburg, east of Moscow, when he was arrested in March 2023. He’s been held in a high-security prison ever since.

He’s the first U.S. citizen to be detained on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.

Evan Gershkovich worked for several publications from Moscow before he became a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) at the start of 2022.

In February that year, the 32-year-old began reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, before new censorship laws were passed gagging critics of President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Gershkovich had profiled Putin’s opponents and reported on the war’s impacts on communities near the Russia-Ukraine border.

Gershkovich was arrested on a reporting assignment in 2023. The WSJ confirmed he held appropriate press credentials at the time.

Officials accused him of spying on Russia, on behalf of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), claiming Gershkovich had been collecting information about tanks in the city of Yekaterinburg.

Gershkovich, the WSJ, and his family have openly denied Russia’s claims.

Within a month of Gershkovich’s arrest, the U.S. State Department – which handles foreign affairs – declared he was being “wrongfully detained” and called for his release.

Gershkovich is currently held in a penal colony in Yekaterinburg.

Last week, he appeared in a local court for a three-day trial. Proceedings were conducted behind closed doors, where U.S. officials have mostly been unable to gain access.

A Russian judge has now handed Gershkovich a 16-year sentence for espionage.

In a statement, the court said Gershkovich “did not admit guilt, but the totality of evidence presented to the court was sufficient to render a guilty verdict”.

The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.

WSJ parent company Dow Jones has released a statement condemning the conviction as a “sham”.

“We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release,” it said. The publication has set up a dedicated campaign rallying under the hashtag #FreeEvan.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Gershkovich was “targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American”.

Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong has called for Gershkovich’s immediate release, describing his sentencing as a “deliberate attack on media freedom by Russia.”

Not-for-profit Reporters Without Borders condemned the conviction, saying “conflating journalism with espionage has highly dangerous implications for press freedom.”

During a phone call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether a U.S-Russian prisoner exchange deal could be reached.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

Get involved in DonateLife Week

Although 4 out of 5 Aussies support organ and tissue donation, only 1 in 10 young people aged 16-24 are registered. During this year’s DonateLife Week, from 28 July - 2 August, we’re trying to change that.

It doesn’t matter if you drink, smoke or vape – anyone over 16 can register. It only takes one minute, but you could save up to 7 lives.

How organ donation saves lives: Nick’s Story

At three months old, Brisbane-born Nick DeBonis was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a condition that required a liver transplant for him to survive.

After months of fighting for his life, his parents received a call that someone had sadly passed away, but they had generously donated their liver – and it was a match to Nick.

Now at 18, Nick’s about to represent Australia as the youngest player in the first Transplant Football World Cup in Italy this September.

"I've been given an incredible gift of life and I'm really grateful for that,” Nick said.

When Aussies register as organ donors and their family consent, it gives people like Nick a second chance.

It only takes one minute to register as an organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au with 3 taps on your Express Plus Medicare app.

Rosemary Fowler was a researcher at the University of Bristol. Her 1948 research contributed to her supervisor, Cecil Powell, winning a Nobel prize for physics in 1950. Fowler left uni before finishing her PhD so she could support her young family during post-WW2 food rationing. Now, she’s been honoured in a private graduation ceremony. Bristol University’s Chancellor said Fowler’s “intellectual rigour and curiosity…paved the way for critical discoveries,”.

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

La Poste, the French post office, has released a special postage stamp in the lead-up to this year’s Olympics and Paralympics.

And this isn’t just any stamp: It’s scratch and sniff, and it’s (you guessed it!) baguette-scented.

The stamp covers €1.96 ($AU3.22) in international postage.

La Poste said the baguette illustration “transcends borders” and is “an international icon”.

I can’t wait to smell the stamp once it’s travelled to Australia. Stale bread for all!

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

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Riddle answer: A map

As thousands of athletes and millions of spectators descend on Paris, we're now just days away from the Olympics Opening Ceremony. The city has had the better part of a decade to prepare for this moment, but with recent political instability, rising temperatures, security concerns, over-tourism and even E. coli in the Seine... Is Paris ready to host the Olympics?