☕️ Is your phone giving you cancer?

You might notice this newsletter is going out a little late today.

I had to, because it’s ‘Be Late for Something Day’.

So I took the scenic route to work and listened to ‘September’ by Earth, Wind & Fire on repeat. I highly recommend! Just send your boss this intro to explain.

“The world is not obliged to put up with Musk’s extreme right-wing anything goes just because he is rich.”
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an interview with CNN, days after the country’s Supreme Court banned Musk’s social platform X. For more on this topic, listen to TDA’s podcast ‘Is this the beginning of the end for X?’ here.

$26,615
The maximum fine that could be faced by people who feed crocodiles in Queensland. Knowingly staying near a crocodile which is on or partly on land can now cost $806 on the spot, while interfering with crocodile traps attracts a $26,615 fine in court.

1976
The Muppet Show premiered in the UK. The show lasted five seasons until its last episode aired on 23 May 1981.

"If it bleeds, it leads" - That's what generations of newsmakers have always been told and known to be true. Well, we here at The Daily Aus don't accept that. We want to do news differently.

The Good Newsletter newsletter is a new addition to TDA’s content offering, and we need your help getting the word out there.

There is no connection between mobile phone use and brain cancer, according to a new review commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A panel of experts examined over 5,000 studies published from 1994 to 2022.

The panel found that although the use of wireless technologies has significantly increased in the past few decades, there has been “no rise in the incidence of brain cancers”.

It also found that exposure to TV and broadcasting antennas does not increase the risk of some cancers in children.

Wireless communication devices – including mobile phones, radio stations, and WiFi networks – transmit messages and calls using invisible radio energy waves.

In 2011, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified exposure to these radio waves as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” i.e. capable of causing cancer.

The IARC noted that this classification relied on evidence that was both “limited” and “inadequate,” but strong enough to suggest “there could be some risk.”

A panel of experts from across the world have today published the “most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the evidence to date.”

It looked at over 5000 studies published between 1994 and 2022. 63 studies of brain cancers in adults and children were included in the final analysis.

No link between mobile phone use and increased risk of brain cancer was found.

Additionally, exposure to TV and broadcasting antennas was not linked to risks of childhood cancer.

Lead author Ken Karipidis, an associate professor with Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency’s (ARPANSA), said the review had access to a larger dataset than the IARC did in 2011. This meant researchers could be “confident” in the new findings.

Karipidis said the review findings were consistent with previous ARPANSA research, indicating that “although the use of wireless technology has massively increased in the last 20 years, there has been no rise in the incidence of brain cancers.“

Reporting by Chloe Christie.

A missile strike on Ukraine has been described as one of Russia’s deadliest attacks on the country in two and a half years.

More than 50 people were killed when ballistic missiles struck a hospital and military academy in the Ukrainian city of Poltava overnight.

At least 270 people are injured, with many feared missing beneath the rubble.

On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” into Ukraine, claiming the country is “historically Russian land”.

Russian troops crossed the border and missiles were fired at cities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country would defend itself.

While Ukraine retook large chunks of its territory in 2022, its counter-offensive then stalled. However, it launched a surprise attack on Russia last month.

In August, Ukraine pushed across its northern border into Russia, where its taken control of the Kursk and Belgorod regions.

In response, Russia launched a missile and drone attack last month, killing at least seven people and injuring 47 others.

Zelenskyy described it as “one of the largest” since the war began over two years ago.

Officials said the strikes targeted 15 regions in Ukraine — more than half the country. Water supplies and power plants were disrupted, causing widespread outages.

Following several recent escalations, Russia led a strike on Poltava – a city in central Ukraine – on Tuesday.

The attack killed at least 51 people— the highest death toll from a single attack on Ukraine this year.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said that once the air raid alarm went off, civilians had little time to seek out a bomb shelter. It’s been reported that many were killed on their way to safety.

In a post to X following the strike, President Zelenskyy said: “The Russian scum will surely pay for this strike.”

Zelenskyy urged world leaders to continue supporting his country. He said Ukraine needs “long-range solutions” to target Russian launch sites being used to bombard Ukraine.

The Ukrainian President also called for “additional air defence systems and armoured vehicles,” during talks with Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau.

Russia did not immediately comment on the attack.

UN data shows that July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since October 2022. At least 219 civilians were killed and over 1,000 were injured, according to data cited by the UN.

Neither country has provided updated overall military death tolls, but international estimates suggest both sides have lost tens of thousands of soldiers.

Earlier this year, the UK Ministry of Defence estimated that half a million Russian soldiers had been killed or injured.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

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An artificial island in the centre of the whitewater sporting facility, newly dubbed ‘Fox Island’, will be on the world stage next year when the stadium hosts the Canoe and Slalom World Championships.

The NSW Minister for Sport Steve Kamper said: “There is no doubt that the Fox family are the first family of paddling in Australia. The contributions that each of them has made have lifted the sport to new heights.”

The sisters won three gold medals across the kayaking and canoeing events in Paris.

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

Reporting by Chloe Christie.

Olympians may have complained about the cardboard beds in the Athletes’ Village at Paris 2024, but at least they had somewhere to sleep.

Iranian para-athlete Morteza Mehrzadselakjani — who happens to be the world’s second-tallest person — was forced to sleep on the floor at the Village because none of the beds fit him.

Mehrzadselakjani, who plays sitting volleyball, is 2.64 metres tall – well over the average size of a single bed.

His coach told Olympics.com late last month that Mehrzadselakjani “doesn’t have a special bed, but he has got the most important aim in his mind.”

“It doesn’t matter for him whether he will lay on the floor or he’s not going to have enough to eat.”

At the Tokyo Paralympics, the player was given a custom-made bed.

The Iranian contingent reportedly made a complaint, and the Paralympian is set to receive a new bed.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

The latest GDP figures show Australia’s economy is growing very slowly. So slowly, in fact, the Australian Bureau of Statistics just recorded the softest annual economic growth since the early 90s (outside the pandemic).

So, why? Independent economist Nicki Hutley helps us make sense of the data in today’s deep dive.