☕️ Polls close in France

The intensity of the global election cycle isn’t slowing, and today it’s France’s turn! Before you start the day (and if you need to scrub up on the facts) I’d recommend reading Harry’s explainer here.

The early exit polling from the second round of the French election is showing that a left-wing coalition has come out on top, beating both President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance and the far right.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (remember, the country has both a PM and President) is set to offer his resignation today. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date!

“You probably heard we had a little debate last week. Can’t say it was my best performance. But ever since then, there’s been a lot of speculation. ‘What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out?... Well here’s my answer: I am running and gonna win again... I am staying in the race.”
U.S. President Joe Biden speaking at a rally in Wisconsin on Friday (local time).

300,000km²
How much of the ocean the Government plans to add to a marine reserve in Antarctica, which Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says will protect “seals, albatross and whales, that call these oceans home.”

2022
Former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe was assassinated while delivering a speech. After being shot twice, Abe was taken to hospital where he later died.

Child marriage – any marriage involving a person under 18 years old – is now illegal in Sierra Leone.

According to UN data, nearly a million young women in the West African nation were married before they turned 18. The country’s total population is around nine million.

Child marriage has been tied to lower education outcomes and higher domestic violence rates.

Last week, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio signed off on a bill prohibiting child marriage. First Lady Fatima Maada Bio said it will “change the narrative” for women in Sierra Leone.

Girls are six times more likely than boys to be involved in a child marriage. The practice is also more common among girls living in poverty.

Around 45% of child marriages occur in South Asia, particularly Bangladesh. A further 20% occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes Sierra Leone.

The United Nations (UN) set out a target to end child marriage by 2030. However, it says the world is not on track to meet this target. An estimated 640 million women alive in 2023 were married as a child, according to global data from UNICEF.

Almost a third of women currently aged 20 to 24 were married before the age of 18 in Sierra Leone.

Around 9% of these women were married before the age of 15, according to the Child Marriage Data Portal.

Despite a decline in child marriages over recent decades, a UNICEF report estimated there were 800,000 child brides in Sierra Leone in 2020.

Child marriage is now outlawed in Sierra Leone, after a ban was signed into law this week.

Government leaders from neighbouring countries, including Cabo Verde and Namibia, attended an equality event in Sierra Leone, which coincided with the passing of the bill.

Women’s rights advocate and First Lady of Namibia Monica Geingos urged global leaders to “leave children alone to grow,” saying that “it is easier to raise a broken child than a broken adult.”

“I hope it will be a seminal part of the story of how our women led the economic transformation of Sierra Leone, making our country a beacon of hope in Africa, where women have boundless opportunities to lead, determine their own future, and inspire the world”. — Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

The world’s most popular dating apps have agreed to a new industry code of conduct to keep Australians safer online.

The framework was developed by online dating platforms in response to calls from the Federal Government for the industry to be more regulated.

Hinge, Tinder, Bumble, and Grindr are among those who have formally agreed to the code, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the world.

Earlier this year, the Government announced several proposals to update the 2022 Online Safety Act amid concerns it’s failed to keep up with technology.

Australian Institute of Criminology data shows three in four users experienced sexual violence on dating apps from 2017 to 2022. One in three experienced in-person sexual violence from someone they met online.

Dating app executives met with the Government last year to address safety concerns. These discussions have informed an industry code of conduct.

Under the code, dating apps will be required to implement safety systems to detect potentially harmful incidents on their platforms.

Operators will be required to take action against users found in violation of safety policies. This could include banning their accounts or escalating complaints to police.

The code will be implemented over the next three months. It comes after the Government threatened to draft its own online safety laws for dating apps, if it wasn’t satisfied with how the industry responded to safety concerns.

Under the code, dating apps will have to publicly disclose how many accounts they have banned due to safety violations.

A new ‘rating system’ will be introduced to give users insight into each platform’s progress in complying with the code.

The code is voluntary, meaning dating apps aren’t legally obliged to adopt implement the measures. However, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said that about 75% of the dating app industry has agreed to adopt the code.

While the code includes steps that could see more users banned from individual apps, it doesn’t mean those users will be automatically blocked from all online dating platforms.

On Friday, Rowland said she was “confident” the industry-developed code would have a “positive impact” on online safety.

She added it would also act as an “important consumer awareness tool” for users choosing a dating app.

An independent committee will be established to monitor dating apps. It will have powers to ensure compliance with the code.

The eSafety Commissioner will formally review the code nine months after it comes into operation.

It will provide advice to the Government about potential further actions to ensure online safety as part of its review.

Reporting by Daniel Lo Surdo.

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A new pre-exposure drug was administered twice in one year to a group of 5,000 women. Women are disproportionately affected by HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations. Researchers hope the treatment will “address the stigma and discrimination” that has prevented the uptake of preventative medication in some communities. The injection was also shown to be more effective than daily prevention pills.

Reporting by Chloe Christie.

In a scene out of every single renter’s nightmares, a Canberra woman has woken up to a real estate agent standing in her bedroom.

The agent said he was there to conduct an inspection, having let himself in with a universal key, without ringing the doorbell.

The woman apparently hid under the bed sheets while the agent continued the inspection, saying she “felt trapped and concerned for my safety”.

She and her husband took the case to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which ruled that the real estate agent had trespassed. He now has to pay the renters $2,135, including $1,500 in damages.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

Labour will form Government in the UK, after an election result that’s been described as a landslide victory. It comes after one of the most tumultuous periods in recent British history – an era that saw five Conservative Prime Ministers, Britain’s departure from the European Union, a global pandemic and the death of Queen Elizabeth II, among other things.

In today's deep dive, we'll explain the context of this election and what it means for both parties moving forward.