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It’s Tuesday!
Tuesday means we’re one whole day until Wednesday, which is riddle day. I’m running low on riddles, so hit reply to this email if you’ve got any goodies!
Quote of the day
“It’s a bit of tradition in Australian sport, isn’t it?” - PM Anthony Albanese on being booed on his arrival at the Australian Open finals on Sunday.
Stat of the day
$454 billion
The estimated amount Chinese real estate company Evergrande owes its creditors. A Hong Kong court ruled this week it must be liquidated (which means it will be dissolved, with the sale of all its assets used to pay its debts).
Today in history
1948
Indian independence campaigner Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead in New Delhi.
Some headlines from this morning:
Universities Australia is calling for fee-free study for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to help ease cost of living pressures and skills shortages. It comes after the Federal Government opened 180,000 fee-free places for TAFE students last year. Universities Australia is now asking the government to create a similar program to boost uni enrolments in courses where there are staff shortages, such as nursing.
Nikki Haley has criticised Republican officials for pressuring her to drop out of the race against Donald Trump for the presidential nomination. Haley and Trump are two of the final candidates vying for the Republican nomination. Haley lost the Republican primaries to Trump in the state of New Hampshire last week, after an earlier loss in Iowa. However, the former UN ambassador said that she has “every intention” of campaigning through to “Super Tuesday” on 5 March (when several states hold their primaries on the same day).
Australia’s road death toll has reached its highest level in over 13 years, according to the national peak motoring body.
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) recorded 677 road deaths in the second half of last year — the deadliest six months on Australian roads since 2010.
1,266 people died on Australian roads in 2023, an increase of 7.3% compared to 2022.
Data released in December showed Australia is not on track to meet a Federal Government target of zero road deaths by 2050.
Response
The AAA called for governments to release more data about the causes of crashes to explain the increased deaths and inform safety response measures.
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said: “Without good data, Australia has no credible plan to understand its current road trauma problems or prevent their continuation.”
Social media platform X has blocked searches for Taylor Swift after sexually explicit AI images of the singer spread on the platform last week.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Government said they were “alarmed” by the images, which used Swift’s likeness without her consent.
What happened?
Several AI generated images of Taylor Swift were shared on X on Friday.
The New York Times estimated one of the images was shared 47 million times and spread onto other platforms including Facebook.
The hashtag #ProtectTaylorSwift trended after the images went viral, with fans reporting accounts that shared the content.
On Friday, X’s safety account said: “Posting Non-Consensual Nudity (NCN) images is strictly prohibited on X and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards such content”.
Since then, the platform has blocked searches for “Taylor Swift”.
In a statement to media, X’s head of business operations Joe Benarroch said: “This is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritise safety on this issue”.
White House
In a press conference, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden’s administration took AI “very seriously”.
She questioned whether social media companies are doing enough to prevent the spread of “misinformation and nonconsensual, intimate imagery of real people”.
Jean-Pierre added the issue primarily impacts women and girls who are the “overwhelming targets” of online harassment.
U.S. reaction
Democrat Congressman Joe Morelle called the images “abhorrent” and added that AI generated intimate images also affect “women and girls everywhere, every day”.
Last year, Morelle and other representatives from both parties introduced a bill that would criminalise sharing, or threatening to share, AI generated sexually explicit images without consent.
The bill is under review.
Online safety
X has faced growing criticism over its safety regulations since billionaire Elon Musk acquired the platform (then Twitter) in 2022.
Earlier this month, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner reported 80% of safety engineers at the platform have been fired since Musk took over.
The platform released its “Freedom of Speech, Not Reach” plan last April. The strategy prioritises limiting the distribution of controversial posts rather than deleting them altogether.
We’re all about celebrating good news, especially when it’s about lollies. That’s why we were pumped to hear about our fave lollies - Allen’s - announcing their new packaging.
Their new packaging will reduce their use of plastic by 21% across their range. To put that into context, Allen’s says this change will avoid 58 tonnes of waste annually - or, in numbers we can truly understand - equivalent to the weight of 4.6 million Snakes Alive lollies*!
You can find out more about what they’re doing here.
*Compared to Allen’s lolly packaging in 2022.
We’ve known for some time that buying nicotine vapes over the counter has been illegal. So why are they still so easy to buy? And what’s slowed down progress on regulation?
In Episode Two we’ll look at the legal loopholes vape manufacturers have been using to keep their vapes on the shelves. We also head to Parliament House to hear from those trying to crack down on vapes, and those trying to get them legalised.
If you want your friends to wake up with us too, refer them!
We’ll even sweeten the deal for you…
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Or send them your unique link: {{rp_refer_url}}
Australia has won the Netball Nations Cup Champions.
The Diamonds defeated England by 20 points, to finish their undefeated competition run 69 to 49. Sophie Garbin was named the Player of the Match and Paige Hadley was crowned the Player of the Series.
Ever been stuck in a plane on a tarmac and wished you could be anywhere else? Well, one man in Mexico had the same thought, but er, acted on it. He opened an emergency exit and stepped outside onto the wing.
The plane was sitting on the tarmac at Mexico City International Airport for nearly four hours after being delayed.
The man reportedly walked back inside the plane after taking a breather and returned to his seat.
Passengers said they weren’t impacted by the incident. A number of them have even come to the man’s defence, signing a statement in support of his actions after the airline made passengers wait hours without water or proper ventilation.
