Two truths and a lie is back. As always, here are three headlines from the past week - but one is fake. Your time to guess!

The answer is in the tidbit!

The quote
"Donald Trump Jr has been given a visa to come to Australia. He didn’t get cancelled. He’s just a big baby, who isn’t very popular." – Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil in a since-deleted tweet. Donald Trump Jr. was scheduled to speak in Australia this weekend, but the organisers have said it is now delayed due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

The stat
30 million
The number of sign-ups to Meta's new app 'Threads', according to Mark Zuckerberg.

Today in history
1928: Sliced bread went on sale for the first time ever in a bakery in Missouri. The local newspaper said the local housewife could expect “a thrill of pleasure when she first sees a loaf of this bread”. According to everyone, there's been nothing as good since.

Some headlines from this morning:

A small, 2.4-magnitude earthquake struck an outer Melbourne suburb on Wednesday morning.

While a minor event, it was Victoria's third recorded earthquake in less than two months.

This made us think: What is behind the recent earthquakes in Victoria?

Why has Victoria been experiencing earthquakes recently?

The recent earthquakes in Victoria aren't totally irregular, according to Dee Ninis, an Earthquake Geologist at the Australian Seismology Research Centre and Monash University.

Ninis told TDA that 40-60 earthquakes are recorded in southeast Australia on any given week, but most of these can't be felt or are in remote regions.

"It feels like there have been a lot [recently], but what's happened is they've just by chance been just big enough... and right under Melbourne."

Ninis said Victoria is particularly influenced by plate boundaries on the Pacific Ocean, which heightens its vulnerability to earthquakes.

Southeast NSW, northern Tasmania, and the top and bottom parts of Western Australia are also particularly susceptible to earthquakes.

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A Federal Court judge has dismissed refugee Mostafa Azimitabar's claim that he was unlawfully detained in two Melbourne hotels.

However, Justice Bernard Murphy added the detention showed a lack of "ordinary human decency".

Azimitabar spent over a year detained in hotels with little or no access to fresh air.

Who is Mostafa Azimitabar?
Azimitabar is an Iranian citizen of Kurdish ethnicity. He arrived in Australia by boat in 2013 to seek asylum. His claim was assessed as genuine.

However, under Australian law he was denied a permanent visa because of his method of arrival.

Azimitabar was detained in the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea for six years. In 2019, he was diagnosed with PTSD.

The hotels:
Following this diagnosis, Azimitabar was transferred to Melbourne to receive psychiatric treatment. He was detained in two hotels, the Mantra Hotel in Preston and the Park Hotel in Carlton, for a total of 14 months from late 2019 to early 2021.

The conditions varied over this period, but Azimitabar spent several months with no access to fresh air or sunlight. In a 2022 interview with TDA, Azimitabar called the hotels "coffins".

"I am [still] trembling when I think about those buildings," Azimitabar said. "And it's with me. How can I forget about it?"

The lawsuit:
In 2021, Azimitabar was released into community detention, where he remains, allowing him to live in the community rather than a detention facility, but under certain conditions.

Following his release, he sued the Australian Government, arguing it did not have the proper authority to convert the hotels into temporary detention centres, which would mean his detention there was unlawful.

The result:
In a judgement released on Thursday, Federal Court Justice Bernard Murphy rejected this argument and dismissed the case, saying he was "satisfied" the hotels were legally approved. However, he added he did not personally approve of the detention.

"I can only wonder at the lack of thought, indeed lack of care and humanity, in detaining a person with serious psychiatric and psychological problems... in a hotel room with a window that would only open 10cm, and for most of the time without access to an outdoor area to breathe fresh air or feel the sun on his face," he said.

Response:
Outside court, Azimitabar said he was "proud" and would continue to fight to change Australia's laws.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said alternative detention facilities were sometimes needed for detainees requiring medical treatment.

However, he acknowledged the Judge's comments about the "manner" and "extraordinary length" of Azimitabar's detention and said the Government saw detention as "a last resort, only when it is necessary".

Get all the news you need to know today in your ears on The Daily Aus podcast!

The number of critically endangered capercaillie (a type of bird) in the UK has increased for the first time in eight years.

A survey found 19 more male capercaillies this year compared to last.

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Sign up today with the code TDA and receive a $20 bonus cash back on your first shop today! T&Cs apply.

This is false. But happy birthday to both 50 Cent and the Dalai Lama for yesterday.

This is true.

A 65-year-old man in California has admitted he hid his mother’s death for more than 30 years so that he could collect more than $US830,000 in benefits that were intended for her, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

The man pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in San Diego last week. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.

This is true.

A man who etched “Ivan + Hayley 23/6/23” on a wall in the Colosseum last month has said he didn’t realise the monument was so ancient. The act was captured by another tourist and posted online, and shared by Italy’s Culture Minister.

In a letter published in the Rome daily newspaper Il Messaggero this week, the man apologised “to Italians and the entire world for the damage done to a monument, which is, in fact, heritage of all humanity”.

“I admit with deepest embarrassment that it was only after what regrettably happened that I learned of the monument’s antiquity.”