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Good morning!
Here is today’s quiz question: What is the most-streamed album by a female artist in Spotify history?
Hint: I’m actually testing how closely you read this newsletter, because we reported on it in the titbit a few weeks ago when the data came out. Rack your brain!
(And the answer is at the end of the titbit.)
I’ve got 10 seconds
The quote: “We have received over 750,000 pieces of feedback that we are working through, that is addressing the website functionality.” Bureau of Meteorology chief executive Dr Stuart Minchin at a Senate Estimates hearing earlier this week. It comes after the weather agency's website redesign, which cost nearly $100 million, drew criticism following its launch last October.
The stat: 84%. The percentage of dads who said becoming a father “gave their life greater meaning” in a Movember survey with 1,200 participants. It also found three in five new dads were never asked about their mental health during pregnancy or in the first year after birth.
The big question:
How often do you buy new clothes?
Yesterday’s results: 66% of you said you do not support the Enhanced Games. 14% of you said you do support it. Thanks for voting - your responses inform TDA's journalism and research. [1,733 votes].
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
The U.S. has attacked southern Iran, describing its resumption of strikes as “defensive actions” designed to “protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”. It follows reports the U.S. and Iran were closing in on an agreement to end hostilities, with Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister in Qatar for talks on a potential peace as the strikes happened. Targets included boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites. In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday before the attack, U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were going "nicely," but warned of fresh attacks if they failed. Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that. Oil prices have risen about 2% since the attacks were reported.
Heavy rain at a remote South Australian station has prompted police to renew their search for missing four-year-old Gus Lamont. The little boy was last seen by his grandmother playing near his outback homestead on 27 September. Major crime detectives and specialist officers resumed a search of the property on Monday, to “take advantage of opportunities that may have arisen as a result of recent heavy rains on the property”. This is because rain can shift soil and surface evidence. SA Police said investigators will search “numerous locations” for evidence over the next three days. It’s been nearly four months since police declared the boy's disappearance a major crime and said someone living at the station was a suspect in the case.
Together with AAP.
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I’ve got 1 minute
On Tuesday evening, a group of women and children with links to ISIS fighters in Syria arrived in Sydney and Melbourne.
It is the second group this month to have landed back in Australia after leaving Syria’s Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said if they are accused of crimes they will be “treated with the full force of the law.”
Here’s what you need to know.
Context
Australia listed ISIS (also known as IS or Daesh) a terrorist organisation in 2005.
The group occupied one-third of Syria from 2014 to 2017, forming a ‘Caliphate’ governed under a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law.
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) says ISIS “does not represent Islam or the Muslim world in any way”.
ISIS lost all of its territory by 2019, and many of its fighters and their families were placed in detention camps across Syria, Libya, and Iraq. This included dozens of Australians.
Australians
In 2022, the Federal Government assisted four Australian women, dubbed by the media as ‘ISIS brides’, and their 13 children to return from a Syrian camp.
At least 34 Australians remained in the camps, the majority of whom were children.
In 2023, Save the Children Australia (STCA) unsuccessfully took the Government to court in a bid to force the repatriation of the women and children. The court ruled Australia had no legal obligation to assist because it did not control the circumstances of their detention.
Earlier this month, the group of 13 Australians at Al Roj IDP camp landed in Australia.
Upon their arrival, two women were arrested and charged with crimes against humanity committed in Syria, while another was charged with entering a declared conflict zone and joining ISIS.
Latest
On Tuesday night, the NSW and Victoria police released a statement announcing six more women and their children had arrived in Sydney and Melbourne. Four women and their children arrived in Sydney, while two women and their children landed in Melbourne.
The statement said: “The cohort was subject to a range of operational responses, including the searching of belongings and the downloading of their devices for investigative purposes.”
None of the women were charged, but police said the investigations are ongoing.
Reporting by Emily Donohoe.
Quick hits
🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, Features Editor Emma and Editor-in-Chief Billi discuss the Enhanced Games, which has been described by some as the ‘Steroid Olympics’.
🎾 Want to stay up to date with the French Open without losing any sleep? Sign up to the TDA Sport newsletter for an update every day at 4:30pm.
Good finds
🎬 Before Rachel Sennott was navigating I Love LA, she was surviving a Shiva Baby – and it's just as squirmingly brilliant. MUBI is streaming the film that made her a name worth knowing. Sign up for 30 days free and watch it now.
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I’ve got 2 minutes
Most households in Australia will see their energy bills fall in the next financial year due to new regulatory prices.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) announced on Tuesday that the default energy price will be reduced. This guides the maximum price retailers can charge customers, and its impact varies from state to state.
AER said the decision was based on increased levels of renewable energy production.
Here’s what you need to know.
Background
The AER is the independent, national regulator for energy performance.
Each year, it releases a Default Market Offer (DMO), also called a ‘safety net’.
The DMO is the maximum amount energy companies can charge for a standard consumer account. It is updated annually based on energy market conditions.
While it is mandated in NSW, SA, and SE Queensland, power companies in the rest of the country (aside from WA) use the DMO as a guide for how much to charge.
Latest DMO
On Tuesday, the AER announced the new average household energy cost.
*SA households will see an increase.
Why?
AER Chair Clare Savage said the reduction is due to an increase in renewable energy contribution to the grid, as well as better battery storage.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said Australia has “the best sun and wind in the world”.
Bowen added that renewables are being used to “shield our grid from global energy volatility”.
Other states
On Monday, the Victorian equivalent of the DMO (called the VDO) was announced for next financial year.
The average household will save around $84, which looks like an annual bill of $1,591.
In WA, changes to electricity prices are determined through the State Budget.
As announced in the 2026-27 Budget, standard residential plans will increase by 2.75%.
Opposition
Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan said that electricity prices have risen since Labor was elected in 2022.
“Energy prices have risen by $1,300... with no guarantee they won’t continue to rise,” he said.
Tehan also highlighted a 2022 election promise, where now-Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said households would see a $275 discount on energy bills by 2025.
“Aussie families are still waiting to see the promised $275 cut,” he added.
Reporting by Emily Donohoe.
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Give me some good news
Credit: SFS
For the first time in its 115-year history, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) has named a woman as its next music director.
Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan will take over the symphony, which is considered one of America’s ‘Big 7’ orchestras, from 2027.
Chan isn’t just making history in San Francisco, she’s also the first woman to be appointed music director at any of the Big 7. She called SFS “one of the truly great orchestras of the world”, and said she’s “honoured to take the podium”. SFS CEO Matthew Spivey called Chan a gifted and remarkable artist, who performs and leads with “strength, empathy, and intellectual rigour”. “Her arrival opens new territory” for the orchestra, he added.
Reporting by Emma Gillespie.
TDA titbit
A German YouTuber has defended his title at one of Britain’s most chaotic sporting events.
Tom Kopke, known online as Tooleko, won the first race at Gloucestershire's annual cheese‑rolling competition, beating local favourite and Guinness World Record holder Chris Anderson to claim his third straight title.
Thousands gathered to watch competitors sprint, tumble and cartwheel down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill chasing a 3kg wheel of Double Gloucester cheese, which can reach speeds of nearly 130 km/h.
Seven races were held across the day, with each winner taking home a wheel of cheese.
Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.
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Quiz answer: SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo. The data comes from here. (Note from Billi: At the risk of revealing how basic my music taste is, I’m pretty sure I’ve contributed to approximately 13% of the total listens of this album. I LOVE this album.)
TDA asks
