And more importantly, happy start of Movember – a month dedicated to the growing of moustaches to raise awareness and change the face of men's health issues.

Here’s a moustache joke for your water cooler convos today: How do moustaches make money? By investing in a shavings account.

On another note, here is today’s riddle: There is a single-storey blue house where everything is blue; the doors, windows, couch, television, kitchen, etc. are blue. What colour is the carpet on the stairs in this house?

P.S. I’m running short of riddles, so if you have any suggestions, please send them through! You can just hit reply to this email. 😁

The quote
"You get 28,000 days on the planet if you're really lucky… Life is short, life is fleeting. So please, don't waste it being at war with your body." - Australian of the Year, body image activist Taryn Brumfitt, at the National Press Club yesterday.

The stat
$490 million
The amount Aussies are projected to spend on Halloween this year, according to a survey by Roy Morgan and the Australian Retailers Association.

Today in history
1997: James Cameron’s film Titanic played to audiences for the first time, at the Tokyo international film festival. It went on to become one of the most successful films of all time.

Some headlines from this morning:

Football's global governing body FIFA has banned former Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales for three years, after he non-consensually kissed a female player after the Women's World Cup.

It comes more than two months after Rubiales kissed Spanish player Jenni Hermoso without her consent after her team won the World Cup in Sydney.

A statement released by FIFA on Tuesday said the incident breached its disciplinary code.

Rubiales has 10 days to appeal the decision.

The kiss:
Spain defeated England 1-0 to win the FIFA Women's World Cup in Sydney on 20 August.

During a medal ceremony after the game, Rubiales kissed Hermoso without her consent. She filed a legal complaint, alleging sexual assault and coercion.

A Spanish prosecutor escalated the complaint against Rubiales to the country's High Court.

Rubiales denies the allegations.

Reaction:
The kiss at the FIFA World Cup sparked widespread calls for Rubiales to resign, with protests across the country described as Spanish football's #MeToo moment.

In August, FIFA announced a provisional 90-day suspension for Rubiales while it investigated the incident.

On 11 September, Rubiales officially resigned as head of the Spanish Football Federation.

FIFA ban:
FIFA's Disciplinary Committee said it investigated Rubiales because the kiss may have breached FIFA guidelines on offensive behaviour at the World Cup.

The decision means Rubiales will not be allowed to attend any national or international FIFA-affiliated football matches or training for the next three years.

Rubiales said he'll appeal the decision. "I will go to the last resort to see that justice is done and that the truth shines through," he wrote in a social media post.

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The World Bank has warned of a "sharp" increase in global oil prices if conflict in Israel and Gaza spreads elsewhere in the region.

If the war has similar regional consequences to the Yom Kippur War in the early 1970s, the Bank says prices could increase by as much as 75%.

In addition to a "grave humanitarian crisis of increasing proportions", the bank says a wider conflict and oil price spike could worsen global food insecurity and have severe economic consequences.

Background:
Oil is a 'commodity' — a basic good used all over the world, which is roughly the same quality wherever you buy it. Other commodities include grain, metals, and gas.

Because of these characteristics, the price of commodities is set worldwide. That means a disruption to prices in one part of the world affects prices everywhere.

For example, roughly 90% of the Australian petrol price is shaped by global factors.

Oil prices:
Oil prices have had two recent spikes. First, the war in Ukraine prompted many countries to impose sanctions on Russia, which limited Russia's supply of oil.

Second, OPEC+, a 'cartel' (colluding group) of oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia, recently decided to cut their supply of oil to maximise profits.

Both of these have affected global oil prices, including the petrol price in Australia. Since oil has many uses, it can also have a flow-on effect on the prices of other commodities including food.

Some oil history:
The Middle East is a major oil-exporting region, so conflicts in the Middle East have often had a major effect on oil prices.

The most famous examples were in the 1970s. In 1974, several Arab countries restricted oil shipments to countries that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War against Egypt and Syria. Then, in 1979, oil supply was further disrupted by the Iranian Revolution.

Both spikes contributed to inflation across the world which led to a significant economic downturn.

World Bank warning:
The World Bank does not expect the current conflict in Israel and Gaza to directly affect the oil price.

However, consequences are likely if the conflict spreads to include others in the region such as Iran, a possibility which has been of significant concern from the international community.

The World Bank says this could lead to a price spike of 21-35% if the war is a similar magnitude to the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003, or a 56-75% spike if it is similarly disruptive to the fallout from the Yom Kippur War.

Food insecurity:
The World Bank has also warned a wider conflict could have particularly severe consequences for global food insecurity.

In 2022, there were 900 million people worldwide at risk of food insecurity, compared to 624 million in 2017.

The World Bank says the conflict has already added to this by heightening food insecurity for residents of Gaza, but a wider economic disruption could add further pressure worldwide.

Factors that help:
The World Bank says there are a few reasons why an oil shock in 2023 may not have consequences as severe as in the 1970s.

One is that the world is less reliant on oil than in the 1970s, due to greater fuel efficiency and the beginnings of the 'green transition'. Another reason is that several countries, including the U.S., Japan and South Korea, have large amounts of oil in reserve for emergency situations. Australia has attracted criticism for having relatively little in reserve.

Australian petrol:
Australian petrol prices are already elevated due to global factors and have reached levels well above $2 a litre across the country in the past year.

After the oil spike in 2022 stemming from the Ukraine war, the Morrison Government announced a six-month discount to the tax on petrol, worth more than 20c per litre of petrol.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has acknowledged the possibility that the Middle East conflict could impact prices but has not indicated any plans to introduce a similar discount.

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

Sam Kerr finished second in this year’s prestigious international Ballon d’Or awards.

The Ballon d’Or is an honour awarded to the season’s highest-achieving player in men’s and women’s football. Kerr was beaten out to the award by Aitana Bonmatí – a key player in Spain’s victory at this year’s Women’s World Cup.

Ever found yourself needing to find a GP or urgent care clinic on your travels?

We've all been there—struggling to find a doctor in an unfamiliar city can be a hassle. Thankfully, there’s now a solution! Introducing the healthdirect Service Finder.

This easy-to-use online tool efficiently connects you to your nearest GP or urgent care clinic and simplifies the process of booking an appointment. You can even filter GPs by open now and if they offer telehealth appointments – helping you find the right healthcare service option for you, hassle free.

A maths paper in Victoria’s Year 12 exam this year did not add up. There were not one, but in fact two mistakes.

The first mistake was an extra “of” in a question and the second mistake was an extra ‘1’ in a column in a question about a matrix (I also don’t know what that means).

Victoria’s Education Minister Ben Carroll said yesterday in a press conference with reporters: “It is unacceptable, given the checking in the vetting process, that there were two errors on the exam… I want to reassure students and their families, that they will not be impacted by this error that had no fault of their own, and it will have no bearing on their marks.”

In honour of acknowledging mistakes we all make at work, I would like to acknowledge that yesterday I forgot to put a subject line on the newsletter. Thank you to those who messaged asking if it was intentional. We’ll just pretend it was.

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Answer: There are no stairs in a single-storey house. Now that adds up.

What a coincidence! That’s exactly who The Daily Aus reaches. Get in touch with us to see how we can work together.