☕️ Will the U.S. invade Greenland?

Most states and territories are now in the middle of their heatwave warnings.

One question that has got our office talking: Is it true that school gets cancelled if it’s over 40°C?

Turns out, no.

None of the states and territories in Australia have a hard limit on how hot it has to be before schools close down.

However, most states can issue stay-at-home orders to students when their safety and wellbeing is at risk – like when there’s a bushfire threat.

If you’re in an area under a heatwave warning today, we hope you manage to stay cool. And wear sunscreen!

“I’d go out on court [in 2022], and I thought no one can genuinely beat me. You actually have that confidence and a delusion that you are that person. After you have these surgeries … you don’t have that belief anymore.”
Nick Kyrgios speaking to media following his first-round exit at the Brisbane International. The 30-year-old was beaten in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) by American world No.58 Aleksandar Kovacevic. If Kyrgios is to play in the Australian Open singles draw later this month, he will need a wildcard from tournament organisers.

3.4%
The annual rate of inflation for November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The figure is down from 3.8% in October. The rate of 3.4% is lower than expected.

Bibulous (bib-u-lous)
Definition: Fond of alcoholic beverages.
Sentence: The group of people on that street are quite bibulous.

U.S. President Donald Trump has renewed his campaign to annex Greenland, a territory of Denmark.

In December, Trump announced a special envoy to Greenland.

This week, he added: “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security.”

The leaders of Greenland and Denmark have criticised Trump’s comments.

Greenland is an island of 56,000 people, located between Europe and North America. It has untapped mineral and oil deposits.

Greenland is a territory of Denmark. Its head of state is Danish King Frederik X. However, Greenland is mainly ‘self-governing,’ creating its own laws for major issues.

The U.S. has had a military base in Greenland since the 1950s.

Trump has previously said the U.S. needs control of Greenland “for national security purposes”.

In January 2025, Trump repeated that Denmark should “give it up”.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Greenland is "so strategic right now" and said: "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, not minerals."

The comments build on Trump's December appointment of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as U.S. Special Envoy to Greenland.

Landry said Trump asked him to "go to Greenland and talk to them about the opportunity of being a part of the U.S."

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN that Trump is looking at options to “pursue this important foreign policy goal,”.

Leavitt said using the U.S. military is “always an option”.

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the nation “is our country” and “no one is coming to take it over.”

Nielsen said Greenland “seeks dialogue with the United States”.

“We are an open, democratic society with strong institutions,” he added.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen urged the U.S. “to stop the threats against a historically close ally”.

Frederiksen said the country is part of NATO, making it covered by a “security guarantee.”

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is an alliance of North American and European countries that must come to the defence of fellow members if attacked.

On Tuesday, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and Denmark released a joint statement saying that they have “increased our presence... to keep the Arctic safe and to deter adversaries.”

They said Arctic security must be achieved “collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter”.

Reporting by Emily Donohoe.

Even if you don’t burn, UV damage still adds up. Slip on protective clothing, slop on SPF50+, slap on a hat, seek shade and slide on sunnies.

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In the biggest story of the week, the U.S. launched airstrikes against Venezuela over the weekend, capturing the country’s now-ousted President Nicolás Maduro.

The operation has led to a conversation about Venezuela's state-owned oil reserves - the largest of any nation - and whether the global economy will feel the impact of volatility in the Latin American country.

The U.S. says it will now run Venezuela’s oil industry and that U.S. companies will “start making money for the country.”

Here’s what you need to know.

On Saturday, Trump announced the U.S. had carried out a “large scale strike” against Venezuela.

The country’s President, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured during the operation.

(Some quick background: The U.S. has not recognised Maduro as the country’s president since the 2024 election, as Maduro was widely accused of ‘stealing’ the election. For months, the Trump administration has also been criticising Maduro over what it called his involvement in shipping drugs to the U.S.)

Maduro has since pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges in a New York federal court. Narco-terrorism refers to the use of terrorist tactics by drug trafficking organisations (including, in some cases, nation states), or the collaboration between terrorist groups and drug cartels.

In the meantime, Trump has said the U.S. will “run” Venezuela until there is a transition of power.

So why has this all led to a conversation about Venezuela’s oil industry?

Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves - an estimated 300 billion barrels, or about 17% of all known global oil reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But, despite its vast supply, Venezuela actually produces relatively little of it.

The country currently contributes about one million barrels per day, which is just 1% of the world’s total daily oil supply.

Rewind to the 1970s, and Venezuela represented 8% of the total global supply.

There are two main reasons why Venezuela produces so little of the oil it has under its territory – the technical challenges of oil production, and international sanctions.

First, the country’s state-run oil company (which, like other state-run entities, is ultimately under control of the Venezuelan Government), does not have the hardware or capacity of global oil companies to dig and process the oil.

On top of that, international sanctions make developing that capacity near-impossible.

After the operation, Trump said ​major U.S. oil companies would move back into Venezuela.

During a press conference on Saturday, Trump said: "We're going to have our very large U.S. oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country."

It is not clear yet how this would work, or when it would happen. However, Venezuela’s Government has already publicly indicated it will not cooperate with the U.S.

As mentioned above, Venezuela only produces about 1% of the world’s daily oil supplies, so experts don’t think the evolving situation will have dramatic impacts for consumers at the petrol pump, and oil prices should remain steady.

If President Trump’s plans to help global oil companies reinstate operations in Venezuela works, they’ll be able to produce a lot more oil than Venezuela’s state-run operation, and faster. This will mean there’s more oil out there in the market.

However, other economists warn that any increase in global instability – and threats made by President Trump to leaders of other South American nations in the days since Maduro’s arrest – can increase the risk of countries panic-buying oil reserves, and lead to situations where panic and instability force prices up.

Reporting by Lachlan Keller.

A Women’s International Cricket series is coming — and it’s happening on home soil. Australia will take on India in the NRMA Insurance Women’s International Series, and it’s set to be huge.

This is the rivalry that once packed 80,000+ fans into the MCG, and after India’s recent World Cup triumph, the stakes are sky high. Across three T20Is, three ODIs and a four-day Test match, expect big-hitting moments mixed with the pure drama of international cricket.

It all gets underway at the SCG on Sunday 15 February. This series is where the next chapter of the rivalry unfolds. Tickets are on sale now – don’t miss out!

This year, the theme of the festival is ‘Love Me Tender’. The festival attracts more than 25,000 Elvis lovers each year. Parkes Mayor Neil Westacott said: “We’re going to laugh at ourselves and each other and do it to the most incredible background of Elvis music.”

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Reporting by Zara Seidler.

Ok, this titbit is quite low-brow, but please allow us this moment.

Singer and actress Ashley Tisdale (aka Sharpay from High School Musical) has spoken out about her experience as part of a "toxic mom group", which she ultimately decided to leave.

The High School Musical star penned a personal essay for The Cut, in which she described how she was “brought to tears” after being “frozen out” by a group of fellow mothers.

Tisdale has previously been publicly linked to a high-profile mum’s group that includes Mandy Moore, Meghan Trainor and Hilary Duff.

On Tuesday, Duff’s husband Matthew Koma seemingly confirmed that Tisdale’s article was about the group. In a post to Instagram that was a parody of the original article, Koma wrote: “When You're The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers.”

Reporting by Elliot Lawry.

Where is the line when it comes to the online harassment of public figures? Well, a group of people in France have just found out.

Earlier this week, 10 people were found guilty of cyberbullying France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron over repeated false online claims about her gender identity and her relationship with her husband, President Emmanuel Macron.

We’ll tell you what you need to know about the landmark case in today’s podcast.