Chloe graduated from Melbourne's La Trobe University in 2022. Her journalism journey has included writing for The Age and the Wangaratta Chronicle, as well as creating stories and editing for La Trobe's online magazine, Upstart.

Chloe Jaenicke

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Meta has reached a substantial agreement with the Australian Information Commissioner of a A$50 million payment program as part of an

enforceable undertaking (EU) following the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The agreement announced today follows a court-ordered mediation, which has been ongoing since February 2024, as part of the Federal Court civil penalty proceedings the Commissioner commenced in March 2020.

“Today’s settlement represents the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia,”

Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said.

“It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter, gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payment program, and brings to an end a lengthy court process.”

Meta will be required to set up a payment scheme as part of the EU where they will appoint a third party to administer the funds from the payment scheme.

The payment scheme will be open to those who held a Facebook account between

 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015, were present in Australia for more than 30 days during that time, and either installed or had

Court: Meta makes 'largest ever' privacy breach payment

The remaining members of the so-called Bali Nine have touched down in Brisbane and will each be returning to their home states of Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

Indonesia’s former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo refused to let the five men go, leaving them behind bars in an Indonesian prison for nearly 20 years.

It was not until Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, made a deal with current Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto that Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj were released on humanitarian grounds.

Albanese has since thanked Subianto for his act of compassion and said he hopes Australia can keep working alongside Indonesia.

“I want to express my gratitude to President Prabowo for Indonesia’s cooperation and commitment to working with Australia on this matter,”

he said in a statement.

“Australia respects Indonesia's sovereignty and legal processes and we appreciate Indonesia’s compassionate consideration of this matter.

“The Government will continue to cooperate with Indonesia to counter narcotics trafficking and transnational crime.

“This outcome reflects the very strong relationship that exists between Indonesia and Australia.”

The five men were among

Remaining Bali Nine members return home

The U.S. House of Representatives ethics committee secretly voted to release a report on sexual misconduct allegations against one time United States 

Attorney General candidate, Matt Gaetz.

The report is expected to be made public after the House’s final days of voting as lawmakers leave Washington for the holidays.

The most recent vote is a stark reversal from the panel's vote in late November to withhold the investigation's results.

CNN reported that the decision change suggests that some Republicans ultimately decided to side with Democrats on the matter. It is unclear whether the committee will once again change course now that it has voted.

When the committee previously voted to shelve the report, Gaetz was President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Attorney General. Gaetz was forced to

drop his bid for the position after the fallout over the accusations.

Gaetz has been accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage girl, who reportedly told the committee she had two sexual encounters with him in 2017. The justice department also declined to charge him last year as part of a sex trafficking ring.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations and recently took to X to defend himself.

“I

House panel votes to release report on Matt Gaetz

Household wealth in Australia rose by 2.4%, or A$401 billion, for the eighth quarter in a row in the September quarter of 2024, according to figures released by the

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

At the end of the September quarter total household wealth was $16.9 trillion, 9.9% ($1.5 trillion) higher than a year ago. The highest contributor was residential land and dwellings, providing 0.9% percentage points to the rise in household wealth.

“Household wealth continues to be supported by rising house prices despite a recent moderation in growth,” ABS head of finance statistics Dr Mish Tan said.



“Strong performances in domestic and overseas share markets contributed to the growth in household superannuation balances this quarter.”

Share market growth over September drove superannuation assets up 3.5% ($137.4 billion) which contributed 0.8% to the quarterly growth in household wealth. The superannuation guarantee added to retirement savings balances through increased employer contributions, rising from 11% to 11.5%.

The rise in household deposits (3.7% or $61.5 billion) reflected a higher household saving ratio and there was also growth in disposable income driven by an increase in income received by ho

Australian household wealth grows 2.4% in September quarter

Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

reported its fiscal 2025 financial results for the second quarter ending 30 November 2024.

Second-quarter revenues were US$12.4 billion, which was 8% down on a reported basis from the prior year and 9% down on a currency-neutral basis.

Nike Direct revenues were $5 billion, down 13% on a reported basis and down 14% on a currency-neutral basis. This was primarily due to a 21% decrease in Nike Brand digital and a 2% decrease in Nike-owned stores.

Nike brand revenues were $12 billion, down 7% on a reported basis and 8% on a currency-neutral basis



Wholesale values were $6.9 billion, down 3% on a reported basis and 4% on a currency-neutral abscess.



The Gross margin decreased 100 basis points to 43.6% and the diluted earnings per share was $0.78. The decreased gross margin was primarily due to higher discounts and changes in channel mix partially offset by lower product input costs as well as lower warehousing and logistics costs.

Nike President and CEO Elliot Hill said after reconvening with his teammates it had become clear that sport should be at the centre of everything they do.

"We're taking immediate action to reposition our business, so we can get back to driving long-term share

Nike repositions business as revenue falls in Q2

American authorities have transferred detainees from the Guantánamo Bay military prison to their home country of Malaysia.

This comes after they pleaded guilty to charges related to the deadly 2002 Bali bombings and agreed to testify against the alleged ringleader of that and other attacks.

According to prosecutors, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep worked for years with Encep Nurjaman, known as Hambali, an Indonesian leader of al-Qaida affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah. Officials said the two men helped Nurjaman escape capture after the 12 October 2002 bombings that killed 202 people at two-night spots in Bali.

The two men were initially sentenced to 23 years in confinement by a military jury, not counting time served. However, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Convening Authority approved sentences of confinement for around five years and recommended that they be repatriated or transferred to a third-party nation for the remainder of their sentence.

This came after they pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Nurjaman.

Nurjaman is in custody in Guantánamo awaiting resumption of pre-trail hearings in January involving the Bali bombings and other attacks.

Currently, 27 detainees rema

Bali bomb plotters moved from Guantanamo to Malaysia

Melbourne to Sydney is the fifth busiest flight route in the world, according to OAG, a global travel data provider

The flight path clocked more than 9.2 million seats in 2024 and remained in the same spot on the domestic flight rankings as in 2023. Compared to 2019, it has dropped a ranking and the number of seats has dropped by 7%.

As the dominant airline in Australia, Qantas (ASX: QAN) was the biggest beneficiary of this activity.



The busiest domestic flight route was Jeju to Seoul with 14.2 million seats, equivalent to around 39,000 daily seats. The number of seats has grown 3% since 2023 but dropped 19% since 2019.

As for international flights, the busiest route was Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE), with 6.8 million seats.

This route is part of a trend where all Asia Pacific routes have seen significant growth in 2024 as the region continues the post-pandemic recovery. The route has grown by 48% since last year but remains 15% lower than levels seen in 2019.

The majority of the 10 busiest international routes are in Asia and all of them have seen growth since 2019.

“With the ASPAC region very close to a full recovery, the busiest routes are concentrated in the familiar major hubs of Hong Kong, Seoul In

Melbourne-Sydney ranked world's 5th busiest route

Beloved Australian author John Marsden has died at the age of 74.

Marsden was best known for his young adult novels including the Tomorrow series and The Rabbits.

His death was confirmed by one of the two schools he founded, Alice Miller School, in a letter to parents but no cause of death has been given yet.

Marsden’s publisher Pan Macmillan Australia said he profoundly impacted the world of literature, particularly for young people.

“His ability to encapsulate the essence of youth struggles and aspirations in his works has left an indelible mark on readers worldwide,” the publisher said.

Author, Shaun Tan, who illustrated Marsden’s book The Rabbits

took to Instagram

to share his condolences for the late author.

“I’ll always be grateful for John’s kind encouragement, patience and openness, and to my editor Helen Chamberlin for the introduction,” he said.

“Best wishes to John’s family, friends and students, and all those whose lives he changed for the better, through empathy and challenge and story, asking us to be dangerously curious, to not turn away, to see others, to see other ways of seeing, to embrace the risk of caring about all of it - simply because it’s the right thing to do.”

Another Austra

Acclaimed author John Marsden dies at age 74

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has reignited tensions with Canada after mocking the country and its leadership in a social media post on Wednesday.

Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and made mocking remarks suggesting Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

“No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection,” Trump said.

This comes as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suffers the political blow of the unexpected resignation of Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

In her resignation letter, Freeland criticised Trudeau’s leadership, mentioning Trump’s threat to impost 25% tariffs on Canada.

“For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” she wrote.

“Our country today faces a grave challenge. The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs.

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we

Donald Trump mocks Canada in Truth Social post

Jaclyn Symes will be sworn in as the first female Treasurer in the Australian state of Victoria.

Symes has served as Attorney-General since 2020 and was born and raised in Benalla.

This follows the resignation earlier this week of Victoria’s longest-serving Treasurer Tim Pallas, who announced he would be stepping down from the role and quitting politics.

Pallas’s legacy in this role was characterised by increased state spending, and economists have labelled his successor's task ahead of him a tough one.

His resignation from the role comes just days after Pallas handed down the midyear budget update, which revealed a worsening deficit from A$2.2 billion to $3.6 billion in 2024-35.

In the budget report, Pallas also revealed a fire services levy on Victorian homeowners will be doubled and an electric vehicle rebate axed.

The update reported that Victoria’s net debt was forecast to reach $187.3 billion by the end of the 2027-28 financial year, up from $21.8 billion on the eve of the 2014 election, when then Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews installed Pallas as Treasurer.

With two years until the next state election, pressure has been growing on Premier Jacinta Allan over Labor’s management of the state economy.

Jaclyn Symes to be sworn in as new Victorian Treasurer

Chloe graduated from Melbourne's La Trobe University in 2022. Her journalism journey has included writing for The Age and the Wangaratta Chronicle, as well as creating stories and editing for La Trobe's online magazine, Upstart. | Azzet™

Chloe Jaenicke

Court: Meta makes 'largest ever' privacy breach payment

Remaining Bali Nine members return home

House panel votes to release report on Matt Gaetz

Australian household wealth grows 2.4% in September quarter

Nike repositions business as revenue falls in Q2

Bali bomb plotters moved from Guantanamo to Malaysia

Melbourne-Sydney ranked world's 5th busiest route

Acclaimed author John Marsden dies at age 74

Donald Trump mocks Canada in Truth Social post

Jaclyn Symes to be sworn in as new Victorian Treasurer

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