Hi there. It's Friday, July 29 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Let's start here: A huge piece of possible space junk has landed on an Australian farm
We all know space is a dangerous place, but apparently so is a sheep paddock.
A huge piece of debris, believed to be space junk, has been discovered on a farm in the Snowy Mountains of southern New South Wales.
Get a look at the size of the thing! (Blokes for scale)
- The object is believed to be from the first manned SpaceX mission to the International Space Station, which launched in November 2020
- It's also thought to be linked to a large bang that was heard across the region earlier this month
Mick Miners — who runs the sheep farm at Numbla Vale, south of Jindabyne — stumbled across the almost 3-metre high object wedged into a remote part of his paddock.
"If it landed on your house, it would make a hell of a mess," he said.
He's not wrong.
Today we heard a lot about rising power bills
Australians have been warned that further hikes to power bills are likely, after prices in the country's biggest electricity market recently rocketed to the highest levels on record.
Here are a few things we learned from a report released today by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), courtesy of energy reporter Daniel Mercer:
- Wholesale power costs soared to unprecedented levels in the three months to June 30, amid the crisis engulfing the energy system
- Average prices for the quarter were $264 per megawatt hour — an extraordinary 203 per cent increase on the first three months of the year, and about six times higher than the long-term trend
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The unprecedented highs have sparked warnings from industry experts that consumers would see massive price hikes as electricity providers sought to recover surging costs.
Here's how the dire pricing situation looks in graph form …
News you might have missed
- The Australian Federal Police has agreed to grant access to some of the source code of its AN0M app, which it built and used to arrest hundreds of people in a major criminal sting last year. It comes after lawyers for three Adelaide men charged with drug trafficking offences as part of Operation Ironside issued a subpoena for information on the app, and other documents
- New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the number of sexual assaults reported around Australia has risen to an all-time high. In 2021, more than 31,000 people were recorded as victims of sexual assault — that's a rise of 13 per cent in one year, and the only major crime category to increase. Experts say more women are reporting crimes, but opportunities to commit assaults are also increasing.
Here's what Australia has been searching for online
- Home and Away. With Neighbours coming to an end last night after 37 years, it seems a lot of Australians have been searching for its longtime competitor — maybe to check that it's still going? We can confirm that it most certainly is. Here's how Home and Away paid tribute to Neighbours on social media …
- Beyoncé. People are searching for Queen Bey because her new album, Renaissance, is out today. She has thanked fans for their patience after the album leaked online ahead of its scheduled release.
One more thing: This $1.5 billion lottery jackpot is among the largest ever
At more than $1.5 billion ($US1 billion), the Mega Millions jackpot is among the largest lottery prizes ever up for grabs, and it could be won on Friday night in the US.
- Only two prizes have grown larger than this week's jackpot
- The odds of claiming the prize are less than one-in-300-million
Back in January 2016, a winning ticket was purchased at a convenience store outside Los Angeles by a customer who shared roughly $2.3 billion with two other lucky people who had also picked the correct six numbers.
You're up to date!
The Loop will be back next week (unless I win the lottery).
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