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- Gold Smuggling Bust, A Spreadsheet Error, and Guzman y Gomez
Gold Smuggling Bust, A Spreadsheet Error, and Guzman y Gomez
Average Aussie retirement age, Musk's Grok AI vs human intelligence, and The global airline industry.
Pick & Scroll News
April 10, 2024
One Read, All Perspectives
Australian News
The Albanese government urges insurers to lower premiums for households actively reducing their risk factors, in response to the expected continuation of double-digit premium growth in 2024. LINK
A Federal Finance department spreadsheet error exposed confidential pricing data for 410 consulting vendors, leading to calls for reform of Australia's $70 billion tender system. LINK
The average retirement age in Australia has peaked at 66.2 for men and 64.8 for women, with a shift away from physically demanding jobs and more people working from home as contributing factors. LINK
Australian households are leaders in interest rate pain due to the prevalence of variable-rate mortgages and high household debt. LINK
More than half of Australians expect the economy to enter a recession in the coming year, though households are becoming slightly more optimistic. LINK
Queensland's teaching workforce has seen over 12,375 resignations since 2020, with concerns about the preparedness of university graduates for real-world classrooms. LINK
The collapse of 4 Canberra-based building companies has led to calls for better industry regulation as subcontractors face financial uncertainty. LINK
Global News
Britain's graduate job market is shrinking at double the rate of the overall labour market. LINK
Crude oil prices hit a 6-month high due to production cuts, conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East, and China's economic recovery, leading to expected increases in petrol prices. LINK
Hong Kong's largest gold smuggling bust resulted in the seizure of 146 kg of gold worth over $10 million, concealed as air compressor parts on a plane bound for Japan. LINK
The global airline industry faces a summer squeeze as travel demand is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels, while aircraft deliveries fall short due to production issues at Boeing and Airbus. LINK
Malaysia calls on Meta and TikTok to enhance monitoring to combat the surge in harmful social media content, with a significant increase in cases referred to social media platforms in the first 3 months of 2024. LINK
Company News
Elon Musk predicts that artificial intelligence could surpass the smartest human's intelligence by 2025 or 2026, amid expectations for Grok, xAI's AI chatbot, to be trained by May. LINK
Google's potential acquisition of HubSpot could face regulatory opposition despite experts' views that it wouldn't curb competition. LINK
Ola exits the Australian market, surprising drivers and passengers, and raising concerns at the Transport Workers Union about potential unpaid wages for drivers. LINK
Bunnings MD disputes claims of dominating the retail plant and flowers category, asserting a market share significantly lower than the 70% claimed by Greenlife Industry Australia. LINK
Guzman y Gomez secures a $135 million financing round, boosting its valuation to $1.73 billion with backing from 4 major investment funds and existing investors. LINK
Woolworths collaborates with Tesco and other global supermarket chains to launch a $190 million VC fund aimed at investing in tech start-ups to revolutionise shopping and enhance grocery chains' sustainability. LINK
Tesla settles a lawsuit over a fatal 2018 crash involving its Autopilot technology, potentially averting large monetary judgements and further reputational damage. LINK
Meta refutes allegations of sharing Facebook users' direct messages with Netflix as "shockingly untrue," amid fresh accusations of data mishandling. LINK
Commonwealth Bank gains a $1.7 billion annual profit advantage due to a higher proportion of depositors using online savings accounts. LINK
Bank of Queensland may sell its finance business acquired from Investec nearly a decade ago, signalling potential divestiture to streamline its operations. LINK
A Citi analyst questions the feasibility of Qantas' promise of 20 million seats for Classic Plus redemptions, pointing out discrepancies with pre-Covid-19 inventory levels. LINK
OTR agrees to repay or credit $2.3 million in annual leave entitlements to 1,500 current and former employees after a Fair Work Ombudsman investigation. LINK
Bank of America announces that over 42 million customers have used its virtual financial assistant, Erica, more than 2 billion times for banking operations since its launch in 2018. LINK
Other News
A study in the journal Psychology and Ageing finds that 59% of people aged 55 to 80 believe they look younger than others their age, attributing the perception to "age goggles." LINK
This Week’s Top Picks
Mortgages for new home construction in Australia dropped to a 5-month low in February, even as investor and first home buyer loan commitments increased. LINK
OpenAI transcribed over 1 million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4, despite concerns this may violate YouTube's rules against using its videos for independent applications. LINK
Amazon continues to expand checkout-free shopping in Australia with the "Just Walk Out" technology, despite scaling back in the US. LINK
Qantas revamps its frequent flyer program with the introduction of Classic Plus, offering over 20 million reward seats but at a potentially worse value compared to current offerings. LINK
Australian insurers have incurred over $650 million in losses from home insurance over the past four years, with premiums set to rise further. LINK
Approximately 70,000 people aged 30 to 40 left Sydney between 2016 and 2021. LINK
Australia's cruise industry experiences a record-breaking summer with an influx of young travellers. LINK
Charter flights now carry 13% of all domestic air travellers in Australia, outpacing traditional airlines like Rex and Bonza. LINK
The number of independent brewers in Australia have increased significantly, but recent months have seen many small brewers facing financial difficulties or entering administration. LINK
Specialty and artisanal cheese varieties gain popularity as supermarket cheese prices reach $16/kg. LINK
Just 57 companies are identified as being responsible for 80% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. LINK