🗞️ Hearing things

Good morning. Ari Paparo, an ad industry veteran, consultant, and author, is convinced phones are not listening to us.

"Listening to every conversation around the world, interpreting them, looking for certain words, and then matching them to the ads, is impossible."

Where do you stand on the argument:

All the headlines and more below...

BOOKING.COM WON'T SAY HOW MANY CUSTOMERS HAD THEIR DETAILS STOLEN

Booking.com suffered a data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses, phone numbers and booking details. The company sent warnings Sunday night but won't disclose how many people were hit.

Hackers accessed anything customers shared with properties through the booking system, travel dates, guest names, contact information. Booking.com changed all affected reservation PIN numbers and told customers not to share credit card details via email, phone, text or WhatsApp. Financial information wasn't accessed.

Scammers follow data breaches with phishing attempts that look like legitimate booking confirmations or payment verification requests. Anyone who used Booking.com recently should assume their contact details are circulating.

The company hasn't explained how long hackers had access or what "suspicious activity affecting a number of bookings" means.

NATIONAL FUEL PRICES (Day-on-Day Change)

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• The WA government has secured 4M litres of diesel through Cambridge Gulf for a state-owned strategic stockpile stored in the Kimberley to address localised fuel shortages. LINK

• The Fair Work Commission has issued draft orders forcing major road transport contractors such as Coles and Wesfarmers to cover owner drivers’ diesel cost rises and review rates fortnightly. LINK

• Australian consumer confidence has slumped 12.5% to 80.1 in April as surging fuel costs, rising rate hike fears and worsening job loss expectations trigger a new cost of living shock. LINK

• AUSTRAC received hundreds of suspicious activity reports from major banks on illegal tobacco since a November crackdown, leading to dozens of active law enforcement leads and over 1,000 customer exits. LINK

• Australian businesses are lagging peer economies on AI-driven productivity, while predicting a coming AI-led productivity surge. LINK

• ACCC has launched a formal investigation into several retailers after a November 2025 sweep found around half of 50 Black Friday advertisers used potentially misleading sales tactics. LINK

• Australian corporates are warning of earnings pressure from the Middle East conflict as Qantas Airways and Westpac flag soaring fuel costs and weaker customers, raising stagflation risks. LINK

QANTAS IS CUTTING FLIGHTS AND HIKING FARES TO OFFSET AN $800M FUEL COST BLOWOUT

The airline is pulling capacity on domestic routes and redeploying aircraft to meet surging demand for flights to Europe that avoid Middle Eastern airspace. Near-term one-way fares on the kangaroo route have shot up as passengers scramble to book alternatives to Emirates and Qatar.

Revenue per seat kilometre is up across domestic and international as ticket prices rise, but it's nowhere near enough to absorb the cost spike. Flights to Europe are running at near 100% capacity even after the airline added more seats.

Qantas has also paused its $150M share buyback despite the stock falling, and it's cutting capital spend where it can.

Once the missiles stop, expect a flood of discounted seats from Emirates and Qatar as they try to refill planes.

COMPANY NEWS

• Booking.com has suffered a data breach exposing customer contact and reservation details, as it resets reservation PINs, advises antivirus use and says no financial data was accessed. LINK

• Qantas warned of an earnings hit of up to US$500M from the Iran crisis as it cuts domestic flights and lifts expected second half fuel costs to US$3.1B-US$3.3B. LINK

• Hubexo has alleged in Federal Court that rival CoreLogic, now Cotality, unlawfully accessed its LeadManager database from July 2016 to March 2020, costing it millions of dollars. LINK

• Woolworths has told struggling food and grocery suppliers facing surging fuel and raw material costs to find efficiencies instead of price rises, citing obligations under the federal food and grocery code. LINK

• Roblox has announced a global rollout of new “Roblox Kids” and “Roblox Select” accounts using mandatory facial age-estimation after an Australian eSafety crackdown threatening US$49.5M fines. LINK

• Ashurst has secured partner approval for a merger with Perkins Coie, creating a US$3.9B firm with at least 50 offices and 1,000 partners worldwide after earlier staff defections. LINK

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CHART OF THE DAY

Most important issues for countries around the world

ONE MORE SCROLL

Editor’s Pick: The proven path to doing meaningful and unique work that can boost career fulfilment.

Draft Pick: Rory McIlory joins exclusive club with second successive Masters title win.

Odd Pick: Saharan dust storm turns skies over Greece red, eerily similar to an apocalyptic scene.

BRAINTEASER

This question was the final 1% and the one remaining contestant got it wrong. You have 30 seconds only to answer the below. Your time starts now:

What letter completes this sequence?

S M H D W M ?

Answer below

OUR SOCIALS

ANSWER

Y
Each initial is a unit of time: Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, Years.

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