Greetings! Happy National Pastry Day to those celebrating.

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🇦🇺 Australia’s teen social media crackdown starts with a Queensland trial. Fifteen-year-old Oliver Hales says losing apps means losing friends. The proposal would bar under-16s from most platforms and require age verification. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backs national limits after years of safety warnings. Civil liberties groups worry ID checks could expose children’s data and identities. Parents are split between welcoming guardrails and fearing underground, harder-to-monitor workarounds. Tech companies warn that strict Australian rules could quickly influence other democracies.

🇧🇷 Brazil’s quilombos link land rights to the climate fight. Quilombos are communities founded by descendants of enslaved Africans resisting plantation rule. Leaders from Pará and Bahia say rising floods and droughts are swallowing fields and fishing grounds. They want Brazil’s government to formalize territories before the 2025 COP30 summit in Belém. Activist Kátia Penha calls land titles a shield against land grabbers and illegal logging. Researchers estimate that millions of Brazilians identify as quilombola across thousands of settlements. For them, recognition means survival in a warming Amazon, not just another census category.

💵 Trump tries out his affordability message in Pennsylvania. At Mount Pocono Resort, President Donald Trump claimed he was fixing prices. The rally followed weeks of polling that showed fading trust in his economic leadership. Trump again blamed former President Biden for inflation, even as his own “Liberation Day” tariffs lifted some import costs. Economists have warned those broad taxes risk higher consumer prices and weaker hiring. In nearby Stroudsburg, retiree Lou Heddy said his monthly groceries rose from about $175 to $200 this fall. His doubts captured a wider question facing Trump, whether slogans about affordability match cash register reality.

📊 American job openings hover just under 7.7M in October. Labor Department data for October showed employers posting roughly the same number of vacancies as in September. The openings figure has fallen from pandemic peaks above 12M but remains historically high. Hiring and quitting also held steady, suggesting workers still feel some leverage to change jobs. Unemployment is under 4%, a level many economists once thought impossible without runaway inflation. Wage growth has slowed from 2022 highs, easing pressure on the Fed to keep rates elevated. The report feeds hopes for a gentle economic cooling rather than a sharp recession.

🎁 MacKenzie Scott’s 2025 giving spree hits $7.1B. The billionaire philanthropist sent checks to 352 nonprofits nationwide. Her latest total marked a sharp increase over last year’s giving. Scott’s small team chooses groups privately and notifies them only after money arrives. Many recipients work on racial justice, health care, education and housing. Leaders say the unrestricted grants let them hire staff and plan beyond year-to-year fundraising. Her rapid, sizable donations keep pressuring older foundations that move far more slowly.

🌧️ Atmospheric river drenches Northwest as snow slicks the Midwest. A Pacific storm dumped heavy rain across Washington and Oregon, triggering flood warnings on saturated rivers. Forecasters labeled it an atmospheric river, a narrow plume of Pacific moisture. Heavy snow and freezing rain stretched into parts of the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Utility crews scrambled to restore power as gusty winds knocked down trees and lines. Travelers faced delays on highways and at airports from Seattle to Minneapolis. Officials urged residents to avoid flooded roads and prepare for another round of storms later in the week.

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That’s all for today!

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