Description
THE BIG SULTANA
Australia's latest big thing has been unveiled in Mildura, and locals seem pretty happy with their new shrivelled brown blob. Locals and tourists have gathered here in Mildura to check out Australia's latest big thing: the Big Sultana. The sultana was chosen to honour the region's history of dried fruit production. Big things are actually a big thing in Australia. It started back in 1963, with the Big Scotsman in Adelaide, and since then big things have popped up in regional towns and cities all over the place. Now, there are more than 150 of them scattered across the country. There's the Pineapple in Woombye, the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, the Big Lobster in Kingston, the Giant Koala in Dadswell Bridge, the Big Potato in Robertson, even a big Golden Guitar in Tamworth. And for many, stopping by on a road trip, stretching your legs, and taking a photo with a big thing has become part of Aussie culture.
ISRAEL ELECTION
There's a big election happening in Israel, the country's first one since 2022. The main competition is between Benjamin Netanyahu, who's been Israel's Prime Minister for a total of 18 years, and Gadi Eisenkot. Israelis turned out in record numbers to have their say, with 77.7% of voters casting their ballots, the highest turnout since 1999. Despite that, it's actually unclear right now who the winner is, with exit polls suggesting it's too close to call. In the meantime, Mr Netanyahu will continue to act as a caretaker Prime Minister until a clear winner emerges, which could take weeks.
VIC TREE OF THE YEAR
The National Trust of Australia has just crowned its Victorian tree of the year in hopes of better protecting historic trees into the future. The tree in question is the Ginkgo biloba tree in the Geelong Botanic Gardens! Every year, the National Trust looks for trees with cultural, scientific, and historic value, and the Ginkgo has a lot of all that. Legend has it that this tree was planted in 1859, when the gold rush was happening, before the Melbourne Cup existed, and when outlaw bush ranger Ned Kelly was still a child. This one is thought to be the largest of its kind in Australia. But not everyone is a fan, with many complaining that the Ginkgo's fruit smells like rotten butter, vomit, and even dog poo. But that's beside the point. The competition was created to remind us of the importance of trees, from improving our air quality, supporting wildlife, to just being beautiful, and the National Trust hopes that more attention can bring more rules to better protect trees like the Ginkgo in the future.
HALLOWEEN DOG PARADE
First up, to a Halloween dog parade in New York City! Dogs and their owners got dressed up in all sorts of costumes. Some very elaborate ones in there.
DINOSAUR SELLS
Now, to a dinosaur that's just sold for a lot of money. Nicknamed Jodi, it's a nanotyrannus, thought to be about 67 million years old. And it sold for about 67 million dollars. Which is way more than experts thought it was going to sell for.
NEW WATER LILY SPECIES
And finally, to a new species of water lily that's been discovered in a river in Colombia. Researchers saw a social media post of the giant water lily and set out to investigate. Confirming it was a new one that hadn't been documented before! They named the new lily Victorian colombiana.
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For the past 55 years, Behind the News has been helping to break down current issues and events for young people all around the world. The program is a high-energy, fun way for people to learn about the stories we see in the news while providing background information that isn’t usually given by other news bulletins.
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