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Hello there.
My name's Emily and you're listening to News Time.
Hello, Emily.
Hi, Emily.
And hello to News Time listener legend, Josephine.
Hello, my name is Josephine.
I'm five years old.
I live in Melbourne.
Hello from the land of the Wurundjeri people.
I love listening to news times because I like learning about what's happening in the world and I like listening to it on Friday because there's usually a new one.
That's great, Josephine.
And in case you missed the news, this podcast won't just be released on Fridays anymore, but Mondays and Wednesdays too.
I can't wait to bring you news time three times a week starting next Monday.
Be sure to tell your friends and your teachers and tap the heart in the ABC Listen app so you never miss an episode.
In today's Newstime, we'll get pulled through the ocean to check the health of the reef.
We'll hear about a popular new song that's causing quite a stir in the music world.
And we'll get up close to a very hungry creature with the nickname Garbage Guts in our wow of the week.
Alrighty, my friends.
Have you got your serviettes tucked in?
Get ready for a news feast.
Let's hop in.
Story number five.
After more than a month of early mornings, goals, penalties and plenty of cheering, the FIFA World Cup has come to an end.
In the final, Spain scored in extra time to defeat Argentina 1-0.
But just when you thought it was possible to turn off those early alarms, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have begun.
I know that it's a bit like the Olympics but
Just a little different.
It's held in countries that support the Commonwealth.
That's right.
Only member nations of the Commonwealth participate.
They're countries that recognise King Charles as the ceremonial head of state.
So that means a whole team of Aussie athletes and para-athletes are in Glasgow, Scotland,
To take on other countries across a range of sports.
I'm so looking forward to the netball because I play netball.
I just like how it's played.
In the early hours of this morning, athletes from countries across the Commonwealth walked out for the opening ceremony.
And tonight, the sporting action begins, starting with the swimming.
I love swimming.
While the 2026 Commonwealth Games are in Glasgow, they were originally meant to be held right here in Australia, in regional Victorian cities like Geelong and Bendigo.
The cost to put on the games became too expensive, so the Victorian state government had to cancel them.
Then a new host was found, Glasgow.
I feel sad because I would have wanted to see them play maybe, and my cousins live in Victoria, so they could have seen it.
I feel really angry because I really wanted to go.
I would have liked to see them, but good for other people that live in Scotland.
One of Australia's swimming superstars, Molly O'Callaghan, has had a rough start to 2026.
She's been battling spinal stress fractures and a shoulder injury, and a month ago, she was told she wouldn't be able to compete at the Commonwealth Games.
Molly was so determined to be part of the team that she saw a spinal specialist.
And by working hard at recovery, she's been given the OK to compete.
It's really brave and I'm really proud of her.
More than 250 athletes are putting on the green and gold at the Games, so get ready to cheer them on.
You can do it.
Yeah, you can.
Story number four.
Let's dive into the beautiful blue waters of the Great Barrier Reef where a scientist named Daniela is hard at work underwater.
Scuba diver.
There's a lady and she's holding on to like caution what slippery sign and she's diving down.
Around the coral.
They're holding a platform and they're swimming with it and it fell down to the bottom of the ocean.
Dressed in a wetsuit and a snorkel, Daniela is in the middle of a manta toe.
That's where she holds on tight to a big orange board as it's
Pulled through the water by rope attached to a boat.
Then every two minutes the boat stops and Daniela uses a waterproof pencil to write something down.
What do you think it is?
What types of coral she's seen and what they look like.
I know that bleached coral...
Can happen in all sorts of ways.
Maybe whatever she does see that's pretty, she does write down.
And maybe she's writing about the wildlife in the reef.
Daniella writes down the number of fish and coral she sees.
This information is used to work out how healthy the reef is, as well as checking for things like coral bleaching and threats to coral like the crown-of-thorns starfish.
If people throw the rubbish in, the fish won't like it.
If it's healthy, then that means that the fish and the sea creatures can come and live there.
Exactly.
Daniela's seen some incredible things over the years, like dolphins and whales.
She also once saw an octopus punch a fish.
Bleached coral and big pieces of coral.
Shipwrecks and sharks, other sea creatures.
Maybe clams?
Um, a turtle.
Manta toe checks have been happening on the Great Barrier Reef for 40 years, and there are no plans to change the way they're done because it's a very effective way to check reef health.
But it does make you wonder, how could technology be introduced to the manta toe?
A robo fish that swims around and then like it's on a fishing rod and it gets um pulled around and it's got a camera inside of it so you can see it and then someone counts that once it back gets back to a lab or something
But they wouldn't have to go underwater
There's a little tiny robot that sneaks on people's head and then they scan the coal and then they have a look at it and then it goes ginormous.
Then they place it down so the fish can have a new home.
Mandato helps coral grow.
I like it.
Story number three.
Here's a question.
What songs do you like to sing along to?
I like to sing along to Chappell Rowan's songs and Lush Life.
Well, for me, there's no limit to how loud I'll go singing along to a good song made by a hard-working musician.
And there's plenty to enjoy on streaming services or the radio.
One of the most popular songs of the moment, Like A Prayer by Josh Fawaz, has been in the news this week.
Because a million, zillion, billion people had listened to it.
Not that many.
The thing is, lots of people were suspicious that the song was produced using artificial intelligence.
People might think that a musician did it, but AI did it.
I think that's bad because it wasn't made by an actual person, but the AI made the song and then the person who used the AI took the reward for making it.
That's right.
My colleagues at the ABC did an investigation into the song and Josh Vawaz has now added credits to his song saying it has generative AI vocals and AI drums.
One Australian musician called using AI in music cheating because AI only knows how to make music by copying other songs and without permission too.
They might not get as many listens because the other musicians have gone, this isn't okay, they've stolen my music without asking.
Spotify is now asking musicians who use AI to make music to be clear about it in the credits.
Others want radio announcers to do the same before they play AI-produced songs.
So people go, OK, this is made by AI, it could be a mix of this song and this song.
Yep, as AI gets cleverer by the day, it's a good reminder to support the musicians you love so you can keep singing along to their songs for years to come.
Story number two.
Let's head to the United States of America, where something very old has been sold for a very big price.
Big T-Rex skull.
A dinosaur.
I'm pretty sure it's a T-Rex.
It's missing half of its bum.
Well, that's one way of putting it, although it's missing some, uh, parts.
This is still one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurs ever discovered.
It's made up of 183 fossilised bones.
The mouth is wide open and T-Rexes have long tails.
This dinosaur also has a very human nickname.
Theo.
Rexy.
Max.
Good guesses.
This skeleton is named Gus.
There's a Gus in my class.
Gus the dinosaur, not your classmate, was put on sale and has become the most valuable dinosaur ever bought at an auction.
Over a million dollars.
A million thousand.
A million billion zillion kajillion dollars.
OK, maybe not that much, but Gus was sold for 50 million US dollars.
That's about 72 million Australian dollars.
Phew!
The buyer was anonymous, which means nobody knows who it is.
Dinosaur bones are becoming very popular among private owners.
Hi, everybody.
I've got a big skeleton of this big dinosaur.
It's very impressive, isn't it?
Paleontologists, they're the people who study fossils, don't really want dinosaur bones taken away from places like museums.
Because they won't take care of it enough.
Because then the museums and the scientists won't be able to figure out more about the dinosaur.
They probably won't have room for it and they won't take very good care of it, so the bones might go everywhere.
With any luck, the person who bought the skeleton looks after it well and Gus doesn't become lazy bones.
Alright, we've stomped our way through the countdown and arrived at our... Wow of the Week.
This story made me go wow because it's such a big thing for a little animal.
Let's head to North Queensland, where a local named Bridget was watering her garden and saw something that would make most people leap in fright.
A frog is fighting a bird?
The frog is eating a yellow, fluffy bird.
Yeah, it's definitely not something you see every day.
A white-lipped tree frog chowing down on a sunbird.
And then he went, and he licked it up and he ate it with his giant tongue.
Licked it a lot before it could notice.
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.
Bridget saw the sunbird flying around her yard while the frog watched along quietly.
Nothing to see here.
I'm not there.
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.
I'm definitely not going to eat you.
The frog quickly grabbed the bird mid-air, then slowly devoured its feathery snack.
Bridget snapped a photo, but as you might imagine, it's not pretty.
One frog expert said frogs don't often eat birds, but this one was a bit of a garbage guts that'll eat anything that moves close enough.
I guess if you're hungry, you're hungry.
Weird.
I'm so bored.
Hurry up.
I want food.
Rabbit.
Frogs are important creatures to have around.
They eat plenty of pests and keep mosquito numbers down, but many of them are threatened with extinction.
How could you get more frogs to visit your backyard or balcony?
Frog hotels, we made them at a hardware shop.
A moist habitat.
It would have lots of leaves and maybe a little stream.
I've heard having a frog in your throat, but a bird is a new one, that's for sure.
BIRDS CHIRP
Alrighty, Newstimers, I hope you've been listening very carefully because it's time for today's quiz.
Blasco.
Question 2.
What method has been used to check the health of the Great Barrier Reef for 40 years?
Question 3.
Josh Fawaz used what to make his song?
Question 4.
What nickname was given to the T-Rex skeleton?
And finally, question five.
A sunbird.
Well, I'll catch you all on Monday for more Newstime, now three days a week.
And as part of our bigger Newstime, I want to hear what you love about your town.
Is your neighbourhood park awesome?
Do you have a suburb swimming spot?
Or even a brilliant bakery?
Yum.
Ask your grown-ups to hop onto the Newstime page on the ABC Kids Listen website and let me know.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Well, I'm off to pop on some green and gold and settle in for a big weekend of sport.
Go Australia!
Newstime is an ABC Kids Listen podcast.
For other awesome podcasts to play, music to move to and stories and soundtracks for sleep, head to the Kids tab on the ABC Listen app.
It's free from your app store.
Guess what, quest heads?
That's what we call you now, the listeners of the Story Salad Quest Mode podcast.
New episodes are coming every week.
Each week we take the start of your strange, mysterious and totally unhinged stories.
Which you've submitted via the Kids Listen website.
We finish it off.
By making up the entirely improvised ending.
Find Story Salad Quest Mode episodes on the Kids tab of the free ABC Listen app.
