Good morning. Hackers took control of supermarket fridges and freezers across Europe overnight, cranking some up to 50 degrees and forcing stores in Sweden, Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg to throw out their stock.
It's the second attack of its kind in a month, after hundreds of French supermarkets had their cooling systems hijacked in October, some to the point of catching fire.
Nobody has claimed responsibility or asked for money, and with so many fridges now connected to the internet, one security expert says a teenager and an intelligence agency would look almost identical from the other end.
All the headlines and more below...
WA POLICE SCANNED 1.38M FACES IN FACIAL RECOGNITION TRIAL, MADE 122 ARRESTS
Western Australia Police ran a 5-month trial of real-time facial recognition technology that scanned 1,380,882 faces across 43 locations and generated 9 incorrect alerts. Officers engaged with 146 registered sex offenders and located 10 people for welfare checks.
The technology used cameras mounted on or near marked police vehicles to scan faces in designated public areas and match them against an alert list drawn from police databases. Images of people not on the list were pixelated in real time and deleted immediately. Police Commissioner Col Blanch confirmed officers engaged with each person flagged by a false match, but said no one was arrested on those alerts and no one made a complaint.
Civil liberties groups criticised how police framed the error rate. Police calculated it as 0.00065%, but Civil Liberties Australia said the true error rate can only be known when all 122 arrested people have their day in court. The surveillance vans have been removed from public deployment while the force conducts an internal evaluation.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS
Lithium battery recalls in Australia soared 280% over 4 years to 7.6% of all product recalls as lawyers and experts warned of growing fire risks in household devices. LINK
Defence accelerated its adoption of AI technologies over the past 3 months as new chief AI officer Chris Crozier improved internal coordination and mapped over 60 existing AI projects. LINK
The ACT’s household inflation rate rose to 4.7% in the year to September, above the 4.3% national average, as higher fuel and utility costs squeezed households and small businesses. LINK
The federal Accelerating EV Charging Program will install about 14,000 kerbside chargers from 2027, while CPOs and the AEMC warn most sites lack dedicated parking and risk being blocked. LINK
ING SCRAPS SAVINGS MAXIMISER AS 41% OF AUSTRALIANS MISS BONUS RATES EVERY MONTH
ING will close its Savings Maximiser account to new customers from December, ending access to one of Australia's highest savings rates at 5.75%. The account required customers to deposit $1,000 from an external source, make 5 settled card purchases and grow the balance each month to earn the full rate. Miss any condition and the rate dropped to 0.01%.
ING launched a replacement Savings Booster account in July with a headline rate of 6.25% for 4 months, then 5.65% ongoing, requiring only a $100 monthly deposit. Canstar analysis found 41% of Australians with bonus saver accounts fail to meet conditions every month. The average bonus saver rate sits at 4.8%. BOQ's Future Saver offers 6% but only to 14 to 35-year-olds. Rabobank's PremiumSaver leads the all-ages market at 5.65% for a $200 monthly deposit. AMP offers 5.50% with no conditions.
Banks are changing balance limits. Macquarie passed September's 0.25 percentage point rate rise in full only to balances under $250,000. AMP cut the balance eligible for its maximum rate from $500,000 to $50,000. Following the first 3 rate hikes this year, bonus saver rates rose faster than the cash rate. After September's hike the average increase was just 0.20 percentage points.
THE INSIDE TRACK
Myer plan to enact a mandatory five day in office working week for Head Office employees faces a shortage of available desks. LINK
COMPANY NEWS
H&M paid $138,600 in ACCC penalties for failing to include mandatory fire safety warnings on more than 4,400 children’s nightwear garments, after voluntarily recalling the products. LINK
Spotify has planned an early 2027 launch of an AI remix service charging US$4 - US$5 extra a month as it negotiated licensing deals and sought to win artist participation. LINK
Woolworths reported 6.9% first-quarter sales growth to $14.84B as it launched a value-focused Christmas campaign to rebuild trust after damaging ACCC pricing-misleading allegations. LINK
NAB has moved to disband the existing NAB Ventures team as its workforce simplification program targets 2,500 jobs, while retaining the brand and startup investment portfolio. CB
Qantas Frequent Flyer rose to 15th and Virgin Australia Velocity debuted at 26th in a global ranking of 33 airline loyalty schemes, as Air France-KLM Flying Blue topped the list. LINK
Westpac reported a $6.8B full-year statutory net profit, down 1% on last year, as strong business and institutional lending growth offset mortgage pressure in a high-rate environment. LINK
Cotton On reported total sales down 2.1% to $2.221B but net profit jumping to $88.56m as foreign exchange losses reversed to a $71.5M gain and cash rose 27.5% to $222.2M. AUS
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ONE MORE SCROLL
Odd Pick: NASA wants your photos of mysterious red flashes that appear above thunderstorms.
Editor’s Pick: PwC boss says work from home is damaging young workers' careers and progression.
Draft Pick: Reece Walsh stars as Kangaroos thrash Cook Islands 66-6.
Doctor’s Pick: Taking fish oil to boost brain health? A 2-year study questions the benefits.
TRIVIA
What was the first planet discovered with a telescope?
Answer below
ANSWER
Uranus
