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Pope Leo Visits Mideast on First Foreign Trip as Pontiff
Pope Leo XIV landed in Muslim-majority Turkey on Thursday, beginning the first international trip of his papacy. The voyage is aimed at promoting interfaith dialogue and cooperation between Christian groups.
To the Americans here, happy Thanksgiving. In both Turkey and in Lebanon, we hope to also announce, transmit and proclaim how important peace is throughout the world and to invite all people to come together to search for greater unity, greater harmony, and to look for the ways that all men and women can truly be brothers and sisters, in spite of differences, in spite of different religions.
Pope Leo XIV landed in Muslim-majority Turkey on Thursday, beginning the first international trip of his papacy. The voyage is aimed at promoting interfaith dialogue and cooperation between Christian groups.
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Voters in the Central American nation of Honduras are set to go to the polls for Sunday’s general election, as they weigh concerns ranging from corruption to national and economic security.
The current president, Xiomara Castro of the left-wing Liberty and Refoundation (LIBRE) party, is limited by law to one term in office.
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But the race to succeed Castro is slated to be a nail-biter. Three candidates have surged to the front of the race, but none has taken a definitive lead in the polls.
They include Rixi Moncada from the LIBRE party; Nasry Asfura from the right-wing National Party; and Salvador Nasralla from the centrist Liberal Party.
The race, however, has been marred by accusations of fraud and election-tampering.
Those allegations have raised tensions in Honduras, whose political system is still recovering from the legacy of a United States-backed 2009 military coup that was followed by a period of repression and contested elections.
“Honduras is heading into these elections amid mounting political pressure on electoral authorities, public accusations of fraud from across the political spectrum, and paralysis within key electoral bodies,” said Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas division at the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.
“These dynamics have created real uncertainty about the integrity of the process.”
Who are the candidates, what will voting look like, and what are the stakes of the election? We answer these questions and more in this brief explainer.
When is the election?
The election will take place in a single round of voting, held on November 30. The candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner and should take office on January 25, 2026.
How long is the presidential term?
Each president may serve a single four-year term in office.
Who is eligible to vote?
There are about 6.5 million Hondurans eligible to cast a ballot, including about 400,000 living abroad in the United States. That group, however, is restricted to voting on the presidential candidates.
Voting is obligatory in Honduras, but there are no penalties for those who do not participate.
Who are the candidates?
Three of the five presidential candidates have emerged as main challengers in the race.
Competing as the candidate for the left-leaning LIBRE Party is Rixi Moncada, a close confidant of President Castro who has served first as her finance minister, from 2022 to 2024, and later as her secretary of defence.
Moncada resigned that position in May to pursue her presidential bid.
If elected, she has pledged to “democratise the economy”, pushing back against efforts to privatise state services. Her platform also promises greater access to credit for small businesses and a crackdown on corporate corruption.
Another contender is Salvador Nasralla, a familiar face in Honduran politics. A candidate for the centrist Liberal Party, he is running for president for a fourth time.
A 72-year-old with a background in civil engineering, Nasralla formerly served as Castro’s vice president before resigning in April 2024.
Nasralla has said that he will streamline government functions while seeking to bring informal workers, who make up a large portion of the country’s labour force, into the formal economy.
Finally, running as the candidate for the right-leaning National Party is Nasry “Tito” Asfura.
Previously a mayor and representative for the capital of Tegucigalpa, Asfura has said he will run the country as an “administrator” and “executor”, promoting pro-business policies to attract investment.
Supporters of the Liberal Party cheer for presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla during his campaign’s closing event in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on November 23 [Delmer Martinez/AP Photo]
How have foreign relations played a role in the election?
On foreign relations, Moncada is expected to continue her predecessor’s pursuit of closer ties with countries such as China and support for other left-wing figures in the region.
Both Nasralla and Asfura have said they will orient Honduras towards the US and its allies, including Israel and Taiwan.
On Wednesday, in the waning days of the presidential race, US President Donald Trump expressed his support for Asfura.
Trump also cast Honduras’s presidential race as part of his broader campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, blaming the South American leader for drug trafficking and the establishment of left-wing governments across the region.
“Democracy is on trial in the coming Elections in the beautiful country of Honduras on November 30th. Will Maduro and his Narcoterrorists take over another country like they have taken over Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela?” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
“The man who is standing up for Democracy, and fighting against Maduro, is Tito Asfura.”
What do the polls say?
Though pre-election surveys have shown Moncada, Nasralla and Asfura to be in the lead, no clear frontrunner has emerged.
In September, a poll released by the firm CID Gallup found that Nasralla had 27 percent support, Moncada 26 and Asfura 24. Those percentages separating the three candidates were within the poll’s margin of error.
An additional 18 percent of respondents in that survey indicated they were undecided.
Why has election integrity been a concern?
Questions of corruption have long dogged Honduras’s fragile democracy, and this election season has brought those fears back to the fore.
During the March primaries, for instance, there were “irregularities” in the distribution of election materials, and some polling stations reported delays, long lines and thin staffing that forced the vote to stretch late into the night.
There has also been discord between the two government agencies that handle Honduras’s elections: the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the Electoral Justice Tribunal.
Congress elects the main leaders for each of the two agencies. But both the tribunal and the CNE have been targeted for investigation recently.
In October, prosecutors opened a criminal probe into CNE leader Cossette Lopez over alleged plans for an “electoral coup”.
The Joint Staff of the Armed Forces has also asked the CNE for a copy of a vote tally sheet for the presidential race on election day, prompting concerns over possible interference by the armed forces.
The Electoral Justice Tribunal, meanwhile, has faced an investigation into whether it has voted without all of its members present.
Both President Castro and members of the opposition have spoken about the potential for fraud in Sunday’s vote, heightening scrutiny on the vote.
Organisations such as Human Rights Watch and the Organization of American States (OAS) have expressed concern over the pressure facing election officials.
“What matters most now is that electoral institutions are allowed to operate independently, that the Armed Forces adhere strictly to their limited constitutional role, and that all political actors refrain from actions or statements that could inflame tensions or undermine public trust,” said Goebertus.
BBC on the scene of the Hong Kong apartment block blaze
A devastating fire has ripped through a high-rise public housing complex in Hong Kong, killing at least 83 people, making it the city’s deadliest in more than 60 years. More than 270 people have been reported missing and thousands of residents are in evacuation shelters.
Several of the high-rise blocks were still ablaze the day after the fire broke out, with thick smoke billowing into the air, dominating the Chinese territory’s skyline.
Three men have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter connected to the fire, according to local media reports, and an investigation has been launched.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed condolences to victims, including a “firefighter who died in the line of duty”, state media report.
What caused the blaze is still unclear, but here is what we do know, so far.
Where and when did the fire start?
The blaze broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a large housing complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district, at 14:51 local time on Wednesday (06:51 GMT).
Wang Fuk Court consists of eight tower blocks, each 31 storeys high. Seven have been affected by the fire, Tai Po district councillor Mui Siu-fung told BBC Chinese. Built in 1983, the tower blocks were undergoing renovations when the fire broke out.
Tai Po is a residential district in the northern part of Hong Kong, near the city of Shenzhen on the Chinese mainland.
The complex provides 1,984 apartments for some 4,600 residents, according to a 2021 government census.
Nearly 40% of the people who lived in the Wang Fuk Court housing complex are at least 65, or older, according to the census.
Some of them have lived in the subsidised public housing estate since it was built.
What caused the fire?
The cause of the fire is unknown but a preliminary investigation found that the rapid speed at which it spread was unusual, Hong Kong’s security secretary said early on Thursday morning.
Police say a mesh material and plastic sheets were found on the outside of the buildings – both of which are not believed to be fireproof.
Styrofoam was also found on the building’s windows – and that, together with the other construction materials is likely to have caused the flames to spread so quickly, said police.
Police have arrested three men aged between 52 and 68 on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the deadly blaze – two of them are directors of a construction firm while the other is an engineering consultant.
A police spokesperson said investigators were looking into the alleged actions, or failure to act, of the firm’s top officials.
“We have reason to believe that those in charge at the company were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” said the spokesperson.
Local media reports also quote some residents who say the fire alarms in the building did not go off.
How serious is the fire?
This is Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in at least 63 years and has been classified as a level five alarm – the highest in severity.
Within 40 minutes of first being reported, it was declared a level four, but by 18:22, about three and a half hours later, the level was raised again.
Local media had earlier reported that explosions could be heard inside the building and fire hoses could not easily reach the higher levels.
The ferocity of the heat had prevented firefighters from entering the buildings to conduct rescue operations, deputy director of fire services Derek Armstrong Chan told media.
As well as 767 firefighters, 128 fire engines, 57 ambulances and some 400 police officers were deployed.
What do we know about the victims?
Among the dead is firefighter Ho Wai-ho, 37, who was with the service at Sha Tin Fire Station for nine years.
The fire service says it lost contact with him at 15:30, and about half an hour later, found that he had collapsed. He was taken to hospital but declared dead shortly after.
“I am profoundly grieved at the loss of this dedicated and gallant fireman,” said Andy Yeung, director of the fire service.
At least one other firefighter is in hospital, the Hong Kong fire service said.
Police officers have been helping residents search for family members by using a loudspeaker, say local media reports.
Watch: Deadly fire engulfs Hong Kong apartment blocks
Where will evacuated residents stay?
Several emergency shelters have been set up to accommodate residents who were evacuated, the government said. The South China Morning Post reported that one of them – at Tung Cheong Street Sports Centre – was full, and residents were being directed to other shelters.
Another, the Kwong Fuk Community Hall, which is just over the road from the housing estate, was deemed unsafe. Evacuees were moved to another shelter, further away.
BBC Chinese reporter Gemini Cheng saw elderly residents, some using walking sticks or wheelchairs, arriving at some of the shelters.
At least 900 people are taking shelter in such temporary facilities, Agence France-Presse reports, quoting Lee.
An emergency monitoring and support centre is in operation to manage the impact of the fire, security secretary Tang Ping-keung said in a statement.
A hotline for the public to ask about casualties has been set up by Hong Kong police.
What could have exacerbated the fire?
Reuters
The tower blocks at Wang Fuk Court are covered in bamboo scaffolding and green construction netting, right up to the rooftops, because they are undergoing renovations.
As mentioned earlier, police have attributed the quick spread of the fire to materials used in the renovation, such as mesh netting, plastic sheeting and styrofoam.
It’s still unclear how the fire began, but no matter its cause, proper netting on the buildings’ exterior would have been key to preventing its spread, Jason Poon, chairman of construction NGO China Monitor, told news outlet Initium Medi. Substandard netting could cause the fire to spread rapidly, he added.
Another engineer told Initium Media he believes that the vast majority of mesh netting used in construction across Hong Kong is not made of fire-retardant material.
Cardboard, debris and paint thinner is also often found on the scaffolding, which along with dry weather could hasten the spread of fire, the engineer said.
One fire safety expert the BBC spoke to said the bamboo scaffolding – a common part of the city’s urban landscape – also played a part in fanning the flames.
Local media reports in March said the government’s development bureau had been trying to phase out the use of bamboo because of safety concerns.
The push towards using metal instead of bamboo came after a spate of scaffolding-related deaths in Hong Kong, although reports said these were caused by falls and other safety failures, rather than fires.
Professor Jiang Liming from Hong Kong Polytechnic University also noted that the blocks at Wang Fuk Court were “relatively old” – they were built in the 1980s – so “the glass windows are not that fire resilient”.
“The modern buildings have double pane glass windows, but for this one they perhaps used just a single pane… [which makes it] very easy to be broken by the flames and the flames can then penetrate through the facade.”
Additional reporting by Jack Lau, BBC Global China Unit and Gemini Cheng, BBC Chinese in Hong Kong.
The University of Virginia women prevailed over Michigan in the championship meet to win the inaugural CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge last weekend, with several nation-leading swims being produced over the course of the three-day meet in Tennessee.
One of the most exciting battles in the championship came in the women’s 100 back, where Claire Curzan and Bella Sims, who were separated by just one one-hundredth in the event in the 2025 NCAA final, locked horns in a rematch that came down to the wire once again.
At last season’s NCAAs, Curzan (49.11) edged out Sims (49.12) for the national title, and a similar scenario happened on Sunday in Knoxville.
Curzan put up a time of 49.12 to narrowly out-touch Sims (49.17) for the victory, coming just one one-hundredth shy of her personal best set in winning last year’s NCAA title.
Both women move to #1 and #2 in the country this season, and the performance from Sims also marks a new Big Ten and Michigan Record, with her lifetime best of 48.97 having been set last season while she was at the University of Florida.
The previous Big Ten Record stood at 49.18, set by former Wisconsin star Beata Nelson in 2019, while the previous Michigan Record was 49.76, set by Maggie MacNeil in 2021.
Curzan also won the 100 fly at the meet in 49.68, ranking her #2 in the nation, while Sims also placed 3rd in the 500 free in a season-best time of 4:39.76.
The Cavalier women ultimately beat the Wolverines, 40-17, while the Arizona State men prevailed over Tennessee, 37-19.
At Fluidra, our mission is to create the perfect pool experience for all aquatic enthusiasts, from recreational swimmers to competitive athletes. We believe the perfect race starts with the perfect pool, which is why we provide superior, high-performance equipment and accessories. Whether for racing or relaxation, our leading brands — including S.R. Smith, Jandy, and Polaris and more — ensure an optimal aquatic environment, enhancing every swim experience.
We’ve recently seen a bunch of E Ink smartphones released for eye-friendly productivity on the go. But what if you don’t want to give up your handset, yet would like an ePaper assistant on tap? That’s where the Reetle SmartInk I comes in.
First things first, the name. The startup explains that the shared brand and product moniker represents two aspects of its design. The first declares its use as a reading device, while the second half “symbolizes the tough shell that protects your phone” in the form of a beetle. Put them together – while snipping out a few letters – and you get Reetle.
The Reetle SmartInk I is compatible with iPhone 14 series or later handsets
Reetle/Kickstarter
The second thing to note is that if you’re an Android phone user, this “E Ink hub” is not for you as it’s currently only compatible with newer iPhones (iPhone 14 to 17 series models plus the Air). The concept gives a little more utility to your average protective case, shaping up as a 3.97-inch E Ink touchscreen reader at 235 pixels-per-inch.
So rather than using an app to consume ebooks or read work documents on the bright and color-rich main screen, you can do your eyes a favor and switch to the slim display under tempered glass that takes up the lower section of the magnetically secured Reetle case. In addition to AI-powered reading tools, the hub also enables voice-to-text capture – meaning that there’s potential for transcribing a call while you’re talking.
Eye-friendly reading plus productivity apps on the back of an iPhone
Reetle/Kickstarter
The AI can also summarize transcribed notes, sort and store for easy recall, and even translate across more than 100 languages. A basic free package will give you 50 minutes of transcription per month along with a limited allowance for summaries and AI-generated imagery. But there’s a basic business package available for US$99.99 per annum that extends monthly transcription time to 150 minutes, or a higher tier where you get 250 minutes for $149.99 per year.
Widgets, to-do lists, digital business cards or travel documents, QR codes and more can be displayed onscreen too. “Seamless syncing” with other devices over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is promised too. It won’t leech your iPhone’s battery as it has 300-mAh of its own to draw from, which is reckoned good for 7 days on standby or 10 hours of reading or the same for recoding. The devs also report compatibility with MagSafe wireless charging.
The slim case wraps around an iPhone to offer protection plus AI-powered productivity tools
Reetle/Kickstarter
All in, a useful extra something for folks who want more than just drop protection from an outer case. The Reetle SmartInk I has been prototyped on an iPhone 16 Pro but should be compatible with all models from the 14 series onwards. To get it rolling off the production line, the Hong Kong startup has launched on Kickstarter – where pledge levels currently start at around US$120, representing a saving of 40% on the expected retail price.
All crowdfunding campaigns carry an element of risk, and this looks to be Reetle’s first product and first Kickstarter so you might want to keep that in mind before backing the project. If all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start from February 2026.
REETLE SmartInk I: World’s First AI E-Ink Hub for iPhone
Amazon’s AI-infused Rufus shopping assistant has new features that make it a “faster, more useful, state-of-the-art shopping companion.” Google’s agentic checkout feature “can do the heavy lifting to help you get the perfect item without blowing your budget.” OpenAI on Monday unveiled a free ChatGPT tool it says can generate a personalized gift-buying guide.
New artificial intelligence shopping tools are sprouting right and left just in time for the holidays, when US consumers are expected to spend a record $253 billion online. Technology companies and retailers are rushing to get ahead of a shift in consumer behavior that prognosticators say will one day see people using autonomous agents to research, price and buy products rather than plugging queries into a search engine.
E-commerce hasn’t changed all that much over the past 20 years, and there are signs people are itching for something new. More than 1 in 3 US consumers said they have used AI tools to assist in online shopping, mostly for product research, according to a September survey conducted by Adobe Inc. And the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. forecasts that so-called agentic commerce — a rubric for automated agents aiding purchases or handling transactions entirely — could explode into a $1 trillion business in the US by 2030.
McKinsey could be right, but for the time being, agentic commerce is in an awkward experimental phase, with companies struggling to solve various technical challenges and negotiate partnerships even as they push out a variety of tools and features to see what works and what doesn’t.
Bloomberg asked several AI bots — including Amazon’s Rufus, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Walmart Inc.’s Sparky — what to buy mom for Christmas. The top suggestion: a cozy bathrobe. Sparky recommended a pink hooded number emblazoned with “Mama Bear,” and ChatGPT suggested buying the robe from Victoria’s Secret. Perplexity Inc.’s AI bot proffered another option found on many gift guides: a $20 wooden photo frame from Etsy.
“There are a lot of really big bets being made right now that consumers want to shop differently and that chat is the way they want to start shopping,” said Emily Pfeiffer, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. “I don’t think this is going to have a huge impact on the way we shop this holiday season.”Play Video
The appeal of AI-aided commerce is obvious. Navigating through millions of products on Amazon, Walmart, Etsy and other retailers can be a tedious process that involves checking desired feature boxes, combing through reviews and scrolling through one advertisement after another. Telling a chatbot to “Find me a pair of well-reviewed hiking boots in my size, under $100, and available for delivery or pickup by Friday,” seems like a much more user-friendly and intuitive experience. And there are early indications that shoppers referred to a website following a conversation with ChatGPT are more informed and prepared to buy than those who conducted a typical Google search, according to SimilarwebLtd., which monitors website traffic and app use.
But for the most part, bots haven’t yet meaningfully improved shopping. Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy recently gave rivals’ technology a mixed review, noting that agents aren’t very good at tailoring shopping to individual consumers and often display incorrect pricing and delivery estimates.
Retailers’ websites — built to be browsed by humans poking around with clicks and eyeballs — have added machine-readable interfaces over the years for automated tools like web-crawling robots, or for partners to manage inventory. But they weren’t designed to hand off purchasing authority to third parties. That’s why many shopping chatbots essentially grab product listings and then present a user with a web link to buy on that retailer’s site — not much of an advancement over the way things have been done for years.
Bot makers are working to solve various technical challenges. Anthropic PBC and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, for example, have built protocols designed to referee how agents communicate, helping translate queries made in human language into something capable of navigating a catalogue. Microsoft Corp. earlier this year announced a set of tools that helps retailers and other companies translate their websites to a medium agents can more readily interact with. Companies are also working with AI models, backed by immense computing power, that can understand what’s rendered on a web browser and click through menus to make an order.
As with any AI tool, efficacy depends largely on the data it feeds on. Retailers, keen to retain a competitive edge over rivals, have long guarded customer information like purchase history and customer reviews that bots could scrape to improve the shopping experience. Amazon, which captures about 40 cents of every dollar spent online in the US, has maintained a walled garden and doesn’t currently permit autonomous shopping on its site. In a warning shot that could have implications for agentic shopping, the e-commerce giant recently sued Perplexity to try and stop the startup from helping shoppers buy items on its marketplace.
Letting in Perplexity and others could damage Amazon’s advertising business, which is expected to generate almost $70 billion this year by persuading shoppers to click on ads while searching for products. Amazon is developing its own shopping bots. Rufus, launched in February 2024, can browse Amazon’s site, recommend products to shoppers and put them in a cart. In April, the company also introduced a feature — still in public testing — called Buy For Me, which is designed to let shoppers purchase items from other retailers’ sites in the Amazon shopping app.
Walmart has shown itself more willing to work with outside companies. The chain in October said shoppers would be able to purchase apparel, electronics, packaged food and other products directly on ChatGPT by pushing a buy button. The feature is rolling out in stages and is initially limited to single-item purchases, not how shoppers typically buy from the world’s largest retailer.
Partnerships with big retailers and payments processors will be crucial for the likes of OpenAI and Perplexity to become serious players in shopping. The ultimate goal is to let users browse and buy directly in their apps without having to leave. Perplexity this week announced it was incorporating PayPal checkout options into its offering. Without giving people an easy way to buy things, the AI startups will be limited to conducting research, said Juozas Kaziukenas, an independent e-commerce analyst.
“It reminds me of searching online for a recipe and you end up on a website that wants you to read a 10,000-word family story before it tells you what you need to make a meatloaf,” he said. “For some queries, ChatGPT will just throw up a wall of text on you. We have to see how this morphs into something that’s cool to use.”
In Bloomberg’s gift-for-mom experiment, Amazon’s Rufus was the only bot that tried to learn more before answering. It asked about her interests and hobbies as well as the price range. After learning that mom is a fan of classic films, Rufus suggested a DVD set of movies starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
OpenAI is moving in a similar direction with its latest shopping tool. It asks clarifying questions and draws its answers from reviews published on websites, such as Reddit, which the company said may be considered more trustworthy than paid marketing or reviews posted on a product page. Users can use a dedicated “shopping research” button in the chat interface and describe what they’re looking for using instructions like “find a small couch for a studio apartment” or “I need a gift for my 4-year-old niece who loves art.”
Instead of immediately generating a text response, the research tool will ask for more information in a quiz format, taking into consideration possible factors such as budget, color preferences and the desired size of the item. As it gathers information from the web, it will suggest 10 to 15 items along the way, and users will be prompted to click “more like this” or “not interested” to refine the final list.
In a reminder that shopping bots are a work in progress, OpenAI recommended that users visit merchant sites for the most accurate details and cautioned that the new tool “might make mistakes about product details” including price and availability.
Venezuela doesn’t play a large role in the drug trade to the United States, so what is motivating the massive military buildup? Julian E. Barnes, who reports on intelligence and international security, discusses the issues with our senior writer Katrin Bennhold.
The recommendation algorithms used by streaming services are the main reason why Australia’s local artists are seeing a revenue decline, even though Australians themselves are spending more on music, a new report says.
The report warns that other English-speaking countries – aside from the United States – are facing a similar problem.
Australia’s recorded music revenues grew by nearly 28% between 2021 and 2024, from USD $417.5 million to $534 million – but revenues from local acts actually fell during this period, from $50.9 million to $44.8 million. Australian music’s market share fell from 12% to 8% in that time.
Had local revenues kept up with overall growth, “a further $40 million would have flowed back to the domestic industry in just three years,” the report noted.
“Australia is now the global poster child for what ‘market failure’ looks like in recorded music,” the report stated. “A vicious cycle risks taking root, with increasingly fewer domestic success stories resulting in less domestic investment, meaning even lower chances of future success. Intervention is required to stop the rot.”
Source: The Australia Institute
The report, written for public policy think tank The Australia Institute by noted music economist Will Page and Australia Institute Research Director Morgan Harrington, says the problem is algorithmic.
Recommendation algorithms favor content in the user’s own language. That has worked out very well for many local music markets that have their own language, as Page noted in prior research, with local music experiencing a boom in popularity.
“Even countries as small as Denmark, which has just 5.5 million people speaking the same language, are seeing Danish-language artists dominate their charts,” the report noted.
“Sixteen of the top 20 albums (and 15 of the top 20 songs) in Denmark last year were by Danish artists, performing in Danish.”
But in English-language countries like Australia, the UK and Canada, recommendation algorithms overwhelmingly surface music from the US, which is far and away the largest source of English-language recorded music.
“Streaming platforms have turned discovery into a global contest in which Australian artists singing in English are competing with the vast American catalog,” former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wrote in the report’s foreword.
“This digital ‘one-way valve’ that sends our listening offshore reflects a broader challenge of sovereignty in the digital age.”
“Australia is now the global poster child for what ‘market failure’ looks like in recorded music.”
Will Page and Morgan Harrington
To a lesser extent, the UK and Canada are seeing a similar problem.
“The United Kingdom has witnessed an embarrassing drought since streaming took off, failing to produce a truly worldwide success since Dua Lipa in 2017,” the report stated.
“Indeed, in the five years since the start of this decade, the UK has seen only 30 new artists debut among their local top 1,000.”
Canadian artists are “encroached upon by the dominance of its southerly neighbor, with a steady decline of domestic presence compounded by a ‘talent drain’ where many of their own major breakthrough artists are signed and managed out of the United States.”
Yet if the problem in the UK and Canada isn’t as big as it is in Australia, it may be due to the fact the UK continues to have outsized cultural influence, and its legacy acts like Queen and Oasis continue to bring in revenue by the millions.
In Canada’s case, the problem is mitigated in part by various programs governments have set up to protect and prop up the country’s cultural industries, the report says. (And the success of Drake and The Weeknd doesn’t hurt either, we would add.)
The report urges Australia to take a page out of Canada’s book. It points to the Starmaker Fund, a program that provides money to Canadian artists touring internationally to add additional dates to their tours. The program is funded by fees from private broadcasters. (Canada recently updated its telecom laws to require streaming services to pay into the fund as well, something the services are challenging in court.)
“This digital ‘one-way valve’ that sends our listening offshore reflects a broader challenge of sovereignty in the digital age.”
Malcolm Turnbull, ex-Prime Minister of Australia
The report also urges the Australian government to work with streaming services like Spotify to develop local, human content curators for streaming audiences.
“Curators that can compile playlists relevant to a particular city or region (some of whom may also be local radio stations, local concert venues or local artists themselves) can organize and differentiate music in ways that algorithms either cannot or do not,” the report said.
It also notes that some broadcasters have integrated streaming services into their apps and websites, so that listeners can add tracks they like to their playlists. By contrast, popular radio stations run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation only allow listeners to hear the music on the airwaves or on its “comparatively obscure” ABC Listen app, the report said.
“Why not make more of this great local content available to the world on other platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube, where lots more people can discover it?”
While the issue of declining local music has been on the radar of Aussie politicians for several years at this point, the idea that streaming services are damaging local music is getting some pushback from Spotify, which recently released survey results showing that 85% of Australians “are satisfied with their ability to discover new music on streaming platforms.”
Spotify’s research also found that 81% of streaming users “say it’s easy to find Australian artists,” and 61% are “satisfied with the amount of Australian music available and accessible to them.”
“The data tells a positive story: that 81% of listeners feel Australian music is visible, accessible, and easy to explore on streaming platforms,” said Alicia Sbrugnera, Spotify’s Head of Music Development for Australia and New Zealand.
“We know that when we support the discoverability of new music, we’re supporting the entire Australian music ecosystem – for artists, venues, labels, and fans – and through this new research, fans have told us that it’s working.”Music Business Worldwide
