Will Australia Declare El Niño Soon?

The Bureau of Meteorology has decided to hold off declaring an El Niño in Australia, even though lots of places around the world say it's happening.
EL NIÑO
The US has declared it, the UN has declared it, but Australia... still won't declare it. That's right - El Niño. It's the warm phase of a weather cycle called the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It happens when the ocean temperature in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean becomes unusually warm. For us Aussies, it means there is less moist air around, leading to hot temperatures and dry conditions. But it also means that there's an increased risk of things like bushfires and droughts. You see, for the past few years, we've been in the other extreme phase of ENSO - La Niña - which brought a lot of wet weather. But our Bureau of Meteorology has been watching the situation closely in recent months to see if that's changing. Today, lots of people were expecting an announcement that it was finally ready to declare El Niño was here. But its criteria is a lot stricter than other agencies around the world. And it says while things definitely look like they're heading in that direction in the next few weeks, it's still not quite ready to make the call. So for now, we'll remain on El Niño alert until we hear otherwise.
GREAT BARRIER REEF
The Great Barrier Reef won't be added to the list of World Heritage sites that are in danger this year. Scientists from UNESCO, the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, have been taking a close look at the reef. They say while it's still under serious threat from things like global warming and water pollution, the government has taken some positive steps to protect it. So, they'll check back in again in February next year to make sure things are still on track.
MATILDAS WIN
There was a bunch of action at last night's Women's World Cup win! That's right - our very own Matildas absolutely destroyed last night, in a 4-nil victory against Olympic champs, Canada! Hayley Raso scored the opening two goals, while Mary Fowler and Steph Catley sealed the deal. And we did it all without star player Sam Kerr, who was on the bench resting her injured calf. That means we'll now progress to the Round of 16 - where England, Denmark or China are all possible opponents first up.
ASHES FINAL
The Ashes have ended in a 2-2 draw, after England won the final test last night. Despite the outcome, Australia will still retain the Urn because we won last year. And even though hopes were high for an outright win, for some, well... they'll just take what they can get.
NETBALL WORLD CUP
The Australian Diamonds have continued their winning streak at the Netball World Cup in South Africa, beating Scotland 76-37! It's the fourth win for Australia in the tournament so far, after beating Fiji, Tonga and Zimbabwe.
SPACE JUNK
Remember the strange object that washed up on a Western Australian beach last month? Well, we now know what it is - space junk from a recent rocket launch in India! A spokesperson from India's space agency says it's from one of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles, and it's now up to us to decide what to do with it.
X SIGNAGE
People in San Francisco woke up this morning to find that this X sign on top of the rebranded Twitter building had disappeared just days after it was installed. Quite the mystery, right? Well, not really. It's actually under investigation by the city of San Francisco after they received 24 complaints about the unpermitted structure, including concerns about its safety and how bright it was. Better luck next time, Elon.
SUN BEAR
And now to the biggest mystery of all. Sun bears at Hangzhou Zoo in China might be… what? Humans dressed in bear costumes!? Well, that's what a viral video of a bear standing on its hind legs sent the internet into a tizzy over. But the zoo's now come out saying this kind of behaviour is normal, and their bears are in fact bears. Glad we cleared that up.
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For the past 50 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.