Matilda wins the Aussie newsquiz Champagne

The trainees in Australia - Matilda (front centre) won the newsquiz Champagne 

After three weeks of training, I said goodbye to the Mail trainees in Sydney today. They had good sessions with Clementine Cuneo and Daniel Piotrowski, from the original content team; Ian Perry, video-editor, and page-editor Fiona Hargreaves. They also brought in and wrote stories for the Daily Mail Australia website. Lucy Gray and Elise Johnson went on the woman’s march in Sydney and took photos and videos which were published here. Matilda Rudd interviewed women called Isis who spoke of the abuse they suffer. Read it here. Matilda also helped Jacob Polychronis to carry out a taste test with bizarre Aussie sausages at Bondi Beach. It was a hat-trick of stories by Matilda whose story about starving bears last week was shared 52 times. Elise, Charlotte Beale and April Glover looked at Australia Day swimwear through the decades while Kirby, Harry Pettit and Charlotte Foster wrote a feature on the weird and whacky ways Australia Day is celebrated. On a more sombre note Lucy and Nkyala Afshariyan spoke to the family of a man who was killed during the Australia Day celebrations a year ago. Their story is here. 

Jacob and Matilda go sausage testing at Bondi

As always, we finished with the newsquiz - 25 questions about the week’s events. It was won this week by Kirby with 14.5. This meant that Matilda and Kirby were tied over the three weeks. We did a tie-break question and Matilda won, so she collected the Champagne. Kirby’s consolation was a lottery scratchcard. Others who collected scractchards were Nkyala and April for the best headlines of the week, Lucy for the highest scoring Brit in the quiz and Matilda for a hat-trick of stories published. The four British trainees now head back to England for further training and placements. The Australians will have further training with Adam Tinworth and Nick Enoch and then head over to the UK for placement at regional newspapers. 

The last three weeks has been a pleasure and I have enjoyed their company and their work. They are a bright bunch … I wish them all well.

Here is this week’s newsquiz. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.  

1. Donald Trump pulled the US out of the TPP. What does TPP stand for?
2. What hashtag did former Mexican President Vicente Fox use in a tweet to Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer?
3. President Donald Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon labelled the media the ‘______ party’. What is the missing word?
4. Who, as the only Briton who President Trump follows on Twitter, wrote an open letter to British PM Theresa May offering ten pieces of advice before her meeting at the White House?
5. Stunt man Johann Ofner was shot dead in the chest while filming a promo video for which band?
6. A Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey said Sydney has the second most expensive houses in the world. Which city was top of the list?
7. Who has replaced Mike Baird as Premier of NSW?
8. Why has Melbourne-based Caroline Arthur been in the news?
9. How many Oscar nominations did the movie La La Land received?
10. Who will play in the women’s final at the Australian open tennis championships tomorrow?
11. Why was Italian junior tennis player Maria Vittoria Viviani disqualified from the first round of the Australian Open?
12. He dedicated his life to pioneering stem cell research, using it to repair damaged spinal cords, including helping to restore mobility in a quadriplegic man. Who is he?
13. On which TV programme was Julian Assange appearing when he said: 'I am not a complete idiot’?
14. What was the name of the river where a plane crashed, killing two people, during Australia Day celebrations?
15. Who  responded to suggestions that the date of Australia Day should be changed by saying: 'I don't believe that the true Aboriginal gives a damn about it’?
16. Who performed without their iconic skivvies for the first time in 25 years at the Australia Day concert in Sydney?
17. Who wrote 'When you light up a candle you light up your neshama. And you light up the world’?
18. Police released images of eight teenagers they want to speak to over the alleged assault of two 14-year-old boys in a busy shopping centre toilet in which city?
19. American TV icon Mary Tyler-Moore died this week. How old was she
20. Why was 71-year-old Bernard 'Butch’ Gore in the headlines?
21. What happened to New Zealand Breakers' forward Akil Mitchell in a basketball game in Auckland?
22. Ferrari boss Herbert Appleroth sold his five-bedroom home on Sydney Wharf  - six years after Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio rejected it for rental - for how many Australian dollars?
23. What did Chris Hasson seemed say was a good story for his son Eden to tell on the first day of school?
24. The deadly white spot disease contaminating what has led to more than $25million losses for Queensland farmers?
25. Which creature represents this year's Chinese New Year?

Answers here