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- Friday, 10 April - Everybody seems so famous
Friday, 10 April - Everybody seems so famous
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Good morning, it’s Friday, 10 April. In your Squiz Today…
Israel agrees to talks with Lebanon as the shaky ceasefire in the Middle East holds
Bruce Lehrmann’s last-ditch bid to appeal his failed defamation case has been denied
And a comforting crumble… 🍏
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Squiz the Weather
Squiz Sayings
“I will say as a man with no kids, it's great birth control, but it's a lot of fun."
Said American golfer Wyndham Clark on the family chaos that accompanies the famous Par 3 Contest at the Masters, where players often have their partners/kids as caddies and let them have a shot or 2. The play mightn’t be up there, but the photos are winners…
Giving peace a chance
The Squiz
As envoys from the US and Iran prepare to meet in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad tomorrow to begin talks to build on the 2-week ceasefire agreement reached on Wednesday, Israel has agreed to also hold talks with Lebanon. It comes after confusion over whether Lebanon was included in the deal - Iran says, as the agreement covers its allies, Lebanon is included, but Israel continued to target the militant group Hezbollah inside Lebanon. It unleashed a series of deadly strikes on the capital of Beirut, killing at least 303 people, hours after the truce was made - an attack that Iran said “blatantly violated” the terms.
What changed Israel’s tune?
Reports say US President Donald Trump asked Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to "be a little more low-key" in his operations in Lebanon to give the ceasefire the best chance of success. The agreement for Israel to "scale back" means the truce is still in place - but so far only a few ships have been allowed by Iran to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. That could increase after the talks in Pakistan, which US Vice President JD Vance, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff are attending. Another condition of the ceasefire is that US forces withdraw from all bases in the region, but Trump says that until a lasting peace deal has been made, US forces will stay in place. He added that if there's no deal, "then the 'Shootin' Starts,' bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before".
Where does all of that leave fuel supplies?
The chokehold on the vital shipping route isn’t easing the pressure globally - and Oz is one of many nations vying for oil shipments. To that end, PM Anthony Albanese has announced that the government will underwrite any large ‘high-risk’ fuel purchases made by our big oil companies Ampol and Viva Energy. That means if they buy a load of fuel at a high price, and the global oil price drops by the time it arrives, the government - aka taxpayers - will pay the difference. In a further effort to shore up our fuel supply, the PM’s in Singapore today for talks with their PM Lawrence Wong to lock in continued oil shipments in exchange for our liquified natural gas (LNG), which they depend on to power their electricity grid.
Behind the buy now button
When you're doing a spot of online shopping, you might not think about the whole operation that kicks into gear behind the scenes to get your order to your door. At Amazon, it includes a mix of people and tech... From kilometres of conveyor belts to systems that track items in real time. It’s all about efficiency, safety and keeping things moving. You can learn more about Amazon’s technology, people, processes and sustainability - and book a free tour to see it all firsthand.
Squiz the Rest
The end of the legal line for Bruce Lehrmann
The High Court has dismissed a last-ditch effort by the former Liberal staffer to challenge his failed defamation case against Network 10 and former host of The Project Lisa Wilkinson. It means the legal door has now closed for Lehrmann to clear his name of a finding by Justice Michael Lee that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped his colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019. Charges were dropped against Lehrmann after his criminal trial was aborted due to juror misconduct - but after Wilkinson interviewed Higgins on The Project about the allegation, Lehrmann sued for defamation (or “went back for his hat” as Justice Lee put it…). Higgins yesterday said the decision “brings a measure of finality to a long and painful chapter”.
Hungary for a win
The Eastern European nation is heading to the polls on 12 April, and with PM Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party facing a tight race, the US has stepped in as cheerleader to drum up support for its ally. US Vice President JD Vance flew in to hold meetings with Orbán and address a ‘Hungarian-American Friendship Day’ rally held in a football stadium in Budapest this week. If you’re wondering why Orbán’s campaign needs a boost, the election is shaping up to be one of the toughest of his career. He’s aligned with the US in his stance on immigration, fossil fuels and nationalism, but he’s facing a challenge in former political ally Peter Magyar’s centre-right party, Tisza. It’s currently leading Fidesz in the polls, so we’ll have to see if Vance’s pep-talk to voters moved the dial…
The AI myth-os is real
AI giant Anthropic has built a new model that it says is "too powerful" to be released to the public because it's so good at finding bugs in software that it could pose a major hacking threat to large corporations if it fell into the wrong hands. It's called Claude Mythos, and it took next to no time to find major security flaws in the everyday platforms we use for banking, medical records, logistics networks, etc that humans have missed for years. Only a small number of companies have access to the model, including Apple, Google and Microsoft, in an effort to patch the bugs before hackers can find them. CEO Dario Amodei says "the dangers of getting this wrong are obvious, but if we get it right, there is a real opportunity to create a fundamentally more secure internet and world”.
The heat is on for the moon mission
After completing their historic trip around the moon, the Artemis II crew are preparing to come back to Earth - they're due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean around 80km south-west of San Diego, shortly after 10am Sydney/Melbourne time tomorrow. There's a huge navy base there with equipment needed for a high-stakes mission like this one, where re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere is the most dangerous part. The capsule will be travelling at 40,000km/hr and it's going to get hot - reports say up to 10,000C, or about twice the temperature of the surface of the sun. But don't freak out - the spacecraft has a heat shield specially built to cope. And while we’ve seen lots of great pics from their journey, the astronauts say “all the good stuff is coming back with us”. You can watch the re-entry live on NASA’s livestream here…
*And if you want to know more about the Artemis space program, we’ve got a Squiz Shortcut for you…
Coachella enchanted
The major US music festival/influencer extravaganza will kick off today in the Colorado Desert, and run across the next couple of weekends, so get ready for a stack of pics on celeb socials… The festival began in 1999, and its music tastes have changed a bit in the years since - the headliners that year were Beck, Tool and Rage Against the Machine. This year, popstars Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G are the marquee names, all of whom will be headlining the festival for the first time. But it’s not all young’uns - music veterans The Strokes, Iggy Pop and David Byrne will all do a set as well. Good luck to anyone trying to top Lady Gaga’s set from last year - you’ve got your work cut out for you…
Friday Lites - 3 things we liked this week
Look, it’s a bit grim, but some of us in Team Squiz are rusted-on fans of The Handmaid’s Tale so we’re gobbling up the first 3 episodes of the sequel, The Testaments which dropped this week. Catch it on Disney+. Praise be…
We’re pretty sure we haven’t recommended a Canadian cover band before, but there’s a first time for everything - this cover by Dwayne Gretszky of Rush’s classic Tom Sawyer is a beauty - and there’s plenty more where that came from on their YouTube channel…
We had a house full of family over Easter, so the classics were called for. We served slow-roasted lamb shoulder and this apple crumble with ice cream for dessert - it feeds a crowd and it’s nostalgia in a bowl.
Squiz the Day
Friday
12.00 midday (AEST) - Tennis: Opening singles match in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifier, Australia v Britain, John Cain Arena - Melbourne, watch on 9now
ABS data release: Building approvals, February 2026; Labour hire workers, December 2025
Day one of the Melbourne Motor Show (until 12 April)
Good Friday in the Orthodox calendar
The final season of comedy-drama Hacks drops on HBO
Hug Your Dog Day, or your farm animals, because it's also National Farm Animals Day
Birthdays for Star Wars actor Daisy Ridley (1992), actors Mandy Moore (1984), and Charlie Hunnam (1980), and actor/West End Girl subject David Harbour (1975)
Anniversary of:
the first law regulating copyright being issued in Great Britain (1710)
the patenting of the safety pin (1849)
RMS Titanic setting sail from Southampton for her maiden - and only - voyage (1912)
the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925)
Paul McCartney shocking the world by confirming that The Beatles had split (1970)
Saturday
10.07am (AEST) - The Artemis II crew is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, CA
The National Gallery of Australia will open its latest exhibition Ngura Puḻka - Epic Country (until 23 August)
BTS WORLD TOUR 'ARIRANG' IN GOYANG: LIVE VIEWING is released to Australian theatres
A birthday for Aussie actress Milly Alcock (2000)
Anniversary of:
US President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act (1968)
the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after his forced removal from the Ecuadorian embassy in London (2019)
Sunday
4.00am (AEST) - Boxing: Heavyweight fight between Aussie Justis Huni and British Olympic medallist Frazer Clarke, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - London, watch it on Netflix
Hungary goes to the polls
General election in Peru
Presidential election in Benin
National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day
Birthdays for TV host and comedian David Letterman (1947), comedian Magda Szubanski (1961), and actors Clare Danes (1979) and Saoirse Ronan (1994)
Anniversary of:
the publication of Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary (1857)
the beginning of the US Civil War with the Battle of Fort Sumter (1861)
US President Bill Clinton cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit (1999)
Monday
12.00am (AEST) - Golf: Final day of the Masters Tournament - Augusta, GA, watch on Kayo