Friday, 31 January - Carry your heart into my arms

January 31, 2025

Good morning, it’s Friday, 31 January. In your Squiz Today…

  • The hunt is on for those behind a plot to target a Sydney Jewish site with explosives in a caravan

  • There are no survivors from the crash off Washington DC’s airport

  • And tips to avoid the doomscroll - timely given those 2 headlines, eh…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“She is tiny and absolutely perfect.”

Said Princess Beatrice on the arrival of her second child, who was born several weeks prematurely. Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi rocked up more than a week ago - and you’ll note the nod to her legendary great-granny…

An explosive terror plot is exposed

The Squiz

PM Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns say they believe the alleged plot to target one of Sydney’s major Jewish synagogues using a caravan of explosives is “terrorism” - despite NSW Police holding off on branding it as such. That was in response to the caravan's discovery in Dural (about 30km northwest of Sydney) earlier this month - a situation that hit the media on Wednesday night. The development was kept from Jewish leaders who say they should have been in the loop - and authorities are cranky it leaked, saying their investigation has been “compromised” as a result.

What do we know about the plot?

Well, it’s still an ongoing investigation… What we do know is police were called on 19 January by a man concerned about the caravan being parked in a dangerous spot. He’d towed it to his house and found the explosives inside after breaking through the padlock… Police are then said to have found a list of locations inside - including the Great Synagogue in Sydney’s CBD and the Jewish Museum in Darlinghurst - leading them to believe it was going to be used in “some form of antisemitic attack”. They said the explosives could create a 40m blast zone - making it a potential “mass casualty” attack. As for who’s responsible, police said the caravan’s owner is already in custody over a separate investigation, and 2 others have been detained, but no charges have been laid.

So what now?

Well, the investigation continues and reports say finding the mastermind behind the plot is a priority. Deputy NSW Police Commissioner David Hudson says they are also busy looking into the antisemitic attacks in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, where graffiti was painted on a Jewish school and house this week after an arson attack on a child care centre last week. While that shakes out, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation leader Mike Burgess says our national terror threat level remains at ‘probable’ - but they’re closely monitoring the “disturbing escalation in the targeting of Jewish interests”. As for Coalition leader Peter Dutton, he’s called on PM Albanese to commit more resources to protect synagogues and Jewish schools.

Your fresh market update…

At the Squiz, we’re all about giving you the useful stuff. So, we’ve teamed up with Woolies to share their top weekly fruit and veg picks. Here’s what to grab this week:

🍎 Royal Gala apples - Sweet, crisp and bonus - they also hold their shape if you fancy baking with ‘em.

🥦 Broccolini - Leaf it to a few of these to get your greens in.

🌽 Sweet corn - Grilled on the cob with some parmesan on top goes down a treat…

Squiz the Rest

No survivors from a DC crash

That means that 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet that collided with a US Army helicopter carrying 3 people have perished in what is likely to be the nation’s worst aviation disaster in almost a quarter century. The recovery mission has seen 28 bodies pulled from the Potomac River that runs next to the capital’s airport. Onboard the commercial flight was a group of ice skaters, their coaches and families - they were flying into Washington from the US Figure Skating Championships that had been held in Wichita, Kansas. President Donald Trump has addressed the media overnight - he says the airliner was "doing everything right", but "for some reason", the helicopter was at the same height and "going at an angle that was unbelievably bad". An investigation is underway.

Chaotic scenes in Gaza

The latest handover hasn’t gone smoothly, but Hamas has released 8 hostages - including 5 Thai nationals - as part of the ongoing ceasefire agreement. As the hostages were released to the Red Cross at the drop-off point in Gaza, large crowds gathered, and reports describe "lots of pushing and shoving” - leading Israel to retaliate by delaying the release of the 110 prisoners. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will take “extra care in ensuring the safe return of our hostages” next time around… And as the ceasefire continues to hold, Netanyahu is set to become the first foreign leader to meet President Trump during his second term in office - the 2 have a meeting scheduled for next week in the Oval Office.

Not so Open to DeepSeek

After the Chinese AI company DeepSeek burst onto the scene and caused financial havoc earlier this week, American rival OpenAI welcomed it - chief executive Sam Altman said it was “legitimately invigorating to have a new competitor”. But the company changed its tune yesterday, now saying several Chinese companies are using a forbidden tactic called distillation - essentially, using OpenAI’s model to train their own chatbots - and it believes DeepSeek is one of those companies. The Trump administration’s AI czar David Sacks agrees - he said there was “substantial evidence” that distillation occurred, which allowed DeepSeek to compete with the big tech companies at a cheaper cost. OpenAI says it's looking into the claims, so watch this space…

If you want a deeper dive into DeepSeek and its AI chatbot, we’ve got just the Shortcut for you. You’re welcome…

Rugby heaven is just 2 years away

Fans can start thinking about travel plans after the dates and locations for the Oz-hosted 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup were announced yesterday. The World Cup runneth over six weeks, with the final set for 13 November at the 80,000-plus capacity Olympic stadium in Sydney - the same place as the last World Cup final on Aussie soil in 2003. Let's just try not to think about how that game ended… Festivities will kick off in Perth on 1 October at the 65,000-seat Optus Stadium, and the other host cities will be Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Townsville and, after a last-minute deal with Rugby Australia, Melbourne. This is the 11th edition of the Rugby World Cup, and it's going to be the biggest ever, with 24 countries set to take part - hopefully, the Wallabies can go one better this time around…

A Bennu frontier

Scientists reckon an asteroid called Bennu might give us some answers about how we got here. After NASA launched a mission to collect material from the 500m space rock - and with a robotic arm, no less, scientists discovered amino acids in the samples. Amino acids are often called the 'building blocks of life', because they're a fundamental part of DNA. That doesn't mean Bennu ever had things living on it, which probably would have had this story a bit higher up… But it does mean it's possible a similar space rock crashed into Earth billions of years ago and delivered us some amino acids like a spacefaring Uber Eats driver, sparking the development of life on Earth. And, intriguingly, maybe also on other planets as well… Cue up the X-Files theme…

Friday Lites - 3 things we liked this week

In recognition of Lunar New Year celebrations this week, we thought it’s probably a good time to get our dumpling on… This chicken and corn combo is a favourite, but you also can’t go wrong with pork and prawn. Any dumpling’s a good dumpling…

We reckon 2025 is the year to be informed and not overwhelmed, so we were interested in reading this piece on tips to avoid the doomscroll but still keep yourself across what's happening in the world. We'll even forgive that 'read/listen to the Squiz' isn't one of the tips…

If you’re suffering from tennis withdrawals, the Australian Open’s YouTube channel has posted this handy countdown of the 10 best points of the tournament, full of epic forehand winners, cunning drop shots, and, of course, some through-the-legs trickery…

Squiz the Day

Friday
11.00am (AEDT) - Australian Electoral Commission media briefing to discuss the election process - Canberra

Pesto the Penguin’s first Birthday

Independence Day in Nauru

Birthdays for Portia de Rossi (1973), Jackie O (1975) and Justin Timberlake (1981)

Anniversary of: 

  • The death of Guy Fawkes, a Catholic conspirator who took part in a failed Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament (1606)

  • Apollo 14 lifting off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon (1971)

  • Brexit: the United Kingdom officially leaving the European Union (2020)

Saturday
3.00am (AEDT) - Tennis: Davis Cup qualifier, Australia v Sweden - Stockholm, and watch on 9Now

12.40pm (AEDT) - Women’s Cycling: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - Geelong, Victoria, and broadcast on 7Plus

World Interfaith Harmony Week (on until 7 February) 

Beginning of Ovarian Cancer Month 

World Hijab Day

🍦 World Ice Cream for Breakfast Day 

A birthday for Harry Styles (1994)

Anniversary of:

  • the arrest of Martin Luther King Jr and 700 protestors in Selma, Alabama (1965)

  • the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster killing all 7 astronauts aboard (2003)

Sunday
5.45am (AEDT) - Motorsport: Bathurst 12-hour race - Mt Panorama NSW, and broadcast on Kayo

11.10am (AEDT) - Men’s Cycling: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - Geelong, Vic, and broadcast on 7Plus

12.00pm (AEST) - Surf Lifesaving: Iron series final - Burleigh Heads, Queensland, and broadcast on SBS

Crêpe Day

Yorkshire Pudding Day in the UK

Groundhog Day in the US and Canada

Anniversary of:

  • New Amsterdam (later known as New York) becoming incorporated as a city (1653)

  • the Australian Premiers’ Conference deciding to locate Australia’s capital (Canberra) to the coldest place they could find between Sydney and Melbourne (1899). Ok, we might have added the ‘cold’ bit…

  • the Pentagon confirming that the US was tracking what was assumed to be a 'Chinese spy balloon' floating over the US (2023)