Friday, 5 June - I do my hair toss

Good morning, it’s Friday, 5 June. In your Squiz Today…

• The US has another round of tariffs in store for more than 50 countries, including Australia

• Bondi hero Ahmed al Ahmed has been charged with assault

• And a restorative chicken noodle soup… 🍜

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🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Andrew Williams, Alice Dempster, Larissa Huntington, Anna Pykett and Sophie Felice

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Mohammed Nasim, a student in Dhaka about a rare albino buffalo in Bangladesh that’s gone viral for his striking blond hairdo. Locals say he’s got the US President’s vibe down too - being pampered by staff and getting lots of attention…

Talking (more) tariffs

The Squiz

It’s been a minute, but tariffs were back in our headlines yesterday after the US listed Australia as one of 54 countries facing a possible new 12.5% trade tax on imports. They say it’s because we haven’t cracked down enough on imports of products to Oz that are made using cheap slave labour, which they reckon American workers and companies can’t compete with. It comes after a US investigation named China, Southeast Asia, India, Africa and South America as sources of forced labour supplying developed nations. But the federal government has called the tariffs “unjustified” and says we have “world-leading” laws when it comes to forced labour and modern slavery.

Back it up…

If it feels like this has come out of the blue, reports say our government wasn’t warned either… Analysts say it stems back to US President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs introduced in April last year. Under those, we were hit with a base rate tariff of 10% on exports to the US. Fast forward to February, and the US Supreme Court found those tariffs to be unlawful. The Trump Administration then put a global 10% temporary tariff in place. It expires on 24 July, so reports say this is their latest attempt to legally justify charging tariffs on imports. If it happens, the new rate would replace the old one, and as our Free Trade Agreement stands, some products, including beef, fuel and metals, would be exempt. But for the moment, tariffs remain a sticky point with the US…

Where to from here?

PM Anthony Albanese says we have an “ideological disagreement” with our second biggest trade partner over tariffs, adding that America's position "undermines the global trading system". Something to note is that the countries reviewed by the US in its inquiry into forced labour account for 99.4% of its imports. Against that backdrop, Australia's Anti-Slavery Commissioner Chris Evans says Trump is treating an important human rights issue "as a bit of a plaything in the tariff war", but he noted there's room to strengthen our laws. Under the Modern Slavery Act, large businesses must ensure there isn’t forced labour in their supply chains, but there are no fines for not taking further action to address it… As for what’s next, we have until 6 July to argue our case for an exemption.

Your super is about to land differently...

From 1 July this year (soon), employers will be required to pay super contributions in line with wages. Many people have no idea this is changing. So this CommBank Newsroom explainer covers why the change is being made and why it could make a difference to your retirement savings.

Squiz the Rest

Locking in a truce

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to renew their ceasefire after another round of talks was mediated by US officials this week… The main condition is that there’s “a complete cessation” of attacks from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group, and that it’s banned from an area in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River. This ceasefire is part of US President Donald Trump’s push to end the war in Iran, where Iranian officials say they’ll only sign a deal if Israel stops its offensive in Lebanon, where strikes have killed at least 14 people this week. One thing to note - Hezbollah wasn’t at the negotiating table and says it won’t abide by any agreements made, which could prevent a full ceasefire being locked in when Israel and Lebanon meet again on 22 June…

A Bondi hero is charged

Ahmed Al Ahmed, the man who gained worldwide attention after tackling and disarming one of the gunmen in the deadly Bondi terror attack last December, is back in the news - this time because he's been charged by NSW Police. He's accused of assaulting and stalking his father during an alleged incident in Sydney's south-west in March, with reports saying Ahmed put him in a headlock. Last night, police said a 44yo man had been served with a notice to appear in Bankstown Local Court on 29 July. In response, Ahmed says the alleged incident was “fake information … it’s not true at all”. He’s expected to defend the charges against him.

Zuck no

Tech giant Meta had a crack at the Albanese Government's News Bargaining Incentive yesterday, calling it a "discriminatory tax built on a false premise". As a reminder, the NBI would hit 3 big tech companies - Meta, Google and Tiktok - with a 2.25% tax of their revenue in Oz. That's unless they sign tax-deductible deals with news companies - and the idea is that it will send hundreds of millions of dollars a year the way of news companies here. But Meta has a bunch of problems with it - mainly that the tax would capture revenue it makes from non-news products - things like VR headsets or other tech products. But media bosses including News Corp's Michael Miller say it's an "attractive incentive for big tech" - and paying for journalism is the fair thing to do. 

Gearing up for a Big Freeze

It’s a public holiday in most of the country on Monday, but we wanted to flag that this year’s Big Freeze will be a special one… It’s the brainchild of AFL coach and Motor Neurone Disease campaigner Neale Daniher, who died last week at 65yo. Taking place ahead of the King’s Birthday match between Collingwood and Melbourne at the MCG, it features famous faces heading down a waterslide into a freezing cold pool of ice water. This year, comedian Andy Lee, netball star Jo Weston and even Governor-General Sam Mostyn will be heading down the slide. And rugby league star Jai Arrow, who recently retired following an MND diagnosis at 30yo, will toss the coin ahead of the match. If you’d like to chip in to MND research, here’s the FightMND website… 

Threading carefully

One of the world’s oldest textile artworks, the Bayeux tapestry, is about to make a historic trip across the English Channel after France agreed to loan it to England. The 11th-century artefact depicts William the Conqueror's victory over King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066… At 70m long and highly delicate, it's quite a feat to move, and exactly when that'll happen is under wraps for security reasons. What we do know is that it'll travel in a special cradle fitted with shock absorbers to shield it from vibrations. Since the Middle Ages, it's only been moved a few times - once by Napoleon in 1803 and the other 2 by the Germans in WWII, who put it in a van and hid it in the Louvre basement. This time, it'll be on display at the British Museum from 10 September until 11 July next year, after which the Brits have promised to give it back "safe and sound".

Friday Lites - 3 things we liked this week

If you want a laugh - Season 2 of Tina Fey’s Four Seasons on Netflix is heart-warming fun. It follows the stellar cast through a heap of hilarious moments like navigating the weirdness that was coming out of COVID. Look out for the flying turkey… 

Here’s one for fans of the late actress Diane Keaton (and her style…) - a live auction of art, interior pieces and fashion from her estate, titled Architecture of an Icon, will go under the hammer on Monday, followed by 3 more sales in the days after. Take a look here… 

And if you’ve been feeling a bit sniffly of late (like a few of us in Squiz HQ) this fragrant chicken noodle soup with ginger and turmeric could be just what the doctor ordered. It’s restorative and delicious…

Squiz the Day

Friday
11.00am (AEST) - The funeral of former Governor-General Peter Hollingworth - Melbourne, the livestream is available here

12.30pm (AEST) - Australia's Economic Outlook 2026, hosted by Sky News and The Australian, with keynote speakers PM Anthony Albanese and RBA Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser - Sydney 

New Zealand’s PM Christopher Luxon arrives in Australia to meet with PM Anthony Albanese

Rugby union: Super Rugby Pacific play-offs begin (until 7 June)

ABS data release: Labour account, March 2026

Barunga festival (until 7 June) 

Taylor Swift's new song I Knew It, I Knew You released for Toy Story 5

World Environment Day

International Day for the Fight Against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing

Veggie Burger Day

Birthdays for actor Mark Wahlberg (1971) and Australian model and media personality Lara Worthington (1987)

Anniversary of:

• the assassination of Robert F Kennedy (1968)

• the official beginning of the AIDS epidemic, when the US Centre for Disease Control reported on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in LA (1981)

• the deaths of Ronald Reagan (2004) and Kate Spade (2018)

• Kathleen Folbigg walking free from 20 years in prison after an inquiry found that her children could have died from natural causes (2023)

Saturday
8.10am (AEST) - PM Anthony Albanese and New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon will host a leadership forum - Noosa

5.00pm (AEST) - Boxing: Australian boxer Andrew Moloney will fight Willibaldo Garcia for the IBF super-flyweight championship - Aichi, Japan

7.15pm (AEST) - Football: Matildas v Mexico friendly, McDonald Jones Stadium - Newcastle, watch on 10Play 

11.00pm (AEST) - Tennis: French Open women's singles final - Paris, watch on 9Now

Motorsports: Tatts Finke Desert Race begins (until 8 June) - Finke, Northern Territory

The 30th Annual Australian Kelpie Muster (on until 8 June) - Casterton, Victoria

❄️ Ski season begins in Oz

Queensland Day, marking the day the Sunshine State was established as a separate colony from New South Wales (1859)

Sweden’s National Day

National Gun Violence Awareness Day - US

World Pest Day

National Doughnut Day

Anniversary of:

• the patenting of the electric iron by New Yorker Henry Seely (1882)

• the beginning of D-Day as the Allies land in Normandy, France (1944)

• the release of video game Tetris by Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov (1984)

• the premiere of Sex and the City (1998)

Sunday
5.00am (AEST) - Football: Australia v Switzerland international friendly ahead of the World Cup, Snapdragon Stadium - San Diego, watch on Paramount+

11.00pm (AEST) - Tennis: French Open men's singles final - Paris, watch on 9Now 

11.00pm (AEST) - Motorsports: Formula One Monaco Grand Prix - Monaco, watch on Kayo 

King's Birthday Honours 

Brisbane Marathon Festival

Cycling: Tour de Auvergne - France 

Armenian general election and Peruvian Presidential Runoff

National Cancer Survivors Day

World Food Safety Day

🍸 National Gin Day

Birthdays for actor Liam Neeson (1952), former US VP Mike Pence (1959), adventurer and TV host Bear Grylls (1974), actor Michael Cera (1988), and model Emily Ratajkowski (1991)

Anniversary of:

• the founding of the British Museum (1753)

• the Vatican City becoming a sovereign state (1929)

• Fraser Island's name being officially restored to K'gari (2023)

Monday
Woohoo, it’s a public holiday for the King's Birthday in ACT, NSW, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and the Northern Territory (soz Queensland and Western Oz). The Squiz team will be back bright and early tomorrow.

8.30am (AEST) - Tony Awards, Radio City Music Hall - New York City, watch on Paramount+

3.15pm (AEST) - Aussie Rules: AFL King's Birthday game Collingwood v Melbourne, which features FightMND’s Big Freeze at the MCG - Melbourne, watch 7Plus

🏊 Australian swimming trials begin for the Commonwealth Games - Sydney (until 13 June) 

Dr Ruth Higgins' appointment as the Solicitor-General begins 

World Oceans Day

World Brain Tumour Day 

Best Friend Day

Birthdays for singer Nancy Sinatra (1940) and inventor of the World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee (1955)

Anniversary of:

• the completion of the first trans-Pacific flight (US to Australia) by Charles Kingsford Smith (1928)

• Siam changing its name to Thailand (1949)

• the publication of George Orwell’s 1984 (1949)

• the death of Anthony Bourdain (2018)