Monday, 25 May - La cucaracha, la cucaracha

May 25, 2026

Good morning, it’s Monday, 25 May. In your Squiz Today…

  • Reports say a peace deal between the US and Iran could happen this week - US President Donald Trump says it’s “largely negotiated"

  • Former PM Tony Abbott is set to become Liberal Party President this week

  • And the French Open kicks off… 🇫🇷 🎾

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“I love winning.”

Said Auckland FC manager Steve Corica after winning his third A-League championship on Saturday night. He coached his side to a 1-0 victory over Sydney FC, making them the first Kiwi club to ever win an A-League grand final. It’s a Trans-Tasman triumph…

Reaching an understanding

The Squiz

US President Donald Trump claimed on the weekend that a peace deal with Iran could be imminent - he reckons everything’s been “largely negotiated” and the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened. But Iran’s official state media agency, Fars News, pushed back on that - they say it’s “inconsistent with reality”. As a reminder, the conditional ceasefire between the countries has been in place for over 6 weeks, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is still causing all kinds of fuel supply issues…

If it happens, what’s it gonna look like?

At this point, reports are pointing to a 60-day ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ that’ll give everyone time to figure out some of the stickier negotiating points. During that time, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, allowing commercial fuel tankers to resume transporting oil from the Gulf. That would ease the supply issues and likely lower the price of fuel - and by extension, the price of things like petrol, fertiliser and groceries here in Oz - although it might be months before we see the impact (paywall). In return, the US would lift its weeks-long blockade on Iranian ports, which would allow Iran to resume selling fuel, helping out its economic situation. And then there’s the issue of uranium…

Yep, remind me about that one…

Trump has always publicly said that one of the big reasons the US began this war with Iran back in February is that he is trying to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. In order to create a nuclear weapon, Iran would need to use its stockpile of enriched uranium, so the US has been pushing for it to give that up. Reports say the current draft of the peace deal makes a start on that, but negotiations would continue over the 60 days. The current draft of the MOU would also pause all fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has continued despite a ceasefire being in place. As for when this deal could be made official, it’s anyone’s guess - it could be as early as today, it could take longer, or it could fall apart entirely. We’ll keep you posted…

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Squiz the Rest

A shooting at the White House

Sticking with the US for a bit, and a man is dead after firing a gun near a White House security checkpoint on Sunday morning. The suspect is 21yo Nasire Best, who was shot by Secret Service members who returned fire and died in hospital. Police arrested Best last year for an incident at a different checkpoint, and he was warned to stay away from the White House. As many of the stories about this have noted, that’s the third time guns have been fired in the vicinity of President Trump (who was in the White House at the time) in the last month. It also caused quite a shock for some journalists who were working nearby - this video of the US ABC reporter Selina Wang ducking for cover after shots were fired is everywhere today…

Pulling an Abbott out of the hat

We have a few federal politics stories to get across this morning… First up, former PM Tony Abbott will be confirmed as the new President of the federal Liberal Party this week. The party’s president is an unpaid role responsible for things like admin and fundraising, and it seems like he’ll have his work cut out for him helping the Libs back into the public’s good books. A poll published over the weekend showed Pauline Hanson’s One Nation could win more seats than the Coalition and become the formal opposition if an election were held today, which would be a huge political shakeup. And that might not be the only shakeup on the cards - reports say the group of federal independents known as the teals could form their own official party in the coming weeks. Politics may look very different soon…

O, Canada might look different too…

…because the country’s fourth-most populous province could be on the road to secession. Alberta, in western Canada, is set to hold a vote in October to decide whether its citizens want to split off as their own country. Alberta is an oil-rich province that leans conservative, putting many Albertans at odds with the centrist federal Liberal government that has governed Canada for the last decade or so. Those who want to secede say the province’s economic growth has been hampered by the feds, so they’d like to go it alone. It would be a big story if it goes ahead - for comparison, imagine if our fourth-most populous state in the west of the country wanted to stop being part of Oz, and you’ll get the idea. But that wouldn’t happen - oh, wait… 

Roland Garros rolls on

One of the big 4 tennis majors began overnight, with the world’s best players taking to the courts of the Stade Roland Garros in Paris. The French Open is the second Grand Slam tournament of the year (after the Oz Open in January), and it’s unique because of the red clay surfaces, which tend to benefit patient, highly skilled players rather than power hitters. On the men’s singles side, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz has won the last 2 tournaments there - but he’s out with an injury - meaning World #1 Jannik Sinner will be the heavy favourite. On the women’s singles side, it’s a tighter field: 4-time champ Iga Świątek, last year’s winner Coco Gauff and World #1 Aryna Sabalenka are all rated a good chance to win. You can watch it all on Channel 9 and Stan…

Roaching the subject

There’s an unusual political movement happening in India, with a viral “cockroach” party gaining a lot of steam. Stay with us… The Cockroach Janta Party was set up as a response to a comment by India’s Chief Justice where he seemed to compare unemployed people to the insects. He later said he meant just people with fake degrees, but the comments caught fire and this cockroach party - which isn’t official - rose up as a protest against his comments as a “voice of the lazy and unemployed”. The party has picked up over 20 million followers, but it might have caused too much of a stir - it says Indian officials have blocked its website and its X page is also inaccessible. But it also says the movement will live on - after all, cockroaches are famously hard to kill… 

Apropos of Nothing

With the FIFA Men’s World Cup a couple of weeks away, the competing nations have been announcing their squads in creative ways - Ewan McGregor chipped in for Scotland, the Czech Republic went straight for the heartstrings and England produced this Beatles-inspired banger… 

After wrapping up his Late Show last week, US talk show host Stephen Colbert didn’t take a break - he popped up the very next day on public access TV (aka community TV) in Michigan to guest host a local chat show. Some people just love working… 

The Cannes Film Festival wrapped up on the weekend, with the Palme D’Or award for the festival’s best film going to Fjord, a film about political polarisation set in Norway. But the award for longest standing ovation went to La Bola Negra, at a blistering (literally) 20 minutes…

Squiz the Day

The House sitting in federal parliament (until 28 May)

8.30am (AEST) - The Enhanced Games kick off - Las Vegas, watch on Youtube 

9.00am (AEST) - Day one of block 2 of Sydney hearings in the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. This block of hearings will focus on security and intelligence in the lead up to the Bondi attack - Sydney 

10.00am (AEST) - Directions hearing in the coronial inquest into the deaths of Detective Leading Senior Constable Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, who were shot by Dezi Freeman in Porepunkah, Coroners Court of Victoria - Melbourne

2.00pm (AEST) - Directions hearing in the coronial inquest into the death of Dezi Freeman, Coroners Court of Victoria - Melbourne 

9.00pm (AEST) -  The first race of the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling festival begins 

Memorial Day - US

Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories (until 31 May)

Africa Day

Independence Day - Jordan

Birthdays for Ian McKellen (1939), Mike Myers (1963), Cillian Murphy (1976)

Anniversary of:

  • author Oscar Wilde being sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment for "gross indecency" (1895)

  • athlete Jesse Owens equalling or breaking 4 world records in 45 minutes - known as "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport" (1935)

  • the release of the original Star Wars movie, Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and Return of the Jedi (1983)

  • the airing of the last episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, ending her 25-year run (2011)

  • the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin (2020)