Monday, 29 June - Grab your passport and my hand

June 29, 2026

Good morning, it’s Monday, 29 June. In your Squiz Today…

  • Aussie Maya Joint prepares to face Serena Williams at Wimbledon

  • The search for survivors continues in Venezuela

  • And Donald Trump unveils a new US passport… 🇺🇸

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🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Anna Pykett and Sophie Felice

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“Maybe it’s a short giraffe. I’m confused by how you lose something that is 12 million feet tall?”

Said one person online after a giraffe called Gracie went viral for escaping from her ranch in Texas. She was on the loose for 2 weeks, and was spotted a few times (by teams mostly looking up). The local Sheriff said she was found “fat and happy”...

Serving up against Serena

The Squiz

Grab your strawberries and cream, because tennis’s oldest and most prestigious tournament, Wimbledon, kicks off tonight. Oz has 5 women and 8 men donning their whites and battling it out on grass in the Singles draw over the next 2 weeks - whilst a row over prize money continues off-court. There are also calls from ATP Chair Andrea Gaudenzi for the sport’s major events to work together better to generate more revenue and improve the financial sustainability of tennis - while boosting fan numbers.

Who are the Aussies to watch?

Leading the blokes is 5th seed Alex de Minaur, who has reached 7 Grand Slam quarter-finals - but never gone further. (PS, there are rumours he’s set to get married to his British tennis fiancée Katie Boulter in Europe in the months to come…). Then we’ve got Thanasi Kokkinakis - tennis boffs reckon his first round match tomorrow night is one to watch. Other male hopefuls include: Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Aleksandar Vukic, Rinky Hijikata, Chris O’Connell, Adam Walton and James Duckworth. When it comes to the women’s draw, Ajla Tomljanovic, Kimberly Birrell, Talia Gibson and Olivia Gadecki will all be in action - but all eyes will be on 20yo Maya Joint’s first match tomorrow…

The return of a queen 

Imagine finding out you’d qualified for Wimbledon… and then learning your first match is against none other than 23-time grand slam winner Serena Williams. Yikes. That’s exactly what’s happened to Maya Joint - who’ll face the 44yo mum of 2 in her first professional singles match in 4 years on Tuesday evening (side note: her last game was in September 2022 when our very own Ajla Tomljanovic beat her at the US Open, so let’s all channel that winning Oz energy please and thank you). On that, Joint says her friend Ajla gave her a pep talk ahead of the clash. Joint has lost 13 of her last 14 matches, but she says she thinks she has a “chance to win", and playing Williams will be an “honour”. Wimbledon kicks off at 8pm AEST - you can watch on Channel 9 and Stan Sports.

Claude, AI for scientific discovery

Researchers at Australia's Garvan Institute are partnering with Claude to do what wasn't possible before: analyse genomic data at massive scale to understand how our genes cause rare diseases, and accelerate treatments to cure them. When science and AI come together, the future of human health gets a little brighter. Try Claude here.

Squiz the Rest

A grim discovery

Police have charged a 46yo Victorian man in connection with the murder of a teenage girl in Thailand, after her naked body was found in a suitcase. Simon Carman has been charged with 4 offences: murder, concealment of a body, moving or destroying a body, and taking a minor aged between 15 and 18 for sexual purposes. Police say CCTV shows 17yo Tunchanok Donhomla entering a hotel room with Carman, before she was reported missing by friends. Reports say Carman was later arrested by police at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and a large suitcase containing her body was found near railway tracks shortly after. Reports say Carman is being held in a Thai prison, and that he denies all charges. Police say their investigation is continuing.

Time is running out in Venezuela

… where rescue teams are searching for around 70,000 people still missing after last week’s twin earthquakes. So far, at least 1,450 deaths have been confirmed, with thousands more injured. Teams are searching through the rubble of hundreds of collapsed buildings, listening carefully for any sounds of life beneath the debris. A clip of a father being reunited with his 18-day-old baby has gone viral - but some Venezuelans are frustrated with the government’s response, saying it hasn’t been fast enough. International rescue teams are assisting, and people with drones have been using them to help search for survivors and bodies in hard-to-reach places. Aid agencies say the first 3 days are crucial for rescuing people alive (the first quake struck on Thursday morning AEST)...

Fresh strikes between the US and Iran

The latest round of attacks started when Iran hit a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz last week, and the US retaliated by striking Iranian targets around the waterway. Then, less than a day later, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched missiles and drones at US infrastructure in Kuwait and Bahrain, so the US responded with more strikes. President Donald Trump has posted on social media saying the attacks were launched because Iran had violated the ceasefire agreement - while Iran says “any possible enemy aggression” will be met with “a crushing response”. The US says that commercial vessels are continuing to operate in the Strait of Hormuz. It’s unclear what this means for the ongoing peace negotiations and if we’re about to see another escalation in fighting.

Harsher penalties for social media firms

PM Anthony Albanese wants tech companies to face increased fines of up to $99 million for “not doing enough” to stop kids under 16 accessing social media sites. He also wants to give the eSafety Commissioner stronger powers to force companies to show what they’ve done to stop youngsters from getting an account, with an investigation underway into the alleged non-compliance of 5 banned platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. Albanese says more than 5 million accounts have been deactivated in the 6 months since the world-leading ban took effect - but experts say many kids are still able to bypass age restrictions and access sites. Reports say the government will try to legislate the measures this week, before Parliament’s winter break.

More Trump memorabilia

US President Donald Trump has unveiled a new limited-edition passport to mark 250 years since America’s Declaration of Independence… but it’s not gone down well with everyone. That’s because it has his name and face on it - and only Americans willing to visit the passport agency in Washington DC can get their hands on one “while supplies last”, according to the State Department. It’s the first time a living, current president has been featured on a US passport, and it’s the latest in a line of Trump-themed commemorative items. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s not a fan; here’s how he mocked the passport plans when they were first announced…

Apropos of Nothing

A man in Virginia has been crowned the “World’s Fastest Pizza Maker” for whipping up 3 pies in just over 31 seconds. The competition sees participants hand-stretch the dough, before adding all the toppings. Some reckon he’s grabbed a slice of history…

An 86yo grandmother’s been showing racers how it’s done in burnout competitions up in Leeton, NSW. Lorraine Tuckett took to the track after her husband died, and she says despite it making her “a bit deaf”, it’s a better way to meet people than knitting…

We know Europe’s experiencing a heatwave - but spare a thought for animal rescuers on the island of Guernsey, dealing with a rise in escaped tortoises. Apparently, unlike humans, the heat makes the usually slow and steady creatures more active… lucky them.

Squiz the Day

House and Senate sitting in federal parliament (until 2 July)

9.00am (AEST) - Block 3 of public hearings in the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion will begin - Sydney

9.00am (AEST) - The PM of Vanuatu, Jotham Napat, is meeting with PM Albanese for his first official visit to Oz since taking office. They’ll be discussing economic security and development co-operation - Canberra

9.30am (AEST) - Reserve Bank Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) Christopher Kent is giving a speech on 'Additional Monetary Policy Tools: Reflections and a New Framework' - Sydney

10.00am (AEST) - BET Awards - Los Angeles

12.00pm (AEST) - Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki to deliver a state budget address at an event held by CEDA - Brisbane

7.30pm (AEST) - Tennis: Wimbledon begins, watch on Channel 9 or Stan (until 12 July) 🎾

❄️ Term 2 Winter school holidays start in Queensland and Victoria (until 12 July)

🎯 National Darts Day

Anniversary of:

  • Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London burning down during a performance of Henry VIII (1613)

  • ‘Bird of Paradise’ plane completing a successful transpacific flight (1927)

  • the birthdays of Australian gangster Joseph “Squizzy” Taylor (1888). Fun fact: he was indirectly involved in the naming of The Squiz…

  • Marilyn Monroe marrying playwright Arthur Miller (1956)

  • the deaths of Modernist Swiss-German painter Paul Klee and actors Lana Turner (1995) and Katherine Hepburn (2003) 

  • Apple releasing the first iPhone (2007) 📱