Thursday, 8 January - Train, train, comin' down the line

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 8 January. In your Squiz Today…

• A heatwave sweeps across southern Australia

• The US seizes 2 oil tankers linked to Venezuela

• And the Elvis Express rolls into Parkes…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said tennis star Nick Kyrgios after he and ‘Special Ks’ doubles partner Thanasi Kokkanakis lost to French duo Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul at the Brisbane International last night. Time will tell if less overthinking might help them repeat their 2022 Oz Open heroics…

The heat is on…

The Squiz

Don’t be surprised if the main topic of conversation in your morning coffee line-up is the extreme heat moving east across southern Australia this week… Temps hit the low-to-mid 40Cs across parts of Western Oz, South Oz, Victoria and NSW yesterday - with Port Augusta, in South Oz, reaching 47C… For our cities, the mercury passed 43C in Adelaide, 41C in Melbourne, 38C in parts of western Sydney and 37C in Canberra. Many of the temps recorded yesterday were 10-20C above average, and haven’t been seen since the deadly black summer in 2019-20. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)’s Miriam Bradbury says “it’s not just a normal burst of summer heat ... these are really dangerous conditions”.

What about today?

Meteorologists say parts of South Oz and Victoria will see a slight reprieve, but it won’t last - the BOM says the heat will ramp up again tomorrow and linger into the weekend. Combine that with low humidity, strong winds and dry thunderstorms expected today/tomorrow, and parts of southeastern South Oz and all of Victoria are particularly at risk for bushfires in the coming days. They’re not alone - given how widespread the heatwave is, it’s tricky for us to cover all of the warnings across each state, but trust us when we say there are a lot… You can filter for your local area’s advice on the BOM website, while ABC Emergency is the place to go for up-to-date bushfire information.

And there’s already been fires?

Yep… In Perth’s east, residents in the City of Kalamunda were told it was too late to leave, after a fire yesterday afternoon cut off evacuation routes - but the threat was later reduced. In Victoria, 2 emergency warnings are active this morning in central Victoria for the Longwood fire, which is travelling in a southeast direction from the Hume Freeway… People in Avenel, Longwood, Longwood East, Tarcombe, and Upton Hill have been told to seek shelter, while residents of Caveat, Dropmore, Ruffy and Terip Terip have been told to evacuate. And elsewhere, if you’re trying to prevent heatstroke, the advice is: stay inside, keep windows/blinds closed, chug lots of water and check on your vulnerable friends and family. And maybe make like Adelaide Zoo’s giant panda Yi Lan and nab yourself an iceblock…

The skincare ingredient that sounds weird but works wonders

Summer does a number on the skin, and for many of us, regular moisturisers just don't cut it. Enter Bescher Beauty's Sea Cucumber Collagen Glow Toner: it's packed with marine collagen, native botanicals, and hyaluronic acid that work together to deliver results. The proof? It sold out in 6 days after building a 35,000-person waitlist. Now it's back in stock, and if winter skin is the bane of your existence, it might be worth trying something that thousands of people couldn't wait to get their hands on. You can check it out here. 

Squiz the Rest

The US seizes 2 oil tankers…

…both linked to Venezuela, and both within a few hours of each other. The first tanker is one that the US Coast Guard has been tracking for weeks - formerly the Bella 1, late last year it changed its name to the Marinera and its flag (aka its national registration) to Russia. The US Coast Guard says it boarded and seized the tanker for violating US sanctions and the UK has linked it to international terrorist activity, but Moscow isn’t happy - it says “no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered under the jurisdiction of other states”. So that’s more Russia/US tension to clock… The second tanker, the Sophia, was seized in the Caribbean. US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said both tankers were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it” - you can read the latest updates here…

A final farewell

Photographer Peter Meagher was working at the Chanukah by the Sea event on 14 December when he and 14 others were killed in the antisemitic terror attack. Meagher was a retired detective and at his funeral at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney yesterday, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald, who worked with Meagher, said Meagher was “an incredibly moral and honest man, he believed in justice, and he believed in good”. Meagher’s brother David said he was “the perfect big brother”, who “looked after us and protected us”. The funeral was the last to take place for the 15 victims killed on that day - you can remember them all here. And there are reports this morning that a federal Royal Commission into the attack may be announced soon - with former High Court judge Virginia Bell tipped to lead it… 

A short-lived sale

Hey, remember that takeover bid for our biggest steelmaker, BlueScope Steel, that we told you about yesterday? Well, BlueScope has poured cold water on it… Chairwoman Jane McAloon said late last night that the $13.2 billion bid from SGH Limited (controlled by Oz billionaire Kerry Stokes) and US company Steel Dynamics was “an attempt to take BlueScope from its shareholders on the cheap”. The offer from the 2 companies was at $30 per share - but McAloon says that price “drastically undervalued our world-class assets, our growth momentum and our future”. Industry analysts reckon a price of $35 per share might be more likely to get a deal done, so we’ll see if the back-and-forth continues…

The windows to the soul…

Have you ever looked into the eyes of your furry/feathered/scaly friends and wondered what they’re feeling? Us, too… It’s a question being asked during the first review of the Australian code for animal research in 10 years. FYI - more than 845,000 animals are used in labs across Oz each year, and this code lays out the rules… Under review will be topics including animal sentience (aka if animals have feelings…), whether crustaceans should be categorised as animals, and rehoming lab animals. Animal welfare experts say recognising animal sentience would bring us in line with New Zealand, the UK and Europe - while Understanding Animal Research Oceania chief Bella Lear says the review is important to “protect animals, and also the people working with those animals”. Consultation is open until 16 February.

The Elvis Express rolls out

The famous Elvis Festival in the NSW town of Parkes is in full (hip) swing, and this year’s edition of the festival is themed around the King’s first film - Love Me Tender, released 70 years ago in 1956. Thousands of fans have either arrived or are on their way to join in the festivities, and some travelled to Parkes in style yesterday… They went via the Elvis Express, a special King-themed train that departed from Central Station in Sydney. It’s quite the experience, with special themed carriages, like the All Shook Up Shuttle and Priscilla’s Place - here’s a gallery… The festival runs for 5 days, and after it’s over, attendees can take the train home too. Just make sure when you disembark from the Elvis Express, you tell the driver “thank you very much…”

Apropos of Nothing - movie news edition

Gigantic 2026 blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday is rolling out a series of trailers ahead of its December release, and the latest one featured quite the throwback: X-Men stars Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and James Marsden - from a film that came out 26 years ago, yikes… 

If you caught the new Sydney Sweeney/Amanda Seyfried potboiler The Housemaid over the break and liked it, we’ve got good news for you… It was a box office hit and a sequel is going ahead, with Sweeney and director Paul Feig both coming back… 

And the Actor Awards (which have been renamed from the Screen Actors Guild Awards) released their nominations list this morning, with Aussies Rose Byrne, Jacob Elordi and Sarah Snook all picking up nods - here’s the full list…

Squiz the Day

10.00am (AEDT): Cricket - The final day of the 2025-26 men’s Ashes series takes place in Sydney, with Australia in the box seat… 

ABS Data Releases: International Trade in Goods, November 2025

Sydney Festival begins (until 25 January)

Earth's Rotation Day

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's birthday (1983)

Anniversary of 

- Tonya Harding winning gold at the US Figure Skating Championships, which was later stripped from her after revelations of her involvement in the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan (1994)

- The birthdays of music icon Elvis Presley (1935), scientist Stephen Hawking (1942) and another music icon in David Bowie (1947)