Thursday, 9 October - I heard it through the grapevine

October 09, 2025

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 9 October. In your Squiz Today…

  • US President Donald Trump brings an old law to a new fight

  • Qantas customer data is being held to ransom

  • And no more guilty gossip… 🤭

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

"It's a mess.”

Said one Parisian of the state of French politics after losing their fifth PM in 3 years after yet another budget standoff, and a sixth soon to be named. It makes our 6 PMs in 14 years look almost respectable…

A ye olde law for a contemporary fight

The Squiz

US President Donald Trump is stepping up his immigration crackdown in Democratic-leaning states - yesterday he threatened to invoke the country’s Insurrection Act against state governors and courts pushing back against his orders. It’s a 19th-century law that allows presidents to deploy the US military on home soil to quash any domestic unrest - and in this case, Trump wants to send National Guard troops into cities where there’s growing pushback against his deportation policies. The cities’ Democratic leaders don’t want military intervention and are using the courts to block his orders - but troops have begun to assemble…

What’s this all about?

We’ll start with where Trump’s currently focused on: Chicago, Illinois and Portland, Oregon. Both have Democratic leaders who have, among other criticisms of Trump, been loud about their opposition to the President’s immigration crackdown, including the largest-ever mass deportation of undocumented immigrants living in America. They’ve also described themselves as ‘sanctuary cities’, which can mean local law enforcement is prevented from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in their roundup. There have been big protests held outside ICE facilities in those states, which Trump has labelled a "war from within". And things are escalating fast - overnight, he called for the jailing of Illinois officials... They aren’t the only places in Trump’s sights - since June, he’s threatened to deploy troops to more than half a dozen Democrat-led cities.

Can Trump do that?

That’s what his critics - who are accusing him of misusing presidential powers - are asking… What we do know is the Insurrection Act isn’t something used often - the last time was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. So, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is one of Trump’s most high-profile political foes, has described this chapter as “reckless and authoritarian conduct”. In Oregon, US District Judge Karin Immergut (appointed by Trump during his first term in office…) seems to agree. She’s temporarily blocked the troops’ deployment in Portland, pending an appeal in the coming days. In a statement, she says the Trump administration is at risk of “blurring the line between civil and military federal power - to the detriment of this nation”.

Smiling wide

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Squiz the Rest

Courts, crowds and ceasefire talks

NSW Police told the state’s highest court that a planned pro-Palestine march to the Opera House on Sunday has “disaster written all over it”. Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna says the prospect of thousands of people converging on the narrow peninsula poses serious safety risks given the limited exits. The Palestine Action Group insists they can manage things safely, but Chief Justice Andrew Bell acknowledged that a crowd of 40,000 people would exceed the forecourt's capacity 5-fold. A decision on banning the protest is set to be delivered this morning… And in Egypt, optimism is growing after senior mediators from the US, Qatar, Israel, and Hamas entered the peace talks. Overnight, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said "a lot of headway" had been made and a ceasefire would be declared if negotiations are successful.

Hanging on a hack

A data breach that saw 5.7 million Qantas customers’ details stolen in June is back to haunt the airline… Hacking group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters has contacted the national carrier (and 38 other businesses…), threatening to release sensitive data unless a ransom is paid by tomorrow. That could include the unleashing of data like DOB and passport numbers that were accessed via a third-party vendor at a Manila call centre. The airline says to contact its 24/7 hotline if you've got concerns, and pointed to a legal injunction to "prevent stolen data being accessed or released". Given hackers stole the information in the first place, you'll be shocked to hear that experts reckon it's unlikely to deter them if their demands aren't met...

Australia’s Ashes campaign bowled a googly

Pat Cummins’ back is cooked, and the Aussie cricket fans in your life (or, indeed, you…) could well be panicking... The captain is said to be "no chance" for Perth's first Ashes Test starting on 21 November - and possibly the entire series. That means we're about to face England (and the Barmy Army…) without one of our best players because the 32yo's lower back stress injury isn't healing fast enough. That could see Scott Boland step up with the ball, and former skipper Steve Smith get the top job - but pessimists say Cummins' absence could tip the series England’s way… While we have a bat in our hands, a women’s ODI World Cup update: We beat Pakistan overnight, and next up we take on India as we hit the halfway mark of the group stage matches. Exciting scenes are guaranteed… 

An Aussie has won the Nobel Prize for chemistry

The University of Melbourne's Professor Richard Robson was awarded the honour along with Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa and American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi overnight in Sweden. The trio has developed metal organic frameworks (MOF) - a kind of “molecular architecture” which could have a big impact in the renewable energy transition. Likened to Hermione Granger’s magic handbag from Harry Potter, they can capture and store chemicals humans want to get rid of, like carbon dioxide or forever chemicals. In a word, handy... UK-born Robson has been based in Melbs since 1966. The uni’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Mark Cassidy says the award will spur research to develop MOFs into products "crucial to the renewable energy revolution. This is a wonderful day for Professor Robson and Australian science."

No more guilty gossip… 

File this alongside chocolate being good for you… Scientists have vindicated your office gossip sessions. A Nature Human Behaviour study found gossip is actually sophisticated social intelligence, not a character flaw. US researcher Oriel FeldmanHall discovered we intuitively choose the right people to share intel with - ensuring information flows where we want without reaching those we're discussing. In experiments, friends proved remarkably strategic about their gossip networks, managing reputations like social chess players. FeldmanHall calls this a "vital skill for managing relationships, reputations, and information flow in our modern world". So next time someone judges your water cooler chat, tell them you're exercising advanced cognitive skills.

Apropos of Nothing

Did you catch the massive moon this week? Proper huge... It's called a harvest moon because farmers used to work all night by its light, but don’t stress if you missed out - there’s another big one coming on 5 November. Oh, and there's 2 comets coming mid-this month. So much to look up for/forward to. 

Amazon Prime digitally removed guns from James Bond movie posters, leaving 007 looking like he's miming ‘finger guns’ at villains. And then the mega company swapped the artwork for movie stills - still gun-free... With Amazon now owning the franchise, fans might be worried that Bond's next weapon is a strongly-worded email….

Jackie Kennedy's lipstick-smeared cocktail glass from a 1967 visit to Raffles Hotel in Phnom Penh has been put on permanent display. The drink she ordered? The Femme Fatale, created for her visit and containing cognac, champagne, crème de fraise (strawberry liqueur), garnished with a frangipani flower. The real story is whether she got that down, but we don't make the news…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - Senate estimates hearings get underway to examine the federal government’s spending in the portfolios of Education and Employment, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, and Community Affairs - Canberra 

9.00am (AEDT) - REA Group will hold its annual general meeting - online 

9.30am (AEDT) - A judgment is due in the NSW Court of Appeal for NSW Police’s bid to stop a pro-Palestine protest scheduled for Sunday from finishing at the Sydney Opera House - Sydney

9.30am (ACDT) - The Federal Court will hand down a judgment in the case between journalist Mary Kostakidis and the Zionist Federation over allegations that she breached the Racial Discrimination Act by sharing 2 posts on X by the late Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah - Adelaide

10.00am (AEST) - The Brisbane Writers Festival begins (until 12 October) - Brisbane 

2.00pm (AEDT) - Comedian Rosie O'Donnell will make her Australian debut with her one-woman show at the Sydney Opera House - Sydney

6.30pm (AEDT) - The red carpet will be rolled out for the Australian debut of Pretty Woman: The Musical - Melbourne

9.00pm (AEDT) - The Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced at The Swedish Academy - Stockholm, Sweden  

Birthdays for director Guillermo del Toro (1964), actor Chris O’Dowd (1979), and model Bella Hadid (1996) 

Anniversary of:

  • John Lennon’s birthday (1940)

  • the premiere of the music The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London (1986)

  • then-PM Julia Gillard's misogyny speech during question time in parliament (2012) 

  • activist Malala Yousafzai being shot by a Taliban gunman as she tried to board her school bus in Pakistan (2012)