Tuesday, 10 March - I'm so fancy

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 10 March. In your Squiz Today…

• US President Donald Trump calls for members of Iran’s women’s football team to be granted asylum in Oz

• Zac Lomax moves to rugby union

• And Bruin the clumber spaniel is the big winner at Crufts 🐩

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Ferrari F1 driver Charles LeClerc of the new hybrid cars’ huge power surges. They made for more overtakes in the Melbourne Grand Prix, but also caught our own Oscar Piastri out - so maybe part mushroom, part banana peel… 

A last-minute reprieve

The Squiz

After escaping their handlers on the Gold Coast, 5 members of the Iranian women’s football team appear to be on track to being granted asylum in Oz this morning, after US President Donald Trump weighed in on their behalf. During their opening match of the women’s Asian Cup, the Iranian players refused to sing the national anthem - in what was seen as a silent protest against the current Iranian regime. That led to fears for their safety upon returning home - and now it seems some of them will be staying in Oz for the foreseeable future…

Seems?

There’s been nothing official from the Albanese Government, so we’re mainly getting our updates from Trump at this point - earlier this morning, he called on PM Anthony Albanese to grant the players asylum, saying Australia was “making a terrible humanitarian mistake” by letting them return to Iran. But shortly afterwards, Trump posted that he’d just spoken with Albanese, and he said the 5 players “have already been taken care of”, and that the PM was “on it”. There are no official details so far, but reports say they may be granted bridging visas while they apply for refugee status. As for the rest of the players, Trump said they “feel they must go back, because they are worried about the safety of their families” - due to fears over possible retribution from the current Iranian regime.

And what’s the latest on that regime?

As we flagged yesterday, it has a new Supreme Leader - Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The son is said to be just as hard-line in his views as his father, so he’s not the replacement the US and Israel were hoping for. US President Donald Trump previously called him an “unacceptable” choice, and said that “if he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long”. We don’t know a great deal about him - he hasn’t given many speeches or been photographed very often in public. But reports say he’s a mid-level cleric who was extremely influential behind the scenes in Iran and was referred to in US diplomatic cables as “the power behind the robes” and a “capable and forceful” person in his father’s regime.

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Squiz the Rest

The economy reels from the Iran war

The conflict is really being felt in hip pockets around the world, with oil prices passing US$100 a barrel for the first time since 2022. That saw global markets nosedive, and here in Oz, the ASX 200 was down 2.85% - that’s the equivalent of around $90 billion - the biggest one-day drop since the announcement of Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs last year. The economic shock is also leading economists to revise their inflation forecasts - NAB chief economist Sally Auld says headline inflation could hit 5% in Oz by June - it’s currently 3.8%. And one other note: PM Anthony Albanese met with security leaders yesterday to discuss a request for Oz military help from Gulf countries, and reports say our army is preparing for a possible role, though what that might be remains unclear… 

A huge cloud over the Sunshine State

Parts of Queensland are on flood alert this morning as heavy rain that pummelled the top of the state over the weekend moves slowly south. The rain sparked major flood warnings yesterday for many Queenslanders - in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and in the Central Highlands, where residents were told to find higher ground. And while people upstream on Queensland’s Fraser Coast will be closely watching the water levels of the Mary and Burnett Rivers, relief is in sight - the rain is expected to move offshore today… As that happens, residents in the Northern Territory town of Katherine are beginning to mop up after floods over the weekend led to the evacuation of hundreds of people, though emergency flood warnings are still in place.

A landmark hearing in Victoria…

…is due to start today to decide if thousands of business owners are owed money by the Victorian Government (paywall) for losses they copped due to Covid-19 lockdowns. The class action hinges on the claim that the state’s ‘second wave’ lockdowns in 2020 resulted from negligence in its hotel quarantine program. It alleges that failures in the program preceded the outbreak of Covid-19 in the winter of that year which led to the deaths of more than 700 people and a lockdown lasting 112 days. The case is set down for 3 months in Victoria’s Supreme Court, and if you’re keen to follow along, it’s being livestreamed from 10am Sydney/Melbourne time.

Lomax gives league the axe

The star winger who has been at the centre of an off-season tug of war between the Parramatta Eels and Melbourne Storm is abandoning the code altogether - signing a 2-year deal with the Western Force rugby union team yesterday. That means we might see him in a Wallabies jersey in the near future… Lomax had previously tried to join the rebel union code R360, but was left in limbo after its launch was delayed. He then tried to join the Storm before the Eels called in the lawyers. Lomax says union is a “challenge I’m really looking forward to embracing”, but it’s a tough break for the Eels, who reached a settlement last week with the Storm that they would be compensated if Lomax chose to join another NRL side. Now he’s joining the Force, that compensation has slipped away from them…

Clumbering to victory

A 4yo clumber spaniel named Bruin has taken out best in show at Crufts, the British dog spectacular. If you hadn’t heard of a clumber spaniel before, the breed is known as the “aristocrat of the spaniels”, so it’s very fancy… and Bruin is living up to that reputation - his owner Lee Cox says “he’s a bit of a diva.” Bruin beat out 18,600 other pooches - including Viking the Tibetan mastiff and Dublin the cavalier King Charles spaniel - to take the crown, and fans are hoping it will bring a bit of attention to the breed, which is officially classed as a “vulnerable native breed” in the UK. And look, we know you’re just reading through this until you can finally get to the gallery, so here you go…

Apropos of Nothing

The rideshare company Uber is rolling out a new feature in the US where women drivers/riders can be matched with only other women for trips, following increased safety concerns. But it’s facing a lawsuit from drivers in California, who say it discriminates against men… 

We’ve sniffed out a new fact about noses - turns out, we breathe through one dominant nostril at a time. It’s called the nasal cycle; we’re doing it all the time (sleeping or awake, even if we’re sick), and it helps protect the tissues of our schnozz. The nose knows…

And it’s not anyone who can steal the show from Ryan Gosling during an SNL monologue, but Harry Styles managed it. The singer - who’s on hosting duty next week - said: “I’m just listening” and was promptly told by Gosling to “listen less coolly.” An impossible challenge…

Squiz the Day

The House of Reps and Senate are sitting in federal parliament (until 12 March)

9.00am (AEDT) - AICD Australian Governance Summit: Directing the Next Decade (until 11 March) - Sydney 

10.30am (AEDT) - A hearing begins for business class action against the State of Victoria (paywall) over COVID-19 lockdowns, Supreme Court of Victoria -  Melbourne 

9.00am (AWST) - Trial to begin for ex-AFL Hall of Famer Barry Cable over historic child sexual abuse charges, District Court - Perth 

8:00pm (AEDT) - Football: Final group stage games in the women’s Asian Cup - Japan v Vietnam in Perth and India vs Chinese Taipei in Sydney - watch on Paramount+

ABS data release: building approval, January 2026; total value of dwellings, December quarter 

International Day of Women Judges

🎶 International Bagpipe Day

Birthdays for actor Chuck Norris (1940), actor Sharon Stone (1958), Prince Edward (1964), actor Jon Hamm (1971), and actor/director Olivia Wilde (1984)

Anniversary of:

• the birthday of NZ suffragette Kate Sheppard (1847)

• Alexander Graham Bell speaks the first words over the telephone: “Mr Watson, come here - I want to see you.” (1876)

• Ethiopian Airlines crash that led to the grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX planes (2019)

• Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed after a bank run, marking the third-largest bank failure in United States history and the largest since the 2007–2008 financial crisis (2023)