Tuesday, 14 October - It’s a beautiful day

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 14 October. In your Squiz Today…

• Israel and Gaza celebrate the release of all living Israeli hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners

• The federal government backtracks on changes to super tax

• And baseball’s wacky spin-off… ⚾

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said one online comment about the 5am chaos around a new Sydney Pop Mart as people queued up very early to get their hands on a Labubu, the plush collectibles that have become a viral sensation. The early bird gets the Labubu…

A long-awaited homecoming…

The Squiz

There have been celebrations on the streets of Israel and Gaza as the last 20 living Israeli hostages and almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were freed overnight. In Israel, the hostages and their loved ones have been reunited before being taken to hospitals where they’re receiving treatment. And in Gaza, hundreds of prisoners have also been reunited with their families and taken for health checks. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people continue to move around the enclave, inspecting what’s left of places like Gaza City - and searching through rubble for the dead.

How did it all go down?

For the Israeli hostages, Hamas transferred them to Red Cross officials, who took them to the Israel Defence Forces at Gaza’s border. Matan Zangauker was reunited with his family - they said in a statement “after 2 years of hell, today we begin a new chapter of our lives - one of healing and rehabilitation”. The bodies of 4 other hostages were also handed over, but Israel has had to form a task force to help find the other hostages’ remains in Gaza. For the Palestinian prisoners - about 250 who were freed from life sentences and more than 1,700 who had been held without charge - they were taken on buses from prisons and released in the West Bank and Gaza. One man celebrating with crowds in the West Bank, Mamar Safi, said the “happiness and joy” of seeing people they never thought they’d see again was “indescribable”.

And what happens next?

US President Donald Trump - who travelled to Israel yesterday - told reporters on Air Force One that “the war is over”... He was in Tel Aviv to address the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) at PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s request, and he told cheering parliamentarians that “this is the end of the age of terror … the historic dawn of a new Middle East”. Other world leaders are also optimistic - with the remainder of Trump’s 20-point peace plan signed off on during a summit in Egypt this morning. The specifics of what comes next are still up in the air, but Trump is confident that neither Israel nor Hamas will “disappoint” him by violating the deal. We'll see what we learn about the agreement today…

Smiling wide

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Squiz the Rest

A super tax backtrack

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is making some changes to the government’s proposed super tax, which will double the usual 15% tax rate on earnings from balances above $3 million, with the goal of raising more revenue for the government. Here are the 2 major tweaks to clock: first, the thresholds will now be indexed to inflation - aka the $3 million mark will rise as inflation goes up. Secondly, the tax will no longer apply to unrealised capital gains - an increase in the value of non-cash assets like property or a business that haven't been sold yet. Critics have been hammering away at both of those issues, and Chalmers says the changes mean the tax will raise less revenue, but also help it get passed through parliament. If it does, the new rules will kick in as of July next year.
*For the full breakdown of the super tax debate - including those issues of indexation and unrealised capital gains, our Squiz Shortcut will get you across it… 

Combing through some rally remarks

The Australian Federal Police is investigating independent Senator Lidia Thorpe over comments she made at one of the weekend's pro-Palestine rallies. At the Melbourne rally, Thorpe said that "we will turn up every day, and if I have to burn down Parliament House to make a point… I am not here to make friends". The AFP says its Victorian branch began investigating "almost immediately" into whether the comments breached Oz law and that the investigation will be "done methodically". Many Labor and Coalition MPs condemned Thorpe’s comments, but the Senator says they weren't meant to be taken literally - she says the "burn down" remark was a figure of speech, and she has "always rejected violence".

A Nu day at ANZ

The bank's new CEO laid out his plan to keep it competitive yesterday - and mortgages will be a key plank. Nuno Matos says ANZ will hire more mortgage lenders at local branches to increase its share of the Oz home loan market, instead of relying on brokers. He's also winding up a planned share buyback worth $800 million to give the bank more spending money, and wants to speed up and simplify the troubled rollout of digital platform ANZ Plus. Matos’ strategy rollout wasn’t the only thing on ANZ’s calendar yesterday - the bank also met with the Fair Work Commission over the sacking of 3,500 full-time workers it announced last month. But investors seem on board for now, with its share price rising more than 3% by the end of the day.  
*For a bit more background on Nuno Matos, check out our Squiz Who series on Instagram, where we dig into some of the people making headlines… 

Livin’ la vida longer

Nearly 6 years on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, new research has found that global life expectancy for humans has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Researchers examined the latest available data (from 2023), which showed that the life expectancy for women was 76.3 years and 71.5 years for men. You can read up on it here, but a steep decline in global deaths from infectious diseases (measles, diarrhea and tuberculosis, for example…) could be a factor. COVID-19 was no longer the leading cause of death in 2023 - instead, heart disease and strokes rose back up the list. FYI, the Bureau of Stats tracks Aussie life expectancy data, with the numbers for babies born in 2021-23 being 85.1 years for females and 81.1 years for males. We’ll get the annual update on those next month…

Making baseball more a-peel-ing…

…is the mission of US team the Savannah Bananas, one bright yellow outfit at a time. You may have seen the Bananas on your social feeds, as they tour the country playing a version of the sport called Banana Ball. It’s a faster, more action-packed game that can also feature on-ground dance routines, celebrity cameos and full-blown musical performances. The Bananas started playing it around 2022, and despite some early criticism from purists, they’re only getting bigger - regularly selling out baseball arenas and late last week announcing the first-ever season of the Banana Ball Championship League. And Banana Ball isn’t just a US thing - the Bananas played a 3-match series against the Aussie Drop Bears back in 2023. Maybe they'll slide our way for a rematch…

Apropos of Nothing

Aussie actress Naomi Watts will receive a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame today. As well as being Nicole Kidman’s bestie, she’s known for hit movies Mulholland Drive and King Kong - but we reckon the honour might stem back to this early performance…

It’s been rumoured for a while, but you can officially put pop star Katy Perry and former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau on your list of celebrity couples, as the 2 were spotted on the former’s yacht on the weekend. No reports on whether there were fireworks… 

And speaking of getting out there, locals in Portland put it all on the line during a local rally against the Trump administration's plan to bring the National Guard to the city - by biking through the city’s streets wearing nothing at all. At least it’s not winter there right now…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - The chair of Transparency International, Professor AJ Brown, will deliver a keynote speech at the Centre for Public Integrity’s Anti-corruption Commissions Conference - Melbourne 

9.00am (ACDT) - South Australian police will resume the search for missing 4yo Gus Lamont, who disappeared from his home in the state’s remote town of Yunta on 27 September - Oak Park Station, South Oz

9.30am (AEDT) - Telstra will hold its AGM at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre - Melbourne

10.00am (AEDT) - One of 40 people accused in an alleged bribery scheme involving the Victorian Building Authority is expected to plead guilty to charges of corruption at Melbourne Magistrates Court - Melbourne 

11.30am (AEDT) - The minutes of the Reserve Bank Board’s latest meeting to decide the cash rate will be released - Sydney

1.00pm (AEDT) - The Workplace Gender Equality Agency and Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre will release a national report with new research on gender equality in the workplace - catch the launch online here

ABS data release: Overseas Arrivals and Departures, August 2025

The final round of voting is open for the remaining 10 birds in The Guardian’s Australian Bird of the Year Award - vote for your fave feathered friend here before the poll closes at 6am tomorrow

Face Your Fears Day 🕷️

World Standards Day - so it’s not a day to drop them…

Birthdays for fashion designer Ralph Lauren (1939) and rapper Usher (1978)

Anniversary of:

• the publication of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) and AA Milne's children’s book Winnie the Pooh (1926)

• the deaths of Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson (1958), actor Errol Flynn (1959) and crooner Bing Crosby (1977)

• Martin Luther King Jr winning the Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

• the premiere of reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007)

• the Albanese Government's Voice Referendum being voted down by the Australian public (2023)