Tuesday, 27 January - It's the climb

January 27, 2026

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 27 January. In your Squiz Today…

  • Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg is our new Australian of the Year

  • The tension is mounting after a second protester is killed in Minneapolis

  • And a big day for the Demon…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“I feel like the Forrest Gump of pop.”

Said UK singer Robbie Williams, after his album Britpop went to number one in the UK - putting him ahead of The Beatles for the most #1 albums in UK history. Williams said he was planning to celebrate “with a Coke Zero and a salad”. Rockstar stuff…

Plaudits, protests and perspiration

The Squiz

There was plenty going on over the Australia Day long weekend, so let’s get started… First up, we have a new Australian of the Year, with South Oz astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg taking home the honour on Sunday night. The 41yo became the first person to qualify as an astronaut under the Oz flag in 2024, and could be the first-ever Australian woman in space. It’s an honour almost as big as when she was under our Squiz Kids Spotlight - check that out here.  She used her speech on the night to encourage more people to get into STEM - saying that we were leaving too much scientific talent “on the launch pad”.

Any other gongs worth noting?

Plenty… Our Senior Aussie of the Year was dementia expert Professor Henry Brodaty, Indigenous construction leader Frank Mitchell is this year’s Local Hero, and Young Australian of the year went to Nedd Brockmann for his inspirational fundraising work, including his 2022 run across Australia. Speaking of inspirational runners, Olympic hero Cathy Freeman was one of 10 people made a Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest Oz Day honour there is. Here’s the full list, which has copped some criticism for only 27% of the recipients being women... As always on Australia Day, we’ve also got a stack of new Oz citizens - with PM Anthony Albanese telling a ceremony in Canberra that they were pledging to be a part of an Australia that was about “love, not hate. Hope, not fear… and, indeed, unity, not division”.

And how did the protests pan out?

Thousands of people attended both dawn mourning services and Invasion Day rallies across the country, protesting the date of Australia’s national public holiday, as well as other issues affecting First Nations people. In many capital cities, there were also ‘March for Australia’ rallies on the same day, with occasional clashes between the 2 groups. But the most serious incident from the weekend was in Perth, where a “device” was thrown into the protesting crowd, causing a mass evacuation - a 31yo man is in custody, and police are investigating whether the device contained explosive material, so keep an eye out for more on that today. Yesterday wasn’t the easiest day to be out and about, with heavy rain and wind in WA, and extreme heat across multiple states, including Victoria, where the Otways fire is still raging. With more hot/dry conditions forecast for today, local authorities are on high alert. Fingers crossed…

Lightening the load for 2026

There's a special kind of defeat in watching your suitcase come along the carousel looking like it came off second-best during the transit shuffle... Samsonite has been at it for over a century, and they've nailed the balance between lightweight and durable - handy when you're pushing weight limits or travelling frequently. Check out their range of travel essentials here.

Squiz the Rest

Anger grows in Minnesota…

…after another protester in Minneapolis was shot dead on Saturday by a federal agent. Alex Pretti, a 37yo ICU nurse who cared for veterans at a local hospital, was protesting immigration raids in Minnesota when he was shot - and as with the shooting of Renee Good earlier this month, there’s plenty of videos online… Pretti is shown with his phone in one hand and using his other to protect a woman who was being pepper-sprayed by agents. The videos contradict the Trump administration’s claims that he “approached” with a handgun, threatening agents. His family called those comments “sickening lies” - they say he was legally carrying a gun that he didn’t draw. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and US President Donald Trump have spoken this morning - Trump says the 2 are on a “similar wavelength” about what to do next, so watch this space…
*For more on what’s going on with immigration raids in the US, our Squiz Shortcut has you sorted…

A milestone in the Gaza peace process…

…with Israel announcing that it has retrieved the body of the last of the remaining hostages in Gaza. PM Benjamin Netanyahu says the return of Master Sgt Ran Gvili is an “extraordinary achievement”, coming 843 days after the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas. Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas was supposed to return all living and dead hostages within 72 hours, but Gvili’s return means that the second phase of the ceasefire - which US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced almost 2 weeks ago - can finally move forward. Phase 2 involves the reconstruction of Gaza, the full disarmament of Hamas and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the region - despite the ceasefire being in effect since October, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says over 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in that time.

Day 6 of a manhunt in NSW

Police say they’re throwing everything they can into the search for Julian Ingram, a man accused of shooting dead 3 people - including his pregnant ex-partner - in the state’s central west. Residents of Lake Cargelligo, southwest of Dubbo, were told to stay indoors while the initial search began, but police have since been looking further afield - including Mount Hope, about 90km northwest. As for what happened, gunshots were heard in a vehicle about 4.20pm Thursday, where 25yo Sophie Quinn, who was 7 months pregnant, and 32yo John Harris were both found dead. Police were then called to a second scene, where they found Ms Quinn’s aunt Nerida Quinn also dead. The sole survivor, 19yo Kaleb Macqueen, was hospitalised with gunshot wounds, and he’s since spoken about what happened.

The Demon faces a massive challenge…

…at the Aussie Open tonight as Alex De Minaur takes on World #1 Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals. If the Demon can get the job done, it’ll be a momentous occasion - the first time he’s ever beaten the Spanish tennis champ, and the first time he’s ever made it past the quarter-finals of a tennis major. The Demon’s in good form, but it’s a big, big if - Alcaraz hasn’t dropped a set as he’s breezed his way through the tournament. And a couple of other results of note - the Perth Scorchers are now 6-time Big Bash League champs after beating the Sydney Sixers on Sunday night, and we have our Superbowl teams - it’s the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks that will be facing off in the big game on Monday, 9 February.

A high-stakes stunt

In need of some post-long weekend motivation? American pro rock climber Alex Honnold has you - and a 500-metre skyscraper in Taiwan - covered… He scaled the Taipei 101 tower (which, as the name suggests, has 101 floors…) on Sunday in 1 hour and 31 minutes, a time that more than halves the record set by the previous climber. Already impressive enough - but then you have to take into account that he climbed the steel, glass and concrete building without a rope, harness or any safety equipment… Asked to describe it in one word, he said: “sick”. The climb was exclusively live-streamed (with a delay in case things went awry…) on Netflix, with Honnold saying he was paid in the “mid-six figures” for the stunt. Not to mention the bragging rights… You can check out some photos here.

Apropos of Nothing - Cool pics edition

This year’s Travel Photographer of the Year awards feature some spectacular images - from a surfer shot from underwater to an evocative pic of a Spanish religious ceremony. It’s making our holiday happy snaps look a little bit basic by comparison… 

Last week, it was the sporty types who had the spotlight with the World Sports Photography Awards, with this shadowy shot of Carlos Alcaraz picking up the win - but for a deeper dive, check out these 5 photos that experts also reckon deserve some love…

And if you’ve been inspired by Aussie Jay Vine winning the Tour Down Under on the weekend, check out the winners of the 2025 Mark Gunter Photo Awards for the best cycling shots of the year. Bonus: this year’s winner features a sleepy dog…

Squiz the Day

New Zealand Parliament sits for the first time in 2026

National Geographic Day

International Holocaust Remembrance Day - Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Army (1945)

Chocolate cake day

A birthday for actress Rosamund Pike (1979)

Anniversary of:

  • the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756)

  • the end of the Siege of Leningrad. More than 2 million Russians were killed in the WWII battle (1944)

  • the Apollo 1 disaster. Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the command module during a preflight test of what was to be the first crewed mission of NASA's Apollo space program (1967)