Tuesday, 5 August - Hanging on the telephone

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 5 August. In your Squiz Today…

• The PM is trying to get a call with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu

• A spying arrest in Canberra

• And the world’s best 4-legged surfers… 🌊

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Said Wallaroo Emily Chancellor after finding out that World Rugby has upgraded the Aussie and Kiwi teams to business class for their upcoming trip to the World Cup in England. Hopefully they can also book an extra seat so a trophy can fly home with them…

Dialling up our push for peace

The Squiz

PM Anthony Albanese is chasing a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of this weekend’s pro-Palestine protests in Sydney and Melbourne. Albanese - whose government yesterday announced another $20 million for Gaza aid relief - described the Sydney Harbour Bridge march as a “peaceful” opportunity for protesters to share their views about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He says he wants to talk to Netanyahu about a 2-state solution between Palestine and Israel and the disarmament of Hamas. But whether Netanyahu, who’s been unhappy with Albanese’s recent criticism of Israel’s actions, will answer the phone remains to be seen…

What’s the response been to the protests?

Netanyahu hasn’t spoken about them directly, but his Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has… He called them “radical protesters” and criticised one in particular for holding an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Matt Thistlethwaite, our Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, agreed with that criticism - describing the image as “provocative”. But he backed Australians’ “right to protest … as long as you do it peacefully and in accordance with the law, which is what occurred on the weekend”. Labor’s Ed Husic - our first federal Muslim MP - took part in the Sydney march, and reckons the size of it has been a “wake-up call for Australian politics”. He said it was “a tremendous example” of people letting the government know “how deeply they feel”.

And what’s the latest in Gaza?

The death toll is still on the rise… Reports say at least 6 people died from starvation on Sunday, while 40 other people - including 27 trying to access aid centres - were killed by Israeli gunfire and strikes. Under increasing international pressure over famine in Gaza, Netanyahu says he’ll meet with his security cabinet to discuss the military’s next moves… The UK government has announced plans to evacuate about 300 seriously ill/injured Palestinian children and take them to the UK for treatment. Its Foreign Secretary David Lammy has also criticised Hamas for starving Israeli hostages, calling for their release. But Hamas says it will only allow aid through to them if Israel permanently opens humanitarian corridors and stops strikes during aid distribution. The UN Security Council is holding a special meeting about the hostages tonight, so we’ll likely hear more about that…

Smiling wide

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Squiz the Rest

A spying arrest in Canberra

The Australian Federal Police have charged a Chinese woman with trying to “covertly gather information” over a period of 3 years. The woman, who’s a permanent Australian resident, appeared in court yesterday on the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail. The AFP claims she’d been directed to gather intel on a local branch of the Guan Yin Citta group - that’s a Buddhist group banned in China but free to operate here - and they said more charges could be coming. It’s the first arrest under our ‘foreign interference’ laws that involves targeting members of the community. Decoded, that means secretly acting on behalf of a foreign government to track - or disrupt - multicultural activity in Australia. The woman, who can’t be named, has been denied bail. She’ll be back in court on 1 September.  

And staying with the AFP… 

… our federal cops will have their first-ever woman in charge when Krissy Barrett takes over for current chief Reece Kershaw in October. Kershaw has been in the role since 2019, and he was due to stick around until next year, but has retired early - he said that becoming a grandfather changed his outlook, and he wants to be there for his family. He'll be replaced by Barrett, who started out as an admin assistant and has spent 22 years with the AFP - she was made a Deputy Commissioner for national security in March last year. She has received several medals, including for her work on investigations into the Bali Bombings, and she said yesterday that she "never imagined that one day I would be leading this very fine organisation". 

Turning down the volume in South Korea

The country’s military is removing its giant loudspeakers on the border with North Korea - and says it’s about trying to calm things down between the 2 countries. Both nations have been playing propaganda through the speakers across the demilitarised zone for decades, periodically stopping and starting depending on how relations were going. South Korea had resumed broadcasting its messages (and K-Pop hits) under its then-conservative government in June last year, but stopped in June this year when the new liberal government came in - now they're taking an extra step by removing the speakers as well. North Korea - which has been building ties with Russia recently - hasn’t responded to the latest move, but similar recent gestures from South Korea haven’t gone down well… 

Another volcanic eruption in Russia…

… and this time it’s a volcano that’s been quiet for nearly 500 years. After the 8.8 magnitude earthquake on the east coast of the country was followed by the eruption of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano, now the Krasheninnikov volcano on the same Kamchatka peninsula is getting in on the act. And it’s been a long time between bursts - the US-based Smithsonian Institution says the last eruption was in 1550. This one, which happened Sunday night local time, was also linked to an earthquake - a 7.0 magnitude quake that led to more tsunami warnings for the area, though they were later lifted. The eruption shot a plume of ash 6 kilometres into the sky - you can see footage of that here - and scientists in the area said it could be followed by more eruptions in the coming days. 

Slip, slop, slap, tan…

Buckle up for the latest fashion trend taking over TikTok/runways: visible tan lines. It has experts worried that some young people are taking up problematic tanning practices like sunbaking again, so they’re encouraging them to follow sunsmart advice and fake it ‘til they make it. And their warnings seem to be breaking through… Videos of beauty influencers slapping on fake tan over clothing or over masking tape to create “crisp lines” on their skin (yes, really…) are racking up millions of views on TikTok. Jemma Violet, an influencer who’s embracing the trend, reckons it’s an “eye-catching” look associated with “an active lifestyle”. But she also says “skin damage is real … we’re not doing that”. Kath Day-Knight approves…

Apropos of Nothing

After the UK had its event last week, the best in the world strutted their fluff this week for the World Dog Surfing Championships in San Francisco. Some gnarly barkers took to the waves, and we’ve got more photos (it’s the right link, promise…).

From wet dogs to hot dogs, a truckload of sausages has spilled over a Pennsylvania highway, and you better believe that the headlines used the term “wurst nightmare”. In the absence of thousands of buns, local firies used a front-end loader to scoop them all up…

And a silver spoon that was ‘borrowed’ from an English hotel has been returned - just a casual 83 years later. Aussie John White found the spoon in his late mother’s belongings, and dutifully sent it back - it now has its own special display. And not a moment too spoon soon… 

Squiz the Day

9.45am (AEST) - MoAD will launch ‘Democracy in a Box’, a civics education program for 40 regional and remote schools across QLD and the NT - Canberra

11.30am (AWST) - WA Health Minister at State of the State WA: Health Service Delivery at CEDA - Perth

6.00pm (AEST) - The ABC Journalists behind the Mushroom Case Daily podcast will speak at the Melbourne Press Club - Melbourne

6.00pm (AEST) - Basketball: FIBA Men's Asian Cup - Australia v South Korea in Group A - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, watch on DAZN

ABS data release - Monthly Household Spending Indicator, June 2025

Census testing for 60,000 households in these towns ahead of the 2026 Census

🚦International Traffic Light Day

Anniversary of:

• the birthdays of former PM Harold Holt (1908) and the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong (1930)

• the deaths of actor Marilyn Monroe (1962) and singer Judith Durham (2022)

• Humphrey Gilbert claiming Newfoundland for Britain - the first English colony in North America and the beginning of the British Empire (1583)

• the capture of Nelson Mandela. He would spend the next 27 years in prison in South Africa (1962)

• the Indian Government announcing it would change the status of Indian-controlled Kashmir from a state to a union territory (2019)