Wednesday, 14 October - I am the egg man

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

• An upcoming execution livestream in the US puts the focus on our digital safety laws

• Hackers target supermarket fridges in France

• And the search for Amelia Earhart’s missing plane in the Pacific…

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🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Andrew Williams, Anna Pykett, Larissa Huntington and Sophie Felice

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said parasitologist Professor Michelle Power after an infestation of bedbugs was found aboard a Qantas flight from Perth to Rome last Friday. The return flight was cancelled while the plane was cleaned - those critters won’t be getting any frequent flyer points...

A big test for big tech

The Squiz

Pressure is mounting from both sides of politics on the Albanese Government to try to block the livestream of a US execution by military firing squad from being shown in Australia - but our eSafety Office reckons we don’t have the power to stop it. Instead - in what could be another big test of our online safety laws - it says the onus will be on big tech companies like Google, Meta and TikTok to stop graphic/violent content from being available locally.

Why is the US doing this in the first place?

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says livestreaming the execution of US prisoner Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at a Texas military base in 2009, is about sending a message that “people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” US President Donald Trump still needs to approve the livestream, but if it goes ahead on 3 December, death penalty experts say it would be the first known broadcast of a lawful execution anywhere in the world. The decision has copped major blowback in the US and around the world, but the Albanese Government says it doesn’t have legal grounds to block it, so it’ll rely on online safety laws which give it the power to order companies to take down what it classifies as ‘abhorrent violent material’. The problem is, leaning on big tech is already causing trouble between Oz and the US…

What’s the tech beef?

You might remember that the US Government made a formal submission last month on our draft Digital Duty of Care laws, calling them “extraterritorial censorship of protected speech” and asking for US companies to be exempt. These are the laws that would give Aussies the choice to opt-out of social media companies’ algorithms on their feeds. And they’d hold tech companies responsible for protecting Australians under 18yo from ‘harmful content’ online, with penalties of nearly $110 million for breaches. The Coalition is firmly against them on the grounds they restrict free speech, so the government has been busy negotiating with the Greens for support. Right on cue, the bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow so the debate over online safety is far from over.

We’re curious to know…

We're partnering with Uber and Australian Red Cross again this year for their clothing drive. On Saturday 17 October, you can book an Uber and they'll swing by, collect your donation, and take it to the Red Cross for you. Too easy.

Squiz the Rest

El Niño is getting stronger…

…to the point where climate scientists say it’s at an unprecedented level as it heads towards its peak in December. This climate phenomenon heats the surface of the Pacific Ocean every 2-7 years (unlike La Niña, when the ocean surface cools). Yesterday, the Bureau of Meteorology released an update that average sea-surface temperatures in the central Pacific are now at their highest level since it started taking weekly records. That means this El Niño could surpass the 2015 version, which contributed to record-breaking heat and severe drought in Oz. Whether that happens this year is still up in the air, but it’s something Aussie farmers are keeping a close eye on.
*For a full explainer on El Niño and how it can impact the climate here in Oz, check out our Squiz Shortcut.

Tackling a cold case

Investigators are on the hunt for hackers who took control of fridges at hundreds of French supermarkets a couple of days ago, and turned their temperatures way up - starting fires and spoiling food. No one has claimed responsibility for the hack and no ransom demand was made, which means finding the culprits might be tricky for the authorities. The fridges were all connected to the internet so their temperatures could be adjusted remotely, but experts say that also made them vulnerable to cyberattacks. Computer science expert Dr Rahat Masood says the unusual attack is a sign that with more of our physical surroundings connected to the internet, hackers have more ways of disrupting our lives - especially if the software inside is left to get out of date. 

Josh Frydenberg could return

The former Treasurer has fuelled speculation he might come back to politics with the launch of his memoir A Grateful Son yesterday, which details his time in politics and argues the Liberal Party needs to reclaim the political centre. The former Deputy Liberal leader - and touted by some as a future PM - lost his seat of Kooyong to independent Monique Ryan in 2022, and has headed up the Oz arm of American bank Goldman Sachs since 2023. He’s left the door open to a political return, saying he’ll decide in 2027. While Coalition leader Angus Taylor said he would welcome Frydenberg’s return to politics, some Liberals have argued the book’s policy pitches risk distracting the Coalition - not especially handy 6 weeks out from an election in Frydenberg’s home state of Victoria.

Cracking down on an egg carton cartel

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal action in the Federal Court yesterday against 12 of Oz’s largest egg producers, accusing them of cartel and anti-competitive conduct. The consumer watchdog has alleged that the producers breached competition law by coordinating on a range of business decisions (like jointly buying a farm so their rivals couldn’t) which could have led to higher egg prices in recent years. One of the 12 companies is Sunny Queen, Australia’s largest wholesale egg supplier - it supplies about a third of all eggs to Aussie retailers. It’s denied the allegations, saying it intends to defend against the proceedings. It’s a case worthy of Pablo Eggs-cobar…

Clawing through the Pacific

A team of researchers is currently on a remote island in Kiribati to try and find wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane, which disappeared along with the famed aviator in 1937. The first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight, Earhart was trying to become the first woman to fly around the world when she disappeared, and her plane was never found. But when images of something called the Taraia Object, which might be wreckage of her plane, were discovered in 2020, plans for a new expedition were launched. The team will face several challenges as it begins fieldwork today, including large coconut crabs that weigh up to 4kg. But they’re optimistic they can dodge the crabs and solve a long-running mystery, as long as the Taraia Object doesn’t turn out to be, as some people have theorised, a fallen tree. That would be a letdown…

Apropos of Nothing

This week’s World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off has been won by a 1,083kg monster called Rocky, but it might have been overshadowed by a Rhode Island grower, who has conjured up a 1,431.5kg behemoth that could break the world record for the heaviest pumpkin ever.

The dating app Bumble has been sold for nearly $2 billion after a US investment firm decided to swipe right on its future. The sale comes after the app ditched its long-standing rule that women had to message first - and now Bumble itself is off the market… 

And Rwanda has signed a 10-year deal with Formula One to be the first African nation to hold an official championship race in nearly 40 years. But no need to book your tickets just yet - the African Grand Prix (as it will be known) won’t begin until the early 2030s…

Squiz the Day

6.00am (AEDT) - Football: Matildas v Haiti friendly in preparation for next year's FIFA Women's World Cup - Chambly, watch on Paramount+ 

9.00am (AEDT) - The Australia Institute's Revenue Summit, speakers include Economist Saul Eslake and Greens Senator Barbara Pocock - Canberra 

9.30am (AEDT) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia's AGM - Sydney 

10.00am (AEDT) - Origin Energy's AGM - Sydney 

10.00am (AEDT) - Presale begins for Powderfinger's reunion tour in 2027 

10.00am (AEDT) - High Court judgment in Rachel Smith's case challenging a Queensland law that means she will not be able to freeze her eggs while in prison - Canberra 

10.05am (AEDT) - Jordan's King Abdullah II to meet PM Anthony Albanese - Canberra 

11.00am (AEDT) - Palau President Surangel Whipps will deliver an address on a Pacific perspective on climate security and the evolving geopolitical landscape - Canberra 

12.30pm (AEDT) - Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia Madeleine King will address the National Press Club on 'The bedrock of our security' - Canberra, watch on ABC iView 

1.50pm (AEST) - Cricket: Third Women's ODI Australia v Bangladesh - Albion, watch on 7Plus

5.00pm (AEDT) - New Zealand leaders' election debate between NZ PM Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins 

5.00pm (AEDT) - Chief Scientific Officer for England Professor Dame Sue Hill will address the National Press Club on 'Scaling Clinical Genomics: Lessons from the NHS for Australia' as part of the Excellence in Health Journalism Awards presentation - Canberra, watch the livestream on YouTube

8.00pm (ACDT) - Australia's first-ever Michelin Guide will be unveiled, focusing on South Australia - Adelaide 

The Coalition is set to introduce a bill into the Senate (paywall) that scraps overseas emissions reporting for some mining companies, following a landmark High Court decision last week

And PM Anthony Albanese is expected to make a decision in the next 24 hours on whether to send Aussie astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg into space

Ireland's International AI Summit - Dublin

Aussie rules: final day of the AFL trade period 

Adelaide Film Festival begins (until 25 October) 

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

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

Anniversary of:

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

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

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

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

• the Albanese Government's Voice referendum being voted down (2023)

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