Wednesday, 23 September - Shake your body like a salmon floating upstream

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 23 September. In your Squiz Today…

• President Xi Jinping heads to the US to meet Donald Trump

• Vale Terry Denton

• And voting has started in Fat Bear Week…🐻

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said NRL boss Peter V’landys, warning that the league’s Grand Final might have no pre-match entertainment this year. That’s after talks broke down with Tones and I, reportedly over her refusal to perform her song Dance Monkey - ironically, a song about demanding audiences… 

Xi in the USA

The Squiz

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to travel to the US ahead of highly anticipated talks with US President Donald Trump, who’s expected to welcome him in person when he lands at a military base not far from Washington DC. The state visit will be the second time the leaders of the world’s 2 largest economies have met face to face this year; it’s happening on Thursday American time, and there’s a bit to discuss.

What’s on the table?

China and the US are the frontrunners when it comes to artificial intelligence - and this is likely to be a big talking point. China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng has already got the ball rolling - he met with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the weekend, where they discussed creating a communication channel, or a “notification mechanism” as Bessent put it, for AI concerns. This has been in the headlines a lot, after AI leaders called for a slowdown of the technology's development. President Trump has knocked back that idea, though, because he doesn’t want to lose any ground to China. So far, Beijing has largely stayed quiet about a slowdown in AI development, but analysts say it has no interest in falling behind the US either.

Anything else?

Trade will be on the agenda following last year’s tit-for-tat tariff war, which started not long after Trump returned to office. For nearly a year, both sides have stuck to a truce, but that’s due to expire in November, so they’ll need to figure something out. Xi has also said he’s keen to chat about how they can strengthen "strategic stability" - and given the 2 countries disagree on Taiwan, which Beijing sees as part of its territory, and the US is still at war with Iran, which is one of China’s economic partners (it buys a lot of Iranian oil), these issues could also come up. On that, Trump’s been speaking at the UN overnight; he said Iran could face ‘annihilation’ without a US deal - although he said he believed an agreement would be made after midterms in November.

Squiz the Rest

Fuelling the pinch - again

Aussie petrol and diesel prices are the highest they’ve been in nearly 6 months, with drivers paying more than $2.30 a litre for petrol and over $3 for diesel. Analysts reckon it’s because Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which was providing an alternative oil route to the blocked Strait of Hormuz through the Middle East, has been closed off after it was attacked 2 weeks ago. Work is underway to repair it, but the temporary closure means there’s less oil to supply global markets, triggering a price rise - and experts say it could add up to an extra 50c a litre. The Coalition has proposed another fuel excise cut to bring prices down, but the Albanese Government says that’s not on the cards at this point.

A warning before the footy finals

NSW Premier Chris Minns says extra police will be working during the AFL and NRL Grand Finals, with domestic violence call outs tending to surge by more than 20% on those weekends. It follows on from a spate of domestic violence attacks in the state last weekend in which 3 women were allegedly murdered in separate attacks. In another family violence incident, a mother has been charged with the murder of a 5yo boy and attempted murder of 2 other young children in the Blue Mountains on Sunday. The violence has prompted the Premier to call for people to speak up if they see signs of abuse in a relationship, saying “it’s not a private family matter … This is on everybody, including me in government”.
*Need help?

The next plot twist in a mega movie merger

Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros Discovery is a step closer after it reached a settlement with a group of US states that argued it would mean fewer movies and job cuts. To rewind, this deal (worth $114 billion) has been in the works for months after Paramount, which owns Network 10 here, won a bidding war against rival Netflix to control Warner Bros Discovery, including its movie biz Warner Bros Pictures, as well as CNN and HBO Max. But there were some strings attached: Paramount has to increase film production, keep both studios’ production lots, and retrain workers laid off due to the merger. In terms of what it means in Oz, Network 10 and HBO Max will be under the same roof. Some reckon integrating 2 media empires into one company could take some time, but Warner CEO David Zaslav thinks it’ll be done and dusted “by early October”.

Vale Terry Denton

The Aussie illustrator and author famous for his work on kids’ books died on Monday at 76yo. Chances are you’ve seen his art on a bookshelf somewhere - he had a 30-year partnership with Andy Griffiths, working together on the Just! series and the Treehouse series. On top of that, he wrote and illustrated 30 books of his own, including the Gasp! series, (which also became a TV show) and collaborated with other writers, including Mem Fox and Paul Jennings. Griffiths paid tribute to Denton yesterday, saying “I’ve never laughed so hard as I did when working with him”. Here’s an interview with the 2 from a while back so you can get an idea of their chemistry - and for some of Denton’s other work, we’ve found a gallery of paintings on his website.

The bear necessities

As of this morning, voting in Fat Bear Week is officially open. It’s a competition in Alaska’s Katmai National Park where the public votes on brown bears that have bulked up in preparation for hibernation. Last year’s winner, 32 Chunk, is backing up again this year - he overcame the odds in 2025 by putting on significant heft despite having a broken jaw that rangers believe was from a fight with another bear. The 2023 and 2024 winner Grazer isn’t in the running, but her daughter 428 Studious is (she got her nickname from her focused fishing style). In the lead-up, the competing adult bears have eaten about 27 tonnes of salmon - that’s equivalent to 18 Toyota Camrys, so no worries about their intake of omega-3s… And if you want to find out what bear you’re most like, try this quiz (you’re welcome).

Apropos of Nothing

Not one but 2 new species of stick insects have been discovered in Far North Queensland. The females of the Anchiale robusta species can grow to 12cm to 16cm long. Which sounds like a lot of length for an insect, because it is… 

And speaking of new species, the first new wild cat species in more than 100 years has been identified in Bolivia. Leopardus tilcayo is about the size of a house cat and scientists reckon there could be more cats to be discovered in the area… 

And from new species to what might be the end of ours, a Terminator-like robot faced off against an influencer in an MMA-style fight. It did not end super well for the influencer, who was sent flying and unable to get up. We aren’t keen to volunteer…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEST) - Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy to announce a significant industry contract - Hobart 

10.00am (AEST) - National Trust Tasmania is launching its campaign to bring the BBC's Antiques Roadshow program to Tasmania - Hobart 

10.00am (AEST) - The Victorian Royal Commission into the Integrity of Major Public and Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects in Victoria will hold its opening hearing - Melbourne, read our Shortcut here to learn more about it 

10.00am (ACST) - Cricket: Men's One Day Cup South Australia v Tasmania - Adelaide, watch on Kayo 

11.30am (AEST) - The Variety AFL Grand Final Lunch 2026, which brings together members of the AFL community to fundraise for  children living with disability, illness or disadvantage - Melbourne 

12.30pm (AEST) - The Parenthood CEO Georgie Dent will address the National Press Club on 'The mother and father of all problems: Australia can't afford for raising a family to be unaffordable' - Canberra, watch on ABC iView 

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in the USA for talks with US President Donald Trump tomorrow at the White House (Wednesday US time)

The International Criminal Court will deliver its judgment on the conviction or acquittal of Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, who is accused of crimes against humanity, among others, in the Central African Republic

The Love Hypothesis will drop on Prime Video 

Saudi Arabia’s National Day

International Day of Sign Languages 

Birthdays for musician Bruce Springsteen (1949) and comedian Jason Alexander (1959)

Anniversary of:

• the birthday of Ray Charles (1930)

• the founding of Nintendo Koppai (later Nintendo Company) by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda (1889)

• the premiere of The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and Modern Family (2009)

• the death of Sigmund Freud (1939)

Housekeeping

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