Wednesday, 27 May - You light up my life

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 27 May. In your Squiz Today…

• The US has launched what it calls “self-defence” strikes against Iran as it continues negotiations to extend the ongoing ceasefire

• More members of the group known as the ‘ISIS brides’ have touched down in Sydney and Melbourne

• And luxury car brand Ferrari is going electric…

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Queensland tennis player Adam Walton, after knocking #6 seed Daniil Medvedev out of the French Open in a first-round upset overnight. Walton won a 5-set epic - and will take on American Zachary Svajda in the second round. They breed ‘em tough in Queensland…

The US strikes out

The Squiz

After 7 weeks of a ceasefire with Iran, the US military struck both Iranian ships laying underwater mines and missile launch sites yesterday, calling them “self-defence” strikes. The operation was in the port city of Bandar Abbas in Southern Iran, where the US says it took the action to “protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces”. But Iran has criticised the strikes as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” on behalf of the US, putting the current ceasefire - and ongoing peace negotiations - at risk…

What does it mean for the ceasefire?

Technically the truce is still in place, and the US military’s Central Command says it used “restraint” in the strikes to respect the ceasefire. Afterwards, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a peace deal was still possible, with talks yesterday between Iran’s top negotiator and Qatar’s PM making progress. The port where it happened, Bandar Abbas, is home to an Iranian naval base and lies on the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial - and closed - shipping lane which is holding up much of the world’s oil traffic. That’s something the US is keen to fix, and reports say the deal currently being discussed involves extending the ceasefire by 60 days and reopening the Strait, along with further negotiations around Iran’s nuclear program, which continues to be a major sticking point.

And Trump has thrown in another curveball…

The US President now wants the deal to include additional Arab countries joining the Abraham Accords. To remind you, they're a series of US-brokered peace deals that paved the way for friendlier relations with Israel, opening up trade, tourism, and shared intelligence - particularly about their common rival, Iran. And while the UAE, Bahrain and others are on board, Trump wants to land Saudi Arabia and Qatar, arguing that countries should want to make the deal with Iran “a far more historic event than it would otherwise be”. But there are some big speed bumps in the way, particularly around Palestinian statehood, which Saudi Arabia supports and Israel is against. As for what’s next, talks are continuing, so stay tuned… 

The waiting room is optional

Between petrol prices and packed waiting rooms, getting to a GP can take more out of a day than the appointment itself. Hola Health puts registered Aussie GPs on your phone or laptop, 24/7. Medical certificates, script renewals, video consults - without the drive, the parking, or the wait. You're usually talking to a doctor within 15 minutes, wherever you are.

Squiz the Rest

More ‘ISIS brides’ have landed back in Oz

A second group of women and children arrived from the Al-Roj refugee camp in Syria yesterday afternoon - 4 women and 6 children flew into Sydney, while 2 women and 7 children landed in Melbourne - none were arrested after landing. Another woman was left behind after she was banned from entering the country under a temporary exclusion order, which bars a person on national security grounds for 2 years, even if they’re Australian citizens. She’s understood to be mounting a legal challenge to the order. As with the previous group of women known as the ‘ISIS brides’ who arrived earlier this month, the federal government says it’s given them no help to get here. PM Anthony Albanese yesterday said he had “nothing but contempt for anyone who has any sympathy for ISIS”.

Quad goals

Yesterday’s meeting in New Delhi between the foreign ministers of Australia, US, Japan and India - known as the Quad - has led to a few new deals, with the countries agreeing to their first-ever joint infrastructure project. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who’s been busy), said that the group would be building a new port in Fiji, to try and address what he called “insufficient port capacity” in the Pacific Islands. The Quad also announced new pacts on critical minerals and surveillance, and it’s a bit of turnaround in the group’s momentum - which slowed a bit last year as US President Trump and Indian PM Narendra Modi had a spat. Speaking of Modi, Oz Foreign Minister Penny Wong says he’s set to visit Australia in the coming months, for his first visit since 2023.

CommBank issues an AI reality check

The bank’s CEO Matt Comyn says it would be unfair to Aussie workers to pretend artificial intelligence will not lead to job losses. If this sounds like déjà vu to you, you’re right - last year our largest bank was the first to directly link 45 job cuts to the technology, before backflipping after a union protest. In a piece published in the Financial Review yesterday (paywall), Comyn said there’s more upheaval to come - and that “at CBA, as in many organisations, some work will be done by smaller teams.” But it’s not all doom and gloom - Comyn also said if it’s used well, AI could help lift productivity, wages and living standards in the long run.

There’s a state of anticipation…

…across the rugby league world at the moment, with Game One of the State of Origin series kicking off at 8.05pm AEST at Accor Stadium in Sydney. Queensland (also known as the Maroons, or the Cane Toads if you’re feeling nasty) are going in as the defending champions, after winning last year’s series 2-1 in a thriller. But they’ll also go into this game as outsiders, given they’re playing away against NSW (also known as the Blues, or the Cockroaches…) League experts reckon players to watch tonight include NSW fullback James Tedesco, returning to the side after not playing last year, and Queensland halfback Sam Walker, who is making his Origin debut in a pressure-cooker. You can watch it all on Channel 9 tonight…

Every which way but Luce

The luxury car maker Ferrari has caused a stir by revealing its first-ever fully electric vehicle - the Luce (pronounced loo-chay), which means ‘light’ in Italian. It’s a 5-seat luxury sedan that can hit speeds of 100km/h in 2.5 seconds, and it’ll set you back around $900,000. It also looks very different to your bog-standard Ferrari, and was co-designed by Aussie Marc Newson, who was a big player in designing the Apple Watch. The design change has already proven controversial online, with one critic saying it needed to go “straight to the junkyard trash” - but another praising it as a “masterclass in design”. It’s likely to start being delivered to buyers next year sometime, so keep an eye out for these babies on the road in 2027…

Apropos of Nothing

There was a bit of a Humpty Dumpty moment in NSW yesterday - a pair of 170-metre chimney towers came crashing down as Liddell Power Station in the NSW Hunter Valley was demolished after operating for 52 years. Energy company AGL, which owns the plant, is planning a renewable energy hub in its place.

Speaking of great falls, 90 drones splash-landed into the harbour on Monday night at Vivid Festival in Sydney after a radio frequency problem. Today’s event has been cancelled - and we’re waiting to hear from event organisers if Sunday’s drone show will go ahead.

And (presumably by putting fossils together again), researchers have a new theory on why T. Rexes have such short arms. The answer - evolution prioritises one thing over another, so a large skull as a primary weapon meant no need for strong arms too. Biology giveth and it taketh away…

Squiz the Day

8.00am (AEST) - Day one of the Energy Efficiency Council annual conference. Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, will deliver the keynote address (until 28 May) - Sydney

9.30am (AEST) - Return of subpoena for Jackie 'O' Henderson lawsuit against her former employer ARN, after they cancelled her 10-year, $100 million contract, Federal Court of Australia - Sydney

9.30am (AEST) - Return of subpoena in case between Kyle Sandilands and his former employer ARN,  after they cancelled his 10-year, $100 million contract, Federal Court of Australia - Sydney

8.00am (AWST) - AFR Mining Summit 2026 speakers include Western Australian Premier Roger Cook and CEO of the Minerals Council of Australia, Tania Constable - Perth

12.30pm (AEST) - Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth to address the National Press Club on employment services reform - Canberra 

8.05pm (AEST) - Rugby League: State of Origin Game One - New South Wales Blues v Queensland Maroons, Accor Stadium - Sydney, watch on 9Now 

National Reconciliation Week begins - the theme for 2026 is 'All In' (until 3 June) 

ABS data release: Construction work done, March 2026; Consumer price index, April 2026

Rising Melbourne Festival begins (until 8 June)

Birthdays for One Nation founder and Senator Pauline Hanson (1954), musician Neil Finn (1958), actor Joseph Fiennes (1970) and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (1975)

Anniversary of:

• the Habeas Corpus Act (strengthening a person's right to challenge unlawful arrest and imprisonment) passing in England (1679)

• the founding of Saint Petersburg by Russian Tsar Peter the Great (1703)

• Australians voting in favour of a constitutional referendum granting the government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and count them in the national census (1967)

• actor Christopher Reeve becoming paralysed from the neck down after falling from a horse (1995)

• the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicting 4 people including President Slobodan Milošević for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo (1999)

• the marriage of Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel and Aussie model/entrepreneur Miranda Kerr (2017)