18 July 2026 - Saturday Squiz

Hug your English friends this weekend - turns out it’s not coming home… At least the French had Bastille Day to celebrate this week… If you’re getting ready for a big trip, curling up with a hot chocolate or have anything else you’d like to share, hit reply.

⏱️ Reading time: 8 minutes

🎧 Listen to the News Club with Claire Kimball and Kate Watson

Before we get into it, we have a favour to ask…

Every Saturday we pop up in your inbox, so this weekend we’re asking a favour… We hear from over 5,000 Squizers each year in our audience survey about what you like about what we do, what we can improve, and how you’re feeling about things more broadly. This information really helps us plan our year - and we’re about halfway to our response target. If you wouldn’t mind giving us 5-10mins to do this for us, we’ll love you forever - and you could win a little something… Head to this link to fill it out.

This week’s top 5 news stories

The week’s most mentioned news stories in Australia across TV, radio and print, according to media analytics firm Streem.

1. The Strait of Hormuz closes (yes, again…) - After a week of airstrikes from the US and Iran, the latter has resumed its blockage of the Strait and the US has blockaded Iranian ports. Experts say the way forward is tricky… All this to say, it’s not looking great for oil prices…

2. Setting out an AI agenda - Anthony Albanese gave a speech about AI on Wednesday, including the announcement of an Office for AI that will sit in the PM’s department. Some big takeaways focus on how data centres operate here, and that AI companies will need to comply with our copyright laws.

3. Vale to acting legend Sam Neill - Oh Sam… The much-loved actor died in Sydney on Monday at 78yo, with his agent confirming it was pneumonia that got him. Sure, he grew up in Kiwiland, but he was pretty much adopted as an Aussie, right?

4. Flying in the face of danger - Australia has 15 confirmed cases of bird flu, but the Department of Ag says our native birds are doing ok and that the risk to both the farming industry and people is still low. Stay safe out there, our feathered friends…

5. And Telstra explains the outage - The company’s executives faced a Senate Inquiry following the outage last week and accepted full responsibility for what happened. CEO Vicki Brady explained that the outage was caused by maintenance work gone wrong.

It’s you against the news…

Reckon you know which event attempted to break the world record for biggest gathering of people wearing bald caps last weekend? Test your news knowledge from the last week with the Squiz Quiz.

Pic of the week

An anonymous buyer has become the owner of the most expensive fossil ever sold. The 61% complete T-Rex fossil nicknamed Gus sold for $71.8 million at Sotheby’s after the fossil was found on a property in South Dakota in 2021. Where do you even put an 11m-long dinosaur fossil?

In the Kitchen

Making dumplings sounds faffy, but it can be simple… Note: the process of folding the dumpling wrappers is quite meditative, and the result is something you can brag about. Here’s a recipe we like, but you can change the filling to your preferences - think adding more ginger, cabbage, prawns or whatever. We’re not the boss of you...

What we Shortcut for you this week

What's happening with gambling ads in Oz? - Australians are known as the biggest gamblers in the world, and there’s now legislation in parliament to reform how bookmakers and betting companies can advertise their platforms. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll take a look at why gambling is seen as so harmful, what the government is proposing and how it’s gone down. Read that here or listen up.

What’s the big deal with The Odyssey - We’ve been admiring the premiere looks for The Odyssey for the past few weeks, and it’s now out in Aussie cinemas. You might be wondering how a movie that adapts an age-old epic poem has become one of the most talked-about films this year. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll get you across director Christopher Nolan’s track record of blockbusters and why it’s being called a win for cinema… Read it here or listen to the pod.

Squiz the Week

Saturday - The BMX Racing World Championship kick off in Brisbane - that’s on until 25 July and you can watch it on SBS. At 8pm, the Wallabies are playing Italy in rugby’s Nations Championship in Perth - that’s on 9Now.

Sunday - At 7am, France and England will play for third place in the FIFA World Cup - you can see that on SBS. At 8.50pm, Pauline Hanson’s interview with Liam Bartlett will air on 7NEWS Spotlight - the way it’s been talked about this week it might make some news…

Monday - At 5am, the FIFA World Cup is coming to a close with Spain v Argentina. And in the UK, new Labour MP Andy Burnham is set be confirmed as the nation’s incoming prime minister.

Tuesday - At 6pm, Alessandra Galloni, the Editor-in-Chief of Reuters, will deliver the ABC’s 2026 Andrew Olle Media Lecture in Sydney. And go off like a coconut, it’s National Lamington Day.

Wednesday - At 12.30pm, former AFP investigator Rohan Pike, Dr Nick Coatsworth and federal MP Mary Aldred will address the National Press Club on the cost of the illicit tobacco market in Australia.

Thursday - The 50th Australian Labor Party National Conference begins in Adelaide (it wraps up on Saturday). And Victorian public school teachers are set to strike for 24 hours over pay disputes.

Friday - At 5am, the Commonwealth Games start. Get ready for the opening ceremony in Glasgow (remember when Victoria was going to host that?). It’s the final day of hearing block 5 in Melbourne for the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. And Charli XCX's Music, Fashion, Film album will be released today.

*Times in AEST