18 October 2025 - Saturday Squiz

If you’ve crossed off a major achievement this week - like rowing from Peru to Cairns or sorting out a major family problem - we salute you… And this weekend, if you have a favourite 80s track, a kooky case of déjà vu or anything else you’d like to share, hit reply.

⏱️ Reading time: 8 minutes

🎧 Listen to the Weekly Wrap with Claire Kimball and Jodie Speers

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. Celebrations as the ceasefire kicks in - “The war is over”, according to US President Donald Trump. The return of the 20 surviving Israeli hostages for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners went down on Monday, but the situation remains shaky because Hamas has not returned the bodies of 19 dead hostages taken on 7 October 2023.

2. Reheating the beef - Between China and the US, that is… Things kicked off last Saturday when Trump threatened an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods in response to China’s recent tightening of its export controls. This is about the battle for critical minerals (Squiz Shortcut here…), and it’s either an opportunity for Australia or we’re caught yet again between our major strategic ally and our biggest trade partner, depending on your view…

3. A renewed search for Gus - On Wednesday, local South Australian police and Australian Defence Force personnel launched Taskforce Horizon as part of their expanded search for the 4yo who disappeared from his family’s remote station near Yunta on September 27. It’s said to be one of the biggest search efforts in Australian history, and as it wrapped up yesterday, there’s no news yet…

4. Bathurst 1000 puts on a (slippery) show - We didn’t cover this one, but it was quite something for endurance car racing fans on Sunday. Kiwi Matthew Payne claimed his first Bathurst victory, but the race wasn’t without controversy as a collision with William Golding knocked rookie Cooper Murray off his 18-lap lead.

5. Qantas data goes dark - On Monday, the airline revealed that the data of 5.7 million customers, which was stolen during the June cyber attack on its third-party customer platform Salesforce, had been released onto the dark web. Salesforce defended its security practices, and Qantas now faces scrutiny over how it protects customers’ information. Here’s what you can do if you think you might be affected.

It’s you against the news…

Reckon you know what big change Google recently rolled out in Australia? Test your knowledge with this week’s Squiz Quiz.

And if you aced that, try this…

For an extra serving of quiz goodness, try our new Weekly Squiz Quiz podcast and YouTube vid, hosted by the quizalicious Andrew Williams. This week, our very first guest, Cyber CX Chief Strategy Officer Alastair MacGibbon, was up against OG Squizer Claire Kimball in an 8-question challenge - if you can beat their scores, we’re all ears (and you can listen with yours here).

The Weekly Squiz Quiz is out each Wednesday - hit follow on News Club so you don't miss the podcast as it's released, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Shot of the Week

It took South African photographer Wim van den Heever 10 years to snap this shot of a hyena in the ghost town of Kolmanskop, Namibia. And according to him, it’s all worth it because on Thursday, he was crowned as the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year - or as Wim described it, “the Oscars of the wildlife photography world”. Catch the rest of the winners in this gallery from the BBC.

Your holiday shop just got 10x better

Skincare, perfume, gifts, whatever - Lotte Duty Free has 10x Qantas Points on online orders right now. Which means that the holiday shopping you were lining up is now working a lot harder for your next getaway. You can order from home or swing by any Lotte Duty Free location for the same duty-free prices - either way, the points stack up fast. Find out more here.

In the Kitchen

With some record hot weather hitting Sydney and Brissie, this teriyaki beef salad has been on high rotation in our colleague Emma’s household. Low effort, big flavour, and a great way to get that protein in. Yum…

What we Shortcut for you this week

Why French politics is in chaos - You might’ve seen that France has had a major case of déjà vu all over again, with trouble keeping a PM in office. The country’s facing massive national debt and a budget deficit, and this latest mess has added to the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to resign - oh la la… Read here or listen here.

The super tax backtrack - On Monday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a new approach to the changes proposed by the Albanese Government for taxing superannuation in response to waves of criticism. So we thought it’d be useful to go through those revisions and what it might mean for your retirement nest egg. Read that here or listen up.

Squiz the Week

Saturday - The Coolangatta Gold gets underway at 11.30am on the Gold Coast, this year as part of the 2025/26 Iron Series. Day 1 of Radio National’s 2-day Top 100 Books Countdown kicks off at 1pm. And The Everest - the world’s richest race on turf with a $20 million first prize - is on at 4.15pm at Randwick.

Sunday - The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix race is on at 2pm at Phillip Island, watch on Network 10. Australia’s men’s cricket team play the first of 3 ODIs against India - this one’s at Optus Stadium in Perth from 2.30pm, watch on Kayo. And wash that down on International Gin and Tonic Day…

Monday - 6am our time, the US Grand Prix race is on in Austin, Texas, with Oscar Piastri leading the pack - watch on Kayo. Northern Territory coroner Elisabeth Armitage will revisit an inquest over the death of respected Aboriginal leader Kumarnjayi Rubuntja. And it’s Diwali, the Festival of Lights 🌟

Tuesday - It’s a biggie… Early morning our time, PM Anthony Albanese will attend a long-awaited meeting with US President Trump in Washington. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to begin his 5-year prison sentence. The posthumous memoir of Virginia Giuffre will be released. And it’s International Day of the Nacho - that’s dinner sorted…

Wednesday - At 11.30am, the inventor of the world’s first working artificial heart, Biomedical engineer Dr Daniel Timms, will address the National Press Club in Canberra. At 7.30pm, the Diamonds take on Kiwiland’s Silver Ferns in the second game of the Constellation Cup in Sydney, watch on Kayo. And Australia play England at 8.30pm in the women’s ODI Cricket World Cup - watch free on Prime Video.

Thursday - A stack of big companies have their annual general meetings today, including BHP, the ASX and Super Retail Group. It’s the first-ever AusArt Day. And get your popcorn ready, Season 2 of Nobody Wants This with Kristen Bell and Adam Brody is out on Netflix.

Friday - The Daily Telegraph’s Future Sydney: Bradfield Oration 2025 has Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock delivering the keynote address. And it’s the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.