☕️ What is happening in Iran?

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Yep – we’ve been moving office this week, leaving our share-house (aka a co-working space) and moving into a fully-fledged home: our very own office.

But the new place still doesn’t have Wi-Fi (send prayers and 5G), so we’re working from home for now.

Anyway. We are accepting housewarming gifts. Especially milk chocolate bullets.

The quote: “Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behaviour.”
Microsoft Founder Bill Gates apologising to the Gates Foundation staff members about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The stat: 1.46 billion. The profit for the Australian airline company Qantas in the first half of this financial year (July to December).

The big question:

Yesterday’s results: 74% of you said you watch TV with subtitles on [1,700 votes].

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The Asian Cup begins on Sunday.

It will be the first chance Australian fans get to see the Matildas playing in a major tournament on home soil since their famous 2023 World Cup campaign.

Here's what you need to know before it kicks off.

The Asian Cup is the region’s top international women's football tournament. For Australia, it's second only to the World Cup in prestige.

Twelve nations will compete across three weeks, with the tournament also doubling as a qualifier for the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil for the top six teams.

Australia are hosting, with matches in Perth, Sydney, and the Gold Coast.

The final will be played at Accor Stadium in Sydney on Saturday, 21 March.

Australia enter the tournament with a 26-player squad that combines experienced World Cup stars with emerging talent under coach Joe Montemurro. Captain Sam Kerr is back after a two-year ACL layoff and has shown signs of strong form for Chelsea this season.

Defenders Steph Catley and Ellie Carpenter will act as vice-captains for the side.

Mary Fowler has also returned from injury, though she's had little match time since making her comeback for Manchester City in early February.

The Matildas last won the Asian Cup in 2010, defeating North Korea on penalties in the final. Their most recent campaign in 2022 ended in disappointment when South Korea knocked them out in the quarter-finals. 

This year, Australia are in Group A alongside South Korea (world No.21), Iran (68), and the Philippines (41). The Aussies come into the tournament ranked 15th in the world. The rematch with South Korea looms as a significant early test, but the Matildas can take confidence from beating them twice in 2025. 

The Philippines also have the potential to trouble the Aussies after making the semi-finals in 2022.

Based on rankings, the Matildas should be contenders to top the group and set up a favourable path through the knockouts.

World No.8 Japan are the highest-ranked team in the tournament and enter as favourites. China (19) are the defending champions, chasing a record-extending tenth title, while South Korea will be looking to go one better this year after finishing runners-up in 2022. 

World No.9 North Korea are also strong contenders. The country’s youth teams have had recent success at the World Cup level, and that talent is now feeding into the senior side. 

For nations like India and Bangladesh, qualification alone marks historic progress.

The tournament kicks off on Sunday, with Australia facing the Philippines in Perth at 8pm (AEDT). In Australia, Matildas matches will air on Network 10 and 10Play, with all games available to stream on Paramount+.

Reporting by George Finlayson.

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The Australian Government has told the families of diplomats to evacuate their postings in Lebanon and Israel.

The order comes as tensions build between the U.S. and Iran, with representatives in talks on a nuclear agreement.

Australia closed its embassy in Iran in August, after discovering the Iranian regime had “directed” at least two attacks against Australia’s Jewish community.

This week, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) “directed the departure of dependants of Australian officials” in Israel and Lebanon, “in response to the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East.”

The news was shared in a series of Smartraveller social media posts.

DFAT also said it has “offered voluntary departures to dependants of Australian officials posted in Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates,” citing an “unpredictable” security situation.

In 2015, a group of countries signed an agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), including the U.S. and Iran.

The JCPOA restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the U.S. easing sanctions. Under the agreement, Iran’s nuclear developments are meant to be “exclusively peaceful” – limited to energy, not weapons.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA.

Last June, Israel announced it had attacked nuclear and military targets in Iran, citing concerns about progress toward a nuclear bomb.

In response, Australia temporarily closed its embassy in the capital city of Tehran. (This is separate from the long-term closure announced in August 2025).

At the time, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said staff needed to be moved due to the “deteriorating security environment.”

Soon after, Trump announced the U.S. had bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.

In December, the largest civilian protests in Iran since the 1979 Revolution kicked off.

Demonstrators called for the end of the Iranian regime, headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports at least 6,500 protesters have been killed.

On 13 January, Trump told protesters “help is on its way”. Two weeks later, he said “a massive Armada is heading to Iran.”

In February, U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement talks re-started in Oman.

Last week, Trump convened the first meeting of his ‘Board of Peace’ overseeing Gaza.

At that meeting, Trump said the U.S. would “have to make a meaningful deal” with Iran, “otherwise bad things happen.” He suggested a 10-day window for the regime to respond.

The U.S. military presence in the region has continued to grow, including an aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyers.

They join the largest U.S. contingent of warships and aircraft in the Middle East for decades, according to the Associated Press.

This week, Trump delivered his State of the Union (SOTU) address – a speech given by the President outlining the issues the U.S. currently faces.

A key theme in Trump’s 107-minute-long speech was U.S. involvement in Iran, calling the country’s leaders “some terrible people”.

Trump said he “will make peace,” but “will never hesitate to confront threats”.

He added: “For decades, it has been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”

“We are in negotiations with them... but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘we will never have a nuclear weapon’,” Trump said.

In the speech, he called the regime the world’s “number one sponsor of terror”.

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country “will resume talks with the U.S... with a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal – in the shortest possible time.”

The countries are set to meet in Switzerland on Thursday (local time).

Araghchi said Iran “will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon”.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the U.S. was using a “law of propaganda coined by Nazi Joseph Goebbels... ‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth’”.

Reporting by Emily Donohoe.

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Sophie Kalkowski-Pope and her mum Jan Pope were diving for Citizens of the Reef’s Great Reef Census when they came across the 111-metre-long colony. “I knew right from the minute we dropped in that it was something special,” said Sophie Kalkowski-Pope. The exact location has not been revealed yet to avoid “unintended impacts”, but it is being managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he “won’t be banning snowball fights” after people threw snow at police officers on Monday (local time). 

The Big Apple is experiencing a blizzard, with many residents taking to local parks to throw snowballs and enjoy the weather.

NYC police officers allege they were targeted on Monday, with people throwing snowballs at them in a park in Manhattan. 

NYC Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch wrote on social media platform X: “I want to be very clear: The behavior depicted is disgraceful, and it is criminal.” 

Mayor Mamdani also called on New Yorkers to treat police with respect, adding: “If anyone’s catching a snowball, it’s me.”