Squeeze Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermeri people.
Squeeze Kids!
It's your daily news fix.
Fun, free, fresh.
Hello and welcome to Squiz Kids Today.
Your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Christy Kidgerina.
It's Wednesday, January 28.
In Squiz Kids Today, Mexico goes K-pop crazy.
The demon goes down to Alcaraz.
Blazing bushfires to blasting blizzards.
And Aussie kids make a movie.
That's what's making news, kid style.
The Lowdown.
With kids heading back to classrooms across much of Australia this week.
We really hope your school has air conditioning because it's hot out there.
Large parts of South Australia Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT are in the middle of a heatwave.
A heatwave is when the weather stays much hotter than usual for several days in a row, even overnight, which makes it hard for our bodies to cool down.
In South Australia, the town of Seduna had its hottest day ever, reaching 495 degrees Celsius or more than 121 degrees Fahrenheit.
That's hot enough to fry an egg on the footpath.
While in Victoria the extreme heat has increased bushfire danger, with fires burning and some communities told to get ready in case they need to leave their homes quickly.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in the United States, millions of people are dealing with the opposite problem.
A blast of icy Arctic air has brought snow, ice and freezing cold, knocking out power in some places and forcing families to shelter in warming centres.
So, whether it's scorching heat or freezing cold, our thoughts are with families who've had to leave their homes and with emergency workers who are working around the clock to keep people safe.
And finally, as is a tradition on January 26, the Australian of the Year for 2026 has been announced, with this year's honour going to Catherine Benelpeg.
She's made history as Australia's first astronaut fully qualified under the Australian flag.
I was lucky enough to speak with Catherine last year, and that interview was republished on Monday.
If you'd like to hear it and find out how you go to the toilet in space, as well as other fascinating stuff.
You can find it by scrolling back a couple of episodes in the podcast feed.
Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a new story from wherever it stops.
And today we've landed in Mexico, where the Mexican president may have found a unique way to appeal to younger voters.
Mexico's president, Claudia Scheinbaum has done something many K-pop fans could only dream of.
She's officially written to the president of South Korea to ask for help arranging more concerts by K-pop superstars BTS in Mexico.
Why?
Because the demand is huge.
President Scheinbaum said around 1 million young people want tickets.
Today there are only about 150 000 seats available.
That's a lot of fans.
Refreshing ticket websites and practicing their dance moves at home.
Bts are prepping for a major world tour later this year, alongside their first new album launch in three years after taking time out for south korea's compulsory military service.
It might sound unusual, but it shows just how powerful music can be when even presidents are stepping in to help fans get to a concert.
The Aussie summer of cricket has barely wrapped up, with the Perth Scorchers winning the Big Bash final, and tennis has stepped straight in to keep the nation's nightly sport habit alive.
The Australian Open is now at the pointy end where every match feels tense and just a little bit nerve-wracking.
And last night it didn't get much bigger for Aussie fans without our very own demon, Alex Dimonor, taking on 22-year-old Spanish superstar and world number one, Carlos Alcaraz.
The top seed, which means the highest ranked, was just too strong for Dimonor and won in straight sets in what was still a hard-fought victory.
Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic and Yannick Sinner are still in the hunt as the men's draw narrows to the final four.
While in the women's competition star Coco Goff lost to Ukrainian Alina Svetlina, who heads into the semis.
And the Aussie doubles duo, Jason Kubler and Mark Polmans, who entered the competition as wildcards, have progressed to the semis.
The women's final will be played on Saturday night, with the men's final on Sunday night, wrapping up two scorching, literally weeks of tennis in Melbourne, plenty still to play for and another few days of late nights for the tennis fans in your life.
Pop Culture Corner.
Our last story today proves that imagination isn't just something you have.
It's something you can build.
A new Australian film called Imagine is hit cinemas around the country on Australia Day.
And it all began during COVID, when a group of young Indigenous students were asked to imagine the future that they want to live in.
The film weaves together bold ideas about fairness, education and opportunity and a bright animated visual style that brings those thoughts to life.
Through the Indigenous mentoring organisation AIM, kids didn't just talk about their ideas.
They worked alongside filmmakers, artists and big name creatives to turn those ideas into a real movie.
One of those collaborators was Taika Waititi, the director behind favourites like Thor Ragnarok and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
And instead of just giving advice, Taika and other creatives listened, shared skills and helped young people tell their own stories on their own terms.
The message is loud and clear.
When kids are given tools, trust and opportunity, they don't just imagine the future, they start creating it.
I've stuck a link to the trailer in the episode notes.
Time for the quiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
Question number one.
The temp got up to a whopping 49.5 degrees Celsius or more than 121 degrees Fahrenheit.
Question number two.
Which country's president asked South Korea for more BTS concerts?
That's right.
It was Mexico's president.
Question number three.
What is the nickname of the Aussie tennis star Alex Dimenor?
I hope you got this one.
Alex is affectionately known as the Demon.
Yay!
Shout out.
It's Wednesday, January 28.
International Lego, or possibly Lego, depending on where you're from, day.
Did you know there are more Lego minifigures on Earth than there are people?
That means that if they all came to life at once, humans would be seriously outnumbered.
Nightmare.
It's also a special day for these quiz kids celebrating a birthday today.
Noah from Orin Park.
And if you had a birthday over the Christmas break, your shout-out was featured in one of the weekly quizzes released each Friday during the holidays.
But for anyone who missed the cut-off, don't worry, we'll be sharing your belated holiday shout-outs in this week's episodes, starting with
Quinn from Duncraig, Luke H from Montana, Harper from Walkerville, Seb from Woolloowin, Olivia from Randwick, Josie from Mudgee and Isla Grace from Kalanga.
And classroom shout outs will be back next week.
Teachers, make sure you send us your class details now, and birthdays as well, so we can give you and your students a shout out on the podcast.
So if you've got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out, or if you are after a classroom shout out, make sure you drop us a line at squizkids at thesquizcomau, or you can just fill out the form on our website.
Well, after our first Squiz Kids today back for 2026, that's all we have time for.
Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids today and we'll be back again tomorrow.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
Thank you.
