Squiz Today / 14 September 2018

Squiz Today – Friday, 14 September

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“That's one of the big advantages of getting up early."

Said actor Mark Wahlberg of his 2.30am starts when he prays, has his first workout of the day, eats a couple of meals (including three turkey burgers), plays golf, and does a ‘cryo chamber recovery’ session – all before 10.30am. Exhausted just thinking about it…


US & ASIA BRACE FOR SUPER STORMS

THE SQUIZ
America and countries across east and southeast Asia are bracing for cyclonic conditions and widespread destruction. In the US, Hurricane Florence has started to lash the Carolinas on the east coast. And closer to home, Super Typhoon Mangkhut is gathering pace and is expected to impact the Philippines, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong and China. Note: typhoon/hurricane/cyclone = basically the same thing.

LET’S GO FOR THE BIG ONE FIRST
It’s not a competition, but Mangkhut is expected to be bigger, stronger and more dangerous than Florence.

• The north of Luzon (the Philippines main island) is in the firing line tomorrow. And then it’s projected to make its way to Hong Kong by Sunday night/Monday morning.

• The category 5 hurricane is 900km wide and has wind speeds of up to 240km/hour. It’s considered to be life-threatening and will likely create a large surge of water bringing devastating floods.

• The Red Cross says 10 million people live in the Mangkhut’s path and they are preparing for the worst.

AND WHAT’S FLORENCE UP TO?
She’s up to no good.

• Currently a category 2 hurricane, the worry is it will stall just offshore and hammer coastal communities with damaging winds and flooding rains from now and over the weekend.

• Billed as “the most dangerous tropical cyclone to hit the region in a generation”, Florence is expected to be more destructive than Mangkhut because the US east coast is more populated and has more infrastructure to damage.

• Evacuations started earlier this week and authorities yesterday warned locals to get out ASAP. Property analysts CoreLogic said the damage bill could be as high as US$170 billion. Yep. Billion with a ‘b’.


SQUIZ THE REST

OZ CONCERNED FOR UIGHUR MUSLIMS
Foreign Minister Marise Payne yesterday confirmed the government had raised concerns with China over reports that a million Uighur Muslims are being held in ‘re-education camps’ in the far-western province of Xinjiang. Campaigners say the Chinese government is violating the ethnic minority’s human rights by detaining them and making them swear allegiance to President Xi Jinping. Beijing has rejected the allegations, but the US is considering sanctions, and Labor's Penny Wong says Australia could do more.

And while we have you… Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday said the government could have handled the Rohingya Muslim crisis differently, but said the jailing of two Reuters journos was on the level. While her international reputation has taken a battering, reports say Suu Kyi remains popular at home.

COALITION STILL WADING THROUGH ITS OWN MUCK
Warning: it’s pretty messy…

• Former PM Malcolm Turnbull made a celebrity guest star appearance from New York to suggest Peter Dutton be referred to the High Court over whether he is eligible to sit in parliament. This has to do with his family's involvement in a couple of child care centres. Former deputy leader Julie Bishop agreed the issue needs to be resolved and didn't rule out voting with Labor to make it happen.

Bishop also raised the question of whether MPs behaved “illegally” during the recent leadership spill. And PM Scott Morrison is under pressure to handle the bullying complaints made by a number of female MPs.

• Meanwhile, Oz's former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma has been preselected to be the Liberal candidate in the upcoming Wentworth by-election. The choice ignores Morrison's preference for a female candidate and gives the nod to former PMs John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull’s pick of the bunch.

HOUSEKEEPING!
Following up on some recent stories:

STRAWBERRY COPYCAT – Cut up your strawbs before eating them for the next little while. That’s the advice from food safety authorities after Queensland Police reported a suspected copycat is at large. Those poor growers…

JUST CHURCH ENTHUSIASTS – That what the two Russian men accused of poisoning former double agent Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia said in an interview on their trip to Salisbury. Apparently the town’s cathedral has a 123-meter spire, and it's a delight that they just had to see…

MYER RISES – The embattled department store’s shares were up by more than 37% yesterday (but that’s off a low base so check your enthusiasm…) Investors are apparently coming around to the plan to wind back the discounting and sell more higher-margin stock.

LIZ CAMBAGE’S LEGEND STATUS CONFIRMED
The Aussie basketball star was yesterday named in the All-WNBA First Team – the highest honour in the American league. She’s only the third Aussie (after Lauren Jackson and Penny Taylor) to have done it. Cambage has had a big year in the US where she broke points-scoring records and rebounded like a heartbroken teenager. She will line up for the Opals in the Basketball World Cup in Spain starting next weekend.

And while we have you, how about those footy finals

FRIDAY LITES – THREE THINGS WE LIKED THIS WEEK
We often wonder where some words come from and then we don't do a thing about finding out. So we were rapt when we came across this neat video on the origin of ‘OK’ and why the letter K is special.

It's Fashion Week in NYC, and this mega-gallery of street style snaps is fun. Great to see the bright colours.

Amanda Blair’s Three Minute Squiz went off this week. And she was good enough to follow up with one of her Adelaide Show award-winning recipes - Baked Lemon Slice. It'll win your people over for sure.

SQUIZ THE DAY

Friday
10th anniversary of Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy - the largest in U.S. history

Anniversary of Amy Winehouse's birthday (1983)

Anniversary of the death of Princess Grace of Monaco of injuries suffered in a car crash (1982)

Saturday
12.00pm (AEST) - Netball - Aussie Diamonds v South Africa Proteas - Auckland

8.05pm (AEST) - Rugby Championship - Wallabies v Argentina - Gold Coast

International Day of Democracy

Independence Days for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

Prince Harry's birthday (1984)

Sunday
Sydney Marathon

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

Independence Days for Mexico and Papua New Guinea

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