Squiz Today / 24 January 2020

Squiz Today – Friday, 24 January

SQUIZ SAYINGS

"We were genuinely curious to see if stress indeed leads to hair greying."

Said Ya-Chieh Hsu, associate professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard. Long story short: it does. Soz…


CRASH TIES AMERICA AND CANADA TO BUSHFIRE TRAGEDY

THE SQUIZ
Three American aerial firefighters died yesterday when their C-130 Hercules Large Air Tanker crashed near Cooma, NSW. The Rural Fire Service-chartered air tanker took off from Richmond RAAF base on the outskirts of Sydney after midday, disappeared from the flight radar an hour later, and by late afternoon the crash was confirmed. Coulson Aviation, the Canadian operator of the aircraft, grounded their fleet as a mark of respect, and to review the conditions. The cause of the crash is not yet known. It takes the bushfire season’s national death toll to 32. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was grateful for the victims’ efforts to help her state fight the bushfire crisis. "Today is a reminder of how every single person who is defending life and property is at risk."

AND THAT RISK CONTINUES…
It sure does. The air tanker was heading north-east of the Snowy Mountains to fight a dangerous fire there. Other fires on the South Coast - particularly near Bega, Moruya, Bermagui, Narooma and Batemans Bay - saw more homes burned there. Reports say homes were also lost in the state’s Southern Highlands yesterday. The RFS says winds made it a difficult night ahead of better conditions today. Meanwhile, our capital’s airport was out of action yesterday afternoon as two nearby fires joined to threaten Canberra’s northern suburbs. Victoria also saw fires flare following severe weather warnings for the Gippsland and southwest areas.

AND IT’S RAINING MUD?
Hallelujah? The huge dust storms that have blown across northern Victoria, South Australia and NSW this week went south to Melbourne under strong winds. The iconic Yarra River turned brown(er) as heavy rain stained with dust hit the city - and the Australian Open. Victoria’s Mildura copped another bad dust storm yesterday - the second in two days.


SQUIZ THE REST


CHINA LOCKS DOWN WUHAN

As the World Health Organisation stopped short of declaring the deadly coronavirus a public health emergency, Chinese officials have announced that all flights and public transport services out of the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus originated, will be temporarily shut down. The city’s 11 million residents have been warned not to leave, and visitors have been told to stay away. And with the death toll at 18 people and nearly 600 confirmed cases (including in the US, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam), authorities are worried about a jump in infections as millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year on Saturday. As researchers try to zero in on the origin of the virus, one candidate has been identified - snakes. Yesterday’s flight from Wuhan that landed in Sydney Airport yesterday just missed the city’s shutdown, and NSW Health confirmed a man from an earlier flight is being monitored.


MORRISON BACKS INQUIRY, BUT NOT MCKENZIE

PM Scott Morrison didn’t speak up in defence of Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie when given the opportunity yesterday. Instead, he found refuge from the growing scandal in an inquiry into the then-Sports Minister/current-Agriculture Minister’s divvying out of sports grants to Coalition seats ahead of last year’s election. For her part, Senator McKenzie said she will not resign and is “confident” she has not breached any ministerial standards. Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the saga “stinks more than a bucket of prawn heads that you left out on a hot day”. Reports say Coalition MPs are keen that the issue and/or McKenzie goes away before Parliament returns in the first week of February, so next week could be interesting…

And while we have you... PM Morrison’s father John died on Wednesday at 84yo. A former police officer and local councillor, he “lived a life of love, faith, duty and service,” Morrison said.


SEARCH FOR THE MISSING

Rescue teams are using thermal imaging drones and a robotic camera to locate a gold mine worker who is believed to be trapped in the Henty Gold Mine in western Tasmania after a section collapsed early yesterday. He is 1km underground, but police are hopeful of finding him alive. And the search for a Brisbane couple who are missing after their light plane crashed into the water near Queensland’s Moreton Island on Wednesday afternoon has identified debris scattered over a large area. Tough conditions have hindered efforts to recover the bodies of the 70yo man and 52yo woman.


STATE OF PLAY AT THE AUSSIE OPEN

Nick Kyrgios is through to a third-round match tomorrow night after a win last night against Frenchman Gilles Simon. He produced a Nadal-inspired comedy moment and went off track in the third set, but rallied to take the match in four. He joins John Millman and Alexei Popyrin in the last 32 of the men's comp. Millman is the only Aussie to have defeated the Fed-Express in a grand slam this century, and he’s looking to do it again today. Golden girl Ash Barty is the last Oz woman standing and goes head-to-head with Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina this morning. We'll be into the finals soon enough...


FOR WE ARE YOUNG AND FREE

Sunday is our national day, but a 2018 survey found fewer than 40% of us know what Australia Day commemorates. Nope, it’s not the day Captain Cook ‘discovered’ Australia. On 26 January 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet raised the Union Jack at Sydney Cove. Since then, Australia Day has long been celebrated in some shape or form, but it wasn't until 1994 that all states and territories recognised the date as a nationwide holiday. For many Indigenous Australians, Australia Day marks a long history of dispossession. And the push to change it is not a new thing with a Day of Mourning marked on Australia Day in 1938. Want to know more about all of that? We've got a #SquizShortcut that's perfect background as you refine your long weekend BBQ stoppers…


FRIDAY LITES - THREE (FOOD) THINGS WE LIKED THIS WEEK

First things first: a strike-a-light, fair dinkum BBQ tip that might come in handy this weekend. It’s going to take some beating for our favourite thing of the decade.

Don’t forget it’s the Lunar New Year on Saturday. This Kylie Kwong bowl of deliciousness and good luck will get a go at our place this weekend.

And Cooking with Paris. Paris Hilton that is. It's a lasagne-fuelled car crash in the best way possible. No one seems sure if the joke’s on us, or her…

SQUIZ THE DAY

Friday
UN International Day of Education

Anniversaries of the deaths Roman dictator Caligula (41), Sir Winston Churchill (1965), and notorious serial killer Ted Bundy (1989)

Saturday
Chinese New Year

Sunday
Australia Day - marking 232 years since Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack at Sydney Cove, New South Wales (1788)

Anniversary of the Rum Rebellion, the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history (1808)

A birthday for Ellen DeGeneres (1958)

Monday
Australia Day long weekend

12.00pm (AEDT) - 62nd Annual Grammy Music Awards - Los Angeles

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Army (1945)

Anniversary of the end of the Siege of Leningrad, which saw more than two million Russians killed (1944)

53rd anniversary of the Apollo 1 disaster (1967)

Which means... we're having a long weekend. Stay safe, and see you next Tuesday. 

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