Squiz Today – Friday, 4 May

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“My whole life has been a lie.”

Said one Swedish meatball fan after the nation’s official Twitter account acknowledged that the iconic morsels of goodness are actually Turkish. Apparently, King Charles XII brought the recipe home from Turkey in the early 18th century, as well as coffee and stuffed cabbage. Two out of three then…

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HADDAD MURDER TEAM GOES WEST

THE SQUIZ
NSW Police detectives arrived in Perth last night to question the friends of 38yo Brazilian businesswoman Cecilia Haddad, who was found dead in Sydney’s Lane Cove River on Sunday. The key points to catch you up:

• Police didn’t initially think her death was suspicious but now believe she was murdered.

• They are now trying to find out what happened in the missing 24 hours between Saturday morning when she spoke to friends on the phone and Sunday morning when her body was found in the water by kayakers.

• Her former boyfriend, Mario Marcelo Santoro, who flew from Sydney to Brazil on the weekend, is someone police are keen to speak to.

• Reports say Haddad had broken up with Santoro some months ago, but he remained living in her apartment until she asked him to move out of two weeks before her death.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HER?
Haddad was a mining logistics executive who had been living in Australia for more than a decade. She initially lived in Perth working for BHP and moved to Sydney a couple of years ago. She had been married – her ex-husband Felipe Torres, who still lives in Perth, flew east this week to identify her body. Her mother Milu Muller said that her daughter was; "a very talented, intelligent girl with a pure heart. She did not believe that people were cruel and selfish. She always forgave and gave people one more chance. I think she was too good for this world." A close Perth friend said she's ready to share Haddad's secrets with police.

WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME ABOUT THIS?
This will likely be a high profile case that you’ll probably see in the media a lot in the coming weeks and months. Would you have preferred a deep dive into what to expect from the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy statement that’s out today? Because you know we would have been up for it…

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SQUIZ THE REST

LABOR TO BAAAA-N LIVE SHEEP EXPORTS
Sorry, we’ll pull it together… Labor’s Agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon yesterday say Labor would implement a ban if elected. The transition would take some years to implement, he said, with farmers needing time to restructure. PM Malcolm Turnbull said a scientific review, due to be delivered in the next few weeks, will give the government a better basis to consider the matter.

TRUMP REPAID LAWYER FOR STORMY KISS-OFF
And by kiss-off we mean the $130,000 adult actress Stormy Daniels received from Michael Cohen, a personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump, in the run-up to the presidential election. Trump’s newest lawyer, former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, made the revelation and Trump backed him up overnight adding that no campaign funds were used. That doesn’t mean Trump knew about the ins-and-outs (ahem) of the arrangement, Giuliani said. “Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this with my clients... These are busy people,” he said. Prosecutors are all over this because Daniels’ silence may have affected the election outcome.

HAWAII’S SUNSCREEN BAAAA-N
That gag does not work in this context at all… Hawaii lawmakers have passed a law to ban the sale of sunscreens with the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate because they can be harmful to coral reefs. This means holidaymakers and locals won’t be able to buy some of the most popular sunscreens in the idyllic US state from 2021. The jury’s out on what impact the move will have on coral conservation with one expert saying things like climate change, pollution, predators and overfishing were bigger issues. And local medicos worry the move would leave people exposed to skin cancer risks. The governor is yet to sign the bill into law.

QUICK BUSINESS NEWS WRAP
BYE, ESPRIT – The clothing retailer will close all 67 of its Australian and Kiwi stores because they weren’t profitable enough. The retailer is close to the heart of any preppy girl who grew up in the 80s and 90s - their logo jumpers were a wardrobe staple.

MYER ON THE UP – Its share price is up 15% this week, which sounds impressive until you remember the beating its taken in recent months. Reports say the jump was likely down to its chairman Garry Hounsell and other board members purchasing large parcels of shares. It’s a confidence game…

SIMS POWERS UP – ACCC chairman Rod Sims told power companies yesterday that he will tackle the ongoing and massive electricity price increases in a report due next month. “When you look at this from an affordability perspective there's problems all over the place," he said.

CRICKET MOVES ON
It’s hard to believe sandpaper-gate was only six weeks ago given all the angry heat it generated. And in a sign the organisation is moving on, Cricket Australia has appointed former batsman-turned-WA state coach Justin Langer as the new national coach. Langer replaces Darren Lehmann who was not implicated in the incident in South Africa that brought Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft unstuck, but resigned anyway. Lots of people said they expected Langer would make a positive impact on the team.

FRIDAY LITES – THREE THINGS WE LIKED THIS WEEK
If you’re interested in food and health and what the fads and trends mean, this is a terrific read. It was recommended to us by a nutritionist friend who said it was a good take on a fraught area.

Botox for your hair. "Must-try method" or a catastrophic waste of $1,000? You decide.

Suede is back. Makes us wish we kept our brown Laura Ashley jacket circa 1996.

SQUIZ THE DAY

Friday

11.30am - Reserve Bank releases its quarterly statement on monetary policy

ABS Data Release -  Livestock and Meat, March

Macquarie Group FY18 Results Announcement

International Firefighters' Day

Star Wars Day (May the Fourth Be With You...)

Anniversary of Audrey Hepburn's birthday (1929)

Saturday

International Day of the Midwife

200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birthday

Sunday

Lebanese parliamentary election