Squiz Today – Friday, 4 November

THE SQUIZ
One of the top cops investigating the disappearance of 3yo William Tyrrell from the Mid North Coast of NSW in 2014 yesterday said he believed the boy’s former foster mother knows where he is. Detective Sergeant Andrew Lonergan was giving evidence in court against William’s woman, who was identified only as ‘SD’. She is facing charges of lying to the state’s Crime Commission over whether she struck another child in her care. SD’s lawyers say authorities are using the case to ramp up the pressure, and their belief that she was involved in Tyrrell’s disappearance is misplaced. Lonergan didn’t disagree that the charges were designed to extract information. “Our main objective is to find out where William Tyrrell is,” he said.

BACK IT UP A BIT…
Let’s go right back… On 12 September 2014 during a visit to Kendall from Sydney, William went missing. He was dressed in a Spiderman suit as he played outside his foster grandmother’s home with his 5yo sister. SD says she left them briefly to go inside, and she recounted the moment when she said it was “too quiet” and was unable to find him. A search was mounted, and after no sign of William was found, authorities concluded he had been kidnapped. What followed was one of its biggest-ever investigations launched by NSW Police involving hundreds of people of interest. In 2016, a $1 million reward for information leading to a conviction was offered. That remains in place, but William has not been found, and no one has been charged over his disappearance. And last year, a new search of the home and surrounds turned up nothing, but authorities have made it clear that SD is the only person they’re looking at.

WHAT’S NEXT?
There are these claims that William’s foster mother and father lied to the Crime Commission to get through first… Yesterday, the court heard audio recordings from March last year of a 10yo girl screaming “no, please no” and sobbing as she was allegedly hit with a wooden spoon by SD. The recordings come from phone taps and listening devices planted by police inside the family home. The child has since been removed from their care. Note: SD and her husband also face criminal charges for allegedly assaulting the child. As for the investigation into William’s disappearance, Homicide Squad boss Danny Doherty recently said that they have “a large volume of information” and looking into all “is a protracted process… This is all for William, and if it takes time and effort to get it right, it’s worth it,” he said

Quick world news wrap

KHAN SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT – Pakistan’s former PM/international cricket great Imran Khan was wounded in the leg when gunfire hit his vehicle overnight. He was leading a demonstration in the city of Wazirabad, calling for early elections. Police have a man in custody, and in interview footage that’s been released, the man says he did it because Khan was “misguiding the people.”

ETHIOPIANS AGREE TO A NEW PEACE DEAL – After 2 years of civil war that has led to an estimated 500,000 deaths, an unexpected peace deal has been struck between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. It’s not the first time a truce has been agreed, but it’s hoped this one will stick.

NOW JAPAN’S IN NORTH KOREA’S SIGHTS – Yep, it fired an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) in that direction yesterday, but reports say it failed mid-flight. On Wednesday, North Korea fired more than 23 missiles – the most it’s ever launched in a single day – and experts’ reckon leader Kim Jong Un may be preparing to fire a nuclear test missile.

Don’t be fooled by blue skies…

Authorities have warned that ‘blue sky floods‘ could hit eastern Oz over the coming days as vast amounts of water move downstream, creating new flood peaks. Residents of the NSW’s Forbes and Gunnedah are bracing for their worst flood on record. And with 50 out of 92 water storages in the Murray-Darling Basin full as a goog, many more towns are at risk. Victorians also face storms over the coming days and will shiver along with Tassie as a polar blast continues to bring unseasonably cool temperatures. And in South Australia, Riverland communities are being warned to expect high flows from the Murray River “well into January” due to upstream dam releases. Late yesterday, a body was found in the ongoing search for 2 Sydney fathers who went missing in NSW floodwaters earlier this week. 

New COVID wave on the horizon

Up to two-thirds of Aussies have had COVID-19. That’s the finding of Australia’s Immunisation Research Centre from its latest round of blood sample testing between June-August this year. The results point to about 65% of adults and 64% of kids being infected – that’s more than double the cases officially reported. Expert Dr Archana Koirala says the gap is down to many people being asymptomatic and some foregoing tests. And if you thought it was over… Officials are warning of another COVID wave in Australia in the coming weeks. Victoria had a 25% jump in cases last week, and NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says Australians will be exposed to more Omicron subvariants. Buckle up…

A fight for the finals

The Aussie men’s T20 team is hoping to nab a spot in the World Cup semi-finals – doing it is a bit complicated, though… In our group, we’re level with England and New Zealand on 5 points, Sri Lanka is just behind on 4, and Ireland is trailing on 3. Several scenarios can play out from the games played today and tomorrow – but long story short, Australia needs to beat Afghanistan tonight by quite a margin to be in with a shot. The team is likely to be without captain Aaron Finch – he’s struggling with a hamstring injury, and Cameron Green is set to step up. That’s difficult for Finch because it’s expected he’ll finish his T20 cricket career after the World Cup and before the next round of international games. But for tonight, he says they have to go in “all guns blazing” to keep the World Cup dream alive. C’mon Aussie…

Sniffing out the big cheese

Cheese = yes, please. So we were all ears when the World Cheese Awards proclaimed the ‘best cheese for 2022′ yesterday – it’s Le Gruyère AOP surchoix, entered by Swiss cheesemaker Vorderfultigen. Usually, these high-falutin’ European delights are something we Aussies can only dream of, but you can get your hands on this one here. The annual event was held in Wales after Ukraine had to back out for obvious reasons… But that didn’t dampen the mood or smell in the room, as 4,434 cheeses from 42 countries were assessed. Judges described the winner as a “really refined, hand-crafted cheese that melts on the tongue and has notes of herbs, fruits and leather.” Leather is not a taste profile we’d pick, but who are we to argue?

After scooping up 5 Emmy awards, The White Lotus is back for Season 2, and we’re so here for it. And although only one episode has dropped, foul play and fraternisation are already high on the agenda… It’s on Binge.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… Just so you know, we give ourselves one opportunity a year to say that, so we’re getting it out of the way early. Oprah’s Favourite Things list was released this week – we bags the wine glass cooler.

How about a simple, fresh pasta dish? This recipe goes one step further – its hero is a ball of burrata. Creamy/tomatoey goodness – and our plan to have it tonight is possibly the only thing getting us to the finish line today…

Friday
11.30am (AEDT) – Reserve Bank releases its quarterly statement on monetary policy

1.45pm (AEDT) – Tasmanian Australian of the Year award ceremony – Hobart

7.00pm (AEDT) – Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup – Australia v Afghanistan – Adelaide

7.10pm (AEDT) – AFLW qualifying final – Melbourne v Adelaide – Melbourne

Western Australia’s state of emergency ends

ABS release – Retail trade figures, September

Company AGM – Qantas

Tonga’s National Day

Roast Dinner Day – UK

A birthday for actor Matthew McConaughey (1969)

Anniversary of:
• the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt
• James Ritty patenting the first cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in his saloon in Dayton, Ohio (1879)
• archeologist Howard Carter discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt (1922)
• the premiere of the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)
• the election of Republican Ronald Reagan (1980) and Barack Obama becoming the first African-American to be elected President of the US (2008)