Squiz Today – Monday, 30 April

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“It's hard to beat Dancing Queen, isn't it?”

Fresh from the You’re The Voice scandal, PM Malcolm Turnbull was more comfortable naming his favourite ABBA song. The Swedish supergroup has announced they've returned to the recording studio for the first time in 35 years. Can you hear the drums, Fernando?

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TALKS AND TIME MOVE FORWARD ON NORTH KOREA

THE SQUIZ
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un will shut down his nuclear test site in May and invite experts and journalists from South Korea and the US to give the exercise full transparency. That’s but one outcome from Friday’s historic meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

WHAT ELSE WENT DOWN?
• Kim became the first North Korean leader to step into South Korea. And as is the fashion for world leaders these days, there was a good amount of handholding.

• North Korea will bring its clocks forward half-an-hour to realign with South Korea.

• US President Donald Trump was quick to take credit for the breakthroughs.

• He also said that his meeting with Kim would happen in “three to four weeks”.

• And Kim’s jogging bodyguards sure are something…

WHERE IS OZ IN ALL OF THIS?
PM Malcolm Turnbull and his senior ministers were supportive of the progress being made - but they're cautious. “There’s been false dawns before,” Turnbull said. Highlighting the approach, Australia is sending a military plane to Japan to help monitor North Korean ships to ensure UN sanctions are being upheld. Elvis would not be able to go on together…

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SQUIZ THE REST

EDUCATION SHAKEUP TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY
Reports this morning say Education Minister Simon Birmingham will today announce a new approach to education standards following the latest review by businessman David Gonski. A new assessment tool will help teachers develop individual programs to extend the kids who are cruising and better help those who are struggling. There will also be real-time testing to track performance. Wonder what the teachers will say… The review was prompted by results showing Aussie students are sliding down the international rankings in the key areas of literacy, maths and science.

FEEL THE PRE-BUDGET EXCITEMENT…
Some more early revelations:

• The Barrier Reef will get $500 million for restoration and protection projects. It’s the single largest funding commitment to the Reef in history. But conservationists and Labor said the Reef is in its worst ever state due to climate change.

• And Labor will dump the GST on tampons and pads if elected. And it will pay for the change by applying the GST to natural therapies like herbalism and naturopathy.

Only eight more sleeps until the big day…

US SET TO WALK FROM IRAN DEAL
We know you haven’t stopped thrilling your friends and loved ones with the news that Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron talked at length on this topic last week. Well, imagine how excited they will be to hear the update:

• Macron left Washington DC telling reporters he believed Trump would bail on the deal that scaled back sanctions against Iran in exchange for it scaling back its nuclear program. (He also left a tree that has disappeared...)

• And newly confirmed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hightailed it to the Middle East on the weekend to smooth the way for new sanctions against Iran over their continuing use of missiles in the region.

Watch this space...

NO WORD FROM AMP BOARD MEETING
They met into last night… but there was no word on what the board of AMP decided in relation to the future of its chairwoman Catherine Brenner and other members. The emergency meeting followed evidence given to the banking and financial services Royal Commission that the wealth managers mislead the regulator ASIC over the fee-for-no-service scandal. CEO Craig Meller left his job over the saga last week. It’s likely that AMP will put out a statement before the market opens at 10.00am this morning.

CELEBRATING SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS
• Twenty-one-year-old Aussie rugby league player Jordan Mailata has been drafted by American NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles, despite never having played the game. Mailata’s stats: he’s almost 7 foot tall (2 metres) and weighs 160kg.

• Peter Norman, the 200m sprint champ who won silver at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, was posthumously awarded an Order of Merit by the Australian Olympic Committee on the weekend. Norman still holds the record as the fastest Australian over the distance, but he is better known for standing in solidarity with the two black American athletes in their civil rights protest. Norman died in 2006.

• Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa has been acknowledged for riding the biggest wave ever surfed. It was 24.28 metres, the equivalent of an eight-storey building. Use it as inspiration to summon some courage this Monday.

SQUIZ THE DAY

International Jazz Day

Anniversary of the on-court stabbing of women's tennis star Monica Seles during play in Hamburg, Germany (1993)

Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon (1975)