Squiz Today – Thursday, 27 May

SQUIZ SAYINGS

"I must say, which is very, very important, that I love and respect China and Chinese people. I'm very, very sorry for my mistake. I apologise.”

Said former wrestler/Hollywood star John Cena after he called Taiwan a 'country'. He’s been promoting the latest in the Fast & Furious franchise, and critics could have been forgiven for thinking he was saying sorry for the film given the reviews…

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MELBOURNE ON EDGE - AGAIN…

THE SQUIZ
We'll find out today if tough restrictions are to be reintroduced to stop the spread of COVID in Greater Melbourne after an outbreak grew to 15 cases yesterday. Acting Premier James Merlino yesterday said “I cannot rule out taking some further action” depending on where things land today. Six new cases were reported yesterday - all linked and accounted for, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said. But with more than 60 exposure sites, contact tracers have their work cut out for them, putting Melburnians on edge that a 4th lockdown (or a ‘locky d’ as the cool kids call it…) is coming.

THAT DOESN’T SOUND GOOD…
Well, let’s see what they say today before getting our disaster pants on. Not waiting to see what happens is the AFL... Saturday’s Gold Coast v Hawthorn game scheduled to be played in Darwin will likely find another venue. And they have put Victorian-based players and staff into a lockdown of sorts asking them to limit their movements until more is known. With play set to resume tomorrow night, details about how that will be managed are eagerly awaited by footy clubs and fans. Also not waiting is South Oz with last night’s reinstatement of a border ban for residents of Greater Melbourne. If there's some good news, the episode seems to have given Victorians a push to get vaccinated.

WHEN IS THIS GOING TO BE OVER?
Dunno, but that could be a question being posed by UK PM Boris Johnson. Overnight, his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings told a parliamentary committee that "tens of thousands of people died, who didn't need to die" because Johnson is unfit for the top job. Cummings said one of the PM’s ideas in the early stages of last year was to have an injection of the virus on live telly... But back at the starting line asking how this all started is Australia, the US, UK and others… The World Health Organization’s big annual meeting has convened, and calls for a more in-depth investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic's origins rang loud and clear after an international mission to China earlier this year failed to yield a definitive answer.

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SQUIZ THE REST

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A REPORT THAT MIGHT GET LOST IN THE GOVERNMENT'S MAIL…

The Labor-Greens dominated Senate committee looking into former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate’s departure from the government enterprise yesterday handed down a damning report. They’ve made 25 recommendations, including an apology from PM Scott Morrison to Holgate and an Auditor-General's investigation into the role Communications Minister Paul Fletcher played in her departure over the purchase of $20,000 of Cartier watches as rewards for senior execs. They also say chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo should go, and the board should be overhauled. And blow us over with a feather if the Coalition committee members’ dissenting report didn’t put a rosier spin on things… For her part, Holgate would like an apology and is now seeking a $700,000 payout and her legal fees covered despite previously saying she did not want “any financial compensation”.

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A YEAR ON FROM FLOYD’S MURDER

As people in cities around America yesterday marked the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, members of Floyd’s family met in Washington with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The topic of conversation was centred on what could be done to get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed through Congress to start the ball rolling on police reform. Biden had set the anniversary as the deadline for the legislation to be passed, and he's copped some flack from Black Lives Matter activists, including Floyd’s sister, for not meeting it. Another person doing it tough yesterday was Darnella Frazier. It was the footage she captured on her mobile phone of Chauvin with his knee on Floyd's neck for almost 9 minutes that took things to another level. Speaking publicly for the first time, the 18yo said "I'm a girl trying to heal from something I am reminded of every day."

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE…

Apple has released a couple of major upgrades for their iPhones and iPads in recent times, and yesterday it said the latest is not to be ignored because it includes some major security updates covering 43 vulnerabilities. Apple is not forthcoming with the specifics, but reports say there are potential issues with hackers getting all up in device owners’ business via Safari. The update also unleashes support for subscriptions to access paywalled podcasts on the Apple app. This brings us to an issue with the last update… Podcast listeners worldwide have been unable to receive new episodes of their favourite podcasts on their updated devices. It’s been a nightmare for us at The Squiz, let us tell you… Fingers crossed this update sorts that out too.

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SOCCER MAKES IT TO BROADCASTERS’ BIG LEAGUES

For the first time, Australia’s premier men’s and women’s soccer comps will be aired on free-to-air TV following a deal between the A-League/W-League and Network 10. A number wasn’t confirmed, but reports say the 5-year deal is worth $200 million in cash and commercial/promotional support that will see games aired on Ten and the streaming service Paramount+ owned by parent company ViacomCBS. While soccer is one of the country's most popular sports for participation, particularly for kids, it's lagged behind NRL and AFL, whose rights are worth billions of dollars.

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THE ONE WHERE WE FIND OUT IF THEY REALLY WERE THERE FOR YOU…

Friends: The Reunion - it’s on at 5.02pm AEST to be precise. And we're being precise because there are people for whom this is a significant event… You do you and #nojudgement, but it will be a TV spectacular with the 90s cultural touchstone raising its head in the 2020s pandemic era - get your head around that… To help Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer (aka Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross) are some famous fans including Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Malala Yousafzai. Have we ever told you about our theory that there are 2 types of people in the world - Friends’ fans and everyone else? Test it out at your next dinner party… Get a cup from Central Perk and settle in on Binge.

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APROPOS OF NOTHING

Missed last night’s blood supermoon? Never mind, pics of the only total lunar eclipse of 2021 are here.

Sea snot - now there are 2 words we’ve never put together before. But in Turkey, it’s totally a thing.

Last week, we told you about the value of weird dreams. Taking it to another level is renowned Sherpa Kami Rita. Set to extend his record number of Mount Everest ascents to 26, he stopped his most recent climb more than halfway to the top after having a bad dream. “The gods were telling me not to go and because I really believe in God, I decided to return.” Fair enough.

SQUIZ THE DAY

Australian-Chinese academic/writer Yang Hengjun in court on espionage charges - Beijing

Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea - the big Cancer Council fundraiser

5.02pm (AEST) - Friends: The Reunion - on Binge

ABS Data Release - Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, March

Birthdays for Henry Kissinger (1923), Pauline Hanson (1954), Neil Finn (1958), Joseph Fiennes (1970), and Jamie Oliver (1975)

Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel and Aussie model/entrepreneur Miranda Kerr celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary (2017)

Anniversary of:
• the Habeaus Corpus Act (strengthening a person's right to challenge unlawful arrest and imprisonment) passes in England (1679)
• the founding of Saint Petersburg by Russian Tsar Peter the Great (1703)
• Australians voting in favour of a constitutional referendum granting the government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and count them in the national census (1967)
• actor Christopher Reeve becoming paralysed from the neck down after falling from a horse (1995)
• Russian President Boris Yeltsin signing a historic treaty with NATO (1997)
• the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicting 4 people including President Slobodan Milošević for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo (1999)
• BTS becoming the first K-pop group to top the US Billboard 200 with their album Love Yourself: Tear (2018)