Squiz Today – Thursday, 6 June

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“Reports from the hospital are that she had no ill effects from the spin."

Said the helicopter rescuers of an injured 75yo hiker in Arizona. She was spinning around, move out of her way. They say she wasn’t feeling it, but she probably didn’t like it like this…

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WORLD LEADERS IN D-DAY TRIBUTE

THE SQUIZ
PM Scott Morrison has joined the Queen and 16 world leaders including UK PM Theresa May, US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Portsmouth to honour the Allied soldiers who fought in the D-Day landings at Normandy in France. "When I attended the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, some thought it might be the last such event. But the wartime generation, my generation, is resilient," the Queen said. It was the first of the big official ceremonies to mark today's 75th anniversary of the dangerous and bloody operation that changed the course of World War II.

TELL ME MORE…
• D-Day was the largest combined naval, air and land operation in the history of warfare. It was a massive assault by Allied forces on Nazi-occupied France. Eleven months later, they had beaten the Germans to win the war in Europe.

• It was a massive commitment of troops by the Allied forces, particularly by the Brits, Americans and Canadians. In total, 2 million troops from 12 countries were in Britain preparing for the invasion, including 3,000 Australians.

• Starting in the early hours of 6 June 1944, 18,000 Allied forces parachuted into drop zones across northern France. And 7,000 naval vessels took more than 150,000 ground troops to launch assaults on five beaches - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

• When the D-Day forces landed, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was asleep. The Nazis lost crucial hours as the Allies established a foothold along the coast because Hitler’s generals would not order reinforcements without his permission, and no-one dared to wake him.

• By the end of that day, a much needed second front in Europe had been established - at a significant cost. Some 4,400 Allied troops died, and 9,000 were wounded or missing. Total German casualties on the day are not known, but it was thought to be between 4,000 and 9,000 men.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Leaders head to Juno Beach in Normandy for a commemoration service at 6pm on Thursday local time. Somewhere in the program, PM Morrison wants to talk to President Trump about the trade war with China. Hopefully he picks an appropriate moment… In the meantime, you can learn more about this incredible chapter of war history via this great resource put together by the Imperial War Museum. But one question - why is it called D-Day? The ‘D' stands for ‘day'. So as the operation was being planned, the day before it was referred to as D-1, and the day after was D+1. That noise you can hear is our penny dropping…

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SQUIZ THE REST

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UPDATE ON DARWIN SHOOTINGS

More details surfaced yesterday about the shooting rampage in Darwin that left four men dead and one woman seriously injured.

• The alleged shooter - He was identified as 45yo Ben Hoffmann. He went to seven locations in three different cars during his shooting spree. Hoffman was on parole and police said they would use information from his electronic monitoring bracelet in their investigation.

• The victims - Taxi driver Hassan Baydoun (33yo) is the only named victim. Police said the three other men were 75yo, 57yo and 52yo. It is not yet known what, if any link the men had to Hoffman. Witnesses said Hoffmann was looking for a man named Alex – who was later found interstate safe and sound.

• The weapons - Hoffmann allegedly used a prohibited gun, and police think it may have been stolen as far back as 1997. It's also alleged he used a knife in the attack at the Buff Club.

Members of Hoffmann's family offered their condolences to the families of the victims.

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AFP RAIDS SAID TO CHALLENGE PRESS FREEDOMS

The home of the Sunday Telegraph's political editor Annika Smethurst was raided on Tuesday over a story she wrote last year about security agency plans to expand surveillance of Australian citizens. And yesterday it was the ABC’s turn over a 2017 series called "The Afghan Files" investigating the potential unlawful killing of Afghani civilians by Australian soldiers. Both stories involved leaked sensitive government documents, but the AFP says the raids were not linked and no journalist has been charged. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he was not made aware of the raids until afterwards. Media representatives said the stories were in the public interest and “all Australians who value their freedom in an open society” should be concerned.

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ECONOMIC GROWTH REMAINS DODGY

Feeling a bit sluggish as the year goes on? So does our economy… Official figures out yesterday covering the first three months of 2019 showed the economy grew 0.4%, taking the annual rate to 1.8%. And that’s the slowest growth we’ve seen since the September quarter in 2009 (aka primetime for the Global Financial Crisis). Our annual economic growth rate was 2.4% in 2018 - just a touch outside the Reserve Bank’s target of 2.5% - and that target rate was downgraded from 3%. That puts 1.8% growth firmly in 'yikes' territory… Experts are hoping that this week’s interest rate cut will go some way to getting us spending and investing.

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COLES IN A MILKSHAKE

The dairy industry has a new issue to get its head around - supermarket giant Coles is changing the way it buys milk in the two biggest states - NSW and Victoria. On the main, Coles and Woolworths have bought their own brand milk products through a processor like Fonterra or Parmalat, and the processor then sources the milk from the farmers. So with all the upheaval in recent years over $1 milk, the drought and structural changes in the dairy industry, calls for the supermarkets to do more to support dairy farmers have largely gone unheeded because there was no direct financial relationship. But Coles will now go directly to farmers, and you might recall in February Woolies increased the price of its milk to $1.10 a litre - two changes that seemed unlikely not that long ago.

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QUICK SPORTS NEWS WRAP

STATE OF ORIGIN – The Blues came out strong and dominated the first half at Suncorp Stadium in Brissie last night – helped by three disallowed tries to the Maroons. But the Cane Toads rallied in the second half to take the first match of the series 18-14. And the streets of Brisbane last night ran with XXXX…

ASH BARTY PUT ON ICE - Don't worry, there are no injury concerns. Her French Open quarter-final against American Madison Keys was delayed last night due to rain. So until 8pm (AEST) tonight…

JAMES MAGNUSSEN RETIRES - The 28yo two-time world 100 metres freestyle champion and London Olympic silver medallist has called time on his swimming career. He’s suffered shoulder injuries and says it’s unlikely he’ll reach the “lofty standards” he’s set himself. A blip on his record was his role as one of the ‘Stilnox Six’ when the men's relay team were raked over the coals for bad behaviour. Swimming officials said he could be proud of his achievements in the pool.

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SAY IT ISN’T SO…

Punky Brewster. Questionable the first time around, and now there’s talk of a comeback… For whatever we’ve done to deserve that, we profusely apologise.

SQUIZ THE DAY

8.00pm (AEST) - French Open Quarter Final - Ash Barty v Madison Keys

8.30pm - Start of season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale - SBS

ABS Data Release - It’s big. How big? International Trade in Goods and Services, April; Building Approvals, April; Corrective Services, March quarter; Assets and Liabilities of Australian Securitisers, March; Managed Funds, March; Industrial Disputes, March. And breathe…

Start of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (on until 8 June)

Sweden’s National Day

Queensland Day marking the day the Sunshine State was established as a separate colony from New South Wales (1859)