Squiz Today / 12 January 2022

Squiz Today – Wednesday, 12 January

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Squiz Today Podcast

Getting you to the ‘good to go’ stage of the morning. 

Today’s listen time: 9 minutes

SYD
21 / 27
MEL
19 / 31
BNE
21 / 28
ADL
25 / 37
PER
24 / 37
HBA
12 / 20
DRW
27 / 33
CBR
16 / 25

Squiz Sayings

“Hyperpalatable”

Those are foods that are that special combination of fat, sugar, salt and carbohydrates and all sorts of yum. Studies say they can also interfere with brain signals so that we keep craving them even when we’re full. Did we also say they’re yum?

Floods and fires at opposite ends of Oz

THE SQUIZ
It’s summer, and in Australia, that means full-on weather… This week, that’s playing out with severe flooding in Queensland and bushfires in Western Oz’s South West.

LET’S START WITH QUEENSLAND…
It’s been a rough few days for the Wide Bay-Burnett region, which is 170-400km north of Brisbane. In more distressing news yesterday, the body of a farmer in his 50s who was trying to rescue cattle from the floodwaters was found – he’s the 2nd casualty of the disaster. Police are also considering scaling down the search for a missing teenager swept away in the water on Friday night. Yesterday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk toured flooded Maryborough and announced that former governor Paul de Jersey will lead the taskforce overseeing the cleanup operation. Further north, Tropical Cyclone Tiffany is moving west across the Cape York Peninsula after becoming a Category 2 storm overnight. Residents in the region are being urged to prepare for destructive winds and more rain.

AND HOW BAD ARE THE FIRES IN THE WEST?
Officials say it’s a “very serious situation”. The fires are burning in an area where holidaymakers flock each summer thanks to popular beaches and wineries. Eagle Bay and Bunker Bay sit on a peninsula accessible by one road – and it has been cut off by fire. Assisted convoys to help those who can be reached and who want to leave started late yesterday. An emergency warning is in place from Eagle Bay to Busselton, where an evacuation centre has been set up. Officials say it’s too hard to tell what damage has already been inflicted. “But once the area has been made safe, we will conduct a full assessment,” said fire incident controller Blake Moore.

Australian News Weather

Squiz the Rest

Djokovic may have faulted on travel form

As Immigration Minister Alex Hawke continues his consideration of whether to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa, attention has turned to a potential error on the tennis champ’s official border entry form. The passenger is asked if they have travelled in the 2 weeks before coming to Oz – he answered that he had not been anywhere. But Djokovic’s social media shows him at home in Belgrade, Serbia for Christmas, and then he was in Spain on 4 January before arriving in Melbourne on 5 January. “Providing false or misleading information or documentation to the Commonwealth can lead to visa cancellation and/or attract penalties, including under criminal law,” according to the Australian Border Force. Djokovic’s lawyers have not given his version of events yet. Meanwhile, Djokovic’s every move is being watched…

Sport

Government holds talks to stem supply shortages

A further loosening of the isolation rules for workers in critical industries is being looked at by the Federal Government as concerns build that staff shortages could see the economy falter. Rapidly rising COVID case numbers over the last fortnight have led to widespread supply chain issues – a trip to your local supermarket will show you that… And so urgent meetings between Morrison Government ministers and industry leaders, including those representing ports, airports, and the farming sectors, took place last night. Reports say work is also underway on a plan to allow close contacts who return a negative rapid test to come back to work in other fields, including child care and education. A lack of rapid antigen tests is the major sticking point… State and territory leaders will be asked to sign up to national rules governing critical industry workforces when they meet for National Cabinet tomorrow.

Australian News

Putin under pressure

After intense, 7-hour talks in Geneva yesterday, US and Russian officials are far from reaching an agreement on Ukraine. Following the meeting – which US analysts say aimed to test Russian President Vladimir Putin’s commitment to ending the crisis – his Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine. But with more than 100,000 Russian troops massed on the border, there are more than a few sceptics among US and European officials… Next up: a NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels today.

World News

Pig heart transplant a world-first

If you needed more proof that science is amazing, doctors have transplanted a pig heart into a patient in a “do or die” effort. The hugely-experimental surgery took place in a hospital in America’s Maryland, and while it’s too soon to know that it’s worked, the patient – 57yo handyman David Bennett – is doing well 3 days post-op. “It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” Bennett said before the transplant. Previous efforts to use animal organs have failed, with patients’ bodies rejecting it soon after. This time surgeons used a heart from a genetically modified animal that doesn’t have a specific sugar in its cells responsible for organ rejection. The group that manages transplant lists in the US says it’s a “watershed event”, but others aren’t counting it as a success quite yet.

Health

Switzerland and France in a cheese stink

Gruyere cheese – one of the most underwhelming subjects of the cheese kingdom – does not have to come from the Gruyere region of Europe to be sold under that name. That’s the decision of a federal judge in the US. In a statement of the blindingly obvious, Gruyères in Switzerland is ground zero for Gruyere cheese. And Swiss and French cheesemakers from the region say they have been making it to exacting standards in those parts since the early 12th century. But their claim for trademark protections from America’s Trademark Trials and Appeals Board was denied – and now it’s been rejected by the US District Court. Decades of importation, production, and sale of the cheese outside the region has eroded the meaning of the term, the judge found. They will likely find some sympathy from Kiwiland’s Manuka honey producers

Quirky News World News

Apropos of Nothing

Streaming has transformed how the world listens to music, but new data shows that vinyl and CD sales surged in 2021. That’s down to the release of 2 bestselling albums: Adele’s 30, and Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version). Onya ladies…

In Norway – where military service is mandatory – the country’s army says shortages mean conscripts have to return their used underwear, bras and socks so the next round of recruits can use them. Eco-friendly or eww – you decide…

And after downsizing, British actor Sir Michael Caine is auctioning off some of his most cherished possessions, including 60 years’ worth of film memorabilia, most of his personal art collection, and a Rolex watch. The entire catalogue is coming, but you can get started here.

Quirky News

Squiz the Day

ABS Data Release – Job Vacancies, November 2021

A special NATO-Russia Council meeting is held amid Ukraine crisis – Brussels, Belgium

Birthdays for author Haruki Murakami (1949), Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (1964) and pop star Zayn Malik (1993)

Anniversary of:
• Josef Dzhugashvili first using the pseudonym Stalin (“man of steel”) in a letter penned to the newspaper Social Democrat (1913)
• the founding of Timely Comics (later Marvel) by New York publisher Martin Goodman (1939)
• the death of British crime novelist Agatha Christie (1976)
• an earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 200,000 people (2010)

Squiz the Day

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