Squiz Today / 22 September 2021

Squiz Today – Wednesday, 22 September

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Squiz Today Podcast

We’ll take you through it.

Today’s listen time: 9 minutes

SYD
9 / 20
MEL
10 / 17
BNE
10 / 24
ADL
9 / 17
PER
11 / 27
HBA
9 / 20
DRW
24 / 36
CBR
-1 / 17

Squiz Sayings

“He used to get in a lot of trouble from my grandmother.”

Said Prince William of one of Prince Philip’s favourite games – getting his grandchildren to squirt mustard all over the ceiling. He was as keen as…

Mixed agendas with vaccination at its core

THE SQUIZ
Three police officers and a journo were injured and 62 protestors were arrested in ugly scenes in Melbourne yesterday. Kicking off in the CBD in the morning, Victoria Police boss Shane Patton said up to 2,000 people were involved in demonstrations that brought traffic on the West Gate Freeway to a standstill before the large group headed back into the city. Along the way, windows were smashed, flares were lit, and glass bottles/dangerous projectiles were thrown at police and the media. Authorities responded with pepper balls, smoke rounds, stinger grenades and rubber bullets. Who those demonstrators were is now the subject of debate

SO WHAT’S GOING ON?
The Victorian Government has tied some of the spread of COVID in the state to construction sites. On Monday, negotiations with the construction union went from bad to worse. Workers angry about a requirement to have at least one vaccination shot by early October and anti-vaxxers attacked the union’s headquarters, leading the government to shut the construction industry down for a fortnight. Yesterday was a continuation of that melange of unionists and ‘freedom’ protestors, along with those from “far-right and neo-Nazi groups” – in what proportion is unknown. Union leaders say “a small minority” of those involved yesterday were union members, and their concerns were being hijacked. Thanking police for their response, Premier Daniel Andrews said there was “no excuse for the terrible behaviour we have seen in our city over the last 2 days.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
According to the protestors, they’ll be back again today. More than 500 police will be waiting for them in the CBD as a deterrent. One of the chants that could be heard yesterday was “every day” – that means they plan to come back again and again. They were also singing along to Daryl Braithwaite’s Horses. We don’t know what that means other than it’s a banging tune…

Australian News

Squiz the Rest

Push to get kids vaccinated, Queensland border bubble bursts, and a sad milestone for America

• Aussie kids aged 5-11yo could get their first COVID jab by Christmas, depending on when pharma giant Pfizer makes an application to Australia’s medicines regulator. Regulatory approval will be sought in America later this month, and Health Minister Greg Hunt yesterday urged Pfizer to get things rolling here at the same time.

• The latest members of the locked-down family are residents in the Byron, Kempsey and Tweed shires of NSW. A 7-day snap lockdown comes after a woman from Sydney working in the area on the latest season of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here tested positive. That burst the Queensland border bubble

• And a new bleak milestone – the number of American lives claimed by COVID has passed those from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. More than 675,000 Americans have now died from COVID, and new modelling predicts that could climb to 776,000 by the year’s end. Note: COVID’s death rate is lower than the Spanish flu.

Health World News

‘America is back’

That’s US President Joe Biden’s message for world leaders in his first address as the country’s leader to the United Nations. “We must work together like never before,” he told the General Assembly in the latest effort to patch up frayed relationships after 4 years of the Trump era’s ‘America First’ approach. Biden’s also overseen a difficult couple of months on the global cooperation front… Tensions with allies over America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the major diplomatic row with France over AUKUS have jangled nerves. Thierry Breton, the EU Commissioner for internal markets, yesterday said that “something is broken between our relations in Europe and the US”. Ouch… Biden’s met with PM Scott Morrison this morning, and his schedule includes many others. Given the pressure, you can bet he’ll get tactile

Australian News World News

Back where they started

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has been returned following Monday’s election – but he didn’t win enough seats to form a majority. Given he called the significantly early poll to shake off minority government, the whole exercise has been seen as a misfire from Team Trudeau. Even an endorsement from former US President Barack Obama didn’t move the dial much… Canada’s House of Commons has 338 seats, and at least 170 are required to form a majority. This time around, it’s likely the Liberal Party have claimed 156, and the Conservatives look like landing back on 122 – the same as last time. Now, political buffs say Trudeau is back to “square one” and will again rely on the support of others to pass legislation and pursue his political agenda.

World News

Evergrande a grande-sized problem

Markets worldwide shook yesterday following news that China’s biggest property developer Evergrande is on the brink of collapse. Until recently, the real estate giant was riding high, and that saw the company take out big loans. But in August, the sector was hit by government controls to improve housing affordability, forcing Evergrande’s debts past US$300 billion. With that sort of debt comes a big interest bill that it’s struggling to pay… Chinese regulators say its collapse would be bad for the country’s economy. And analysts fear the impact felt by banks and other companies linked to Evergrande could cause mayhem in world markets because of #globalisation. ​​

Business & Finance World News

Do you remember…

…the 21st of September? Geez it’s a good time of year… We’ll give you 2 reasons why. First, every year for the last 5 years, writer/comedian/filmmaker Demi Adejuyigbe throws out his remix of Earth, Wind & Fire’s iconic song along with an epic dance routine and custom t-shirts. Over 20162017201820192020 – and now 2021 – things have become more elaborate. And in recent times, he’s put the challenge to the people – donate $50,000 to charity, and he’ll do one next year. Over the last 12 months, $330,000 was raised. “It kind of feels like a prison I’ve built myself. September 22nd is a very nice moment when I don’t have to think about that,” he said last year. The 2nd reason to be excited – the countdown to Fat Bear Week has started…

Quirky News

Apropos of Nothing

A swarm of bees have killed 63 endangered African penguins in South Africa. Yep, we had to read that one twice too.

One poor kangaroo and a couple of blokes had a chilly start yesterday after the bouncy half of our coat of arms had to be pulled out of Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin. It was a heart-starting 0C…

After sinking and roughing up a few boats in Ireland, Wales, France, Spain and the UK, Wally the wandering walrus has been spotted again in Iceland. Leaving an enormous following of fans behind, marine experts say the 800kg giant is heading home to the Arctic.

Quirky News

Squiz the Day

World Car-Free Day

World Rhino Day

Hobbit Day – marking the birthdays of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins

Birthdays for musician Nick Cave (1957), rocker Joan Jett (1958), Brazilian footballer Ronaldo (1976) and Harry Potter actor Tom Felton (1987)

Anniversary of:
• the last executions of the Salem Witch Trials (1692)
• Robert Walpole becoming the first British PM to live at 10 Downing Street (1735)
• the birthday of former PM Ben Chifley (1885)
• the debut of TV shows Charlie’s Angels (1964), Baywatch (1989), Friends (1994), The West Wing (1999) and Lost (2004)

Squiz the Day

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