Friday, 16 May - Where did you go now

May 16, 2025

Good morning, it’s Friday, 16 May. In your Squiz Today…

  • Putin passes on peace talks

  • The Erin Patterson trial loses a juror

  • And an easy chocolate cake for World Baking Day…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“Our next target is the Friday morning launch window. Stay tuned for updates.”

Said Aussie space company Gilmour Space Technologies after a planned rocket launch in Queensland had to be abandoned. It’ll be at least another week before the first ever Aussie rocket launch, but a jar of Vegemite that’s on board will still be good - that stuff keeps for ages…

Putin passes on peace talks

The Squiz

Direct talks between Russia and Ukraine were planned in the Turkish city of Istanbul today, but they're in danger of being a fizzer after a bunch of no-shows. Firstly, Russian officials confirmed that President Vladimir Putin, who proposed the talks in the first place, would not be attending them personally. That meant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he'd only go if Putin did, has also given them a miss - as has US President Donald Trump, who is currently in the United Arab Emirates. Trump said this morning that “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together”.

So who has turned up?

Both Russia and Ukraine have sent delegations - Ukraine will be led by its Defence Minister Rustern Umerov and Putin has sent some of his advisers, led by his presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who said Russia was ready to discuss "possible compromises". Zelensky, who is in Turkey, but in the capital of Ankara where he's meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, said he believes the fact that Putin isn't there means Russia isn't serious about the talks. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also in Turkey - but he’s in a different city, Antalya (there’s a lot going on…) for a meeting with NATO foreign ministers. He said this morning that he has “low expectations” for the talks, and it sounds like he’s not alone… 

So what happens now?

It’s still unclear if a meeting will even happen… European leaders including UK PM Keir Starmer have been pushing for a 30-day ceasefire, and they’ve said that if Russia doesn’t get that done by the end of this week, they’ll issue more sanctions - on top of the 17 packages so far - to continue to hurt the country’s economy and build pressure on it to come to the table. Starmer said Putin’s no-show was a sign the Russian President was “dragging his feet” and blamed him alone for the delay. While all this is going on, fighting is continuing on the frontlines in Ukraine - both sides reported more drone strikes on their territory overnight, and Russia is currently in control of about 20% of Ukrainian land.

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Squiz the Rest

More strikes hit Gaza

Israeli airstrikes have hit multiple hospitals across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, killing at least 103 people. Israel says it was targeting Mohammed Sinwar - the current rumoured leader of Hamas in Gaza/the younger brother of late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar - when it struck a hospital in Khan Younis. There’s been no confirmation of his whereabouts since. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says Hamas “command and control centres” are located underneath several hospitals, but aid agencies say thousands of civilians are sheltering at them. At the same time, Israel has issued broad evacuation orders for residents of Gaza City ahead of more “intense strikes”. Authorities on the ground say it will take time for the civilians to evacuate.

A mushroom trial juror is dismissed

There are only 14 jurors remaining in the trial of Erin Patterson, who is charged with the murders of 3 relatives with a beef Wellington containing death cap mushrooms. Justice Christopher Beale said he'd received reports that a male juror in the case had discussed it with family members or friends, which the jury was told was a big no-no at the start of the trial. Beale told the remaining jurors that while he hadn't confirmed that the discussions had taken place, there was a "reasonable possibility" that the reports were credible, so the juror had been removed. Of the 14 remaining, 2 will be removed once all the evidence is complete, so a final 12 can arrive at a verdict. The trial is expected to run for several more weeks, so hopefully no other jurors cause any problems…

Waters to fix the Greens' troubles

We’ve got our second new party leader of the week after Queensland Senator Larissa Waters was unanimously elected the fifth leader of the Greens yesterday. Waters was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and has had a couple of notable moments - her daughter Alia became the first baby to be breastfed in the federal parliament in 2017, and she had to leave parliament the same year after discovering she was a dual citizen. She's taking charge of the Greens after the party lost 3 lower house seats at the federal election, to be left with just the one. But the party's total of 11 seats in the Senate does give the party some bargaining power with the Albanese government, which can pass legislation with just the Greens' backing. Waters says the party will be "firm but constructive" in any negotiations.

No second-game blues for this lot

NSW have taken out this year’s Women’s State of Origin, easily defeating Queensland in Game 2 of the series to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead. It was very wet at Allianz Stadium in Sydney and the ground was slippery, but the Blues seemed to handle the conditions the best, scoring 5 tries on the trot - including 2 from player of the match Olivia Kernick - after Queensland opened the scoring. The third game in the series is in Newcastle on 29 May. And while we're on the topic of rugby league, one of the country's most high-profile media executives, Channel 7's news boss Anthony de Ceglie, has called it quits after just over a year in the gig - the former editor of The West Australian is off to become CEO of the new Perth Bears NRL franchise.

We’re not out of the woods yet

A legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, the former co-stars of the 2024 film It Ends With Us, has been going on all year and is not slowing down… Yesterday, Baldoni’s lawyers accused Blake Lively’s team of extorting her friend, gigantic pop star Taylor Swift, by threatening to release text messages “of a private nature” between the 2 unless the singer publicly supported Lively. And that was after Swift was already dragged into the case last Friday when she was subpoenaed by the court - aka asked to give evidence - but her team has said it’s just a ‘clickbait’ move to drag her name into it and Swift had barely anything to do with the movie, outside letting a song of hers be used on the soundtrack. Sounds like she’s saying Don’t Blame Me…

*It's a long-running saga, so if you'd like some background on how it all started, we have a Squiz Shortcut for that…

Friday Lites - 3 things we liked this week

It’s not especially ‘lite’, but we’ve been watching the Prime Video series The Narrow Road to the Deep North, an adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. It’s dark (sometimes quite literally) and introspective, but it’s incredibly well-acted and we suspect it will stay with you…

It's Eurovision season, so that seems like a good time to revisit one of the great Eurovision songs that never was - Icelandic singer Daði Freyr’s 2020 hit Think About Things. As you might have guessed from the year, it didn't get to compete in the final as the competition was cancelled due to COVID, but it's a banger…

It's World Baking Day tomorrow, and this Easy One-Layer Chocolate Afternoon Cake ticks all the boxes in the title. It takes less than an hour to whip up, and then you can get back to catching up on Eurovision or listening to our Squiz Shortcut on that very topic. As Go-Jo would say, sweet sweet, yum yum…

Squiz the Day

Friday
5.00am (AEST) - Eurovision Second Semi-Final Round 2 in Basel, featuring Australia’s own Go-Jo (PSA: he went first), watch it on SBS On Demand

5.00am (AWST) - The Ord Valley Muster Festival kicks off in Kununurra, East Kimberley, WA (until 26 May)

9.00am (AEST) - Court appearance for Ellouisa Patrician Brighton, the mother of 5 charged with the murder of 3 of her children in a Toowoomba house fire last week - Brisbane

10.15am (AEST) - Judgement for Ben Roberts-Smith’s appeal over defamation findings - Sydney  

12.00pm local time - tickets for Usher's Australia tour go on sale

International Day of Light

Anniversary of:

  • the marriage of Marie Antoinette and future King Louis XVI of France (1770)

  • the release of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (1966)

  • the death of former PM Bob Hawke (2019)

  • the fire that engulfed Loafers Lodge in Wellington and claimed the lives of five people (2023)

Saturday
7.00am (AEST) - Great Ocean Road Running Festival begins on its 20th anniversary (until 18 May) 

7.00am (AWST) - Surfing: WSL Western Australia Margaret River Pro, watch it live here

12.00pm (AEST) - The Big Chill Festival gets underway (on until 18 May) - Armidale

4.00pm (AEST) - Table Tennis World Championship begins (until 25 May) - Doha, watch it live here

4.45pm (AEST) - Beetlejuice The Musical opening night - Melbourne 

4.55pm (AEST) - Women's Rugby Union: Pacific Four Series - Wallaroos v USA - Canberra, watch on 9Now

Cycling: Seven Gravel Race - UCI Gravel World Series, a 125km course through Nannup WA

World Baking Day

Whether you’re a wine or spirits person, you’re covered - it’s Pinot Grigio Day and World Whisky Day

Anniversary of:

  • the death of Greek composer/musician Vangelis, well known for composing the Academy Award winning score to Chariots of Fire in 1981 (2022)

  • the first rules of Australian Rules Football being published (1859)

  • the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum (1900)

  • the World Health Organization removing homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses (1990)

  • the release of Minecraft (2009)

Sunday
5.00am (AEST) - Eurovision 2025 Grand Final, watch it on SBS On Demand

6.00pm (AEST) - Pope Leo XIV’s Inauguration Mass at St Peter’s Square, PM Anthony Albanese will attend and hopes to talk trade with Canadian PM Mark Carney & European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - Vatican City

The Darwin Street Art Festival begins - it’s the only Australian city with a mural on every major city street (until 8 June)

Poland is holding presidential elections

A birthday for actor Tina Fey (1970)

Anniversary of:

  • Napoleon Bonaparte being proclaimed Emperor of France (1804)

  • the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897)

  • India becoming the 6th nation to explode an atomic bomb (1974)

  • the debut of Shrek (2001)

  • the Morrison Government winning the 2019 election (2019)