Monday, 16 December - I got chills, they're multiplying

Good morning, it’s Monday, 16 December. In your Squiz Today…

• The last of the Bali Nine are home and free

• More Aussies in hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning

• And a teenager becomes the youngest-ever world chess champion…♟️

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Flinders University international relations expert Michael Sullivan as Adelaide Zoo’s latest panda pair, Xing Qiu and Yi Lan, touched down. They’re not only here to wow us with cuteness - Sullivan says they’re an important piece of China’s “soft diplomacy” efforts. The fluffiness is just a bonus…

Back on home soil

The Squiz

The 5 remaining members of the Bali Nine drug smuggling ring are waking up in Australia this morning for the first time in 2 decades after being transferred from jail in Indonesia. News of Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj landing back in Oz was confirmed by PM Anthony Albanese late yesterday afternoon. He restarted negotiations for their release with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in Peru last month. Yesterday, he said he’d given his “personal appreciation to President Prabowo for his act of compassion” in agreeing to their release.

What do we know about the deal to get them home?

It was pretty secretive, so there’s plenty we’re not clear on - but reports say the 5 men were brought home on a Jetstar flight to Darwin (paywall). To remind you, they were serving life sentences after being caught trying to get $4 million of heroin out of Indonesia in April 2005. The group’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015, Tan Duc Than Nguyen died from cancer in jail in 2018, and Renae Lawrence was released the same year. So when news of the remaining members’ potential release broke in November, there were questions about whether they’d serve the remainder of their sentences in Australia and whether it would involve a prisoner exchange. We now know neither of those are on the cards - they have been freed “on humanitarian grounds”…

So what now?

As they resettle, the men have been provided with temporary accommodation by the federal government, and they'll soon be reunited with their families… Going forward, reports say Australian authorities are hoping the deal can be used as a model for future cases. Albanese said the government "shares Indonesia's concern about the serious problem illicit drugs represent" and that they'll continue to work together to “counter narcotics trafficking and transnational crime”. In a statement, the 5 men said they were “relieved and happy” to be home. They thanked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for its support and said they “look forward, in time, to reintegrating back into and contributing to society.”

A live concert series could be just the ticket

There’s some serious talent performing as part of Musica Viva’s concert series, which will be touring Australia right throughout next year. World-famous Polish pianist Piotr Andersewski and cabaret legend Ali McGregor are two of the performers on offer. Single tickets are $65, or for $171 you can pick a package of 3 concerts that make your heart sing. It’s a great way to spend time with that someone special. To book visit musicaviva.com.au or call 1800 688 482.

Squiz the Rest

Aussies critical in Fiji

Four Australians have been hospitalised in critical condition with suspected alcohol poisoning in Fiji. News is still coming through, but what we know is that 7 people staying at the Warwick Resort on Fiji’s Coral Coast became sick after drinking cocktails at the bar on Saturday night. Reports say they were taken to hospital with symptoms of nausea, vomiting and “neurological symptoms”. Of the group, 4 are Australians aged between 56yo and 18yo. It follows the deaths of Australians Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles from suspected methanol poisoning in Laos last month. DFAT says it’s providing assistance to 2 families in Fiji and has updated its travel advice to “be alert to potential risks around drink spiking and methanol poisoning” through alcoholic drinks. Reports say the Fijian Ministry of Health is investigating. 

It’s gonna be a hot one…

Emergency crews in Victoria are on high alert today, with Melbourne set for a high of 41C and regional parts of the state tipped to hit above 45C. And Victorians aren’t alone in the heat… The Bureau of Meteorology has heatwave warnings in place across every state and territory aside from Tassie. Meteorologists have pointed the finger at a high-pressure system moving across the Great Australian Bight, dragging down and “trapping” a whole lot of hot air… Combined with potentially gusty conditions in South Oz and Victoria later today, it’s prompted extreme fire danger warnings. All that to say, it’s not a bad idea to read up on how to stay safe during a heatwave and keep an eye on your state/territory fire service updates. And you might like to stock up on iceblocks… 

Spying more Prince Andrew trouble

The Duke of York says he’s cut ties with a Chinese businessman who was banned from entering the UK in 2023 over spying allegations. Reports say Andrew invited the businessman - known only as H6 - to visit Buckingham Palace, and the Palace is now investigating what he got up to. H6's ban was upheld by the UK's national security court last week, which found that Andrew's recent troubles - kicked off by his 2019 Newsnight interview on his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein - made him an easy mark. The Duke stopped his royal duties after that interview and his royal funding has also dried up since, but his office denies he and H6 ever discussed anything sensitive, and China has also denied there's any funny business going on. With friends like these… 

Steve Smith’s dry spell is over

It's been 535 long days since our former men's cricket captain scored a Test century, but he picked a good time for his next one. Smith and Travis Head both scored 100s to help the Aussies to 7/405 - and the box seat - on Day 2 of the 3rd Test against India. And if you’re not getting much out of the cricket fans in your life at the moment, it might be because the Big Bash also kicked off last night (that’s about 10 straight hours of cricket) with 5-time champs the Perth Scorchers beating the trophy-less Melbourne Stars by 6 wickets. The 44-game season will be on almost every day throughout the summer... And over to a sport that's the opposite of cricket in almost every way, a couple of Aussies have jagged silver at the Snowboard World Cup in Italy - Josie Baff and Cameron Bolton both made the podium. Bravo…

Coz I’m just a teenage world champ, baby

A teenager from Chennai has become the youngest chess champion ever after winning a tense, 14-game World Championship in Singapore. Gukesh Dommaraju beat the current title holder Ding Liren in the final game of the contest after Liren made a crucial mistake that former winner Magnus Carlsen said was ‘one of the worst blunders we’ve seen in a world championship.” Dommaraju didn’t miss his chance and went on to win the title and nearly $2 million in prize money at just 18yo. He’s used to achieving big things early - he became a grandmaster (the second-highest possible chess title) at 12yo, and there’s a video from the time where he tells an interviewer his dream is to become the youngest World Chess Champ. Job done…

Apropos of Nothing

The black leather jacket worn by Aussie legend Olivia Newton-John at the end of Grease has fetched $749,645 at an auction in Beverly Hills - 5 times as much as expected. You might remember ON-J wearing it while uttering those immortal words - tell me about it, stud…

British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has cancelled a Toronto concert after a Canadian airline said his cello - worth about $5 million - couldn’t fly with him despite having its own seat booked. Kanneh-Mason says it happens far too often - even cellos have customer service struggles these days…

Nothing’s the boss of Malcolm in the Middle, not even time… The sitcom that first aired in the year 2000 is coming back for 4 episodes on Disney+. Let’s hope Bryan Cranston, who played Malcolm’s Dad Hal, doesn’t bring any energy from his other show to this new season…

Squiz the Day

8.30am (AEST) - Swimming: Queensland championships - Brisbane, and watch on the livestream

4.15pm (AEDT) - A case management hearing in Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation case against Network Ten/Lisa Wilkinson where costs could be decided - Sydney

6.30pm (AEDT) - AFLW draft - Melbourne

Independence Day in Kazakhstan

Bahrain's National Day

Day of Reconciliation in South Africa 

Victory Day – Bangladesh

Barbie and Barney Backlash Day 

Anniversary of:

• the Boston Tea Party that saw American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbour (1773)

• the birthdays of composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770) and author Jane Austen (1775)

• Shirley Temple announcing her retirement from films, aged 22yo (1950)

• Shannen Doherty (aka Brenda) being fired from TV series Beverly Hills 90210 (1993)

• the jumping castle tragedy in Tasmania that killed 6 children (2021)

🎄 And there’s 9 days until Christmas…