Monday, 18 May - All my life for a night like this

Good morning, it’s Monday, 18 May. In your Squiz Today…

• The World Health Organisation is warning of a major outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa

• There’s been a fatal shark attack at Rottnest Island

• And Delta dazzles at Eurovision…

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🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Andrew Williams, Alice Dempster, Larissa Huntington and Sophie Felice

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Sings Colombian pop star Shakira in her latest anthem for the men’s FIFA World Cup, released late last week. Called Dai Dai (Come on!), it’s an upbeat song that lists several competing countries - but not one of the host nations, Canada. Too hard to rhyme, maybe…

A health crisis in the Congo

The Squiz

Late yesterday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said an outbreak of Ebola in Africa is now a “public health emergency of international concern” - but it hasn’t yet been declared a pandemic. In recent weeks, over 300 suspected cases and 87 deaths have been reported, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with a few in Uganda. The WHO says those numbers are likely much higher - and this particular variant has no known vaccine or treatment.

Remind me about Ebola…

So there’s a group of viruses called orthoebolaviruses that first appeared in 1976 in sub-Saharan Africa. Named after the Ebola River in the DRC, they can cause the Ebola disease, which has a very high fatality rate, particularly without treatment. It’s known as a “hemorrhagic fever” - and can cause unexplained bleeding, nausea and lots of other symptoms. The strain that’s causing this particular outbreak is called the Bundibugyo virus - because it was first detected in 2007 in the Bundibugyo district of Uganda - and because this strain is relatively new and there’s no treatment or vaccine available, health experts say it’s going to be a really tough one to tackle…

How bad could things get?

The worst Ebola epidemic in history happened back in 2014, when over 11,000 people died from the disease across Africa. The virus is described as “highly contagious”, but it is only transmitted via contact with bodily fluids like blood and vomit, and even in 2014, only a few cases were detected outside of Africa. So far, the WHO has advised against closing international borders - because that could lead to people making unmonitored border crossings, and increase the spread of the disease. But the declaration of a public health emergency shows it’s taking it pretty seriously - WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus says he’ll be holding an emergency committee meeting ASAP, so we’ll see what comes out of that… 

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Squiz the Rest

A fatal shark attack at Rottnest

Yesterday morning, police named the victim of the attack as 38yo father-of-2 Steven Mattaboni. Mattaboni was spearfishing off Horseshoe Reef when he was killed by what’s thought at this stage to be a white shark. Despite his friends getting him onto the boat they were using and to paramedics at a nearby jetty, he couldn’t be saved. His wife Shirene described him as “fiercely loyal, endlessly generous, and the kind of man who would give you the shirt off his back.” It’s only the second fatal shark attack in the history of Rottnest - a tourism hotspot thanks to its beaches and quokkas. The beaches there are still open - shark experts say due to the attack happening a “long way offshore”, the risk to the public remains very low.

No sign of progress in Iran

If anything, the language on peace talks coming out of the US, Israel and Iran is indicating things are getting worse, not better. Those negotiations have been in a stalemate for weeks now, and after speaking to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu by phone overnight, US President Donald Trump said “the clock is ticking” for Iran to make a deal, or “there won’t be anything left of them.” An Iranian defence spokesperson responded by saying that the country is “fully prepared to confront any new potential attack.” Those comments are adding to an increased tension after a drone strike hit the outskirts of a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates yesterday - there was no radiation leak and no one was hurt, but an investigation is underway into who was responsible.

The first Budget reactions are in…

…and they’re a mixed bag for the Albanese Government. In 2 major polls published this morning, Team Albo’s primary vote either held steady or dropped a few points - but breaking some election promises around the Capital Gains Tax and negative gearing has cost it some love with voters. The Resolve Political Monitor (paywall) found that 36% of voters said their view of Labor had been damaged, and that Coalition leader Angus Taylor has gone past Anthony Albanese as preferred PM. But that didn’t translate to a lift in the Coalition’s primary vote in either Resolve or Newspoll (paywall) - instead, One Nation scored a boost in both. So there’s plenty of work to do for Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Taylor as they keep spruiking their policies this week…

A football frenzy

Melbourne City are this year’s A-League Women’s champions, defeating the Wellington Phoenix 3-1 in Saturday’s final. And it was 23yo Holly McNamara - who has undergone 3 ACL surgeries in her career so far - that starred, scoring the opening 2 goals of the game to make things hard for the Phoenix pretty quickly. Maybe they’ll rise again… Over on the men’s side, have a look at this crowd reaction to a 96th-minute strike that kept the Newcastle Jets alive in their second semi-final against Sydney FC on Saturday night. It wasn’t quite enough to win, as Sydney FC were too good in a penalty shootout and will go on to face Auckland FC in the final on Saturday. Another chance for the Kiwis to score their first-ever A-League championship…

Going out with a Bangaranga

Bulgaria pulled off a dominant win in the Eurovision Song Contest yesterday morning, with DARA taking home the prize with her song Bangaranga. It’s a high-tempo track with some excellent chair dancing - and it won both the jury and public vote, making for a clear victor. As the winner, Bulgaria will host the contest next year, but it wasn’t far away from being in, say, Canberra… Following her semi-final performance of Eclipse, Delta Goodrem rose up the ranks to become one of the favourites - but just missed out, finishing fourth. It was a very good(rem) effort, but as far as what we could do to finally win the thing, we think there’s only one possibility we just can’t get out of our heads…

Apropos of Nothing

Mixed martial arts fighter Ronda Rousey made a return to the sport yesterday, in what she says was her final fight ever. And if you went to the bathroom at the wrong time, you would have missed it - she defeated opponent Gina Carano in just 17 seconds… 

A farm stay in Busselton is the proud new owner of Western Oz’s first-ever pair of ‘fainting goats’ - the US breed that has a hereditary condition where their legs seize up when they get excited. And it’s a breeding pair, so it’s hopefully not the last… 

Put the film Paper Tiger on your radar - it’s picked up that most magic of accolades at the Cannes Film Festival: a 7-minute standing ovation. The crime thriller stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson - who sadly didn’t pick up a FaceTime call so she could bask in all the clapping…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEST) - Trial begins for pianist Jayson Gillham's case against the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for discrimination based on political belief. The MSO cancelled Gillham's scheduled performance after comments he made about the war in Gaza, Federal Court of Australia - Melbourne

9.30am (AEST) - Case management conference in concussion class action lawsuit against the AFL from players, Supreme Court of Victoria - Melbourne  

10.00am (AEST) - The Academy of Country Music Awards - Las Vegas, watch on Prime Video

10.00am (ACST) - Oceania Athletics Championships 2026 begin (until 23 May), Arafura Stadium - Darwin

Qualifying week in the Roland-Garros (French Open) begins (until 22 May) - Paris 

Australian Made Week begins (until 24 May) 

International Museum Day 

A birthday for comedian and writer 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 detonate a nuclear device (1974)

• the premiere of animated film Shrek (2001)

• the Morrison Government winning the 2019 election (2019)