Monday, 30 June - I do, I do, I do...

June 30, 2025

Good morning, it’s Monday, 30 June. In your Squiz Today…

  • There’s a big week ahead in the courts

  • A record number of Tuvaluans have applied for Aussie climate change visas

  • And a big fat Venetian wedding…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“So bloody annoying and unnecessary…”

Said one South Aussie of the plastic fruit and veg stickers that were due to be banned this year, before growers requested more time to switch to eco-friendly options. Fun (or not-so-fun…) fact: Aussies peel off about 5.62 billion of the little labels annually, so it’s a sticky issue…

Deliberations galore…

The Squiz

Get ready for a big week of high-profile court cases… In a quirk of timing, the juries in both the trial of accused Victorian triple murderer Erin Patterson and the US hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs' racketeering/sex trafficking trial are likely to begin their deliberations today. They're very different trials, but both have been long-running and gained international attention, so a lot of people will be watching the outcomes.

Let’s start local… 

The Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in Morwell, Victoria, is where Patterson’s trial has been running for the past 2 months. Known as the mushroom murder trial, it's made headlines globally… Patterson is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, by serving them a beef Wellington allegedly laced with death cap mushrooms. The only surviving guest was Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson. Today, Justice Christopher Beale, who's overseeing the trial, is expected to finish giving his instructions before jurors begin their deliberations. He began those instructions last Tuesday, so we can’t cover them all, but on Friday, he told the jurors very clearly that they shouldn’t find her guilty just because they think she’s lied.

And what’s the vibe in the Diddy case? 

His trial has been running in a Manhattan court for more than 7 weeks now, with allegations of racketeering conspiracy considered the most serious of the federal charges against him. That involves accusations that he ran a criminal enterprise for more than 2 decades responsible for crimes such as sex trafficking, drug distribution, kidnapping, and bribery. It’ll be up to the jury to decide whether Combs is guilty of running a criminal organisation, or whether he’s just been living a “swinger’s lifestyle”, as his legal team has framed it. Depending on which way the jury goes, the 55yo could be facing 15 years to life in jail. So that’s another one to keep an eye on…

100 years of community partnerships

Woolworths has hit a century tonne, and to mark this milestone, a new podcast series called From Grassroots is shining a light on their community partners like the Clontarf Foundation. They do incredible work to improve the lives of young Indigenous men and boys, starting with support to stay in school. Woolworths is proud to play the role of both a financial supporter and employer of program participants in local communities across Australia. You can listen to the chat with Clontarf’s Troy Gordon here.

Squiz the Rest

A house party turns tragic

Last Thursday night, Greg Josephson, the co-founder of the clothing chain Universal Store, was fatally stabbed, and over the weekend more details have come out about the events leading up to his death. Police say the 58yo was allegedly stabbed by a 15yo boy who was known to him at his home in the Brisbane suburb of Clayfield, where a party was being held with around 30 other teenagers. Police couldn't confirm whether the father of 3 was trying to break up the gathering when he was attacked, but they did say the teen called emergency services himself. He's since been charged with murder. The family is well-known in Brisbane, and Detective Acting Superintendent Craig Williams said it was “a tragic incident that will affect the family and the community as a whole”. 

A mass funeral has been held in Iran

… for at least 60 people, including military leaders and nuclear scientists, killed in the Israeli strikes which sparked a 12-day war. Thousands of mourners turned out in the capital Tehran for the state funeral on Saturday which was attended by the President Masoud Pezeshkian, but there was no sign of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The ceasefire between the 2 countries has so far held, but Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has ruled out resuming talks with the US about its nuclear program, despite US President Trump saying they’d begin again this week. And while there was some debate over the damage US strikes did to Iran’s nuclear sites, Araghchi confirmed it “wasn’t minor”, saying “serious harm has been done to our facilities”. That can’t be confirmed until the UN’s nuclear inspectors can get access - and they’re currently banned.

Tuvaluans apply to head Down Under

More than a third of the tiny Pacific island nation’s residents have thrown their hats in the ring for the first annual round of climate change visas to Oz. FYI - Tuvalu, which is about 3,400km northeast of Brisbane, has been found to be at particular risk of rising sea waters as one of the lowest-lying countries in the world. That led to PM Anthony Albanese signing a historic agreement with his counterpart, the former PM Kausea Natano, in late 2023 - offering 280 Tuvalu residents a visa each year to “work, study and live” in Australia permanently. More than 3,000 people have entered the ballot for the first round of visas, which opened last week, and some experts reckon the entire Tuvaluan population may eventually apply. Stay tuned…

An ace up our sleeve

There’s a new name to watch in the ranks of Aussie tennis hopefuls starting at Wimbledon tonight… Maya Joint has just become the first Australian player to win the Eastbourne Open - a 'Wimbledon warm-up' tournament - in its 50-year history. The 19yo is US-born, but we're claiming her after she moved to Brisbane just under 2 years ago and started playing for us on the world circuit. And while it's her first big win on grass, she reckons she's ready for the lawns of the All England Club, saying "I'm just really excited to get to London … and step into Wimby for the first time". Also gearing up is 7-time champion Novak Djokovic - he's going for a record 25th grand slam title, but he’ll have to overcome the new guard of the world’s #1 Jannik Sinner and #2 Carlos Alcaraz to win it… 

A big fat Venetian wedding

It's been hard to miss online, but in case you were off-grid on the weekend, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tied the knot with journalist Lauren Sánchez in a 3-day festival in Venice. It wrapped up yesterday with a pyjama party, but the actual ceremony was on Friday night local time on a small island - it was moved there due to locals protesting against overtourism (think, a canal blockade of inflatable crocodiles…). And while some protests went ahead, others welcomed the appx $50 million generated for the city and its many artisans who were commissioned to make gifts, some of Sanchez’s multiple dresses for the occasion, and the cake. Here’s a gallery of the celebrities/festivities, and another one of Sánchez’s Dolce&Gabbana gown, which she described as “a piece of poetry”.

Apropos of Nothing

While we’re splurging on special dresses, an Aussie superfan/founder of the Princess Diana Museum has paid $794,000 for the late princess’s ‘caring dress’. She was so overcome by her winning bid, she fell to the floor - and at that price, a few jaws might’ve followed…

A painting competition in Tassie using animal poo (yes, really…) is giving a whole new meaning to, ah, crappy art. It was started by curator Karin Koch and the winning entry will be displayed in - where else - the Pooseum.

A 400kg Alaskan brown bear in a Minnesota zoo was fitted with the largest dental crown ever created in a first-of-its-kind procedure for a bear. And with no more toothache, Tundra now has an extra gleam in his smile…

Also smiling again will be our committed S’Quiz fans - soz for the mixup, one of the links in the Saturday Squiz took you to last week’s. Here’s the one you want…

Squiz the Day

8.00am (AEST) - Beyond Productivity Summit - Sydney

10.30am (AEST) - Justice Christopher Beale will finalise his summing up in Erin Patterson’s mushroom murder trial before the jury begins deliberations - Morwell, Victoria

8.00pm (AEST) - Tennis: Round 1 of Wimbledon begins (until 13 July), watch it on 9Now

ABS data release - Migrant settlement outcomes, 2025

EOFY 2024-25

Term 2 school holidays begin in QLD (until 13 July)

Independence Day - Democratic Republic of the Congo

Social Media Day

Birthdays for Murray Cook (1960), Mike Tyson (1966), and Michael Phelps (1985) 

Anniversary of:

  • the world’s first emergency telephone number (999) being introduced in London (1937)

  • Donald Trump becoming the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea (2019)

  • the Hong Kong national security law coming into effect (2020)