Tuesday, 16 December - Stand by me

December 16, 2025

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

  • The victims of the Bondi terror attack have started to be named

  • Tributes for Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele

  • And celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“I think it’s sort of the excitement of the hunt, for one thing.”

Said Baltimore cyclist Barnaby Wickham, who spends his time cycling around the US city collecting lost hubcaps and turning them into works of art, like a giant sculpture of Snoopy’s head. One man’s trash is another man’s, uh, giant cartoon character…

Coming to terms with a tragedy

The Squiz

In the day since Sunday night’s shocking antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach, a lot has happened… The death toll has risen to 15 victims, and this morning at least 12 people are in critical condition - with 26 others still in hospital. The beach was closed yesterday and will remain closed today, although a vigil was held at Bondi Pavilion for the victims last night, and a floral tribute is quickly growing. There's also rising criticism from Israeli and Jewish leaders of the Albanese Government for failing to act on antisemitism… The Coalition wants PM Anthony Albanese to “immediately” implement the recommendations of an antisemitism plan shared in July - and he says they “will look at whatever is necessary”.

What do we know about the victims?

Aside from London-born Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who we mentioned yesterday, the youngest was 10yo Matilda - she was at the Chanukah by the Sea event with her family, who described her as “just a happy kid”. Others include retired NSW Police officer Peter Meagher, Holocaust survivor Alexander Kleytman (who died trying to protect his wife of 5 decades, Larisa, from the bullets…), Frenchman Dan Elkayam, Reuven Morrison, Yaakov Levitan, Tibor Weitzen and Marika Pogany. You can read more about them all here. As for Ahmed al Ahmed, the Sydney tobacco shop owner who disarmed a shooter… He’s been called a hero by everyone from his parents to world leaders, and a fundraiser for him has raised more than $1 million while he’s receiving treatment for gunshot wounds.

And the perpetrators…?

They’re 50yo Sajid Akram (shot dead by police at the scene…) and his 24yo son Naveed (in critical condition/under police guard in hospital…). We’ve learned that our intelligence agency ASIO knew that the younger Akram had ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State (IS) terror cell 6 years ago… Given ASIO boss Mike Burgess’s comments on Sunday that he wasn’t considered an “immediate threat”, that’ll be an area of focus… And after questions about how someone with IS ties had a gun licence, the PM called a National Cabinet meeting yesterday with state and territory leaders. They’ve agreed to strengthen our gun laws that were established after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, and are starting to investigate how they'll do that…

*If you want to help, Lifeblood is calling for donations from people in all states for victims. If you need support, here’s a list of mental health/victim services. And finally, if you need guidance on how to talk to the kids in your life about the Bondi attack, Squiz Kids has a special episode out now.

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Squiz the Rest

Vale Rob and Michele Reiner

The couple were victims of an apparent homicide at their home in Los Angeles and their 32yo son Nick has been arrested following their deaths. You’ve likely heard of 78yo Rob Reiner’s work - he directed a stack of classic movies including This is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Misery and Stand By Me, just to name a few. Photographer and author Michele was 68yo - the couple married in 1989 after meeting on the set of When Harry Met Sally, another in Rob Reiner’s long list of much-loved movies. You can read a full obituary here, and take a look at a gallery of his career... Misery star Kathy Bates called him “brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist.” Updates are still coming out this morning - you can follow the developments here…

Jimmy Lai loses his trial

Two years after the pro-democracy activist and media tycoon’s national security trial began, the 78yo has been found guilty of colluding with foreign forces. He’s yet to be sentenced, but faces life in prison. To wind it back… Lai, a British citizen, was the publisher of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. He was on trial under Hong Kong's controversial national security law, introduced by China in 2020 to crack down on dissent and anti-China sentiment in the special administrative region. Critics say it's silenced opposition voices - but Chinese-backed authorities say it was necessary for stability after the huge pro-democracy protests in 2019. The UK Foreign Office says it “condemns the politically motivated prosecution”, and the Oz government says it’s “deeply concerned”. 

The corporate regulator wants changes… 

…at the Australian Securities Exchange, including justifying why its current leadership team deserves to stay and setting aside $150 million in reserve until it cleans up its act. The background to this is that the ASX has suffered a stack of outages over the past few years - including as recently as 2 weeks ago on 1 December, where many stocks weren’t able to trade for hours. There have been others - like when the ASX accidentally confused 2 similar company names - and experts say errors like that are costing it credibility and trust. ASIC launched an inquiry into the ASX earlier this year, and a preliminary report found plenty of issues around governance and culture. So these changes are aimed at fixing those up - we'll see if it works…

Dreaming of a sunny Christmas…

We’re still 9 days away, but forecasters reckon Santa is set to deliver on Christmas Day for millions of us in Oz, with sunny weather predicted for most capital cities. Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide have got the best outlooks - they’re set to be in the low 20Cs-to-low-30Cs with mostly sunny conditions. It’s forecast to be cloudy and a bit cooler (19C) in Hobart, while Sydney is in for a humid day with a top of 23C and a medium chance of rain. Despite a top of 27C, there’s an even higher chance of rain in Brisbane - and up in Darwin, get ready for a 32C day finishing with some showers and a possible thunderstorm. All up, it’s another good year to leave the ugly Christmas jumper/sweater in the drawer…

It is a truth universally acknowledged…

…that English novelist Jane Austen is one of the most popular writers of all time, and today marks 250 years since her birth. All year, fans and enthusiasts have been celebrating the author of classics like Pride and Prejudice and Emma in different ways: workshops on making the same kind of ink Austen made, an anniversary festival in her hometown of Bath, and there’s a special event happening in Melbourne today. And while many will be celebrating her birth, the circumstances of her death at 41yo remain a mystery - over 200 years later, researchers are still trying to figure that one out. If you’d like to make - or bake - your own tribute in the meantime, we found this list of Austen-themed recipes you can try…

Apropos of Nothing

Christmas deadline alert - today is the last day for putting your interstate cards and letters in the post if you’d like them to reach their destination on time. For cards in the same state, you’ve got until Thursday - but don’t worry, we’ll remind you again… 

Egypt has unveiled 2 revamped statues of an ancient pharaoh as part of a project aimed at boosting tourism to the city of Luxor. Making the statues look pretty again took about 2 decades - or how long it feels like your average reno takes… 

The US state of Connecticut is sleighing the festive movie tourism trend - launching its own Christmas Movie Trail. And while it’s not in that state, anyone wanting to visit Kevin’s house from Home Alone in Chicago will be happy to know it’s recognisable again after a restoration.

Squiz the Day

9.15am (AEDT) - Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor (Financial Systems) Brad Jones will address the AusPayNet Summit - Sydney

9.30am (AEDT) - Taekwondo instructor Kwang Kyung Yoo is due to be sentenced after pleading guilty to the murders of Steven and Min Cho and their 7yo child in February last year - Sydney

10.00am (AEDT) - A sentencing hearing is set to begin for former MP Craig Thomson who has pleaded guilty to submitting false and misleading documents to immigration officials - Sydney

10.00am (AEDT) - A coronial inquest will be held into 3 deaths and several fires linked to lithium-ion batteries - Sydney

11.00am (AEDT) - Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index for December is set to be released 

Orica AGM

ABS Data releases: Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025

📮 AusPost recommends sending Christmas cards and letters for interstate deliveries by today, and by 18 December for metro areas

SCL (Society of Composers & Lyricists) Awards nominations 

Independence Day in Kazakhstan

Bahrain's National Day

Victory Day – Bangladesh 

Anniversary of:

  • 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 at Devonport Public School in Tasmania that killed 6 children (2021)

🎁 And it’s 9 days until Christmas…