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- Wednesday, 11 February - Take the pressure down
Wednesday, 11 February - Take the pressure down
Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 11 February. In your Squiz Today…
NSW Police are under pressure after clashes with protesters
‘Virginia’s Law’ is introduced in the US
And the benefits of a cuppa… ☕
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Police under pressure
The Squiz
Both the NSW Premier Chris Minns and Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon spent yesterday defending the state’s police response to Monday night’s protests in Sydney. On the night, 27 people were arrested, and 9 have since been charged with a range of offences. Police say more charges are likely to come, but they’ve been accused of using unnecessary violence... NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd said she was “beaten” by police and ended up wearing a neck brace following a hospital visit - and 5 protesters were hospitalised after the police used pepper spray.
Sounds like there’s a lot of anger…
…especially as videos of the police response were shared by protesters, who were demonstrating against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s tour of the country this week. But Minns said yesterday that the police actions shouldn’t be judged from social media clips alone - he argued they were placed in an “impossible situation”, as they were trying to separate the protesters from a group of Jewish mourners. But Aftab Malik, Australia’s special envoy for Islamophobia, has called for an investigation into NSW police and an apology from Minns - particularly over an incident where officers dragged away members of a group of Muslim men praying. For his part, Lanyon said his officers used “remarkable restraint” during the protests and they were “dispersing the crowd for community safety”.
Any other fallout?
Yep - 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame is also copping criticism for leading a “globalise the intifada” chant at the rally. The NSW government has been looking at outlawing that phrase - intifada means “shaking off” in Arabic - and protesters say it’s intended as general support for the Palestinian cause. But it’s controversial because the word intifada has been used to describe violent uprisings against Israel and is interpreted by others as a call for violence. Despite calls for her Australian of the Year title to be revoked, Tame says she’s “not the story” and those calls are a distraction from the protest’s original focus, as well as the police response. There was another protest in Sydney last night against that response - despite an arrest, that one stayed largely peaceful.
Lightening the load for 2026
There's a special kind of defeat in watching your suitcase come along the carousel looking like it came off second-best during the transit shuffle... Samsonite has been at it for over a century, and they've nailed the balance between lightweight and durable - handy when you're pushing weight limits or travelling frequently. Check out their range of travel essentials here.
Squiz the Rest
And returning to the Middle East itself…
There are growing protests from world leaders over new plans for Israel’s West Bank settlement - which Palestinians have described as a de facto annexation. Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to allow Jewish Israelis to directly purchase land in the West Bank, meaning the influence of Israeli nationals over land currently controlled by the Palestinian Authority would grow. Israeli government ministers said the changes would "increase transparency", but United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says they are "eroding the prospects for a 2-state solution". Neighbouring Muslim-majority countries and the UK have also expressed concerns, and the Trump White House has repeated its opposition to any annexation. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Trump in the US on Thursday morning - so we'll see if this comes up…
A law for victims and survivors
The fallout from the crimes of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is heading for the US legal system with the introduction of Virginia’s Law - a new bill that would remove the statute of limitations, giving victims the ability to sue alleged abusers no matter how much time has elapsed. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer introduced the bill, named after the late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, saying "justice should not expire". Several big names connected with the Epstein case are set to appear before a US inquiry in the coming weeks, and yesterday, convicted sex trafficker/Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded the fifth when it was her turn. Through her lawyer, Maxwell said she’ll only “speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump”.
*If you want to get across who’s who in the latest documents released from the Epstein files, we’ve covered the key names in our latest Squiz Shortcut…
A ransom deadline passes…
The search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of US Today show host Savannah Guthrie, is into its second week, with the deadline given in a ransom letter from her suspected kidnappers passing yesterday - and there’s still no sign of the 84yo. To catch you up, police believe she was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, last weekend - with friends reporting her missing after she didn’t attend her usual Sunday church service. The FBI has since gotten involved, and while the ransom letter reportedly demanded millions in bitcoin by 5pm Monday (yesterday morning for us in Oz…), no suspects have been named. Yesterday, the FBI released new footage of an armed suspect tampering with Nancy’s security camera, hours after Savannah released a new video asking for the public’s help.
You're up, then you're down
We got to see our Aussie flagbearers Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham in action at the Milano-Cortina Olympics overnight, and the mogul skiers both made it through to the finals. They're competing early tomorrow and Friday respectively, and they're considered up there with our best medal chances for these Games. Anthony qualified in first position and is going for back-to-back gold medals, and Graham is looking to better the silver medal he won in 2018. But it wasn’t all good news for Team Oz, with snowboarders Cam Bolton and Misaki Vaughan ruled out of competition after falls during training. Aside from the Aussies, one to keep an eye on is US skater Ilia Malinin - aka the Quad God - who’s back on the ice this morning after winning gold in the teams event earlier this week. Let’s hope his medal stays in one piece...
*There’s still plenty more to come at the Milano-Cortina Olympics - we’ve got you covered with the Aussies and events to watch in this Squiz Shortcut…
Reading this with a cuppa?
Good news, you could be slightly lowering your risk of dementia… That’s according to researchers in the US, who have looked at the health records of more than 130,000 people, finding that those who drink a couple of cups a day have a 15-20% lower risk of dementia than those who don’t. Bonus: this goes for both coffee and tea drinkers - researchers reckon it’s to do with the caffeine in the drinks, so decaf doesn’t show quite the same results. That’s because the caffeine and polyphenols in coffee and tea can help to boost vascular health and reduce inflammation/oxidative stress - all good things to protect against brain ageing. The researchers also say habitual coffee and tea drinkers have slightly better cognitive performance - and that definitely tracks for us pre- and post-morning latte…
Apropos of Nothing
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show drew 135.4 million pairs of eyeballs this week, but you’d be forgiven for missing one of the stars - Andrew Athias, who was a bush. It’s a job he took seriously - which makes sense, given rumours that 40,000 people applied for the gig…
New York Fashion Week begins today, and - not content with 2016 nostalgia - insiders say we can expect designers to be taking things all the way back to the dark ages. Here’s a rundown of what’s coming up on the runway…
And speaking of style, or celebrating in style… Gold Coast woman Mona Wiggins has just had her 105th birthday - and threw a party doing what she loves most: playing lawn bowls with friends. She reckons she loves “the exercise and the company”. Hear hear…
Squiz the Day
11.30am (AEDT) - Ukraine's Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko is set to address the National Press Club - Canberra
8.30pm (AEDT) - Cricket: Men's T20 World Cup, Australia v Ireland at R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium - Colombo, Sri Lanka, watch on Kayo
ABS data release: Lending indicators, December quarter
CBA, AGL Energy, CSL and SGH are due to release their first-half financial results
New York Fashion Week begins for the Fall/Winter season (until 16 February) - New York
Birthdays for actress Jennifer Aniston (1969) and singer Khalid (1998)
Anniversary of:
a 20.2kg lobster being caught off Nova Scotia - the heaviest crustacean ever caught (1977)
Nelson Mandela being released from Victor Verster Prison in South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner (1990)
the deaths of poet Sylvia Plath (1963), fashion designer Alexander McQueen (2010) and singer Whitney Houston (2012)