Wednesday, 22 January - Where my party people at?

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 22 January. In your Squiz Today…

• An emergency national cabinet meeting on antisemitism

• A ski resort tragedy in Turkey

• And a veteran muso rocking a different sort of metal… 🤺

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Squiz Sayings

Said the Botanic Gardens of Sydney on their livestream of the aromatically-challenged corpse flower Putricia, the blooming of which is eagerly awaited by thousands of extremely patient viewers. As of this morning, they’re still waiting for her to realise her pungent glory. Any hot minute now…

An emergency meeting on antisemitism

The Squiz

The Australian Federal Police says it’s looking into whether “overseas actors” are behind the rise in antisemitic hate crimes in Australia. The AFP briefed a snap meeting of the National Cabinet called by PM Anthony Albanese after an attack on a childcare centre in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra yesterday. Just before 1am, the Maroubra Preschool & Early Learning Centre - which is close to a local synagogue - was set on fire and antisemitic words were spray painted on a fence. It was empty at the time and no one was hurt. 

What was the response?

The attack provoked a furious reaction from NSW Premier Chris Minns, who said “these bastards will be rounded up by NSW police”. While it hasn’t been labelled as a terrorist attack at this point, he said police would make that call if necessary. It’s another in a spate of antisemitic incidents and attacks in recent months that the government and police are trying to counter. After the arson terrorist attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne in December last year, a joint task force led by the AFP called Special Operation Avalite was set up. In an update yesterday, AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the task force had received 166 reports - 15 of those are under investigation - and it’s made one arrest. He says more charges are on the way.

Who are these “overseas actors”?

We don't know exactly, but the AFP is investigating whether the culprits had been paid by people from other countries to carry these crimes out - potentially with cryptocurrency, and potentially in an attempt to radicalise young Australians. After its meeting, the National Cabinet said it would establish a national database to track antisemitic crimes and incidents. Albanese had been holding off on convening the Cabinet, despite the Coalition and special envoy for antisemitism Jillian Segal saying he should - but after yesterday’s attack on the childcare centre, he made the call. The Coalition was critical of the delay - leader Peter Dutton said Albanese just wanted to “tick the box”. He’s proposing mandatory sentences for terrorism and hate speech attacks as part of his election platform.

Squiz the Rest

A holiday tragedy in Turkey

Four people have been arrested over a huge fire that took hold inside a Turkish ski hotel leaving 66 people dead and 51 injured. Authorities say the fire broke out early yesterday in the kitchen of the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in the Bolu Mountains, popular with skiers from Istanbul and the capital Ankara. Reports say the lodge was at peak capacity for the winter season, holding 238 guests when the fire began, and it spread quickly up through the levels. Panicked people were seen trying to escape from the flames using bedsheets tied together, and reports say some died jumping from windows. Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed many children were among the dead. “We are in deep pain”, he said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Wednesday a day of mourning. 

Trump makes his mark

As promised, US President Donald Trump hasn’t wasted any time getting down to business in the Oval Office… He started the way his predecessor finished - making a bunch of presidential pardons. Among a raft of executive orders, he’s granted a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to most of the 6 January Capitol rioters - throwing away charges for nearly 1,600 people. Other notable moves from the new Prez include withdrawing from the Paris Agreement again, withdrawing from the World Health Organisation, and repeating his threats to impose 25% tariffs (aka taxes) on imports from Canada and Mexico, starting 1 February. As for Trump’s team, it’s taking shape - you can read up on who’s been tapped here. If you missed his first speech, here’s a recap. But it was Melania’s hat that really stole the inauguration show…

The end of the road for Catch 

The online retailer will shut up shop after losing millions of dollars in recent months. If you loved a bargain in the late 2000s, you might remember the origins of Catch - it started out as “Catch of the Day” in 2006, offering daily bargains to online shoppers. After ditching the ‘of the day’ part in 2017, it was sold to Wesfarmers in 2019 for $230 million, but in an update to the Aussie stock market yesterday, Wesfarmers said Catch lost about $40 million in the second half of 2024, and international competition had become too big a hurdle in the end. About 190 jobs in the company are going to be made redundant, and another 100 will be absorbed by Kmart Group, which is also part of Wesfarmers. It's a stark fall from when it was valued at over $1 billion in the middle of 2020…

An una-peeling update

Five months after tomato brown rugose fruit virus was first detected in South Oz, it’s crossed the border into Victoria - where around half our tomatoes are produced… The virus causes brown splotches on the skin of tomatoes, capsicums and chillies. Humans can still eat affected fruit, but it’s easily transferred between plants and can reduce crop productivity (aka how much fruit grows) by up to 70%. Authorities came down hard on SA growers after the virus was found, ordering hundreds of thousands of tomatoes to be destroyed and banning interstate imports - leading to at least one business closing. But Agriculture Victoria says it’s still made its way to a farm in the Goulburn Valley via seedlings brought from South Oz under a “pilot protocol trial to support trade”. With the farm under quarantine, authorities believe it’s been isolated.

A Flash of the Blade

While many sporting events might come to mind when you think of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden - you’d be all over the Guitar-Swinging World Championships, for example - we’d wager a fencing tournament in the French city of Lille wasn’t high on the list. But that’s exactly what the band’s lead singer Bruce Dickinson - an accomplished fencer since childhood - competed in over the weekend. Dickinson was a Trooper, finishing 13th out of 31 competitors in the veterans division, only losing to a former Olympic gold medallist that Dickinson described as “pretty good”. In Days of Future Past, Dickinson actually trained with the British Olympic fencing squad and he said it’s the first time he’s been to Lille since the band was there in 2000. You can check out his skills here - no Wasted Years on show at all…

Apropos of Nothing - Fishy edition

After a Japanese aquarium closed for renos, one of its sunfish started having health issues - and the staff wondered if it was lonely without its usual adoring crowds. So they set up some cardboard cutouts to fill in - and lo and behold, its health improved. Must have just been fishing for attention…

While we’re talking sea life, a protein in the blood of Sydney rock oysters could prove handy in the fight against superbugs - a looming global health issue. Early tests have found it could kill certain bacteria and improve the effectiveness of antibiotics. Bloody amazing…

And if you’re one of the millions who’ve binged the second season of Squid Game, you might already be familiar with the tunes - but if not, consider this your green light to get into a couple of its hit songs that have shot up the Billboard charts in the US. You can have a listen here… 

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - Representatives from major universities are to appear at a public inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities - Canberra

11.00am (AEDT) - Cricket: Cricket Australia XI v England Lions (until 25 January) - Brisbane, and keep tabs on the score here

7.30pm (AEDT) - Cricket: BBL knockout final, Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Stars - Sydney, and watch on Kayo

7.30pm (AEDT) - Tennis: Australian Open quarterfinal, Alex de Minaur v Jannik Sinner - Melbourne, and watch on 9Now

ABS data release - Building Activity in Australia, Sep

Day of Unity in Ukraine

💒 A wedding anniversary for Melania and Donald Trump (2005)

Anniversary of:

• the birthday of Michael Hutchence (1960)

• the deaths of Queen Victoria (1901) and actor Heath Ledger (2008)

• the landmark Roe v Wade ruling, which saw the US Supreme Court legalise most abortions (1973)

• the ballroom dancing studio shooting in Los Angeles that killed 10 people (2023)