The Loop: A new Labor cabinet to be sworn in, Ukraine jails more Russians, and fresh research into old sharks

Hi there. It's Wednesday, June 1 (how is it June already?!) and you're reading The Loop, a quick look at today's news.

Let's start here: The new Labor government cabinet

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled his new ministry yesterday evening, and there were some key takeaways:

• Australia's first Muslim ministers will be Ed Husic (Industry and Science) and Anne Aly (Early Childhood Education and Youth)
• the new ministry sets a record for female representation, with 10 women in cabinet
• the Veterans' Affairs portfolio has been taken out of cabinet and Housing will be introduced
• of the four leadership positions across the House of Representatives and the Senate, three will be held by men.

While a lot of the roles are going to the people we expected, some election losses and cabinet shake-ups have seen new faces enter the fold — take a look at this interactive story to see exactly who got what.

The new cabinet will be sworn in today.

Ed Husic intends to be sworn into the Labor ministry with the Koran (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Something you'll be hearing about today: The economy

Australia's latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures — a key measure of the country's economic performance — will be released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

It's a quarterly look at what's happening in the economy, and a major focus for markets and governments.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• when the last update was released in March, it showed the strongest quarterly growth since March 1976, with the economy seeing a 3.4 per cent jump in the last three months of 2021
• this time around, it will be interesting to see what effect slowing house prices will have on economic growth, and household spending may fall if home owners feel less wealthy
• while GDP figures are important, they're not the be all and end all, as ABC business reporter Daniel Ziffer explains. GDP misses out things we value but struggle to express in a dollar figure, which some overseas measures have tried to capture.

News while you snoozed

• The final seat in doubt after last month's election — the NSW electorate of Gilmore — has been called for Labor. The ABC projects it will be the party's 77th seat, which is enough for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to form a majority government and evade making deals with the crossbench to find a speaker. It means the 47th Parliament of Australia will be made up of 77 Labor seats, 58 Coalition seats, four Greens seats and 12 other crossbenchers

• In Ukraine, a court has sentenced two captured Russian soldiers to 11-and-a-half years in prison, each, for shelling a town in Ukraine's east, the second war crimes verdict since the start of Russia's invasion in February. Kyiv's top prosecutor also said Ukraine has identified more than 600 Russian war crime suspects and has started prosecuting around 80 of them.

Here's what Australia has been searching for online

• Jacinda Ardern and Joe Biden. The New Zealand Prime Minister and US President have sat down for a chat at the White House, with Mr Biden praising Ms Ardern for her success in curbing domestic extremism and guns after the Christchurch massacre, as he tries to persuade a reluctant Congress to tighten gun laws in the aftermath of horrific mass shootings in Texas and New York

Jacinda Ardern and Joe Biden sit for a chat in the Oval Office of the White House. (AP: Evan Vucci)

• The French Open. American teenager Coco Gauff has powered past compatriot Sloane Stephens to book a French Open semi-final spot in her biggest victory at a grand slam. The 18-year-old will next play Italy's Martina Trevisan for a place in Saturday's final. Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev has beat his teenage opponent, Carlos Alcaraz, during a gruelling quarterfinal, showing nerves of steel for the entire three hours and 18 minutes of the match.

One more thing: BIG SHARKS

New research has found that great white sharks may have contributed to the extinction of the world's biggest shark species, the megalodon — which had 276 teeth and grew longer than a bus — around 4 million years ago.

• The study suggests sharks — namely great whites — also feasted on megalodon's preferred prey around the time it disappeared
• This competition for prey didn't mean great whites solely caused megalodon's extinction, but was probably one of many pressures that eventually condemned it
• A changing climate and the megalodon's enormous size were also likely factors in its extinction.

So it turns out great whites aren't so ~great~ at sharing, but check out what they were up against …

A megalodon tooth, left, and a great white shark's tooth on the right. The word "megalodon" means "big tooth". (Getty Images: Mark Kostich)

You're up to date!

And remember …

ABC/wires