Hi there. It's Thursday, September 22 — Australia's National Day of Mourning for Queen Elizabeth II — and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
National Day of Mourning: What you need to know
- Today is Australia's one-off public holiday to coincide with a national memorial service for the Queen
- Organisers of "Abolish the Monarchy" demonstrations which are happening in several capital cities today are hoping to draw attention to injustices inflicted upon Indigenous Australians
- Leaders from across the country will travel to Parliament House in Canberra to join Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley for the service
- The service will be broadcast across the country on ABC TV, ABC News, ABC Local Radio and ABC iview
- One economist estimates today's one-off public holiday will cost Australia's economy close to $2 billion in lost productivity, but he says the tourism opportunities are positive
- Much of Australia's east is expected to be pretty dark and dreary today, with rain forecast from south-east Queensland all the way down to Gippsland, including inland NSW
Local news: Australian stories you might have missed
- Travellers are being warned to arrive two to three hours early for flights from Sydney Airport today due to an expected public holiday rush combined with school holidays and footy finals. CEO Geoff Culbert says the airport is in a better position to handle the demand than at any other time in the past two and half years, but airlines are also dealing with wet weather across much of the east coast
- Tasmanian authorities are continuing their efforts to save dozens of whales stranded on Ocean Beach near Strahan. More than 200 pilot whales were located on the beach yesterday — about half are believed to still be alive. The mass stranding occurred at the exact same location where 470 pilot whales were beached exactly two years ago
International news: What's happening around the world
- Donald Trump and his company have been sued by New York's Attorney-General for fraud, allegedly padding his net worth by billions of dollars by manipulating the value of assets. His three eldest children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric, were also named as defendants along with two longtime company executives, Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney
- Russians have rushed to book one-way tickets out of the country since Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation of military reservists for the war in Ukraine. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised interview that 300,000 reservists with relevant combat and service experience would be mobilised initially
Looking it up: What Australians have been searching online
- Hawthorn. In case you missed it yesterday, here's the original story about an external review commissioned by the Hawthorn Football Club that revealed shocking allegations of racism — former club coach Alastair Clarkson, who was named in the report, says he refutes "any allegation of wrongdoing or misconduct"
- John Hamblin. The actor and longtime host of Play School has died aged 87. Enjoying a decades-long career on screen, Hamblin was beloved by generations of Aussie families. He started working on Play School in 1970 and appeared in more than 350 episodes of the program
You're up to date
See you tomorrow. 👋
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