Hi. It's Tuesday, April 12 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Let's start here
The NSW coroner has confirmed an inquest into the disappearance of Sydney fraudster Melissa Caddick will begin in September.
Ms Caddick has not been seen since she left her Dover Heights home without her mobile phone, wallet or keys just before sunrise on November 12, 2020.
ASIC officials had raided her home the day before.
Police considered her dead when, more than three months later, her foot was found on a beach about 400 kilometres from where she was last seen.
The 49-year-old, who posed as a financial adviser, allegedly misappropriated investors' money to buy real estate, holidays, and luxury goods over a period of eight years and sent them fictitious portfolio evaluations.
What else is going on
- AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has announced he is stepping down as league boss at the end of the 2022 season after eight years. He told a media conference earlier today there had been some "big moments and some big calls we had to make", particularly over the past couple of years, but it's the right time to leave
- Rent has soared because of a record low number of available rental properties in a "crisis" analysts predict is set to worsen. A return to the city in the nation's biggest capitals is driving up costs, with rent for units in Sydney's CBD rising 5.5 per cent in the past 30 days and 7.4 per cent in Melbourne's CBD, but Brisbane has recorded the largest yearly jump in combined house and unit rent, up 15.2 per cent
What Australia has been searching for online
- Walker Scobell. This pocket rocket has been revealed as Disney+'s new embodiment of Percy Jackson in its upcoming adaptation of the beloved books by Rick Riordan. Riordan says he told Scobell personally (over Zoom) that he'd been picked for the role, saying the 13-year-old has "the perfect mix of comedic timing, sweetness, rebelliousness, snark and heroism" for the part
- Britney Spears. The singer has announced she's pregnant with her third child in a message on Instagram, just months after a judge ended the conservatorship that controlled the pop star's life for 13 years. She says she noticed changes in her stomach that she dismissed as weight gain at first. It turns out it wasn't just a food baby.
One more thing
It's official — the Commonwealth Games are coming back to Australia.
Victoria has been confirmed as the host of the 2026 Games, with regional parts of the state set to host the majority of events.
Early plans for hosting events include:
- Geelong — aquatics, beach volleyball, gymnastics, hockey, table tennis, triathlon
- Ballarat — athletics, boxing,
- Bendigo — lawn bowls, netball, squash, weightlifting
- Gippsland — badminton, rugby sevens
- All four centres will host parts of the T20 cricket competition
- The road cycling event will be between Gippsland and Bendigo
It will be the sixth time the Commonwealth Games has been held in Australia, with Sydney hosting in 1938, Perth in 1962, Brisbane in 1982, Melbourne in 2006, and the Gold Coast in 2018.
Brisbane is also preparing to host the 2032 Olympic Games too.
You're up to date
Thanks for reading.
ABC/wires
