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The Loop: Swimming Australia's apology, reactions to WA backflip, Adele's residency delayed

Hi! It's Friday, January 21 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.

One thing you should know

Swimming Australia has released the findings of a report on the treatment of women and girls, saying the "open and frank" feedback it received was "difficult" to read.

The report was commissioned last year in the wake of explosive allegations from Olympic silver medallist Maddie Groves about the sport's "misogynistic" culture.

  • The panel spoke to 150 participants including former and current athletes, parents, coaches, technical officials, volunteers and administrators
  • Groves had revealed she was sexually abused from the age of 13 by a person who still worked in swimming
  • The report contains 46 recommendations aimed at improving the treatment of women and girls in the sport

The organisation said in a statement it wanted to "reassure those who have come forward that the sport is committed to change to ensure these negative experiences are not repeated and apologise unreservedly to those impacted".

Late breaking news

Grammy Award-winning artist Meat Loaf has died, aged 74.

His wife was by his side and his two daughters also visited over the last day.

A cause of death has not yet been released.

What else is going on?

What Australia has been searching for online

  • triple j. Yep, everyone wants to know what our good friends over at the js are doing because it's the Hottest 100 weekend. We counted down the Hottest 200-101 today before the main event tomorrow, then Double J will throw us back to the Hottest 100 of 2001 (which, yes, was 20 years ago) on Sunday
  • Adele. The superstar has shared an emotional video confirming the postponement of her highly anticipated Las Vegas residency just before it was due to begin, citing COVID-19 issues and delivery delays. Crying throughout the video message, she said half of her crew was unwell

One more thing

A pair of rare baby elephant twins has been born at a national wildlife reserve in Kenya, with conservationists praying for their survival.

The days-old newborns — a male and a female who haven't been named yet — have been captured on camera getting accustomed to their savanna surroundings with their doting mother Bora and an older sibling.

But founder of local charity Save The Elephants Iain Douglas-Hamilton says mothering elephants often do not have enough milk to support twins.

The Save The Elephants founder says twins only form around 1 per cent of elephant births.

Mr Douglas-Hamilton says the last time he encountered elephant twins was in 2006.

"Sadly both calves died shortly after birth," he says.

"The next few days will be touch and go for the new twins but we all have our fingers crossed for their survival."

Honestly, if these sweet little babies don't make, it I'm packing up 2022 and shipping it to Mars. This year has brought too much heartache and we're only three weeks in. NO MORE PLEASE.

You're up to date

Thanks for reading The Loop this week.

We'll be back on Monday.

ABC/wires

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