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?
- The rest of Australia has been reacting to the news that WA will not reopen its borders in early February as expected. There are some slight changes to the rules around coming in and out of the state, but the decision overall has created chaos for tens of thousands of people who were set to head west in just a couple of weeks (including six Perth sporting organisations across three codes currently stranded in the eastern states, all of which had return dates locked in)
- The national medical regulator says there is "limited evidence" that menstrual problems increase after women have COVID-19 vaccines and there is no evidence vaccines affect fertility. Its findings back up what international experts have been saying about the stress of the pandemic possibly contributing to changes
- SA's Country Fire Service has confirmed a volunteer firefighter has died and another has been seriously injured in a "falling tree incident" in the state's south east. The volunteers were fighting a blaze at Coles, near Lucindale. The CFS says more information about the incident will be provided soon
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.
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.
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