Hi. It's Wednesday, May 18 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
Something you'll be hearing about today
Election day is so close we can almost taste the democracy sausage.
Anthony Albanese will speak at the National Press Club today, making one of his final pitches before Australians head to the polls — and before Labor releases its policy costings, which the Opposition Leader has promised will happen tomorrow.
Scott Morrison, meanwhile, is expected to speak in Victoria today — we're not sure at this stage if that'll be before or after the ABS releases its latest data on wages, which is due out around 11:30am AEST.
News while you snoozed
- A man accused of shooting six people, killing one, at a Taiwanese-American church luncheon in California, has been charged with murder and attempted murder. State records show the man was licensed to work as a security guard and carry a gun.
- Ukraine has moved to abandon a steel plant in Mariupol where hundreds of its fighters had held out for months under relentless bombardment from Russian forces. More than 260 fighters — some seriously wounded — left the ruins of the Azovstal plant on Monday, but it's unclear how many are still in there.
What Australia has been searching for online
- Tracy Grimshaw. The host of A Current Affair interviewed PM Scott Morrison last night, where he acknowledged his infamous justification "I don't hold a hose, mate" for taking a holiday while Australia burned "wasn't helpful".
- Brent Naden. The Bulldogs centre has become one of the first (but not the last) to walk away from Canterbury-Bankstown after the departure of coach Trent Barrett, signing with the Tigers. He could face the Bulldogs in his new colours as early as this week.
One more thing
The Australian Swimming Championships begin today!
That chill in the air that much of the country is really starting to feel is no match for our best, with the likes of Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown, Shayna Jack, Mack Horton, Kyle Chalmers and pop-star-turned-Commonwealth-Games-contender Cody Simpson, to name a few, set to take their marks.
There's an extra hint of excitement in the air with the event doubling as trials for the World Championships in Budapest next month and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July.
Both the Campbell sisters are taking a year off, and Emma McKeon won't swim this week but will appear in Birmingham after raking in the gold medals in Tokyo last year.
You can catch plenty of the action on Amazon Prime.
You're up to date
Thanks for reading, see you again soon.
ABC/wires
