G’day, g’day.
It’s Tuesday, January 4, and you’re reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today’s news.
One thing you should know — the ACCC will ‘name and shame’ COVID price gougers
The consumer watchdog says it is investigating reports that COVID-19 rapid antigen tests are being sold at excessive prices.
- The federal government asked the ACCC to monitor for price gouging following several incidents of individual rapid antigen tests being sold for several times their regular price
- ACCC chair Rod Sims said the watchdog was now investigating, but so far he had not seen systematic price gouging
- Mr Sims said that reports of businesses opening multi-test kits to sell the individual tests at marked-up prices were “appalling behaviour” that the ACCC would be “very interested” in pursuing
What else is going on
Let’s get you up to speed:
- The government says a national shortage of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests is due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, as it faces accusations of being unprepared for a rise in cases
- Israeli health authorities have detected a case of what some are calling “flurona” — a double dose of COVID-19 and the flu
- Warner Music Group has bought late British rock star David Bowie’s entire catalogue spanning six decades, including hits such as Heroes and Let’s Dance
- And the Northern Territory has scrapped pre-arrival PCR tests for interstate travellers. Instead, arrivals must take a rapid antigen test
News alerts you might have missed
- Ex-billionaire Elizabeth Holmes has finally faced her toughest sales pitch — unsuccessfully attempting to convince a jury she was innocent of fraud over the Theranos scandal
- Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the Australian Open men’s warm-up tournament in Melbourne due to asthma. He was due to play Alex Molcan tonight
Not signed up for ABC News alerts and want updates like these in real-time? Head to the ABC News app homepage ➡️ Settings ➡️ Notifications and tailor your alerts to what you want to know.
What Australia has been searching for online
- Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil’s President has been hospitalised with an intestinal blockage and may need to undergo surgery after falling ill on holiday
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- Matt Damon: The actor is facing criticism over a cryptocurrency ad he starred in, which some have labelled tone deaf
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One more thing…
It’s been a rough couple of years for a lot of Australians — and 2022 is already off to quite the start.
So let’s take 16 blissful seconds to ignore the news and watch a group of adults belt each other with a bunch snowballs.
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After a storm unleashed heavy snow on Washington DC, opposing armies of snowball fighters decided to pummel each other in an event dubbed the Battle of SNOWmicron — a nod to the COVID variant.
There’s snow way you won’t enjoy this one.
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That’s the lot!
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We’ll be back tomorrow morning with the news while you snoozed.
