SBS News in Easy English
Australians aged 18 years and over have until 8pm tonight to enrol to vote or change their details for the upcoming federal election.
You can check your details on the Australian Electoral Commission website - at check.aec.gov.au
Election day is on Saturday the 21st of May.
Ukrainian refugee numbers have reached five million, less than two months since the Russian invasion.
This figure does not include the estimated 7.1 million people within Ukraine and are in desperate need of food, shelter and protection.
The conflict has seen the rapid increase in the need for humanitarian supplies and support.
World Vision Australia C-E-O Daniel Wordsworth says the numbers will increase further.
"The five million number is just, it's hard to get your mind around it. But I think in some ways for World Vision, the even more shocking number is the fact that half of the children of Ukraine are now displaced. World vision is really taking its focus and making it focus inside Ukraine. That's why I've decided to return to the region and I'm going back in the next week to help with the World Vision response both on the border but inside Ukraine. We have to do something about these millions of people inside that country that are desperately looking for safety. "
At least nine more Australians have died with COVID-19.
New South Wales and Queensland each recorded four further deaths, while another person with the virus passed away in Victoria.
Some 11,116 new COVID-19 cases have been detected in New South Wales, 7,918 in Victoria, and 5,141 in Queensland.
A six-year-old boy has died in a fire at a home in Brisbane's inner north.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services say the blaze erupted at the back of the house in Clayfield in the early hours of this morning [[April 18]].
A man, woman, and four-year-old girl managed to get out, but the boy was trapped in his bedroom at the back of the home.
Acting Superintendent Mark Halverson says crews did all they could.
"The crews are really well trained, and they're experienced in this sort of thing. But yes, it is devastating for them as well. So they did the very best they could and I know that they themselves are feeling down and the end of Easter for the crews is also going to be a really sad time for them. However, they did what they did in the very best and from the perspective they could not have possibly done anymore, and it should be remembered that three people were saved. So that is the bonus out of it. However, any loss of life ever is a real is a real tragedy."
Luxury cruise ship Pacific Explorer has pulled into Sydney Harbour, making it the first liner to return to Australian since the federal government's ban due to the pandemic in March 2020.
P&O Australia's $400 million luxury liner, which has capacity for almost 2,000 passengers, arrived in Sydney this mroning [[April 18]] and expects to begin operations later this month.
Tourism and Transport Forum C-E-O Margy Osmond says COVID-safe measures are in place to help with the return of cruises.
"It does take time, they've got to be scheduled in. We've got to get them back here. It's a bit like aviation. We needed an aviation attraction fund to get those international airlines back into Australia, but having said that, there's massive pent up demand here in Australia. We're the - we're just about the biggest cruising nation in the world."
In tennis,
Stefanos Tsitsipas has beaten Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Monte Carol.
The world number five became the first repeat champion at the Monte Carlo Masters since Rafael Nadal in 2018.
