AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 18 at 1700
Ukraine (KYIV)
Russia has attacked Kyiv with missiles and Ukrainian drones hit Moscow's refinery as both countries exchanged strikes hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke with US President Donald Trump and European leaders.
A Reuters witness heard explosions in Kyiv and authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone attack. Air strike alerts were issued for most of Ukraine's territory.
"The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. Stay in safe places until the air raid alert is over!" Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Thursday.
The attack on Kyiv is the second this week and came as Zelenskiy tried to increase pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to its four-year-long war.
UK Vote (LONDON)
The northern English area of Makerfield is voting in a by-election that could return Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to parliament, paving the way for him to launch a bid to take over as prime minister.
The election, triggered by a party colleague resigning his seat, has brought unusual attention to the former coalmining area near Manchester as its result will determine the shape of an inevitable challenge to the deeply unpopular Keir Starmer.
If Burnham defeats the candidate for Reform UK, Brexit advocate Nigel Farage's populist party, his victory on Thursday will fire the starting gun on a race to replace Starmer as leader of the Labour Party, a contest that could give Britain its seventh prime minister in just more than a decade.
Legal: Bogojevska (MELBOURNE)
The neighbours of an elderly woman whose body was dumped in a river say her remorseless killer should still be facing a murder charge.
Milena Bogojevska, 51, instead pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to 85-year-old Lolene Whitehand's manslaughter.
Bogojevska killed the elderly woman by shoving a tea towel into her mouth, blocking her airways, when she came to her Footscray home sometime after 4pm on July 12, 2024.
The killer then tied a bag over Mrs Whitehand's head and was captured on CCTV footage dumping her body in the Maribyrnong River in Melbourne's west.
A fisherman found the body in the river two days later.
Bogojevska lived only a few doors down from Mrs Whitehand and she joined a group of other neighbours who discussed the elderly woman's disappearance on the afternoon of July 14.
Legal: Haines (ORANGE)
The police investigation into the death of an Indigenous teenager on train tracks nearly four decades ago was hindered by racism and deeply flawed, a coroner has found.
The body of Mark Haines, a proud Gomeroi teenager, was discovered on tracks outside Tamworth, in northern NSW, on the morning of January 16, 1988.
A stolen Holden Torana was found crashed nearby.
The police initially ruled that the 17-year-old had laid down on the tracks either deliberately or in a dazed state, while an autopsy determined he died from a traumatic head injury.
His family long suspected foul play and believed the police investigation would have been different if Mark was non-Indigenous.
After a smoking ceremony on the steps of Tamworth court house on Thursday morning, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame found there were serious problems with the initial police investigation.
Legal: US Mangione (NEW YORK CITY)
Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating a health insurance executive in a carefully executed plot, could have a hard time convincing jurors at his murder trial that he suffered a mental health breakdown, legal experts say.
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Midtown in December 2024.
Defence lawyers indicated on Wednesday that Mangione plans to mount a type of legal defence that allows jurors to downgrade murder charges to manslaughter if they believe a defendant lost control of their actions due to an "extreme emotional disturbance".
But allegations Mangione meticulously planned the assassination and concealed his identity as he led law enforcement on a five-day manhunt could cut against an argument that he lost control of his actions, according to former Manhattan state prosecutor Gary Galperin.
Migration (CANBERRA)
Annual migration levels have fallen slightly in Australia but still remain above budget forecasts.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday revealed net overseas migration in 2025 came in at 301,000 people.
The figures were down a fraction from the 306,000 in 2024, while the federal budget released on May forecast migration will fall to 295,000 in the year to June.
The timing of the data follows a debate surrounding migration levels, with the coalition criticising the government for underestimating the numbers and One Nation calling for a more dramatic cut to the rate.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the migration rate had fallen by almost 50 per cent from peaks experienced after the COVID pandemic.
"Migration was surging when we came to office and it has now moderated substantially," he said in a statement.
Legal: Vlassakis (ADELAIDE)
A new review must be held to decide whether Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis is released on parole, a court has ordered.
A decision to block his parole was set aside by South Australia's Court of Appeal on Thursday and the Parole Board's decision to free him was reinstated.
But Parole Administrative Review Commissioner Michael David KC has been ordered to review the case again and Vlassakis remains in custody.
Last August, the Parole Board agreed to release Vlassakis, who pleaded guilty to four of the 11 murders between 1992 and 1999, but Attorney-General Kyam Maher requested a review of the decision.
Mr David subsequently found the board underestimated the effect of the gravity of Vlassakis's criminal behaviour and releasing him would be a risk to the community.
Pram (MELBOURNE)
A tight-knit community is reeling after a kindergarten student and her baby brother were killed when a SUV collided with a pram shortly after school pick-up.
The girl and her brother have been identified as Katherine, 5, and Harry, aged 14 months - the only two children of 33-year-old mother Sok Ram.
The children were struck by the vehicle while crossing a street with their mother in Cabramatta, in Sydney's southwest, about 3.15pm on Wednesday.
Katherine was in her first year of kindergarten and had just been picked up after receiving an award, according to an online fundraiser on the family's behalf.
The children's lives were taken in a "split second", the man behind the fundraiser, Patrick Te, said.
"As they were crossing the road together, heading back to the car, an oncoming vehicle suddenly struck both Katherine and the pram where Harry was sitting," he said.
In finance ...
Iran (EVIAN-LES-BAINS)
US President Donald Trump has defended his interim agreement with Iran, saying it has averted a global economic catastrophe while warning the United States could launch new attacks if Iran fails to honour its commitments.
Speaking at the close of a G7 summit in France, Trump also said maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz had risen sharply since the truce was announced three days ago and expressed hope it could mark the start of a wider peace across the Middle East.
"So the one thing I didn't want to see is, I didn't want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened," Trump said.
He thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for being "neutral" during the conflict, saying they had not thwarted his efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.
US Rates (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
The US Federal Reserve has held the benchmark interest rate steady and policy makers expect a hike in borrowing costs later this year amid growing concerns about inflation lodged above the United States central bank's two per cent target.
New quarterly projections showed nine Fed officials anticipate a rate hike by the end of 2026 and an updated policy statement removed language that had been used to flag the likelihood of further reductions in borrowing costs in 2026.
Indeed, the statement, in an early sign of new Fed chairman Kevin Warsh's influence, removed any guidance about future rate moves altogether, with a revised format that simply stated the rate decision and reaffirmed the central bank's intent to keep "ample reserves in the banking system."
In entertainment ...
Legal: Henderson (MELBOURNE)
Kyle Sandilands says he is relieved to have settled his multimillion dollar legal fight with his former employer, as ex-co-host Jackie "O" Henderson gears up for another day in court.
In an ASX announcement on Wednesday, ARN media said it would pay Sandilands $12 million, with $3 million payable as soon as July.
The figure is well below the $85 million the shock jock sought after he and his fellow KIIS FM co-host were sacked following an on-air row.
But Sandilands said he was relieved to put the ordeal behind him when approached by reporters outside his home on Wednesday.
"It's quite daunting to have that hanging over your head," he said.
"I could have dragged it on for like a year and a half."
Obit Dreesen (LOS ANGELES)
Tom Dreesen, who along with partner Tim Reid formed one of America's first interracial stand-up comedy duos and later spent years as Frank Sinatra's opening act, has died at age 86.
Dreesen died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, according to publicist Lori De Waal.
A cause of death was not provided.
After meeting in Chicago, Dreesen and Reid, who is Black, formed Tim and Tom in 1969.
Against a backdrop of simmering racial tension, they used humour to address social issues and promote understanding between audiences of different backgrounds.
They worked together until the mid-1970s.
Reid went on to solo success playing DJ Venus Flytrap on the popular TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, where Dreesen was a guest star.
In sport ...
WC26 Aust (OAKLAND)
The Socceroos have spent months listening to Americans talk the talk.
Now they can finally get their chance to answer the way they want to.
Australia have been talked down and written off over and over again since they were drawn in the same group as the United States back on December 6.
But all of a sudden, after stunning Turkey 2-0, the Socceroos' clash with the co-hosts at Seattle Stadium on Friday (5am Saturday AEST) could all but determine who tops Group D.
There are high stakes all round, but there are bragging rights too.
"I'm really excited for the US game," defender Jordan Bos told AAP ahead of the tournament.
"Because I've heard a lot of chatter and stuff like that.
AFL Giants (SYDNEY)
GWS coach Adam Kingsley would re-sign Toby Greene today if he could, unfazed by speculation around the superstar forward's future.
Off-contract at the end of the year and eligible for unrestricted free agency, Giants captain Greene has yet to make his call on his future.
Geelong have emerged as a possible suitor for the 32-year-old Victorian product, who has played all 274 games in his career at GWS.
Greene has also previously mused on a future as a one-club player, having surpassed Callan Ward as the club's all-time games record holder when he played his 268th game.
The Giants have previously secured signatures of star players before the final season of their respective contracts, having done so with Sam Taylor, Connor Idun, Toby Bedford, Finn Callaghan and Aaron Cadman.
Ends Bulletin
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