AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 6 at 1830
Legal: Bryant (SYDNEY)
For grieving father Lachlan Wright, it was never about the sentence.
But a NSW-first punishment for the police officer who killed his son has at least delivered some closure.
"It's a hard day, 'cause you go through a lot of memories," he told reporters.
Benedict Bryant was found guilty in November of dangerous driving occasioning death after he parked his unmarked car in front of a stolen trail bike ridden by Jai Wright in 2022.
The 16-year-old Bunghutti man hit with the car and was thrown off the bike, sustaining critical head injuries. He died in hospital the following day.
On Friday, Bryant was sentenced to a two-year intensive corrections order - a term of imprisonment served in the community.
It is the first time in NSW a police officer has been held criminally responsible for an Aboriginal death during a police operation, according to the Aboriginal Legal Service.
Shark (PERTH)
A man has died after being attacked by a shark while spearfishing with his family.
The 35-year-old was bitten by a suspected 4.5-metre shark at about 11.20am on Saturday off Michaelmas Island near Albany in Western Australia's south west.
"He was conveyed back to shore by boat where he was met by paramedics,'' WA Police said in a statement.
"Sadly, he was unable to be revived."
The death comes after father of two, Steven "Mattas" Mattaboni, was killed while diving at Horseshoe Reef off Rottnest Island near Perth in May.
The 38-year-old was pulled from the water after being bitten and was rushed by boat to a jetty at Geordie Bay on the north side of the island.
Paramedics were unable to revive him.
Iran (BEIRUT)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has accused Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the US in some of his toughest criticism of Tehran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah as it wages war with Israel.
In a CNN interview, Aoun said "the people of Lebanon are paying the price ... for the sake" of Iran's interests, and were "fed up" with war between Israel and Hezbollah - comments reflecting deep divisions along Lebanon's confessional and political fault lines.
"They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States," Aoun said of Iran, according to excerpts of the interview published on the CNN website on Friday.
"It's unacceptable."
Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, ignited the latest hostilities more than three months ago when it opened fire in solidarity with Tehran as Iran came under US-Israeli attack.
Ebola (NAIROBI)
The Democratic Republic of Congo says 71 new Ebola cases have been confirmed in a 24-hour period and warns of rapid community transmission of the deadly disease.
The new data, included in a daily situation report published by the health ministry, bring the total number of confirmed cases to 452 since the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola was announced on May 15.
There have been 82 confirmed deaths.
The cases remain heavily concentrated in Ituri province in northeast DR Congo, a remote part of the country with poor health infrastructure and widespread insecurity due to fighting by armed groups.
The daily total of 71 new cases - 65 in Ituri province and six in North Kivu province - is one of the biggest during the outbreak, the 17th in DR Congo's history.
Ukraine (ST PETERSBURG)
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he currently sees no reason to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy after the Ukrainian president published an open letter proposing they hold face-to-face talks to agree an end to the war.
The Kremlin chief said Zelenskiy's letter was rude in parts and did not come across as a sincere offer to hold talks.
"This letter contains some rather rude remarks. Was it a way to create the conditions for a face-to-face meeting or a way not to set up a face-to-face meeting? I think it was the second," Putin said.
Asked on stage at Russia's annual economic forum whether he would meet the Ukrainian leader, Putin said: "I don't see any point for now."
In a meeting with international media a day earlier, Putin stuck to his hardline stance on the war and said his troops were advancing on the battlefield every day.
NZ Aust (CANBERRA)
New Zealand is making a pitch for its infrastructure businesses to win lucrative contracts before the Brisbane Olympics, as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon prepares to sit down with Anthony Albanese.
Mr Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart will hold the annual leaders' meeting in Noosa, Queensland, on Saturday.
Mr Luxon arrived in Australia on Friday for a two-day visit.
The prime minister and his wife Jodie Haydon hosted a reception for Mr Luxon and Amanda Luxon on Friday evening, with business leaders from the two nations in attendance.
Mr Luxon earlier met with members of Brisbane's 2032 Olympic Committee where he spruiked his nation's businesses for massive construction projects.
He said his government would make the most of the event to promote New Zealand as a tourist destination, with the eyes of the world on the region.
Iran (DUBAI)
Iran has reaffirmed support for its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and demanded Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon, underscoring complications facing an interim deal to end the broader conflict between the US and Iran.
Iran has made a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington to resolve the regional war, now in its fourth month, and restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest round of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel erupted at the start of March, two days after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran.
Hezbollah said its actions were in support of Tehran.
"This war will end only when it ends in Lebanon as well," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen late on Thursday.
UK Nowak (LONDON)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's office has condemned comments by US Vice-President JD Vance, who blamed immigration for the death of a university student who was handcuffed as he lay dying from a stab wound.
Henry Nowak, 18, died after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa in the English city of Southampton in December.
Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed to police he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak, who was white.
When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.
Digwa, 23, was convicted of murder for stabbing Nowak with a 20-centimetre Sikh dagger and sentenced on Monday to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term.
In finance ...
Markets Aust (SYDNEY)
Australia's share market has ended the session and the week lower as softening commodity prices and stalled Persian Gulf peace talks dent investor sentiment.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 61 points on Friday, down 0.7 per cent, to 8,625.1, as the broader All Ordinaries also lost 61 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 8,855.9.
The top-200 has lost 1.2 per cent since Monday and ended the week with a relatively uneventful session, trading in a narrow range after some initial weakness at the open, Global X senior investment strategist Billy Leung said.
"Materials were the biggest drag on the index as commodity-linked stocks came under pressure, while financials also weighed on performance following cautious commentary around the banking sector and housing outlook," Mr Leung said.
US Economy (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
The US economy has posted a third straight month of strong job gains in May, confirming the labour market was gaining traction after stumbling last year and giving the Federal Reserve more room to keep interest rates unchanged amid rising inflation due to the war in the Middle East.
The closely watched employment report from the US Labor Department on Friday painted an upbeat picture of the jobs market.
The economy added 93,000 more jobs in March and April than previously estimated and the unemployment rate held at 4.3 per cent for a third consecutive month.
While financial markets boosted the chances of an interest rate hike in December, economists said the bar remains high for monetary policy tightening.
Economists say fiscal stimulus, in the form of tax and import tariff refunds, has cushioned the effect of the US-backed war with Iran, which has stoked inflation through a surge in oil prices.
In entertainment ...
Arts Cinema (MELBOURNE)
When festivals and distributors overlooked his first feature film, James Robert Woods decided to get it into cinemas himself.
The Birthday Trip stars Luke Jacobz, Nicola Frew and Rosehaven's David Quirk, and follows a bunch of inner-city millennials to a luxury farmstay for a birthday celebration that goes horribly wrong.
After writing, directing, filming and co-producing the project via his production company, Badlands, Woods found he couldn't stir any interest from major festival organisers or the usual indie distributors.
But with small screenings at the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival in the Queensland town of Winton and Sydney's Inner West Film Fest, he felt confident the feature would speak to cinemagoers.
Woods is convinced it's the right moment to poke fun at upwardly mobile millennials and says audiences so far have enjoyed laughing at themselves.
France Otis (PARIS)
Former US supermodel Carre Otis has filed a complaint at a Paris court alleging she was raped and trafficked by Gerald Marie, the former European head of Elite Model agency, in a move her lawyer says is meant to encourage other potential victims to come forward.
Marie has denied the allegations and cannot be prosecuted over Otis' case because of France's statute of limitations.
But the complaint could allow other women, whether their cases are time-barred or not, to join the proceedings, Otis' lawyer Mathias Darmon said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The complaint, seen by AP, alleges rape of a minor and human trafficking.
Sent to Paris in 1986 by Elite Model agency, Otis, who was then 17, was housed in Marie's apartment, "mistakenly believing that he wanted to support her modelling career," according to the complaint.
In sport ...
AFL Crows (MELBOURNE)
Taylor Walker has been suspended for one game in the fallout from Adelaide's tough one-point AFL win over Geelong.
Cats defender Tom Stewart was cleared of his bump on Callum Ah Chee.
The Crows could continue to pay a high price for Thursday night's big home win, though, with Ah Chee (hamstring) and Jordon Butts (calf) failing to play out the game.
Walker was offered a rough conduct ban for pushing Connor O'Sullivan into Crows skipper Jordan Dawson at a marking contest.
The incident was assessed as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
"It's an absolute no-no, pushing players," Fox Footy commentator David King said after the third-quarter incident.
"You're not allowed to push players into the traffic like that."
WC26 Aust (OAKLAND)
In and out of San Diego inside 36 hours.
That's the plan the Socceroos hope can prove the perfect blueprint for their World Cup hit-and-run clash with the United States.
Australia travel on Friday to face Switzerland at noon on Saturday (5am Sunday AEST) at Snapdragon Stadium, then depart at night after the game to return to their Bay Area base.
The Socceroos' final friendly before the World Cup will also prove a dress rehearsal for Australia's second group match against the co-hosts on June 19 (June 20 AEST), with a similar midday kick-off and quick exit afterwards.
"That's what we're trying to do," coach Tony Popovic told AAP.
"The 12 o'clock kick-off is a unique time - unique for food and unique for travel and playing.
Ends Bulletin
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