AAP Rolling News Bulletin for May 20 at 1030
Ebola (BUNIA)
The head of the World Health Organisation has expressed concern over the "scale and speed" of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola known as Bundibugyo in eastern Congo, where authorities report 134 deaths and more than 500 suspected cases.
The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as authorities tested for a more common type of Ebola and came up negative, health experts and aid workers said on Tuesday. The Bundibugyo virus has no approved medicines or vaccines.
Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola, developed by researchers at Oxford, said Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the National Institute of Biomedical Research.
Booker (LONDON)
Taiwanese author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translator Lin King have won the International Booker Prize for Taiwan Travelogue, a historical romance set in Japan-occupied Taiwan in the 1930s.
It is the first novel written in Mandarin Chinese to win the prestigious prize for fiction translated into English.
The book follows a Japanese novelist with a "monstrous appetite" as she goes on a culinary tour through 1930s Japan-occupied Taiwan, with the help from a local interpreter.
The "captivating" novel, which was originally published in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 before being published in English in March, explores themes of colonialism, power, class and love.
British novelist Natasha Brown, who chaired the judging panel, called it a "captivating, wryly sophisticated" book that plays with themes of language and power and offers the reader surprises along the way.
Mideast (ISTANBUL)
Israeli forces have opened fire on at least two vessels in an aid flotilla sailing towards Gaza, according to video footage and flotilla organisers, but Israel said no live ammunition was used and there were no casualties.
The flotilla was making a renewed attempt to deliver aid to Gaza after earlier missions were intercepted by Israel in international waters.
Video from the flotilla's livestream showed soldiers firing shots at two of the boats. The type of ammunition fired was not clear.
"At no point was live ammunition fired," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Following multiple warnings, non-lethal means were employed toward the vessel - not toward protesters - as a warning. No protesters were injured during this event," it added, only referring to action against one vessel.
Sudan (CAIRO)
A drone strike on a bustling market in central Sudan has killed 28 people and wounded dozens more, a local rights group said, part of the war that has devastated the country since 2023.
The Emergency Lawyers, a local rights group that tracks violations committed during the conflict, said on X that the market in the town of Ghubaysh in West Kordofan province was targeted on Tuesday morning when it was overcrowded with civilians. The group blamed the army for the strike.
A full-scale war broke out in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalated. The RSF controls West Kordofan.
An official with Sudan's army told The Associated Press the army doesn't target civilians or civilian infrastructure. Another military source also denied the group's claims, stating that an army drone struck two RSF combat vehicles near the market while they were refueling, completely destroying the vehicles and killing those inside without causing any civilian casualties.
Budget (CANBERRA)
Holly Nebauer is waiting for a call from a real estate agent as her daughter, three-year-old Indy, plays at her ankles.
The 31-year-old and her fiance are hoping to secure their forever home in Bungendore, about 40 kilometres out of Canberra.
It will be the third property the couple has bought since 2020, having sold their first one. They expect to list their current house on the market soon.
Their first home, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse in Canberra's north, cost $466,000 at the start of the pandemic and sold for almost $200,000 more a year-and-a-half later.
Ms Nebauer says she had invested in the share market as a way to buy property and is now coaching her little sister to do the same, despite federal budget changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Housing (CANBERRA)
Australian taxpayers could be missing out on billions of dollars a year while wealthy landowners make out like bandits, amid efforts to tackle housing affordability.
The Albanese government's fifth budget attempted to reshape Australia's tax settings in favour of owner-occupiers over property investors.
But it neglected to address a "deep unfairness" at the heart of the nation's housing policy, according to a report released by think tank Prosper Australia on Wednesday.
In recent years, state and territory governments have been easing zoning laws, like raising maximum building height limits, in a bid to boost housing supply and ease affordability pressures.
While upzoning is widely lauded by economists as an effective measure to boost supply, report authors Tim Helm and Henry Williams estimated it was also giving away $11 billion per year in windfall gains to property owners.
Legal: Latham (SYDNEY)
Firebrand MP Mark Latham and his ex-partner are set to go head to head in court over claims he subjected her to sustained abuse and manipulation.
Nathalie Matthews, 38, is applying for a private apprehended violence order to protect her from the former federal Labor leader, who she accused of emotional and physical abuse.
Apprehended violence orders can be taken out by police or private citizens, as Ms Matthews has opted to do.
Mr Latham - who is an independent in the NSW upper house - denied the allegations and has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing.
The 65-year-old is set to fight the order during a three-day hearing in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
He will call two witnesses and play video evidence in support of his argument while Ms Matthews will call one witness, the court was previously told.
Ukraine (VILNIUS/RIGA)
Ukraine has blamed Russia for steering one of its drones into Estonian airspace where a NATO jet shot it down, the latest cross-border drone incident that has caused a political uproar in the Baltic states.
Latvia issued a first air threat alert over a possible drone entering its airspace on Tuesday, telling residents near the Russian border to stay indoors, with NATO Baltic Air Police jets summoned to the area. It later said it found no evidence that a drone had entered its air space.
It declared a second air threat alert after that, over two counties bordering Russia, leading to a fresh deployment of NATO fighter jets.
"Russia continues to redirect Ukrainian drones into the Baltics with the use of its electronic warfare," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said on X.
In finance ...
Budget (CANBERRA)
States and territories are being urged to slash stamp duty for small businesses and families to help them handle the fallout of a contentious overhaul of tax on investments.
The federal government has flagged some GST relief for Australians affected by a new 30 per cent tax on discretionary trusts, which kicks in from July 2028.
But Labor has stopped short of guaranteeing a reprieve on stamp duty, which thousands of people will likely need to pay as they restructure their investments as a result of the changes.
The reforms outlined in the budget attempt to even the tax rates on wages and investments, but businesses claim they will lead to a "double whammy" of taxes which could stifle innovation.
Webjet (SYDNEY)
Major online travel agency Webjet will take a hit on commissions after Virgin Australia said it would return to the holiday packages market under its own label.
The change by Virgin, which includes other Webjet commercial arrangements and is likely to impact other online travel businesses, will take effect from July 1.
Webjet, which on Wednesday released its full-year results, said that if the change had started at the start of 2026 it would have cost the group $3 million in underlying revenue.
Chief executive Katrina Barry said the impact of Virgin's decision was substantial, although the carrier remains a "valued partner".
"This does have a significant impact on our future commercials," she told an earnings briefing.
Webjet, which mainly serves the Australian and New Zealand markets, provides digital platforms for consumers to plan and book flights, hotels, holiday packages, and car hires.
In entertainment ...
Legal: Gillham (MELBOURNE)
Cancelled pianist Jayon Gillham's commentary on Palestine during a classical music concert was a "middle finger" to those who had helped him build a stellar career, a court has been told.
Gillham performed Connor D'Netto's composition Witness at a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert in 2024, introducing the piece with comments about Israel killing journalists in Gaza.
The orchestra responded by cancelling his next appearance, and the performer is suing the MSO for unfair dismissal in the Federal Court.
The case is expected to test the limits of political speech for contractors in Australian workplaces.
On the second day of a 15-day trial, the court heard details of senior orchestra management's handling of the crisis in the days after Gillham's concert.
Travolta (CANNES)
John Travolta, fresh from his directorial debut at the Cannes Film Festival last week, told Reuters that he cannot imagine stepping behind the camera again unless he felt a deep passion for its subject matter.
"When people say, 'Would you direct again?' - I have to be passionate because it's all-consuming, so you have to love it that much," said the screen legend, admitting that making Propeller One-Way Night Coach was at times overwhelming.
However, because of its deeply personal nature - about a young aviation fan who takes a fateful flight to Los Angeles in the golden age of flying in the 1950s and 1960s - he could handle it, he said.
"It was me being overwhelmed with the things I love and my family and my friends," Travolta, an experienced pilot, said at the festival.
In sport ...
RL Origin Qld (BRISBANE)
New Zealand international Briton Nikora says Queensland gave his family "a better life" as he prepares to wear the Maroons jersey for the first time.
New eligibility rules allow the 28-year-old, who has played 16 Tests for the Kiwis, to line up in State of Origin due to his early years as a Gold Coast junior.
Former Maroons star Tonie Carroll, who famously represented New Zealand and Australia, is an anomaly in that he played for the Maroons in 1998 before being selected for the Kiwis.
Cronulla second-rower Nikora will come off the bench against NSW in the Origin series opener on May 27 in Sydney.
In the Origin context, the fact Nikora feels like a Maroon makes perfect sense after he played his junior footy at Parkwood Sharks on the Gold Coast and attended rugby league powerhouse Keebra Park High.
Soc Aust (MELBOURNE)
Cash-strapped Football Australia (FA) is set to cut more than 20 per cent of its staff in response to a looming second-straight record financial loss.
But chief executive Martin Kugeler is adamant the serious belt-tightening won't impact the Socceroos or Matildas, who are preparing for their respective World Cups.
Kugeler on Tuesday confirmed FA would undergo a "significant reset and restructure" to allow it to work within its financial means, in response to a loss that would exceed last year's record $8.5 million deficit.
"Two significant losses, and increasing losses year-on-year, is obviously not a situation that is sustainable or acceptable," Kugeler said.
FA held an all-staff meeting on Tuesday morning regarding the financial news and separate meetings were held with affected staff throughout the day.
Ends Bulletin
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