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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mike Hohnen

Afternoon Update: Ben Roberts-Smith arrested over alleged war crimes; Trump’s Iran deadline nears; and the appeal of barefoot hiking

Police escort Ben Roberts-Smith on airport tarmac during his arrest
Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested at Sydney airport after travelling from Brisbane. Photograph: AFP

Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.

Australia’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been arrested at Sydney airport in relation to alleged war crimes.

The Australian federal police and the Office of the Special Investigator said Roberts-Smith was expected to be charged with five counts of war crime – murder, in relation to three incidents in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2012. The maximum penalty for the offence is life imprisonment.

The Victoria Cross recipient previously lost a defamation suit against media outlets which accused him of murdering unarmed civilians while serving in the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) in Afghanistan. He has denied any wrongdoing.

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  5. Jason Day hits out at ‘selfish’ Tiger Woods after DUI charge

  6. Judge says Lil Nas X police battery charges to be dismissed if he completes treatment program

In video

A police helicopter rescued a stranded cyclist after four hours in the Snowy River on Monday. The experienced rider had attempted to cross near Suggan Buggan just before 8pm, but rising water levels left them stuck midstream, clinging to reeds with their bike.

What they said …

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“Make sure this record is not long-lived” – Jeremy Hansen

The Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen set a challenge for this generation and the next after he and the other three astronauts onboard Artemis II flew further from Earth than any human before them. On the sixth day of their lunar mission, the astronauts broke the distance record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission by more than 6,600km, when they reached the journey’s furthest anticipated distance from Earth: 406,778km.

Full Story

Move over Murdochs, here come the Ellisons

If the Ellison family succeeds in buying Warner Bros, they will become the most powerful media magnates on the planet, controlling CBS News and CNN, along with HBO and other networks. Margaret Sullivan explains why it’s bad for media freedom.

Before bed read

From clay trails in Seoul to remote Australian coastlines, a small but growing number of hikers are hitting the trail unshod. But what happens when you feel the ground beneath your feet?

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: BODY. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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