This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happened.
Key events
Live updates
That's all for The Loop this morning
By Tom Williams
Thanks for joining me today. If you're catching up, here's a bit of what was covered (click the link to jump straight to the post):
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Melbourne school bus crash victims have suffered spinal injuries and some required amputations
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New Zealand police review CCTV from deadly Wellington hostel fire, will examine site today
- There will be no Falls Festival this year
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Joe Biden cancels Australian trip over debt ceiling negotiations
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The boss of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, tells US Congress regulation is needed
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English rapper Slowthai issues denial after being charged with rape
You can keep up-to-date with other news on the ABC's website, by subscribing to our mobile alerts, and by watching News Channel or listening to local radio here.
Someone is mailing used condoms to women in Melbourne
By Tom Williams
You read that right.
Victoria Police say more than 65 women have come forward so far, claiming that they've received suspected used condoms and handwritten messages in the mail across Melbourne's south-eastern and eastern suburbs.
The first incident was reported to police on March 20, with the most recent occurring on Monday.
"It is believed that most of those who reported the material have received multiple letters, all with the suspected used item included," police say in a statement.
"Officers believe the victims are linked and are part of a targeted attack."
The investigation continues.
'There's a sense there might be more bad news' from the New Zealand hostel fire
By Tom Williams
Reporter Emily Clark is in Wellington for us this morning, and says more bodies could be found today following yesterday's hostel fire, when police are cleared to enter the site.
"They'll be tasked with entering the burnt-out building and retrieving the six people we know to have died," she says.
"There are still 11 people unaccounted for. So there's a sense here that there might be some more bad news today."
Clark says some of the residents who survived the blaze believe the fire may have been a deliberate act.
"There is a lot of interest, it seems, as to those details around how this did happen and there are a few lines of inquiry that investigators will follow now," she says.
"So police will look into how this fire led to fatalities and the circumstances that existed in the building for people to lose their life, and the firefighters will look at how this fire started."
It's 10 years since Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories', which made a tiny NSW town a one-night dance hub
By Tom Williams
Our friends over at Double J have done a deep dive into the time French electronic music icons Daft Punk decided to promote their 2013 album Random Access Memories in a tiny Australian town.
The event saw the duo host the global launch of the album as part of the 79th Annual Wee Waa Show, right alongside the regular attractions like woodchopping, floral arranging, and dog-high jumping.
You can read Al Newstead's piece at the link below.
F1 crews evacuate Imola circuit due to flooding fears
By Tom Williams
Formula One personnel have been forced to evacuate the track where this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is being held, due to fears of flooding.
Heavy rain has led to rising water levels in a nearby river to the Imola circuit in Italy's north.
Images and video on social media show the swollen waters churning past the circuit, with some standing water in the paddock.
Cars are not due to be on track until Friday, when less rain is forecast.
New Zealand police review CCTV from deadly Wellington hostel fire, will examine site today
By Tom Williams
Police in New Zealand's capital Wellington say they anticipate they will be able to enter the scene of yesterday's deadly hostel fire in the coming hours.
At least six people are confirmed to have died following the blaze at Loafers Lodge in the suburb of Newtown, but others remain unaccounted for.
The scene is set to be handed to police by Fire and Emergency New Zealand, after "an extensive health and safety assessment and the mitigation of any identified risks".
Acting Wellington District Commander, Inspector Dion Bennett, says entering the building is a "critical step" in the police investigation.
Police say they will be "unable to provide any definitive comment on the number of deceased" until the scene is extensively examined.
"We know this is an incredibly difficult time for those waiting for information regarding family members and friends who may have been staying at Loafers Lodge at the time of the fire," Bennett says.
"I want to reassure everyone impacted by the fire that we will work as quickly as we can to provide the answers you need.
"We have a large number of staff dedicated to this operation, with specialist staff being brought into Wellington from around the country to assist."
Bennett says police will be talking to evacuated residents again today, and have already secured and reviewed CCTV footage from the area around the hostel.
"Work is also ongoing to determine who was in the building at the time of the fire and who remains unaccounted for or uncontactable," he says.
There will be no Falls Festival this year
By Shiloh Payne
Falls Festival has announced it's taking a break this summer.
The travelling festival that frequents Fremantle, Melbourne and Byron Bay over the new year released a statement this morning.
"After an impressive 28 years ringing in the New Year with some of the world’s biggest acts, the Falls team are today switching on their OOOs and taking this New Years’ season off to rest, recover and recalibrate," it says.
"We send huge love and appreciation to all our patrons for their ongoing support and for the great vibes they brought to the 2022/23 events."
After being postponed for two years because of COVID-19, Falls Festival returned for the 2023 New Year in Byron Bay, Fremantle and the Melbourne CBD.
It started in 1993 in the coastal Victorian town of Lorne.
Organisers say they will provide an update on their future plans when the time is right.
Royal Children's Hospital providing specialist care to families of bus crash victims
By Shiloh Payne
The Royal Children's Hospital's chief executive Bernadette McDonald says families of the school bus crash have also received care overnight.
"We offered accommodation last night and straight away, making sure they were taken care of and we worked really hard to reunite them with their children as goodly as possible once the child was out of theatre," McDonald says.
"As you understand, it took hours of surgery last night, so we will continue to provide the support we have, our social work team was here last night on call and ready to activate.
"We had great nursing managers overnight who also give that specialise care to families and provide that support to them."
Multiple school bus crash victims received operations overnight
By Shiloh Payne
Bernadette McDonald, Royal Children's Hospital's chief executive, says multiple children aged five to 11 have had their arms partially amputated after yesterday's Exford Primary School bus crash.
She says one child remains in intensive care, but is likely to come out of that ward today.
Another child required a full arm amputation after the incident.
Ms McDonald says the hospital ran theatres overnight with the assistance from surgeons from the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
"We ran theatres at the same time last night, we've got another two to go today and those children operated on last night more than likely require returns to theatre over the coming days in coming weeks," she says.
Melbourne school bus crash victims have suffered spinal injuries and some required amputations
By Shiloh Payne
Royal Children's Hospital's chief executive Bernadette McDonald has provided an update on a school bus crash which took place west of Melbourne yesterday afternoon.
The bus carrying 45 children had just left Exford Primary School when it was hit by a truck around 4pm.
McDonald says the hospital had nine patients arrive yesterday and two have since been discharged, leaving seven children still in a serious condition.
She says some have suffered traumatic injuries.
"We admitted seven patients, one of those is in our intensive care unit at the moment," McDonald says.
"The ages of the children range from five to 11 years old.
"The children have suffered multiple and traumatic injuries, including partial and complete amputations of arms, multiple crushed limb injuries, severe lacerations to head and body, head injuries, classified injuries and creations that currently receiving spinal support and being monitored carefully in terms of spinal injuries."
Russia denies claim that Ukraine shot down six Russian hypersonic missiles
By Tom Williams
Ukraine says it has shot down six Russian Kinzhal missiles in a single night, but Russia has denied the claim.
It is the first time Ukraine had claimed to have struck an entire volley of multiple Kinzhal missiles, and if confirmed would be a demonstration of the effectiveness of Kyiv's newly deployed Western air defences.
The missiles have been touted by Moscow as a next-generation hypersonic missile that was all but unstoppable.
But Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu dismissed Ukraine's claim, saying Moscow had not launched that many missiles overnight, RIA news agency said.
You can keep reading this story here:
Joe Biden cancels Australian trip over debt ceiling negotiations
By Tom Williams
The White House says US President Joe Biden has ditched his planned trip to Australia because of stalled domestic debt ceiling negotiations.
Biden will leave the US tomorrow to travel to Japan for a meeting of the G7, which Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also attending.
The president was planning to travel to Papua New Guinea and Australia afterwards, including visits to Sydney and Canberra for security talks and an address to Australia's parliament.
However, he will now fly home directly from Japan after the G7 to negotiate with Republican politicians over the debt ceiling, according to a White House statement.
Johnny Depp, Helen Mirren and more have hit the Cannes red carpet
By Tom Williams
The Cannes Film Festival has opened its 76th edition with a parade of stars, including the much-debated return of Johnny Depp.
Depp's prominence on the festival's first day — he plays Louis XV in the opening night film Jeanne du Barry — has been a hot topic in the leadup to the premiere.
Helen Mirren had her hair dyed blue and displayed a fan with the phrase #WorthIt printed on it.
The night also belonged to Michael Douglas, who received an honourary Palme d'Or during the opening ceremony.
Douglas attended the premiere with his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones and their daughter, Carys.
Children remain in hospital after serious school bus crash in Melbourne
By Tom Williams
More than a dozen children remain in hospital after a collision between a school bus and a truck west of Melbourne.
The bus carrying 45 children collided with a truck, tipping it over at an intersection in Eynesbury just before 4pm yesterday.
A total of 14 people, including 13 children, were taken to hospital with injuries — 10 of those injuries were serious.
The incident is now under investigation.
The boss of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, tells US Congress regulation is needed
By Tom Williams
The head of the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT has told US Congress that government intervention will be critical to mitigating the risks of increasingly powerful AI systems.
"As this technology advances, we understand that people are anxious about how it could change the way we live. We are too," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told a Senate hearing.
Altman proposed the formation of a US or global agency that would license the most powerful AI systems and have the authority to "take that license away and ensure compliance with safety standards."
His San Francisco-based company rocketed to public attention after it released its AI chatbot ChatGPT last year.
Senator Richard Blumenthal had opened the hearing with a recorded speech that sounded like his voice, but was actually a voice clone trained on his speeches and reciting a speech written by ChatGPT.
The result was impressive, Blumenthal said, but he added:
"What if I had asked it, and what if it had provided, an endorsement of Ukraine surrendering or [Russian President] Vladimir Putin's leadership?"
News Australia is searching for: Wellington hostel fire
By Tom Williams
In case you missed it yesterday — Australians are still searching for information about the deadly fire which took place in a hostel in the New Zealand capital, Wellington.
The blaze on Tuesday morning has killed at least six people, while 11 remain missing.
The building also sustained extensive damage, and police say their investigations can't get fully underway until a safety assessment is carried out — which is expected to happen today.
An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson says they have confirmed that police have not identified any Australian citizens who have been impacted.
You can keep reading more about what happened, here:
English rapper Slowthai issues denial after being charged with rape
By Tom Williams
Grammy-nominated English rapper Slowthai has appeared in court after being accused of raping a woman — a crime he denies carrying out.
As the BBC reports, the 28-year-old singer has been charged under his real name, Tyron Kaymone Frampton.
He appeared before court on Tuesday via video link from his home.
Frampton has been charged with two counts of raping a woman in September 2021.
In a statement on social media, Frampton says he denies the charges.
"I am innocent and I am confident my name will be cleared," he says, before asking fans not to comment about the situation.
Frampton is expected to appear before Oxford Crown Court on 15 June.
His latest Slowthai album Ugly came out in March this year.
One more thing: Five men have been convicted over a $194 million museum heist
By Tom Williams
A German court has convicted five men of breaking into a Dresden museum and stealing 21 pieces of jewellery containing more than 4,300 diamonds.
The men aged between 24 and 29 received prison sentences ranging from four years and four months to six years and three months, German news agency dpa reported. One defendant was acquitted.
The Dresden state court says the five were responsible for the theft of the 18th century jewelry from the Green Vault Museum in 2019.
Officials said at the time that the stolen items included a large diamond brooch and a diamond epaulet.
The crime is considered one of Germany's most spectacular jewellery heists in recent history.
The pieces taken had a total insured value of at least $129 million ($194 million).
