AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 13 at 2330
Search (MELBOURNE)
Police have recovered the body of a man and are desperately scouring a Sydney waterway and surrounds for a young girl.
The girl, who is believed to be six or seven years old, was reportedly spotted with the man in a small boat on the Parramatta River.
Police were called to Hen and Chicken Bay in Concord in inner-west Sydney about 11.45am on Saturday following reports a man's body had been found in the water.
Responding to witness reports the man and girl had been seen together, a search was launched to locate the child.
The man has yet to be identified.
A command post has been established at the scene and specialist resources are assisting.
Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
Shark (SYDNEY)
A woman is fighting for life following a shark attack at one of Australia's busiest beaches.
Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach shortly after 11am on Saturday, following reports a swimmer had been bitten by a shark.
Bystanders pulled her from the water and commenced first aid before emergency services arrived.
Police rendered first aid to the woman, believed to be aged in her 30s, who had suffered serious arm and leg injuries.
Ambulance paramedics then continued her treatment before police cleared nearby Coogee Oval to facilitate the landing of the Careflight helicopter.
The woman was airlifted to hospital.
Nearby beaches including Coogee, Clovelly and Bronte have been closed.
Ebola (NAIROBI)
The United Nations refugee agency has confirmed the first Ebola-related deaths in a displacement camp in eastern Congo, as aid workers warn of a high risk the disease could spread rapidly in overcrowded sites.
The two victims were internally displaced people living in the Kpangba camp, which hosts 30,000 internally displaced people, the UNHCR said on Thursday.
As of Friday, Congo had reported 689 confirmed cases and 136 deaths in an outbreak that has also spread to neighbouring Uganda, which has reported 19 cases.
The virus has spread across three provinces since the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on May 17.
The affected provinces - Ituri, South Kivu and North Kivu - have been devastated by decades of conflict and are home to more than five million displaced people.
Iran (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
Negotiators for the United States and Iran areclose to the finish line of a deal aimed at ending their three-month war and it could be signed in the coming days, a senior US official says.
A painstakingly negotiated agreement would include a commitment by Iran to neither develop nor procure nuclear weapons and would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to normal oil traffic and lift the US blockade, the official told reporters.
It would only permit the release of frozen Iranian assets based on whether Iranian leaders meet the requirements laid out for them, the official said.
"If we see them honouring their end of the bargain, it's going to be very good for Iran, and if we see them not honouring their end of the bargain, then they're not going to get anything out of it," the official said.
SpaceX (NEW YORK CITY)
SpaceX has jumped almost 20 per cent in its Nasdaq debut as investors piled into the world's largest initial public offering and bet on Elon Musk's sprawling empire spanning rockets to AI.
The launch was smoother than many observers expected, with trading kicking off late on Friday morning, swinging for most of the session between gains of 15 per cent and 30 per cent above Thursday's pricing with little in the way of volatility.
Shares ended the day at about $US161 a share, up 19 per cent, making SpaceX the sixth-largest US company by market value, behind only Nvidia, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.
The trading, which surpassed 500 million shares, or about $US80 billion ($A114 billion) in volume, capped off a lead-up fraught with anxiety over the exchange's ability to handle the launch, particularly after a recent swoon in technology shares that raised concerns about the stratospheric gains in AI-linked names.
Ukraine (KYIV)
Ukraine will hike military wages and seek to recruit more fighters abroad, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says as the army faces a manpower shortage after four years of war with Russia.
Zelenskiy's government said in May it would study possible measures to boost military personnel numbers after talks on how to end the war with Russia stalled.
"We agreed on how to increase the financial resilience of our defence and further transformation of the Ukrainian army," Zelenskiy said in his daily address after meeting key cabinet ministers.
"The cabinet of ministers will approve a specific mechanism, and the government should start the first new payments as early as June," he added.
Ukraine has secured a 90 billion euro ($A148 billion) loan from the European Union, allowing the government to increase defence spending to a record 4.4 trillion hryvnias ($A138 billion) this year.
NDIS (MELBOURNE)
Autistic teenagers are caught in the middle of a buck-passing exercise between the federal government and states and territories over the future of disability support.
One of the most vulnerable and crucial periods for an autistic person is adolescence, as they navigate a world of changes and the transition to adulthood.
Eliza Tait, who was diagnosed with autism at 14, describes it as having to take on a full-time self-advocacy role.
"I really had that period of struggle," the now-18-year-old told AAP.
"Part of autism being that I really struggled with my emotional regulation."
For Eliza and many like her, the challenges can become too much, with the university student ultimately finding herself hospitalised with anorexia.
"When you hear the same story over and over, and when policy could stop that, it's really heartbreaking," she said.
Housing (CANBERRA)
Investors are prematurely offloading their properties before tax changes even hit the market, resulting in a listings boom but fewer rentals.
Rental listings across the country have shown large annual falls, with the steepest downturn so far in May.
All capital cities were part of the trend, with Hobart losing just 0.3 per cent of listing volume, but Darwin was down 2.1 per cent and Melbourne 1.7 per cent.
Sydney was hit hardest in the past year, down 1.5 per cent in May and 9.8 per cent annually, data from Neoval shows.
The figures suggested some of the nation's more vulnerable people were at risk of not finding affordable homes, Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said.
"A home listed for sale does not help someone looking for a lease. Rental availability is what determines how much choice renters have," she said.
In finance ...
Paramount (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
The US Justice Department's Antitrust Division has cleared Paramount Skydance Corp's planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, Politico reports, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The deal is worth $US110 billion ($A156 billion).
Justice officials determined the transaction did not pose a threat to competition, according to the sources.
Politico on Friday reported, citing one source, the department approved the merger without requiring any divestitures, behavioural remedies or concessions.
Spokespeople for Paramount and the DOJ spokesperson declined to comment.
The clearance gives Paramount another regulatory green light to point to as it seeks to ward off a potential challenge to the deal by California and other states.
In April, Paramount also asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve foreign investments backing the acquisition. US senators have raised concerns about Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and Chinese companies taking part.
Markets (NEW YORK CITY)
US stocks ended higher on Friday as investors held out hope for a peace deal between Iran and the United States and as SpaceX shares surged in their debut, making it Wall Street's biggest public listing in history.
The United States and Iran signalled that an agreement to end their war was close, with a senior US administration official saying a draft proposal was in place that was liked by both sides. President Donald Trump has said several times since mid-March that a deal with Iran to end the war was close.
Market participants were glued to shares of Elon Musk's SpaceX , which began trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. Its shares closed up 19.2 per cent at $US160.95 ($A228.36), well above the IPO price of $US135 ($A192) apiece. Its market capitalisation was last at $US2.1 trillion ($A3 trillion).
In entertainment ...
Hall (LONDON)
Jerry Hall says she hasn't seen Rupert Murdoch since their divorce in 2022.
The former model married the billionaire media tycoon in 2016 but insisted it isn't important to be "friends" with an ex.
"Not all exes you want to be friends with, do you? Some people aren't friendly. But I think when you have children with someone it's important to be friendly," she told Britain's Vogue magazine.
"Rupert, we were married six-and-a-half years and no children, and so, you know."
Asked if she sees Murdoch, Hall shook her head and said: "I haven't seen him in a couple of years. Since the divorce."
The divorce was the fourth for Murdoch, who married Hall in London in March 2016.
By contrast, Hall has a good relationship with first husband Mick Jagger - the father of her children Elizabeth, 42, James, 40, Georgia, 34, and 29-year-old Gabriel. Jagger is a regular visitor to her home, along with partner Melanie Hamrick and their eight-year-old son Deveraux.
Jackson Film (LONDON)
The Michael Jackson biopic Michael has overtaken Bohemian Rhapsody as the highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
The biopic was released in cinemas on April 24 and has grossed $US911.9 million ($A1.3 billion) worldwide, overtaking the 2018 film about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, which took $US910.9 million globally, Deadline reports.
The film will be looking to cross $US1 billion in global takings, a feat already reached by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, making the animated sequel the best-performing movie so far this year.
Michael ended amid the King of Pop's Bad tour in 1987, and a second film is in the pipeline with studio Lionsgate confirming they have "25 to 30 per cent" of the project in the bank from the previous shoot.
In sport ...
Com26 Swi (SYDNEY)
Facing a changing of the guard, freestyle stars Mollie O'Callaghan and Lani Pallister will lead Australia's all-conquering squad in search of more Commonwealth Games gold.
A 42-strong team was named on Saturday night at the end of the six-day trials in Sydney, with 14 swimmers to make their senior team debut in Glasgow next month.
O'Callaghan and Pallister are primed to build on Australia's winning ways, with fellow Paris Olympic gold medallists Meg Harris and Shayna Jack completing the freestyle relay team.
Australia claimed 25 gold medals out of a possible 52 at the 2022 Birmingham Games, with the nation's women freestylers claiming victory in all but one of the 15 races.
The Dolphins also clinched 21 silver and 19 bronze medals, while runners-up England managed just eight golds out of a total of 32 medals.
AFL Bombers (MELBOURNE)
Interim Essendon coach Dean Solomon insists he is yet to speak with Bombers president Andrew Welsh about the possibility of taking on the senior role permanently.
In his first press conference after Brad Scott was sacked as Bombers coach last month, Solomon declared he would not be seeking the position on a full-time basis.
But a bombshell report this week stated Solomon is Welsh's preferred candidate for the top job, even over James Hird.
But Solomon, who played in Essendon's last premiership back in 2000, is adamant coaching the club beyond this year is not on his radar and is yet to speak with Welsh.
"The club is obviously working behind the scenes about what the next coach would look like, time frames," Solomon said after Essendon's 45-point defeat to Melbourne on Saturday.
Ends Bulletin
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