AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 21 at 0100
Flu (SYDNEY)
A deadly avian disease that has wreaked havoc on wildlife across the world has been confirmed on mainland Australia for the first time.
Detection of the H5 strain of bird flu was announced on Saturday after a sick brown skua was found on a remote beach in Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance, about 700km southeast of Perth.
This strain has already killed millions of animals and could threaten Australia's native wildlife and farmed animals but Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the government had been planning for its spread.
"We all knew that we couldnt be (H5) bird flu free forever," she told reporters.
"Whilst disappointing, this is not unexpected given the global spread of the H5 bird flu virus.
UK Vote (LONDON)
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to set out plans to quit Downing Street over the weekend after Andy Burnham stormed to victory in the Makerfield by-election.
The British prime minister has repeatedly vowed to fight any leadership challenge, insisting he will not "walk away".
But Burnham's by-election victory has prompted more backbenchers and Labour grandees to call for Starmer to stand down.
Some MPs who had signed a statement rejecting calls for a leadership election in May have now reversed their position while former home secretary Alan Johnson told LBC his message to the prime minister would be: "It's over, Keir."
Starmer is understood to have spoken to a number of cabinet ministers on Friday, some of whom are reported to have told him he should set out a timetable for his departure.
KPMG (SYDNEY)
Australians are being told they have a right to be deeply suspicious about trusting big accounting firms after a second consultancy scandal.
KPMG Australia executives were grilled by members of a parliamentary committee in Canberra on Friday over allegations the company misused confidential documents from its client Lendlease to develop audit pitches for Westpac and Dexus.
The hearing comes after another major accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia (PwC), was found to have leaked secret Australian government tax plans to corporations to help avoid a law PwC had helped write.
"Two of the big four firms have the dubious honour of having united the Australian parliament across all political divides around the failure to be honest and to act appropriately," Greens senator Barbara Pocock told KPMG Australia's former chief executive Andrew Yates at a hearing on Friday.
BudgetNSW (SYDNEY)
Despite the World Cup match playing in his office, Daniel Mookhey is more comfortable trying to balance his state's budget than a soccer ball.
The NSW treasurer will be delivering his fourth budget for the nation's largest state economy on Tuesday - and potentially his last, pending the outcome of the election scheduled for March.
It comes at a time of multiple economic headwinds, including rising interest rates and a stalled property market, and the fallout from the war in the Middle East putting a further brake on the already sluggish Australian economy.
While the NSW economy was expected to grow by 2.5 per cent in the coming financial year, that forecast has been downgraded to a meagre one per cent, Mr Mookhey revealed in a recent speech.
NDIS (CANBERRA)
Disability advocates are calling on the Albanese government to pause its plan to rush through an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme after a major report into the changes was again delayed.
A parliamentary inquiry was due to hand down its report on June 16, before its deadline was moved forward by three days.
The report isn't expected to be published until June 23.
Labor is trying to land a deal with the Greens, which would extend the inquiry into the proposed reform in exchange for the minor party's support for the government's tax changes announced in the federal budget.
Under changes to the $56 billion NDIS, the government would kick 160,000 people off the scheme to rein in spending.
Ebola (BUNIA)
At least 30 people have died since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, and, because of the symptoms, could indicate Ebola is spreading fast there.
It was not possible to confirm the causes of death because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia - the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo - had until Thursday refused testing the living or dead, a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas said.
However, all had symptoms including headaches, fever and vomiting, which are associated with Ebola, a camp spokesperson, a bereaved father, three aid sources and a civil society leader told Reuters.
"People didn't just die like this before," camp spokesperson Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters.
Trump Meloni (ROME)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her, after the US President told an Italian TV channel that she had "begged" him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit.
Meloni said she was "astonished" by his comments, which were "completely made up".
She also chided him for acting with far greater deference to the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.
Underscoring how much Trump's comments have angered Meloni's government, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced he was cancelling a planned visit to the US next week.
The latest exchange marks a sharp deterioration in ties, coming just days after signs emerged at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had steadied a previously strained relationship following tensions this year over the war on Iran.
Iran (WASHINGTON/DUBAI/ZURICH)
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, a US official said, after an escalation in fighting there jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the war in Iran turning into a lasting Middle East peace deal.
US-Iran talks in Switzerland planned for Friday were cancelled as fighting flared in Lebanon, creating new uncertainty about the timing of negotiations vital to ensure the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.
The senior US official said shortly before 4pm Lebanon time that a ceasefire would come into effect then.
"We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire," the official said on background, saying that negotiators for the US and Qataris worked out the agreement with help from Iran.
In entertainment ...
Arts Beetlejuice (MELBOURNE)
The juice is no longer on the loose after rising costs forced a major musical to end its Australian run early despite rave reviews.
Beetlejuice The Musical will play its final show on July 5 at Brisbane's QPAC Theatre, with all remaining dates of the national tour in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney cancelled.
The call comes amid high costs, despite a stellar cast, outstanding production values and excellent reviews, a Michael Cassel Group spokesperson told AAP.
"For a production of this scale, the current logistical realities of touring across vast distances between Australian cities have created increasing cost pressures that ultimately made continuing the run unsustainable," the spokesperson said.
"While audience enthusiasm for the show has been encouraging, a more cautious consumer environment combined with the economics of moving a production of this magnitude could not be justified.
Arts Impressionists (MELBOURNE)
It seems hard to believe these days, but impressionists such as Claude Monet were once reviled by critics and their paintings were impossible to sell.
But one art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, championed the likes of Monet, Renoir and Pissarro for decades, ultimately transforming artistic taste in Europe and the United States.
"Without Durand, we would have died of hunger, all of us impressionists," Monet is quoted as saying.
"We owe him everything."
"He was stubborn and relentless, risking bankruptcy a dozen times in order to support us."
At Geelong Gallery, Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel, Art Dealer Among the Artists, features more than 70 paintings, the majority from private collections in France.
With eight artworks by Monet, the show marks the centenary of the painter's death, as well as Geelong Gallery's 130th anniversary.
In sport ...
AFL Suns (BRISBANE)
Hawthorn dominated the midfield and scored their goals in rapid spurts as Gold Coast crumbled to a fourth-straight defeat and lost defender Daniel Rioli to injury.
The Hawks won 17.11 (113) to 14.13 (97) at Carrara's People First Stadium on Friday night to improve to 9-1-4 and third place.
Dylan Moore kicked four goals and the Hawks midfield dominated the centre clearances 20-12, the Suns losing all nine in the third term and being flattered by winning the last four of the game.
Ben Long booted four goals for the Suns while Noah Anderson amassed 43 touches, nine more than any other player on the ground.
Mac Andrew and Joel Jeffrey were solid at the back for the Suns, but Hawthorn's ball-up dominance and their quick-fire goals in the first, third and fourth quarters proved the difference in front of 19,576 fans.
RL Titans (GOLD COAST)
Gold Coast have shocked competition leaders Penrith 19-18 in one of the best and bravest wins in their history as rising half Zane Harrison announced himself as a star.
The 20-year-old's winning field goal at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night, with 19 seconds left on the clock, was a composed cracker after he set up two second-half tries.
Harrison, playing just his sixth NRL game, was part of a starting side where all 13 players have only played for the club.
More than 70 old boys of the Titans and former Gold Coast franchises formed a guard of honour as the players ran on the field. The club celebrated their own retro round with iconic mascot Captain Charger making an appearance for the first time in 19 years.
Ends Bulletin
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