AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 4 at 1700
Legal: Hersant (MELBOURNE)
Neo-Nazis who disrupted an Anzac Day dawn service when they booed a Welcome to Country have pledged to continue their crusade.
Jacob Hersant, 27, Michael Nelson, 22, and Nathan Bull, 24, were on Thursday found guilty and sentenced for behaving in an offensive manner in a public place during the service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance in 2025.
Ian Harvey Lomax, 35, linked to the booing incident, was also found guilty and punished for the offence in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
About 50,000 people stood under the Shrine in the pre-dawn darkness as Bunurong elder Mark Brown began to deliver a Welcome to Country when the peace was broken by heckles and boos from the crowd.
Hersant, Bull and an unknown man began booing from the crowd, with Hersant shouting "we don't want to be welcomed" and "what about the Anzacs", magistrate James Fitzgerald said.
Tobacco (MELBOURNE)
The federal government is digging in against mounting calls to overhaul tobacco tax as the scale of Australia's black market trade is laid bare.
Data showing four in five vapes and cigarettes consumed in Australia in 2025 were bought on the black market has dredged up fresh debate about cutting the tobacco excise.
The black market share of total nicotine consumption has climbed from 12 per cent to 80 per cent from 2017 to 2025, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Introducing legislation to give state tobacco regulators powers to shut down dodgy sellers, Victorian Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation Minister Enver Erdogan acknowledged the excise had contributed to the problem.
"The statistics speak for themselves," he told reporters at state parliament on Thursday.
Legal: Nurses (SYDNEY)
The case against two Australian nurses accused of making anti-Semitic comments to an Israeli influencer might collapse if video footage is struck out of court.
Ahmad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh are accused of being menacing and offensive when they allegedly said they would refuse to treat Israeli patients and threatened violence towards them.
The pair are due to face a trial at the end of August, but the key piece of prosecution evidence might yet be excluded if it is ruled to have been obtained illegally.
Israeli national Max Ilinsky, popularly known as Max Veifer, recorded video of his conversation with the nurses on the platform ChatRoulette in 2025.
The platform, known as Chatruletka in Israel, randomly matches people from across the world to facilitate conversations.
Tax (CANBERRA)
The coalition has signalled it could cross the political divide and work with the Greens to stop contentious tax changes going through parliament, as the prime minister also tries to get the minor party on side.
The tax changes, which will limit negative gearing on properties to new homes from July 2027 and scrap a 50 per cent discount on the capital gains tax for a rate tied to inflation, passed the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The bill will be voted on in the Senate after a rapid-fire inquiry examining the tax overhaul later in June.
The passage of the laws remains unclear, as the government needs support from the Greens to get the changes through.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the coalition, which have already come out against the tax changes, were willing to work with the Greens on voting down the measures.
Mideast (JERUSALEM)
Lebanon and Israel have agreed to the implementation of a ceasefire following negotiations in Washington aimed at ending the conflict that flared up alongside the war in Iran.
The ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia and the evacuation of all of its operatives from the South Litani Sector, according to a joint statement released with the US on Wednesday.
"The two sides agreed with the guidance of the United States to swiftly advance the creation of pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors," they said.
Israel and Lebanon had previously agreed to a cessation of hostilities in April that was then extended in May, but violence has continued.
US Aust (CANBERRA)
The prime minister has blamed an "ideological disagreement" for the latest round of American tariffs proposed for countries including Australia over what the US says is their failure to address modern slavery.
The White House is proposing new levies for 60 countries that it says are not doing enough to fight slavery in their supply chains.
Under the proposal, a 10 per cent temporary tariff imposed in February on Australian goods would increase to 12.5 per cent from July 24.
"The acts, policies and practices of Australia related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a forced-labour import prohibition are unreasonable and burden or restrict US commerce," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer found in a report published overnight.
The tariffs are unwarranted and will only push up prices for consumers in the US, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.
Ukraine (KYIV)
Russian shelling has killed at least three civilians in Ukraine's frontline city of Kramatorsk in the east and Moscow's forces attacked areas near the southeastern city of Dnipro with drones and missiles.
Vadym Filashkin, governor of Donetsk region, on Wednesday said 11 people had been injured in the daytime Russian attack on residential buildings in Kramatorsk.
The governor of southeastern Dnipropetrovsk Region, Oleksandr Hanzha, said there had been three Russian strikes near the region's largest city, Dnipro, injuring eight people and triggering a large fire. Three people were in hospital in serious condition.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said Russian forces had struck food storage areas and a postal depot, deploying drones and missiles.
Photographs posted online showed several buildings ablaze and billowing smoke engulfing the surrounding areas. More than 100 firefighters had been deployed.
Ebola (LAGOS)
Congo's Ebola outbreak "had a big head start, and we're still behind," the head of the World Health Organisation says, adding that the medical community was "catching up" even as militant attacks plague the stricken region.
Congo's military said an attack late on Tuesday by an Islamic State affiliate — a group known as the Allied Democratic Forces — killed 16 people in the Beni territory in North Kivu province.
The militants struck in response for a joint operation of Congolese and Ugandan armies, which have been battling the group that operates in the border regions of the two countries. Last month, the group attacked Congolese villages near the Ugandan border, killing at least 40 people and burning and looting homes.
The violence has hampered efforts to combat the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola, which was announced in mid-May in eastern Congo's provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu.
In finance ...
IREN (SYDNEY)
A leading artificial intelligence data centre operator founded by two Australian brothers will build one of the largest such facilities in the Asia-Pacific region, creating hundreds of new jobs.
IREN will set up the massive data centre in Bundey, South Australia, a place with no residents that's 125km northeast of Adelaide and is home to the state's biggest electricity transformers.
The facility will be connected directly to that substation and is expected to draw up to 800 megawatts - enough to power 400,000 to 800,000 homes.
It's due to open in stages, beginning in 2028, and will support 200 ongoing jobs plus another 500 during construction.
By the time it opens, IREN says, SA's grid will be completely powered by net renewable energy.
Markets Aust (SYDNEY)
Australia's share market has wiped the previous session's gains, amid a re-escalation of tensions between the US and Iran.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 111.2 points by midday, down 1.27 per cent, to 8,674.5, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 110.9 points, or 1.23 per cent, to 8,906.3.
The slump followed a weak session on Wall Street after a record-breaking rally in US tech stocks ran out of steam.
"Financial markets shifted back into a risk-off mode as the US and Iran exchanged fire again," Westpac economist Mantas Vanagas said.
"With military action intensifying and tensions over Israel's campaign in Lebanon rising, the two countries appear to be moving further away from common ground on a lasting agreement."
In a positive sign, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire provided Hezbollah halts attacks on Israel, which could lead to a resumption of talks between the US and Iran.
In entertainment ...
Diddy (LONDON)
Sean "Diddy" Combs could face new sexual battery charges after allegations made by a celebrity publicist.
The 56-year-old rap mogul is currently serving a 50-month federal prison sentence after being convicted of transportation for prostitution, but it is now reported that he may face new criminal probe.
Venusse D Dunn, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office's chief of communications, has told the Daily Mail newspaper the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have both laid out separate presentations on investigations into the alleged victims claims.
It is said the case, which has been made by celebrity publicist Jonathan Hay, is under review.
Hay previously filed a lawsuit against Combs in July 2025, and in the civil complaint he has accused the rapper of sexual battery in 2020.
Arts Silenced (SYDNEY)
A powerful Australian film aims to shift conversations, change cultures and make it safer for women to speak out against gendered violence by reforming the laws that seek to silence them.
The highly anticipated documentary Silenced opened the Sydney Film Festival with its Australian premier on Wednesday night.
Emmy-winning director Selina Miles follows acclaimed human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson as she fights against the weaponisation of defamation law by alleged perpetrators.
It charts a post #MeToo world, using courtroom footage, media coverage and interviews to demonstrate how legal systems across the world are being used to discredit both victim-survivors and the journalists who report their stories.
Former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins tells her story in the film, having participated in both a criminal and civil trial following allegations Bruce Lehrmann raped her inside Parliament House in 2019.
In sport ...
Super Brumbies (CANBERRA)
If prop James Slipper had the choice between keeping his historic milestones or steering the Brumbies to a Super Rugby Pacific grand final, he would choose the latter.
After a season in which he has become the most-capped Super Rugby player ever, chalked up 100 appearances for the Canberra-based side and scored a crucial try in the ACT's hoodoo-busting win over the Crusaders in February, Slipper is now looking to achieve something he's yet to do: make a decider with the Brumbies.
"I've always played the game for the team. Team milestones and team achievements come before the individual," he told AAP.
"In my mind, celebrating with your teammates after a win or finals win or whatever is why you play the game."
WC26 Aust (OAKLAND)
Lucas Herrington is 18 years old, has just played in front of almost 80,000 people at the Rose Bowl and is poised to make his World Cup debut.
And none of it fazes the Socceroos sensation whatsoever.
The first time Socceroos coach Tony Popovic watched Herrington train back in March, he decided he would be playing.
Less than three months later, Herrington excitedly called his mum to tell her he'd made Australia's 26-man World Cup squad.
He will be the 11th-youngest player at the tournament and could become the Socceroos' youngest-ever starter if given the nod against Turkey on June 13 (June 14 AEST).
"I'm over the moon, it's a dream come true," Herrington said in Oakland on Wednesday.
"I'm so happy to be here. I can't wait for it all to get started."
Ends Bulletin
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