AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 5 at 0400
Legal: Williams (SYDNEY)
A psychic scammer who defrauded victims over two decades through fake blessings to combat curses and evil spirits has admitted running off with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maria Williams robbed people of significant savings and led to one woman being evicted from her home.
The now 50-year-old marketed herself out as a "Master Psychic" through pamphlets and newspaper ads offering spiritual cleansing from 2004 until her arrest in 2024.
Using the pseudonyms "Celina" and "Anna", she told her victims they had been cursed or affected by evil or ancestral spirits.
The Lakemba woman then asked for large amounts of money to be sent so they could be blessed and the bad luck cleansed away.
She promised each victim the money would be returned.
US Aust (CANBERRA)
Australia will likely be lumped with higher tariffs by the US, as analysts warn the nation doesn't stand a good chance of negotiating an exemption.
The US has proposed a 12.5 per cent tariff on Australian goods as part of plans for new levies on 60 countries, drawing condemnation from the nation's political leaders.
The White House says the taxes are in response to inadequate anti-slavery laws, but the move is widely considered to be a work-around after the Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's original "Liberation Day" tariffs.
But Australian beef and gold will maintain their exemptions from the American levies.
While Australian diplomats would voice their concerns over the new measures, it would unlikely result in a carve-out, United States Studies Centre director of economic security Hayley Channer said.
Iran (DUBAI/BEIRUT)
The Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement has rejected a new ceasefire in Lebanon and Israel says it will not withdraw troops from the country, undermining US President Donald Trump's efforts to halt fighting there to forge peace with Iran.
Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with the United States, and has suggested in recent days that it could intervene directly in support of Hezbollah if Israel keeps up or escalates attacks there.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the ceasefire would come into force within 24 hours of all concerned parties approving it.
However, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the Washington DC declaration, insisting "resistance will continue".
There was no immediate response from Israel, Lebanon or the US to Qassem's remarks.
Al Ahmed (SYDNEY)
The man who disarmed one of the gunman during the Bondi terror attack has been caught up on the wrong side of the law after being charged with assault.
Ahmed Al Ahmed, 44, is accused of allegedly putting his father in a headlock on March 9.
NSW Police have confirmed he was charged on Wednesday for common assault and stalking.
The tobacconist rose to prominence after video captured the moment he crept behind one of the Bondi gunmen and tackled and disarmed him, slowing the attack and saving lives.
He was shot twice in the arm during the incident.
His heroic efforts garnered worldwide attention with a fundraiser reaching more than $2.5 million.
Al Ahmed was awarded with Keys to the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, where he lives, and Waverley.
Legal: Ahmad (MELBOURNE)
A woman accused of marrying Islamic State fighters allegedly lived with a teenage slave who was repeatedly assaulted and raped by her father.
The allegations were detailed in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday as Zeinab Ahmad, 31, applied for bail, a month after she was charged with slavery offences.
Australian Federal Police allege Ahmad left Melbourne to go to Turkey with her husband Dawod in November 2014.
She told migration officers her plan was to stay there for seven months but it's alleged the couple instead moved to Syria in January 2015.
Ahmad's husband Dawod became an IS member but he died in a Syrian drone strike in May 2016, Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning told the court.
After his death, it's alleged Ahmad made social media posts saying Dawod had lived out his dream of becoming a martyr.
Economy (CANBERRA)
Labor's controversial tax changes will have no effect on economic growth or productivity, Treasury officials have conceded.
As the government passed changes to negative gearing, the capital gains tax and trusts through the lower house on Thursday, departmental officials argued the package would boost home ownership and improve intergenerational equity.
But the budget did not improve the outlook for GDP or productivity growth in either the near- or medium-term, Treasury told a senate estimates hearing.
"It, in aggregate, did not have a significant impact (to GDP growth) in the near term," assistant secretary for macroeconomics Angelia Grant said.
At best, the budget firmed up Treasury's confidence in its existing 1.2 per cent long-term assumption for productivity growth.
"If there were not policies ... in order to increase productivity growth in Australia, then our assessment of the risks around the medium term would be different," Dr Grant said.
BudgetSA (ADELAIDE)
A "responsible" state budget weighed down by $40 billion of net debt will deliver cost of living relief claimed to be the highest on record for South Australians.
Handing down the South Australian state budget on Thursday, Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said it would provide certainty for business and relief for families.
A little over two months after the government was returned to office with a historic majority, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the treasury department had been working around the clock on "the greatest balancing act of all time".
"The treasurer has been given a really difficult task," he said.
Expenditure had been restrained, there were no new taxes and the government would honour its modest election commitments, he said.
Net debt will rise to $40.26 billion, fuelled by two major infrastructure projects, but the debt to revenue ratio is predicted to fall, which the treasurer said was a sign of a strong economy and debt that is manageable.
Legal: Hersant (MELBOURNE)
Neo-Nazis who disrupted an Anzac Day dawn service when they booed a Welcome to Country have pledged to continue their crusade.
Jacob Hersant, 27, Michael Nelson, 22, and Nathan Bull, 24, were on Thursday found guilty and sentenced for behaving in an offensive manner in a public place during the service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance in 2025.
Ian Harvey Lomax, 35, linked to the booing incident, was also found guilty and punished for the offence in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
About 50,000 people stood under the Shrine in the pre-dawn darkness as Bunurong elder Mark Brown began to deliver a Welcome to Country when the peace was broken by heckles and boos from the crowd.
Hersant, Bull and an unknown man began booing from the crowd, with Hersant shouting "we don't want to be welcomed" and "what about the Anzacs", magistrate James Fitzgerald said.
In finance ...
Greensill (LONDON)
Britain will ban Australian financier Lex Greensill, founder of supply chain financing firm Greensill Capital, which collapsed with huge losses in 2021, from acting as a company director for nine years.
The company collapsed after one of its main insurers declined to renew its cover.
Its UK arm had liabilities of more than Stg1.6 billion ($A3 billion), causing heavy losses for investors and prompting lawsuits and regulatory probes.
"A nine-year ban is a significant period - above the average for director disqualifications - and reflects the serious nature of Lex Greensill's conduct," Insolvency Service chief executive Duncan Beach said in a statement on Thursday.
Greensill's conduct breached his legal duty under British rules to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence as a company director, the agency's statement said.
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.
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.
Kudrow (LONDON)
Lisa Kudrow has said she finally watched Friends decades after it aired.
The 62-year-old actor starred as Phoebe Buffay in the hit sitcom which followed the lives of six friends played by Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry.
The series ran for 10 seasons, from 1994 until 2004, however, despite its popularity, Kudrow refused to watch it, with the exception of a few screenings with the rest of the cast when the show first came out.
Speaking to her former co-star, Aniston, on Variety's Actors on Actors, Kudrow revealed she watched the show until the early hours of the morning.
"There were whole episodes that I hadn't seen. I just couldn't sit there at home and have anybody walk by seeing me watching a show that I'm in. Because it felt embarrassing to me," she said.
In sport ...
AFL Crows (MELBOURNE)
An inspirational display from Jordan Dawson has helped steer Adelaide to a dramatic one-point victory over Geelong and into the AFL's top six.
The Crows outlasted their opponents in a brutal contest, prevailing 11.9 (75) to 10.14 (74) at a rain-soaked Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
There was more score review controversy when Darcy Fogarty was denied a long-range goal with less than four minutes left.
But the behind that was eventually awarded put Adelaide in front and ultimately proved decisive, with neither side able to muster another score in the desperate final stages.
Dawson (22 disposals, three goals) fought on manfully with a corked hip for most of the second half after teammate Taylor Walker pushed Cats defender Connor O'Sullivan into him in a marking contest.
RL Eagles (SYDNEY)
Manly have celebrated Kieran Foran's coronation as Sea Eagles head coach by moving into the NRL's top four with a 28-14 win over South Sydney.
Foran was rewarded with a permanent deal on Tuesday after resuscitating Manly's season and now has eight wins from his first 10 games in charge following Thursday's win over the Bunnies.
Brookvale Oval - or Four Pines Park as it is known for sponsorship reasons - was renamed Foz Pines Park for one night only in tribute to Manly's new coach as his side moved up to third on the NRL ladder.
Led by rampaging NSW State of Origin back-rower Haumole Olakau'atu, who clocked up 234m from 22 carries, the Sea Eagles claimed their fourth consecutive home win.
Ends Bulletin
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