AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 7 at 0030
Ukraine (ST PETERSBURG)
Residents of St Petersburg have been told not to leave their homes after a "large-scale" Ukrainian drone attack targeted the city.
The attack on Saturday underscored Kyiv's growing ability to hit deep inside Russia and coming a day after the Russian president refused an offer to meet his Ukrainian counterpart.
St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov advised the residents not to go outside and warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet service, while regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region.
Russia's defence ministry said its air defences shot down 376 Ukrainian drones.
"Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1000km to the St Petersburg region - to the enemy navy's arsenals and a base in Kronstadt," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote of the attack on X.
Mideast (EAST JERUSALEM)
Israeli troops have killed a seven-month-old Palestinian baby boy after firing at his parents' vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed on Friday evening, and his parents were wounded while driving in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron City, according to the ministry.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the infant was critically wounded after being struck in the jaw by the same bullet that injured his mother.
He later died of his injuries.
His father, Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was shot in the hand.
They were travelling from Bethlehem to visit family in Hebron when soldiers opened fire, the agency reported.
Shark (PERTH)
A man has died after being attacked by a shark while spearfishing with his family.
The 35-year-old was bitten by a suspected 4.5-metre shark at about 11.20am on Saturday off Michaelmas Island near Albany in Western Australia's south west.
"He was conveyed back to shore by boat where he was met by paramedics,'' WA Police said in a statement.
"Sadly, he was unable to be revived."
The death comes after father of two, Steven "Mattas" Mattaboni, was killed while diving at Horseshoe Reef off Rottnest Island near Perth in May.
The 38-year-old was pulled from the water after being bitten and was rushed by boat to a jetty at Geordie Bay on the north side of the island.
Paramedics were unable to revive him.
Iran (BEIRUT)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has accused Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the US in some of his toughest criticism of Tehran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah as it wages war with Israel.
In a CNN interview, Aoun said "the people of Lebanon are paying the price ... for the sake" of Iran's interests, and were "fed up" with war between Israel and Hezbollah - comments reflecting deep divisions along Lebanon's confessional and political fault lines.
"They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States," Aoun said of Iran, according to excerpts of the interview published on the CNN website on Friday.
"It's unacceptable."
Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, ignited the latest hostilities more than three months ago when it opened fire in solidarity with Tehran as Iran came under US-Israeli attack.
Ebola (NAIROBI)
The Democratic Republic of Congo says 71 new Ebola cases have been confirmed in a 24-hour period and warns of rapid community transmission of the deadly disease.
The new data, included in a daily situation report published by the health ministry, bring the total number of confirmed cases to 452 since the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola was announced on May 15.
There have been 82 confirmed deaths.
The cases remain heavily concentrated in Ituri province in northeast DR Congo, a remote part of the country with poor health infrastructure and widespread insecurity due to fighting by armed groups.
The daily total of 71 new cases - 65 in Ituri province and six in North Kivu province - is one of the biggest during the outbreak, the 17th in DR Congo's history.
Ukraine (ST PETERSBURG)
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he currently sees no reason to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy after the Ukrainian president published an open letter proposing they hold face-to-face talks to agree an end to the war.
The Kremlin chief said Zelenskiy's letter was rude in parts and did not come across as a sincere offer to hold talks.
"This letter contains some rather rude remarks. Was it a way to create the conditions for a face-to-face meeting or a way not to set up a face-to-face meeting? I think it was the second," Putin said.
Asked on stage at Russia's annual economic forum whether he would meet the Ukrainian leader, Putin said: "I don't see any point for now."
In a meeting with international media a day earlier, Putin stuck to his hardline stance on the war and said his troops were advancing on the battlefield every day.
NZ Aust (CANBERRA)
New Zealand is making a pitch for its infrastructure businesses to win lucrative contracts before the Brisbane Olympics, as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon prepares to sit down with Anthony Albanese.
Mr Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart will hold the annual leaders' meeting in Noosa, Queensland, on Saturday.
Mr Luxon arrived in Australia on Friday for a two-day visit.
The prime minister and his wife Jodie Haydon hosted a reception for Mr Luxon and Amanda Luxon on Friday evening, with business leaders from the two nations in attendance.
Mr Luxon earlier met with members of Brisbane's 2032 Olympic Committee where he spruiked his nation's businesses for massive construction projects.
He said his government would make the most of the event to promote New Zealand as a tourist destination, with the eyes of the world on the region.
Trump Pardon (WASHINGTON)
President Donald Trump has pardoned former US Representative Stephen Buyer, an Indiana Republican who was convicted of securities fraud for engaging in insider trading in 2018 as a T-Mobile US consultant before a merger with Sprint.
The proclamation, issued on Thursday and announced by the White House on Friday, gave no specific rationale for the pardon other than to assert that Buyer's service as a US Army judge advocate general and member of Congress "was distinguished and highly productive".
It also said Trump, in granting Buyer a "full, complete and unconditional pardon", was acting on the "advice and recommendation" of 52 current and former members of the US Senate and House of Representatives listed in the proclamation.
Buyer served in the House as a Republican from Indiana between 1993 and 2011 before working as a corporate consultant.
In finance ...
Markets (NEW YORK)
Wall Street's nine-week winning streak has ended with a thud as red-hot technology stocks suffered their largest daily decline since April 2025 after a hot May jobs report fuelled fears of a hawkish policy pivot from the US Federal Reserve.
Selling was concentrated among chip stocks and other technology favourites that have surged higher in recent weeks as the Nasdaq Composite Index and S&P 500 rose repeatedly to fresh highs.
All three major US stock indices closed sharply lower, with plunging chip stocks dragging the tech-laden Nasdaq down by its largest one-day per centage loss since April 2025.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index suffered its largest one-day percentage plunge since March 2020, erasing more than $US1 trillion ($A1.4 trillion) in stock market value.
In entertainment ...
Arts Cinema (MELBOURNE)
When festivals and distributors overlooked his first feature film, James Robert Woods decided to get it into cinemas himself.
The Birthday Trip stars Luke Jacobz, Nicola Frew and Rosehaven's David Quirk, and follows a bunch of inner-city millennials to a luxury farmstay for a birthday celebration that goes horribly wrong.
After writing, directing, filming and co-producing the project via his production company, Badlands, Woods found he couldn't stir any interest from major festival organisers or the usual indie distributors.
But with small screenings at the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival in the Queensland town of Winton and Sydney's Inner West Film Fest, he felt confident the feature would speak to cinemagoers.
Woods is convinced it's the right moment to poke fun at upwardly mobile millennials and says audiences so far have enjoyed laughing at themselves.
France Otis (PARIS)
Former US supermodel Carre Otis has filed a complaint at a Paris court alleging she was raped and trafficked by Gerald Marie, the former European head of Elite Model agency, in a move her lawyer says is meant to encourage other potential victims to come forward.
Marie has denied the allegations and cannot be prosecuted over Otis' case because of France's statute of limitations.
But the complaint could allow other women, whether their cases are time-barred or not, to join the proceedings, Otis' lawyer Mathias Darmon said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The complaint, seen by AP, alleges rape of a minor and human trafficking.
Sent to Paris in 1986 by Elite Model agency, Otis, who was then 17, was housed in Marie's apartment, "mistakenly believing that he wanted to support her modelling career," according to the complaint.
In sport ...
RL Broncos (BRISBANE)
Gold Coast fullback Keano Kini conjured up the attacking play of the season to sink Brisbane 28-23 and leave the premiers' title defence in ruins.
A 73rd-minute Adam Reynolds field goal appeared to have taken the Broncos to victory at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, before Kini, from 55m out, chipped ahead and snatched the ball from Reece Walsh's grasp to race away in the 77th minute.
Kini then saved a last-gasp try attempt by the Broncos when he knocked the ball dead to secure one of the club's great wins.
The Titans showed incredible resilience to turn the Broncos away at the death
Brisbane have now lost five matches in a row and sit in 11th position.
The Broncos were wearing their all-black mental health jersey, the same one they donned against the Titans last year in round 14 when a win kick-started a 10-2 finish to the season and a run to the title.
Soc Aust Women (NEWCASTLE)
Mexico have defied world rankings to hand the World Cup-bound Matildas a shock 1-0 loss on home soil.
A disjointed Matildas side had fluffed their lines in front of goal at McDonald Jones Stadium, with Alice Soto threading the ball beautifully to help Diana Ordonez nab the match-winner in added time.
World rankings would have suggested victory was a lock for a full-strength Matildas outfit, with coach Joe Montemurro welcoming Steph Catley, Emily van Egmond, Mary Fowler and Ellie Carpenter back to the starting line-up for the 15th-ranked side on Saturday night.
But none of Australia's established stars could find the match-winner from 19 total shots at goal to world No.28 Mexico's 12 in front of 23,167 fans.
It was the Matildas' first game on home soil since their 1-0 Asian Cup final loss to Japan in March, having pulled off a clean sweep of their FIFA Series matches against Malawi and Kenya in April.
Ends Bulletin
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