AAP Rolling News Bulletin for May 20 at 1630
Iran (SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON)
Two Chinese tankers laden with oil have left the Strait of Hormuz, brightening hopes that the US-Israeli conflict with Iran may soon be resolved after positive comments from the US president and his deputy.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the war would be over "very quickly" while Vice President JD Vance talked up progress in talks with Tehran about an agreement to end hostilities.
"We're in a pretty good spot here," Vance told a White House press briefing.
Trump made his comments a day after saying he had paused a planned resumption of hostilities following a new proposal by Tehran to end the conflict.
"I was an hour away from making the decision to go today," Trump told reporters at the White House.
Ebola (BUNIA)
The head of the World Health Organisation has expressed concern over the "scale and speed" of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola known as Bundibugyo in eastern Congo, where authorities report 134 deaths and more than 500 suspected cases.
The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as authorities tested for a more common type of Ebola and came up negative, health experts and aid workers said on Tuesday. The Bundibugyo virus has no approved medicines or vaccines.
Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola, developed by researchers at Oxford, said Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the National Institute of Biomedical Research.
Booker (LONDON)
Taiwanese author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translator Lin King have won the International Booker Prize for Taiwan Travelogue, a historical romance set in Japan-occupied Taiwan in the 1930s.
It is the first novel written in Mandarin Chinese to win the prestigious prize for fiction translated into English.
The book follows a Japanese novelist with a "monstrous appetite" as she goes on a culinary tour through 1930s Japan-occupied Taiwan, with the help from a local interpreter.
The "captivating" novel, which was originally published in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 before being published in English in March, explores themes of colonialism, power, class and love.
British novelist Natasha Brown, who chaired the judging panel, called it a "captivating, wryly sophisticated" book that plays with themes of language and power and offers the reader surprises along the way.
Mideast (ISTANBUL)
Israeli forces have opened fire on at least two vessels in an aid flotilla sailing towards Gaza, according to video footage and flotilla organisers, but Israel said no live ammunition was used and there were no casualties.
The flotilla was making a renewed attempt to deliver aid to Gaza after earlier missions were intercepted by Israel in international waters.
Video from the flotilla's livestream showed soldiers firing shots at two of the boats. The type of ammunition fired was not clear.
"At no point was live ammunition fired," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Following multiple warnings, non-lethal means were employed toward the vessel - not toward protesters - as a warning. No protesters were injured during this event," it added, only referring to action against one vessel.
Sudan (CAIRO)
A drone strike on a bustling market in central Sudan has killed 28 people and wounded dozens more, a local rights group said, part of the war that has devastated the country since 2023.
The Emergency Lawyers, a local rights group that tracks violations committed during the conflict, said on X that the market in the town of Ghubaysh in West Kordofan province was targeted on Tuesday morning when it was overcrowded with civilians. The group blamed the army for the strike.
A full-scale war broke out in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalated. The RSF controls West Kordofan.
An official with Sudan's army told The Associated Press the army doesn't target civilians or civilian infrastructure. Another military source also denied the group's claims, stating that an army drone struck two RSF combat vehicles near the market while they were refueling, completely destroying the vehicles and killing those inside without causing any civilian casualties.
Budget (CANBERRA)
Holly Nebauer is waiting for a call from a real estate agent as her daughter, three-year-old Indy, plays at her ankles.
The 31-year-old and her fiance are hoping to secure their forever home in Bungendore, about 40 kilometres out of Canberra.
It will be the third property the couple has bought since 2020, having sold their first one. They expect to list their current house on the market soon.
Their first home, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse in Canberra's north, cost $466,000 at the start of the pandemic and sold for almost $200,000 more a year-and-a-half later.
Ms Nebauer says she had invested in the share market as a way to buy property and is now coaching her little sister to do the same, despite federal budget changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Housing (CANBERRA)
Australian taxpayers could be missing out on billions of dollars a year while wealthy landowners make out like bandits, amid efforts to tackle housing affordability.
The Albanese government's fifth budget attempted to reshape Australia's tax settings in favour of owner-occupiers over property investors.
But it neglected to address a "deep unfairness" at the heart of the nation's housing policy, according to a report released by think tank Prosper Australia on Wednesday.
In recent years, state and territory governments have been easing zoning laws, like raising maximum building height limits, in a bid to boost housing supply and ease affordability pressures.
While upzoning is widely lauded by economists as an effective measure to boost supply, report authors Tim Helm and Henry Williams estimated it was also giving away $11 billion per year in windfall gains to property owners.
Legal: Latham (SYDNEY)
Firebrand MP Mark Latham and his ex-partner are set to go head to head in court over claims he subjected her to sustained abuse and manipulation.
Nathalie Matthews, 38, is applying for a private apprehended violence order to protect her from the former federal Labor leader, who she accused of emotional and physical abuse.
Apprehended violence orders can be taken out by police or private citizens, as Ms Matthews has opted to do.
Mr Latham - who is an independent in the NSW upper house - denied the allegations and has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing.
The 65-year-old is set to fight the order during a three-day hearing in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
He will call two witnesses and play video evidence in support of his argument while Ms Matthews will call one witness, the court was previously told.
In finance ...
Budget Housing (CANBERRA)
Holly Nebauer is waiting for a call from a real estate agent as her daughter, three-year-old Indy, plays at her ankles.
The 31-year-old and her fiance are hoping to secure their forever home in Bungendore, about 40 kilometres out of Canberra.
It will be the third property the couple has bought since 2020, having sold their first one. They expect to list their current house on the market soon.
Their first home, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse in Canberra's north, cost $466,000 at the start of the pandemic and sold for almost $200,000 more a year-and-a-half later.
Ms Nebauer says she invested in the share market as a way to buy property and is now coaching her younger sister to do the same, despite federal budget changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Lithium (SYDNEY)
Shuttered lithium mines are restarting production and merger and acquisition activity is picking up as the price of the key component in portable electronics rebounds.
Core Lithium on Wednesday announced it had recommenced mining at its Finniss lithium operation south of Darwin, which had been placed into care and maintenance mode in mid-2024 after just two years of operations.
The first ore is expected to be processed in the September quarter, with a first shipment targeted for the December quarter, managing director Paul Brown said.
A day earlier, Mineral Resources said it would restart production at its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia, which was similarly placed in care and maintenance mode in November 2024.
The restart is expected to create around 370 new jobs, Mineral Resources said.
In entertainment ...
Arts Opera (MELBOURNE)
Opera Australia's latest performance is less Verdi's La Traviata, and more AC/DC's Back in Black.
The national company has posted a major turnaround in its finances, balancing the books in 2025 following 2024's big losses of more than $10 million.
"It's very close to break even, which is fantastic ... the return to good times is not an anomaly," said chief executive Alex Budd, who began his role in November and is part of an overhauled senior management structure.
He said the improvements under acting chief executive Simon Militano had been driven by more disciplined cost controls, a carefully balanced repertoire, and a focus on rebuilding the company's finances.
While total revenue reached $122.8 million in 2025, Opera Australia posted a small deficit of $36,051 prior to the inclusion of the company's capital fund, which took the final result to a profit of $3.6 million, according to its annual results released on Wednesday.
Arts Franklin (MELBOURNE)
The longlist for Australia's most prestigious book prize includes a novel by a Palestinian-Australian author who's been caught up in cancellation controversies.
Randa Abdel-Fattah's book Discipline, published by the University of Queensland Press, is one of 10 books up for the $60,000 Miles Franklin Literary Award, with the longlist released Wednesday.
In January, the author was controversially disinvited to one of Australia's biggest literary events, Adelaide Writers' Week, sparking a mass boycott by speakers that led to the cancellation for Writers' Week for 2026.
The book itself covers debates about personal responsibility and free speech, as it follows two Palestinian-Australians navigating academia and the mainstream media.
Abdel-Fattah was also among a number of authors to publicly ditch the University of Queensland Press in April, over the publisher's decision not to publish Indigenous children's book Bila: A River Cycle.
In sport ...
RL Souths (SYDNEY)
South Sydney and former Queensland State of Origin enforcer Jai Arrow will retire from the NRL immediately after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
Souths chief executive Blake Solly revealed the devastating diagnosis on Wednesday.
Only 30 years old, Arrow has played 98 games for the Rabbitohs since Wayne Bennett lured the classy forward to the club in 2021 after handing the then-20-year-old his first-grade debut at Brisbane a decade ago.
Arrow also had four seasons at Gold Coast following his two-season stint at the Broncos and played 12 games for Queensland between 2018 and 2023.
He helped the Maroons win series in 2020, 2022 and 2023 while also playing in the Rabbitohs' 2021 grand final loss to Penrith.
Arrow's diagnosis comes two and a half years after former Maroons hardman Carl Webb died of MND aged 42.
AFL Hawks (ADELAIDE)
Adelaide duo Riley Thilthorpe and Callum Ah Chee will make comebacks from injury in the high-stakes clash against Hawthorn on Thursday night.
But the Crows' all-time leading goalkicker Taylor Walker, despite being fit again after a hamstring injury, will return in the state league.
Walker had been sidelined since straining a hamstring three weeks ago.
"He is all about what's best for the squad," Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks said of the 36-year-old veteran.
"Tex playing at SANFL is him getting a game of football, otherwise we start to stretch out to five or six weeks (without playing), so it's him having a hitout.
"We can train match simulation, but it's not the same, it doesn't have the same pressures, the unknown."
Ends Bulletin
Rolling News Desk inquiries : 02 9322 8611
