AAP Rolling News Bulletin for May 23 at 0500
Iran (TEHRAN)
Pakistan's military chief Asim Munir has arrived in the Iranian capital as a part of the ongoing mediation efforts between the United States and Iran, the Pakistan military says.
The visit comes after Iran's foreign ministry confirmed this week that exchanges of proposals with the US are continuing "through Pakistan".
Iran is reviewing a new US proposal aimed at ending the conflict, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday.
There is a sense of optimism within Pakistani security circles that a preliminary agreement between the US and Iran is within reach.
Sources said Munir had been due to travel to Tehran on Thursday but waited for the go-ahead from the Iranian negotiators that an initial agreement could realistically be reached.
PollVic (MELBOURNE)
Federal and state leaders of Australia's two major political parties will rally their troops as an election looms large.
Victorian Labor and Liberal faithful will gather in Melbourne on Saturday for annual state meetings ahead of the November election.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor are expected to attend, alongside their respective state party leaders Jacinta Allan and Jess Wilson.
In her speech, Ms Wilson will revive a 2022 election commitment to direct 25 per cent of all new Victorian government infrastructure spending to regional projects if the coalition wins government.
Recent reputable polls indicate the Victorian coalition holds a slight edge over Labor on a two-party-preferred basis as support for One Nation rises.
Ms Wilson also led Ms Allan as preferred premier, according to Resolve Strategic's latest bi-monthly poll.
Ebola (GENEVA)
The World Health Organisation has raised the risk of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola turning into an outbreak across the Democratic Republic of Congo to "very high".
The strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, was declared an emergency of international concern by the WHO on Sunday.
"We are now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level and low at global level," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
So far, 82 cases have been confirmed in DR Congo, with seven confirmed deaths, 177 suspected deaths and almost 750 suspected cases.
The situation in Uganda is stable, with two cases confirmed in people who travelled from the DR Congo - one of them fatal, Tedros said.
Ukraine (MOSCOW)
Russian officials say at least six people have been killed and 39 children wounded in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on a student dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said another 15 people were reported missing and accused Ukrainian forces of deliberately hitting the site.
Reuters was not able to verify what happened independently and there was no comment on Friday from Ukraine, which wants to recapture Luhansk, one of four eastern regions that the Kremlin unilaterally claimed as its own in 2022 in what Ukraine denounced as an illegal land grab.
Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
Putin characterised the incident as a terrorist attack, accusing Ukraine of intentionally targeting civilians.
Yana Lantratova, Russia's human rights commissioner, said that 86 teenagers aged 14 to 18 had been asleep inside the hostel belonging to Luhansk Pedagogical University's Starobilsk college when Ukrainian drones attacked it during the night.
NATO (HELSINGBORG)
US President Donald Trump has surprised NATO allies by pledging to send an additional 5000 troops to Poland, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cautioned alliance ministers that Washington's frustration with some of them will still need to be discussed.
"The president's views of, frankly, disappointment at some of our NATO allies and their response to our operations in the Middle East are well documented," Rubio said on Friday at a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in the Swedish town of Helsingborg.
"That will have to be addressed. That won't be solved or addressed today. That's something for the leaders level to discuss," Rubio told reporters, adding that any alliance "has to be good for everyone who's involved".
It was his first meeting with NATO allies since the war on Iran sparked deep divisions inside the bloc, with Trump saying he was considering withdrawing from the alliance and questioning whether Washington was bound to honour its mutual defence pact.
Ebola (RWAMPARA)
Protesters have set fire to tents for Ebola patients after Congolese authorities refused to give them the dead body of a victim they wanted to bury themselves, a beloved local footballer suspected to have died in the ongoing outbreak, witnesses say.
Police fired warning shots and tear gas to defuse the incident in Ituri province, which highlighted the struggle that authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo could face to enforce the safe burials of people with confirmed and suspected cases that are required to help contain the outbreak.
It took place in the town of Rwampara, which has been hit hard by the latest Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.
Iran (DUBAI)
The United States and Iran have stuck to directly opposing stances over the Middle East country's uranium stockpile and controls on the Strait of Hormuz, although Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there have been "some good signs" in talks.
Speaking before departing for a NATO meeting, Rubio said there were "some good signs" in Pakistan-mediated negotiations. However, he added that he did not want to be "overly optimistic."
Rubio also repeated the US assessment that Iran's leadership system was "itself is a little fractured" and stressed that US President Donald Trump preferred a negotiated settlement.
"But if we can't get a good deal, the president's been clear, he has other options," Rubio said.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters while no deal has been reached, the gaps have narrowed.
Legal: Chong (MELBOURNE)
A man has been found guilty of keeping a vulnerable woman as a slave and assaulting her.
Chee Kit "Max" Chong, 47, faced a Melbourne County Court trial accused of intentionally possessing a slave and three counts of assault
He pleaded not guilty and a jury was empanelled in the trial which began at the end of March.
The jury was told the 61-year-old Malaysian woman, who cannot be legally identified, escaped from Chong's Melbourne home in October 2022.
She died in 2024, however her recorded interview with police in 2022 was played to the jury.
The woman was found with bruises and injuries to her leg and ears, which prosecutors said had been caused by assaults on her committed by Chong.
In finance ...
Guzman (SYDNEY)
A popular Mexican-themed fast food chain has become the latest Australian company whose dreams of cracking the vast American market have ended in failure.
Guzman y Gomez is closing eight restaurants in the Chicago suburbs, two years after it raised $335.1 million in a highly touted stock exchange float to fund its global expansion plans.
GYG co-founder and co-chief executive Steven Marks, who just spent three months in the US, came to realise the move into the highly competitive market - where Taco Bell and Chipotle rule - wasn't working out.
"Decisions like today are never easy, but they are the decisions that build generational companies," Mr Marks told an online briefing on Friday.
The company's US food and guest experiences were superior to Chipotle and second to none, Mr Marks claimed, but it had also made mistakes.
US Fed (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
Kevin Warsh has been sworn in as the new head of the Federal Reserve, marking a new chapter after a strained relationship between the world's most powerful central bank and US President Donald Trump.
Speaking after taking the oath of office at the White House, Warsh pledged to be "reform-oriented," saying he would carry out his duties with "energy and purpose".
He said the coming years could "bring unmatched prosperity that will raise living standards for Americans from all walks of life".
Trump, who selected Warsh for the post, had repeatedly and unsuccessfully pushed for lower interest rates while criticising previous Fed chair Jerome Powell.
The president argues that lower borrowing costs would boost economic growth, investment and consumer spending but critics warn that cutting rates too aggressively could further fuel inflation.
In entertainment ...
Legal: Gillham (MELBOURNE)
The former managing director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has been accused of lying to the organisation's board about cancelling a concert by pianist Jayson Gillham.
The British-Australian performer dedicated a composition at a 2024 MSO performance to journalists killed in Gaza, saying they had been deliberately targeted by Israel, and the orchestra responded by cancelling his next concert.
The pianist is suing the orchestra for unfair dismissal in the Federal Court.
Former managing director Sophie Galaise was accused of lying when she told the organisation's board that Gillham had withdrawn from the upcoming concert, knowing it had actually been cancelled.
"Like any human you use words, and for me this was probably interchangeable," she said, under cross-examination by Gillham's barrister Sheryn Omeri KC.
Colbert (NEW YORK CITY)
Stephen Colbert opened the final episode of his long-running reign on The Late Show with a tribute to viewers, calling the program a "joy machine" after 11 years on air.
In a star-studded farewell from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City on Thursday night, the 62-year-old was joined by the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Paul Rudd.
Colbert said his role on the CBS talk show was not only to recap the news, but to "feel the news" alongside them.
"We call (the show) the joy machine, because to do this many shows, it has to be a machine. But the thing is, if you choose to do it with joy, it doesn't hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears," he said.
In sport ...
Soc ALM Grand (AUCKLAND)
An A-League Men championship would go a long way towards helping Sydney FC captain Rhyan Grant make up for lost time.
The last time the Sky Blues played in a grand final, Grant was forced to watch from a hotel.
It was 2021 and Grant was in COVID-19 quarantine after returning from World Cup qualifiers in Kuwait with the Socceroos as the Sky Blues suffered a 3-1 loss to Melbourne City.
It was a stark contrast to the previous year, when the right-back scored the match-winning goal against City in extra time to seal the club's fifth championship.
Now wearing the captain's armband, Grant has another chance on the grand final stage and will lead the Sky Blues in Saturday's sold-out decider against Auckland FC at Go Media Stadium.
Super Waratahs (SYDNEY)
The ACT Brumbies have secured a Super Rugby Pacific finals spot and placed the NSW Waratahs' season on life support with a clinical 21-14 derby win in Sydney.
The Brumbies punished the Waratahs for their lack of execution, with 37-year-old lock Cadeyrn Neville proving an unlikely hero in Friday night's tense victory at Allianz Stadium.
While Australia's benchmark Brumbies also kept alive their hopes of a crucial top-four finish, another frustrating home defeat for the Waratahs left Dan McKellar's erratic outfit needing a miracle to make the playoffs.
The Tahs must beat the Western Force in Perth next Saturday and pray the sixth-placed Queensland Reds lose their remaining two regular-season games - against Moana Pasifika in Auckland and Fijian Drua in Brisbane - to scrape into the playoffs.
Ends Bulletin
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