AAP Rolling News Bulletin for May 24 at 1830
Tax (CANBERRA)
Investor incentives should be increased, not cut, a senior Liberal says, as Labor moves to rush its once-in-a-generation tax overhaul through parliament.
Business leaders have warned the measures, laid out in the federal budget earlier in May, will lead to talent and funding moving offshore as the existing 50 per cent capital gains discount is axed in favour of a minimum 30 per cent tax rate.
The Albanese government is expected to introduce legislation to federal parliament within a fortnight that would end the discount and negative gearing for investors buying existing properties.
Opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg said he would increase the discount rather than remove it to get money flowing where it was needed.
"We should be looking to cut taxes," he told Sky News on Sunday.
Economy Preview (CANBERRA)
The Strait of Hormuz is still closed and supply disruptions are still pushing global prices up yet fresh data is expected to show Australia's headline inflation is on the way down.
Even so, the Reserve Bank won't be declaring mission accomplished, if the forecasts are borne out.
Economists at NAB, CBA and ANZ are tipping the consumer price index to drop from the 4.6 per cent annual rate clocked in March when fresh figures are released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
That's largely because of a temporary reduction in fuel taxes, rather than a softening in the underlying impulse.
Petrol prices fell about nine per cent over the month but because diesel prices still rose, NAB senior economist Taylor Nugent has pencilled in a seven per cent fall in automotive fuel.
Federal (CANBERRA)
Australia's major political parties face a "huge amount of grievance" as a leading Liberal figure concedes his party's decade of flawed policies has helped fuel the rise of One Nation.
Polling from RedBridge Group and Accent Research shows Pauline Hanson's One Nation could win up to 59 lower house seats if a federal election were held today.
The result would leave Senator Hanson's anti-immigration party as the official opposition, reducing the coalition to a handful of seats and forcing Labor into minority government.
But RedBridge analyst Alex Fein said people should reject the "reflexive interpretation" the poll - backed up by others showing a surge of support for One Nation - was lurching towards the far right.
Rather, many people were experiencing deteriorating living standards and public services, while trust in institutions such as government, media and businesses had collapsed.
US Shots (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
FBI Director Kash Patel says law enforcement authorities are responding to shots that were fired near the White House grounds.
Journalists working there on Saturday evening reported hearing a series of gunshots and were told to seek shelter inside the press briefing room, where US Secret Service officers prevented them from leaving.
Patel posted on X the FBI was is "on the scene and supporting Secret Service responding to shots fired near White House grounds".
There were no immediate reports of any injuries. The Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for information.
Patel said officers were responding to shots fired and said he would "update the public as we're able".
President Donald Trump was inside the White House at the time.
Violence (BRISBANE)
Queensland police have shot dead an alleged domestic violence perpetrator who was armed with a firearm at a home north of Brisbane.
After midnight on Sunday morning, officers responded to an alleged domestic violence incident at a house in Narangba following reports that a man was armed and making threats.
The man made threats towards the police while holding the weapon and an officer shot at him.
Officers immediately conducted first aid and resuscitation, but the man died at the scene.
No-one else was injured in the incident.
The Police Ethical Standards Command, with oversight from the Crime and Corruption Commission, will investigate the incident
Investigations are ongoing.
Iran (ISLAMABAD)
The United States and Iran are close to agreeing on a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, officials say, as America weighs a new round of attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Iran signalled "narrowing differences" in negotiations with the US after Pakistan's army chief held more talks in Tehran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists in India that "there's been some progress made" and "there may be news later today".
The officials and a diplomat expressed hope that a final decision on the Pakistan-prepared draft could come within 48 hours as both sides review it. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
They said Vice President JD Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner played significant roles in helping bridge remaining gaps, and that Qatar played a key role by sending a senior official to Tehran to support Pakistan's mediation efforts.
Ebola (BUNIA, CONGO)
A tent used for treatment of the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has been set on fire for the second time this week and 18 people suspected of infection escaped, a local hospital director says.
Unidentified people arrived at the clinic in Mongbwalu, a town at the centre of the outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, on Friday night.
They set fire to a tent set up by the Doctors Without Borders charity for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases, Dr Richard Lokudi, director of the Mongbwalu General Reference Hospital, told The Associated Press.
"We strongly condemn this act, as it caused panic among the staff of the Mongbwalu Referral Hospital and also resulted in the escape of 18 suspected cases into the community," he said.
Ukraine (MOSCOW)
The death toll from a drone strike on a student dorm in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine has risen to 16, with most of the victims young women, Russian officials say, after a heated UN debate on the incident.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to prepare options for retaliation against Ukraine on Friday after Moscow accused Kyiv of what it described as a deliberate drone strike on a college in the town of Starobilsk.
Ukraine's military denied responsibility for the attack, saying it had struck an elite drone command unit in the area and that its forces complied with international humanitarian law.
Putin said there were no military facilities in the area. Reuters was not able to independently verify what happened.
In entertainment ...
Murray (LONDON)
Hannah Murray found the wellness business to be "seductive and addictive" during her younger years.
The 36-year-old actress - best known for playing Gilly in the fantasy series Game of Thrones - became drawn into a wellness cult in her 20s, and after surviving life in the "the underbelly of the wellness and spiritual world", Murray now stays away from the industry altogether.
"Even the tame stuff can feel quite distressing," the actress told the Guardian newspaper.
"I don't meditate any more. I wouldn't go into a crystal shop. I don't do yoga, because I don't quite know what might come up that might feel a bit too woo-woo for my personal threshold. But I realise now how pervasive it is.
"How often people you don't know will offer it as a remedy. You'll say, 'I'm not really sleeping,' and they'll say, 'Have you tried meditation?' It's everywhere, seen as an inherently positive solution. And there are harmless or positive versions.
Cyrus (LONDON)
Miley Cyrus has always found fame felt "really natural".
The 33-year-old pop star - who first found fame as a child - is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, and Miley insists she's never really struggled with the pressures of success.
The chart-topping singer emerged as a teen idol with her portrayal of Miley Stewart in the Disney series Hannah Montana between 2006 and 2011.
"Because I grew up around my dad, being on tours and being on sets, it felt really natural to me. I never felt like a fish out of water," she told Variety.
"People were really shocked about that, like, 'When you got to Los Angeles, was your mind blown?' I never like to think I was jaded, but being around show business, I had less of an infatuation with Hollywood.
In sport ...
afl giants (SYDNEY)
A record-breaking 14-goal third-quarter blitz has powered GWS to an extraordinary 78-point win over two-time defending AFL premiers Brisbane.
The Giants held a six-point lead at halftime, but their tsunami style swamped Brisbane in the third quarter, outscoring the Lions 14.2 to 0.3 on their way to a 26.10 (166) to 13.10 (88) win at Engie Stadium on Sunday.
The onslaught eclipsed the 13.4 Essendon kicked in the third term against Footscray in 1982, and was the fourth-highest scoring quarter in VFL/AFL history.
They also registered their biggest ever score, going past the 162 points they posted against Essendon in 2023.
Captain Toby Greene kicked five goals, four of them in the third quarter, and Jake Stringer pitched in with a handful of his own.
RL Origin Qld (SUNSHINE COAST)
Cameron Munster has sat out Sunday's full training session, but Queensland insist their inspirational skipper is in no doubt for the State of Origin series opener.
Maroons prop Tino Fa'asuamaleaui said Munster's absence was due to "soreness" as Brisbane playmaker Ezra Mam ran at five-eighth during Sunday's session at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Munster did passing drills with Maroons legend Allan Langer as his teammates went through their paces.
Centre Robert Toia trained in a no-contact orange bib after suffering a category-two HIA at Magic Round for Sydney Roosters, but he is also not in doubt.
Fa'asuamaleaui scoffed when it was suggested the Maroons were playing mind games with NSW over the extent of Munster's injury.
"That's them doing most of the talking," he said.
Ends Bulletin
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