AAP Rolling News Bulletin for May 27 at 1830
Legal: Star (SYDNEY)
Star's ex-boss has shown no remorse after failing to disclose possible criminal risks of overseas junkets which drew billions of dollars into the casino, a court has been told.
Former Star chief executive Matthias Bekier failed to inform the board of suspicious conduct committed by Chinese junket operator Suncity in 2018 and 2019, the Federal Court found in March.
That included bundles of cash being delivered to the service desk in blue cooler bags or cardboard boxes and junket staff hiding under blankets to stay out of the view of CCTV cameras.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission successfully sued Mr Bekier and former Star general counsel Paula Martin for breaches of their duties.
The watchdog on Wednesday sought hefty fines against the pair.
Ebola (HYDERABAD)
India has quarantined a woman from Uganda in the tech hub of Bengaluru for a suspected Ebola infection, in a case that would be the South Asian nation's first since 2014, if confirmed.
The news comes a day after Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said India had not reported any cases of the disease, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
The 28-year-old Ugandan national developed mild body ache, but is otherwise healthy, while results are awaited from tests of samples taken from her, a health ministry source said on Wednesday.
Domestic media said test results were expected within a day or two for the traveller, who arrived in the southern city from the western industrial city of Ahmedabad on her journey from the East African country.
Antisemitism (SYDNEY)
A senior NSW police officer has accused federal intelligence agencies of sometimes being less than forthcoming with sharing information.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner for Investigations and Counter Terrorism David Hudson fronted the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion on Wednesday.
The second block of the commission hearings is probing the law enforcement and intelligence response surrounding the Bondi Terror attack on December 14.
The deputy head of counterterrorism suggested to the commission that some law enforcement agencies use a wide-reaching government policy to justify not sharing information.
He said he has observed different agencies having different interpretations of the Protective Security Policy Framework in relation to what is allowed to be shared.
The framework is an overarching government policy that provides guidelines for organisations protecting their own information and people.
US Strike (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
The US military says it has carried out a strike on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one man and leaving two survivors.
Video posted on social media by US Southern Command shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. Southern Command said it "immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors".
"Following the engagement, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors. No US military forces were harmed," the US Southern Command said on X.
The Trump administration's campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters, including the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has gone on since September and killed at least 194 people.
Economy (CANBERRA)
Australia's headline inflation rate fell sharper than expected in April, but a rise in the underlying measure will be cause for concern at the Reserve Bank.
A decline in petrol prices as a result of the government's fuel excise cut caused the increase in the annual consumer price index to fall to 4.2 per cent, from 4.6 per cent in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday.
Forecasters had been expecting the headline inflation rate to fall to 4.4 per cent.
However, the trimmed mean, which omits volatile items and gives a better sense of the underlying pulse, edged up to 3.4 per cent, in line with the consensus of forecasters.
While the slightly softer-than-expected reading won't add to the case for more rate hikes, the RBA board will be wary not to take too much confidence out of one month of data.
Legal: Baziad (SYDNEY)
A man has been found guilty of murder after he bludgeoned a romantic rival over the head and threw his body in a river after being spurned by his love interest.
Gofal Baziad was convicted of the 2004 murder of Jason Palmer in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday after a jury took five days to be satisfied he killed the ex-husband of his love interest.
Mr Palmer told his ex-wife Renny to choose between him and Baziad, and she chose her former husband, the court heard.
He was later bludgeoned over the head with a patterned glass object before being stabbed multiple times in the torso, side and back in his Sydney apartment in February 2004.
Baziad, now 54, flew overseas months later and continued to be in contact with Ms Palmer.
Employment (CANBERRA)
People looking for a job will be continually punished despite looming changes to employment services, advocates claim.
Workplace Minister Amanda Rishworth will outline a shake-up of employment services in a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, in an attempt to make the system fairer.
More than one million Australians - many of them on programs such as JobSeeker - are required to see privately owned employment services providers under a $2 billion-a-year scheme aimed at getting more people into paid work.
But the system has been plagued with claims of unfair suspensions from support payments.
Ms Rishworth will use the speech to outline a three-tiered system for people who are dealing with Workforce Australia as they try to find a job.
Legal: Westpac (MELBOURNE)
Westpac has been fined $26 million for grossly negligent conduct after failing to respond to customers in financial hardship.
Federal Court Judge Tim McEvoy on Tuesday found that while the bank's conduct was not deliberate, it occurred over a relatively lengthy period, from 2017 to 2023.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission pursued Westpac in 2023 after it was found the bank had failed to respond to more than 200 online hardship requests from its customers over the six-year period.
Justice McEvoy found the requests were made by customers of Westpac and its subsidiaries St George Bank, Bank SA and Bank of Melbourne.
The customers were struggling to keep up with repayments on home loans, credit cards, personal loans, car loans and other responsibilities.
In finance ...
Nufarm (SYDNEY)
Farmers are choosing to skip laying down fertiliser for a year as costs rise, but are still willing to spend on seeds and crop-protection products, the nation's main supplier says.
Nufarm chief executive Rico Christensen says farmers around the world are looking to offset rising fuel and fertiliser prices as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.
"Most farmers, they have options to reduce some of their fertiliser applications," he told an earnings briefing on Wednesday.
Farmers who have done their work in previous years can skip fertiliser application for a year or reduce it without a significant impact on yield.
"What they do not seem to be compromising on is the quality of the yield that they deliver on farms," Mr Christensen added.
Endeavour (SYDNEY)
The owner of two of the nation's best-known bottleshop chains is about to undergo major changes under its new leader to improve performance and attract more "energetic socialisers".
Endeavour Group, which owns Dan Murphy's and BWS retail liquor outlets and hundreds of pubs across Australia, plans to take $300 million in costs out of the business, including the $100 million already planned for the new financial year.
"We don't have the operating model right," chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka, who joined in January, told an investor strategy day on Wednesday.
"We now have clarity on why the operating model doesn't work and what has to be different, and how we are going to deliver."
Endeavour will now focus on growing its retail revenue "by reinforcing price leadership", which signals potentially cheaper liquor prices, lifting its pubs' performances, as it takes down the $300 million in costs.
In entertainment ...
ABC (PERTH)
The national broadcaster's director of news has resigned after four years in the job, citing personal and professional reasons.
Justin Stevens said it had been an "incredibly tough but immensely rewarding" tenure in the role, as he announced his immediate departure on Wednesday.
"For reasons both professional and personal, now is the right time for me to move on and for someone else to take over the helm of the best news team in the country," he said on his LinkedIn page
Mr Stevens, who worked at the broadcaster for 19 years, said the ABC was the nation's most complex and scrutinised news organisation.
"I have sought to strengthen and defend our journalism without being blind to our stumbles," he said.
Brie (LONDON)
Alison Brie says the reaction from men to her role in the upcoming Masters of the Universe film has been unlike anything she has experienced before.
The actress, 43, who is best known for roles in Community, Mad Men and Netflix wrestling comedy GLOW, will play villain Evil-Lyn opposite Jared Leto as Skeletor in the new live-action adaptation of Masters of the Universe.
The film, which also stars Nicholas Galitzine, Idris Elba, Kristen Wiig, Camila Mendes and Morena Baccarin, arrives amid renewed nostalgia for major 1980s franchises returning to cinemas.
Brie said the excitement surrounding the project had surprised her, particularly from men in her life who grew up with He-Man toys and cartoons.
"People have been coming out of the woodwork to talk to me about it, people I haven't heard from in ages because they're so excited about it," she said, speaking to People.
In sport ...
AFL Giants (SYDNEY)
GWS star Clayton Oliver won't waste time dwelling on the past, insisting a "reunion'' with Melbourne will be like any other game.
In career-best form and enjoying his football again, Oliver will face the Demons in Alice Springs on Sunday for the first time since being pushed out under new Melbourne coach Steven King.
The 2021 premiership Demon, who was contracted until 2030, left after being told he did not fit into the club's midfield plans.
He was eventually lured to the harbour city by former Melbourne teammates Toby Bedford and Jesse Hogan.
And like Bedford and Hogan, the 29-year-old has rediscovered the form that made him a three-time All-Australian midfielder and four-time club best-and-fairest.
Across his first 11 games for the Giants and in injured midfield bull Tom Green's absence, Oliver has boasted an "elite" average of 31.7 disposals and 8.5 clearances.
AFL Bombers (MELBOURNE)
James Hird wants to return as Essendon coach, apologising again for his role in their decline and promising he has learned from the debacle that nearly killed him.
And former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley believes other potential candidates won't even bother applying if it is Hird's job to lose.
Once news of Brad Scott's sacking broke on Tuesday morning, speculation immediately started about whether Hird would return.
President Andrew Welsh said he had not contacted Hird, but added no one had been ruled in or out to be the senior coach next season, including interim Dean Solomon.
Hird then confirmed on Tuesday night he was keen to coach the Bombers again.
"The most important thing for me as an Essendon person and what I want to see the football club to do … is for them to go through the most exhaustive process possible for them to find the best person to coach Essendon," he told the Nine Network.
Ends Bulletin
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