AAP Rolling News Bulletin for May 29 at 0600
Mideast (JERUSALEM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has directed Israel's military to take more of the Gaza Strip, initially by seizing 70 per cent of the Palestinian territory, where the population is already penned into a tiny enclave of land along the coast.
Israel effectively controls an estimated 64 per cent of the tiny coastal strip, bombarded to ruins by Israel's two-year military assault that followed the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Under an October US-brokered truce that has failed to halt Israeli attacks or secure Hamas' disarmament, Israeli troops were meant to withdraw to a "Yellow Line" demarcating the extent of their control.
Marked on military maps, that line put Israel in control of 53 per cent of the Gaza Strip, with Hamas ruling the rest.
Iran (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
The United States and Iran have reached agreement on a memorandum of understanding to extend their ceasefire for 60 days but US President Donald Trump has yet to approve it, a source familiar with the matter says.
Details of the tentative agreement were first reported by the news outlet Axios.
A US official familiar with the matter said the plan envisions talks to be launched on Iran's nuclear program once the MOU is signed.
Trump's administration has several times said that a deal to still the fighting was close only to have Iran dispute or downplay the claims.
There was no immediate confirmation of the report which prompted oil prices to reverse course and trade lower.
Trump has repeatedly said the end of the war is close but told media at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday he was not yet satisfied by the negotiations and that the US was not discussing easing sanctions, an Iranian demand.
Ebola (BUNIA)
Aid workers are rushing supplies to the centre of the Democratic Republic of Congo's outbreak of a rare type of Ebola virus while beleaguered medical personnel struggle with a lack of equipment, a distrustful population and armed groups in a volatile region.
A cargo plane with aid donated by the European Union delivered masks, gloves, boots and medications - all of which are in short supply - to the northeastern town of Bunia at the heart of the outbreak in DR Congo's Ituri province.
United Nations-branded forklifts lifted several cases into trucks.
Health workers with scant supplies have been struggling to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine.
In some areas, doctors have resorted to wearing expired medical masks while treating suspected patients.
Iran (WASHINGTON DC)
Iran's Revolutionary Guard has targeted a US airbase after the US military carried out what a Washington official said were strikes on an Iranian drone operation near the Strait of Hormuz.
The strikes come hours after President Donald Trump rejected a report he was close to a compromise deal with Tehran.
The escalation in hostilities highlighted threats to the tenuous ceasefire between the US and Iran that took effect in early April, dampening hopes for a peace deal and sending oil prices surging again.
The US official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about military operations, told Reuters the military shot down four Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.
Legal: Germani (SYDNEY)
The mastermind of a fake jewellery store robbery and a man he enlisted to take part in a failed $2.5 million insurance fraud bid have been hit with a combined jail sentence of over eight years.
"What do you think is going to happen?" Mounir Helou was heard saying over an audiovisual link from custody before being sentenced at Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Thursday.
"I don't know my friend, I don't know. I'm so scared," former jewellery store owner Michel Elias Germani replied.
The pair were part of a group that planned and performed the sham robbery of Germani Jewellers at Sydney's Hilton Hotel in January 2023.
Germani was the mastermind of the scheme while Helou and another man attended the store after hours.
Housing (CANBERRA)
A controversial tax reform package will correct a "huge mistake" that locked a generation of people out of home ownership, Labor says.
Reserve Bank research has found the proportion of Baby Boomer property investors has surged since the capital gains discount was introduced.
As changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax were introduced to parliament on Thursday, Housing Minister Clare O'Neil told the National Press Club the Howard government created a "perfect storm" in Australia's housing market.
By introducing the 50 per cent capital gains discount in 1999, investors piled into the market when declining building productivity was already weakening supply.
"The result? You can find it in any economics textbook in the world," Ms O'Neil said.
"House prices sharply detached from incomes. Rents surged. And homelessness rose in a country where we should never accept this as inevitable."
Boy (BRISBANE)
A fresh search for missing four-year-old Gus Lamont on a remote South Australian cattle station has failed to uncover any trace of the little boy.
Major crime detectives and specialist officers have spent the past three days combing Oak Park Station in the state's outback, returning to the property in the hope downpours exposed new evidence.
Officers from Task Force Horizon began the latest search on Monday, targeting numerous locations across the vast station, including areas where rain and erosion could have shifted soil or cleared vegetation.
"Unfortunately, we have not uncovered any further evidence that helps us locate Gus," Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke said on Thursday.
"Task Force Horizon members on the property, together with STAR Group officers — up to 17 people over the past three days — have searched all of these areas in an effort to uncover new evidence or information that might help us locate Gus.
Tax (CANBERRA)
Controversial tax changes will go straight to a contested parliamentary inquiry as Labor seeks to fast-track its reform agenda.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers stood firm against a growing number of calls for business exemptions as he introduced a landmark bill to parliament on Thursday that included changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing, as well as a $250-a-year rebate for workers.
"This is a bill for workers, for first home buyers and for future generations," he told the House of Representatives.
"It will help ensure that aspiration and opportunity are the birthright of every Australian and not just some."
But Labor's bill was automatically referred to a senate committee for scrutiny, under rules that laws starting on July 1 are subject to an inquiry before they take effect.
In finance ...
Economy (CANBERRA)
The Iran war appears to be having little impact on Australia's data centre boom, but households are starting to feel the pinch.
Private capital expenditure jumped 6.5 per cent in the first three months of 2026, smashing consensus expectations of a 1.2 per cent rise, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday.
That was driven by a near tripling in spending on information media and telecommunications equipment to a record $6 billion in the quarter.
It followed a similar spike in the three months to September 2025, ABS head of business statistics Tom Lay said.
"The lift in investment was the result of investment in data centre equipment, specifically server racks and processing equipment, significantly boosting overall investment figures," Mr Lay said.
Legal: Star (SYDNEY)
A proposed $1.3 million penalty against Star's former head could be derailed by the corporate watchdog's decision to settle negligence cases against two other executives for much smaller amounts.
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.
Mr Bekier and former Star general counsel Paula Martin have been successfully sued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for breaches of their duties.
The watchdog is seeking a $1.3 million fine against Mr Bekier and a $1.1 million fine against Ms Martin.
But Mr Bekier's barrister Justin Williams SC pointed out on Thursday this was much higher than penalties imposed of $180,000 on former chief casino officer Greg Hawkins and $60,000 on former chief financial officer Harry Theodore.
In entertainment ...
Rodrigo (LONDON)
Olivia Rodrigo has hit back over the criticism of her wearing a babydoll dress, labelling it "so weird" and that it "normalises pedophilia in our culture".
The American singer is set to release her third album, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, in June.
However, she has come under fire for wearing a pink-and-white floral puff-sleeve babydoll dress with matching ruffled bloomers.
Speaking on The New York Times podcast Popcast, Rodrigo said it was her "right" to dress how she wanted – but added recent online criticism of her wearing babydoll dresses "shows how we really normalise pedophilia in our culture".
"Also, it's just this rhetoric we're fed as girls since we're so little, which is, don't wear that because then a man is going to sexualise your body and it's your fault. It's so weird," she said.
Cage (LONDON)
Nicolas Cage has legally changed his name.
The Spider-Noir star was born Nicolas Coppola but he adopted the name Cage at the start of his career because he wanted to distance himself from his famous relatives including his uncle, esteemed director Francis Ford Coppola, because he didn't want to be known as the "clown cousin" of Hollywood's Coppola family.
Now Cage has revealed he finally made the change legal in 2025, telling Variety: "I am Nick Cage. I changed my name legally last year.
"I'm Nick Cage in life, and I'm Nick Cage on camera. 'Tis better to be the patriarch of my own little family than the clown cousin on the margins of someone else's, so I decided I'm going to bring it on and be Cage".
In sport ...
AFL Blues (PERTH)
Carlton caretaker coach Josh Fraser has credited the club's recent wins to a natural evolution and he's embracing the chance to further showcase the Blues' progress in Friday night's clash with Geelong at the MCG.
The Blues have posted morale-boosting wins against the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide since Michael Voss stood down as coach following the round-nine loss to Brisbane.
Carlton's second-half fadeouts were a big reason behind their 1-8 start to the season, which ultimately cost Voss his job.
The Blues have shown more resolve under Fraser, but the former Magpies ruckman says foundations already set were a big part of their recent success.
"I'd like to think we've evolved more than changed," Fraser said.
"And I guess as you evolve, there's natural changes with what you do.
Ten Open Men (PARIS)
World No.1 and overwhelming favourite Jannik Sinner has crashed out of the French Open in one of the biggest boilovers in tennis history, beaten by Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo and the searing heat in Paris.
Just as in Australian Open in January, the blistering temperatures proved too much for the Italian mountain man and after serving for a straight-sets win at 5-4 in the third set, he turned into a stricken figure, his superman powers melting as he eventually capitulated 3-6 2-6 7-5 6-1 6-1 to the world No.56.
It was a defeat that left the entire sports world stunned as Sinner had been the most dominant favourite to win any grand slam since Rafa Nadal in his pomp here at Roland Garros.
He had been unbeaten in 30 matches and there was no defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the field to threaten him, the Spaniard having been sidelined by a wrist injury.
Ends Bulletin
Rolling News Desk inquiries : 02 9322 8611
