AAP Rolling News Bulletin for May 29 at 1230
Housing (CANBERRA)
Rival forecasts showing a dire outcome for renters from the government's tax changes are being dismissed by Labor as the work of "vested interests".
Health Minister Mark Butler said it was hardly surprising the real estate lobby would defend the status quo after property industry groups released modelling claiming the impact of the tax package would be worse for rent prices and housing supply than Treasury forecasts.
The modelling, conducted by economic consultancies Qaive and Tulipwood and released jointly by the Real Estate Institute, Master Builders, and the Property Council, showed the budget would cause 8700 fewer new homes to be built over the next four years.
Rents would be $9 a week higher, Australia's economy would be $864 million smaller and there would be 3800 fewer construction jobs than would otherwise be the case, the analysis found.
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: Terror Aust (MELBOURNE)
A woman charged with terror offences after returning to Australia wants to be released back into the community to care for her children.
Rayann El Houli, 34, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, charged with one count of travelling to a declared conflict zone and one count of joining the terrorist organisation Islamic State.
Both offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
The Melbourne woman allegedly travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 before being detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 and held with her family at the al-Hawl detention camp in northeast Syria.
The 34-year-old travelled through Lebanon with her children and another woman and returned in September to Australia, where the family has lived before her arrest and charge on Thursday.
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."
In finance ...
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.
ASIC (SYDNEY)
A major financial services firm is in the sights of the corporate regulator over the conduct of a few of its registered auditors, following whistleblower allegations.
Confirmation of an investigation came during a federal parliament joint committee hearing on Friday morning attended by Australian Securities and Investments Commission commissioners, including chair Joe Longo.
The commissioners, including deputy chair Sarah Court, Kate O'Rourke, and head of enforcement and compliance Chris Savundra, were being questioned by committee chair and Labor senator Deborah O'Neill.
Senator O'Neill referred, under parliamentary privilege, to a letter received by the committee from Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo, which she then tabled.
The letter, she told the hearing, discussed KPMG personnel on the audit team for the major developer "retaining and utilising access to audit tender pictures in Lendlease board papers to inform their tender for Westpac's audit".
In entertainment ...
Legal: Austria Plot (WIENER NEUSTADT)
An Austrian court has sentenced a 21-year-old man who admitted planning a foiled Islamist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024 to 15 years in prison, finding him guilty of various, mainly terrorism-related, offences.
Beran A, whose last name has not been made public in accordance with Austrian privacy rules, was arrested on August 7, 2024, the day before the first of three planned concerts by the US pop star in the Austrian capital.
All three dates were then cancelled, to the dismay of fans and of Swift, who wrote afterwards that it was "devastating".
While crowds of disappointed fans sang together in Vienna then to console themselves, neither Swift nor any "Swifties" appeared at the trial in Wiener Neustadt, a town south of the capital.
Manilow (LONDON)
Barry Manilow says never thought cancer would get him".
In December, the 82-year-old singer-songwriter announced he had been diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer after the disease was detected during an MRI after hearing about recent bouts of bronchitis.
Manilow underwent a lobectomy to remove a cancerous tumour on his left lung.
Looking back on the health ordeal, the Copacabana hitmaker - who confirmed he is cancer-free three months later - did not think he would battle the disease because he was too busy with his illustrious music career.
Manilow told the Los Angeles Times: "I never thought cancer would get me - it wasn't in the cards.
"They wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible, so we made a deal: I'd finish the couple of weeks of shows that I had, then I'd go to the hospital, and they'd remove it.
In sport ...
WC26 Aust (MELBOURNE)
The Socceroos know one thing ahead of their thrilling trip to the Rose Bowl to play Mexico: 29 players can't fit into 26 spots.
Australia have departed their pre-World Cup training camp in Sarasota, Florida to begin their west coast sojourn.
That starts with facing El Tri at the famous Pasadena stadium that hosted the 1994 men's World Cup final, then the women's decider five years later.
It will also form the final audition before coach Tony Popovic picks his squad, due to be submitted to FIFA on June 1.
Popular forward Archie Thompson was among those scrapping for a spot under Guus Hiddink at the 2006 World Cup and can relate to the current group's attempt to impress his old teammate Popovic.
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.
Ends Bulletin
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