AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 12 at 1430
Legal: Murray (ADELAIDE)
The grandmother of missing boy Gus Lamont has been found guilty of possessing a gun silencer after a court heard she had a previous conviction involving the theft of firearms by a fugitive.
Josie Murray - the grandmother of the four-year-old who vanished from her South Australia homestead in September 2025 - was fined $10,500 after a hearing in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday.
Murray, 75, of Yunta, had pleaded guilty to one aggravated charge of possessing a sound moderator.
Defence lawyer Andy Ey told magistrate Roderick Jensen that he would "address the elephant in the room".
"It's been an extremely difficult time for my client. A grandchild went missing on the property late last year," he said.
"We see the media attention and number of police here - this has been a very, very difficult time for the family, trying to get through as best they can."
Legal: SKorea Yoon (SEOUL)
A South Korean court has sentenced former president Yoon Suk -yeol to 30 years in prison over charges linked to military drones sent over Pyongyang to help create a pretext for his failed December 2024 martial law declaration.
The Seoul Central District Court on Friday found Yoon guilty of abuse of power and aiding the enemy, saying he had conspired in the October 2024 drone incursion from the outset.
Yoon denied wrongdoing.
His lawyers said he neither ordered nor later approved the operation, which they said was unrelated to martial law and instead a response to months of North Korean launches across the border of balloons stuffed with rubbish.
Prosecutors had sought a 30-year prison term for Yoon in April.
Ukraine (KYIV)
Two people have been killed and another 10 injured in a Ukraine attack on Russia's border region of Bryansk.
Two were killed and another two injured in shelling of the Suzemka area close to the border, with another seven wounded in an attack on petrol stations in Starodub some 110km away, Acting Regional Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said on Thursday.
A five-year-old boy was also injured in a separate drone attack.
In Ukraine's northern Sumy region, a 44-year old woman was killed and another 33-year-old woman seriously wounded in a Russian drone attack, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said early on Friday.
Three more people were injured in a drone attack in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv, local authorities said on Telegram.
Federal (CANBERRA)
One Nation says it has proven its $2 million-plus anti-Labor fundraising drive to be legitimate after the prime minister questioned the authenticity of donations.
Party leader Pauline Hanson took to social media on Thursday evening to declare the "fire the liar" fundraising site and money were "ridgy didge", posting an audit document appearing to be produced by software engineer Daryl Monnink.
"I am satisfied that the fundraising total calculation currently includes only successfully received and validated donation payments," he wrote in his audit report.
The audit was carried out by reviewing the website's source code, inspecting live databases and viewing the end-to-end donation process alongside Peter Arvoll, who built the site, Mr Monnink said.
Earlier on Thursday Mr Albanese questioned what evidence there was the party had actually raised the funds, and Labor operatives privately suggested One Nation's online donation counter might have been fraudulent.
Legal: Griffith (BRISBANE)
One of Australia's worst pedophiles, former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith, has failed in his bid to reduce the life sentence he received for hundreds of sex offences against young children.
Lawyers for the notorious 48-year-old predator in May argued in the Queensland Court of Appeal that the 27‑year non‑parole period he was handed in 2024 was ''manifestly excessive'' as they sought leave to appeal.
Justice David Boddice on Friday handed down the Court of Appeal's decision to dismiss the appeal during a brief sitting in Brisbane.
"The appeal against sentence is refused," he said.
Griffith pleaded guilty to 307 child sex offences against 65 victims aged between one and nine.
It included 28 counts of rape against girls mainly aged three to five at Queensland childcare centres between 2007 and 2022.
Ebola (DAKAR)
Congo's Ebola outbreak has spread to three new health zones, according to a government report that shows the number of confirmed cases had risen to 676, including 136 deaths.
The figure represented the total number of confirmed cases as of Wednesday, the report published on Thursday said.
The new health zones impacted by the outbreak were in North Kivu and Ituri.
A health zone in Congo's healthcare system covers a defined area with a network of clinics and a referral hospital, covering around 100,000 to 150,000 people. There are more than 500 health zones in the country.
When presenting the new figures, Africa Centre for Disease Control Director General Jean Kaseya expressed particular concern about the low number of contacts of Ebola patients in Congo that had been identified and traced.
SpaceX (NEW YORK CITY)
SpaceX has priced the biggest-ever US initial public offering at $US135 per share, making Elon Musk's rocket and spacecraft manufacturer one of the world's most valuable companies.
The IPO raised a record $US75 billion ($A106 billion) on the sale of 555.56 million shares, valuing the space, satellite and AI provider at $US1.77 trillion ($A2.51 trillion), a record for an initial offering.
Thursday's pricing caps off a months-long effort that realised Musk's most ambitious project yet even as he stood a handful of financial traditions on their head, and as some analysts question whether its lofty valuation is justified.
SpaceX will rank seventh among US-listed firms when its shares begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday, though it lost money in 2025 and other mega-caps far outpace its revenue. That values the company more highly than firms as varied as JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway and Eli Lilly, as well as tech giants such as Meta Platforms and Musk's own Tesla.
Rights (HOBART)
In July 2009, Father Frank Brennan was wrapping up his historic national human rights consultation, a job assigned by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The task was mighty: to investigate whether Australia - the only developed democracy without a bill of rights - needed one, and how it might work.
Across the previous six months, Fr Brennan led roundtables in every state and territory, in cities, in Aboriginal communities, on Torres Strait islands, and even Christmas Island.
Over that time, the Jesuit priest moved from a self-declared fence-sitter to a reform-backer. The final report championed a human rights act.
But in winter 2009, as the group was writing up its 622-page report, he was asked to meet with Mark Arbib, then a NSW senator and factional leader.
In finance ...
Woodside (SYDNEY)
Australia's largest oil and gas company has moved to increase its stake in the country's biggest undeveloped offshore gas resource.
Woodside Energy will pay at least $US225 million ($320 million) to increase its stake in the Browse joint venture, a $48.7 billion project 425km off the coast of Western Australia that's been under environmental review for the past seven years.
Woodside is exercising its rights to pre-empt the sale by one of its joint venture partners of its 10.67 per cent stake in the project to a third party.
PetroChina International, the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, had proposed selling its stake to Inpex Corp, Japan's largest oil and gas exploration and production company.
Woodside exercising its pre-emptive rights means it will acquire the stake instead, on the same terms.
Markets Aust (SYDNEY)
Australian shares have rebounded sharply on the latest peace deal proclamation from US President Donald Trump, but risks to the global energy market remain.
The S&P/ASX200 jumped 168.9 points by midday, up 1.96 per cent, to 8,802.1, as the broader All Ordinaries rose 168.4 points, or 1.91 per cent, to 9,005.1.
After an escalation of tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran, President Trump backed down on his latest round of threats and claimed the nations were on the verge of signing a peace deal.
Iranian authorities have denied reaching a final decision on the proposal.
"Nevertheless, the cancellation of fresh military strikes and another clear signal that President Trump has apparently very little appetite to escalate the war caused crude prices to drop and gave a fresh boost to risk assets," Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.
In entertainment ...
Aria (SYDNEY)
Relatives of Australian music royalty say their legendary family member succeeded in his goal of sharing powerful culture with the world.
Gurrumul, the celebrated artist from the Gumatj clan of Elcho Island in Arnhem Land, took his rightful place in the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame on Thursday night.
The Indigenous icon was already on the honour roll as a member of similarly celebrated band Yothu Yindi, becoming one of a handful to be inducted twice.
His family opened Thursday night's celebration of ARIA's 40th anniversary with an emotional tribute to their late relative, who died aged 46 in 2017 after a battle with kidney and liver disease.
Brother-in-law Don Wininba expanded on his family's pride of Gurrumul helping to take Indigenous music to the world.
Grande (WASHINGTON, D. C.)
American pop star Ariana Grande has told President Donald Trump's administration to stop using her music to promote its policies.
The comment on Thursday came after the White House shared a video on TikTok earlier this week highlighting its immigration policy. The video, which depicts federal agents arresting and handcuffing people, features the Grammy Award-winning singer's 2024 song Bye.
"Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense," Grande wrote in a comment posted on the White House video on TikTok. A source close to the singer said her team is looking into how to remove the music from the video as soon as possible.
Responding to Grande, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: "We'll say this one last time: what's actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens."
In sport ...
RL Origin Qld (BRISBANE)
Sam Walker has the faith of Queensland's brains trust to play his expansive way in State of Origin and the razzle dazzle half won't be changing a thing.
Walker, 23, was on track to win man of the match in game one of the Origin series on debut in Sydney before a Kalyn Ponga send-off turned the match and led to a 22-20 win for NSW.
The man Walker replaced in the team, injured North Queensland half Tom Dearden, was player of the Origin series in 2025 and is on track to be fit for game three in Brisbane after rehabbing an ankle injury.
The Maroons will have to deal with that selection quandary when it arrives but right now the Sydney Roosters No.7 is coach Billy Slater's man for Wednesday night's must-win match.
Gol LIV (ADELAIDE)
Australians are among potential investors in LIV Golf, with Cameron Smith playing a key role in sourcing financial saviours for the breakaway league.
LIV Golf's chief executive Scott O'Neil says unnamed "prominent" Australians are flagging interest in investing when Saudi Arabia ends its funding.
O'Neil and LIV hierarchy are seeking about $US300 million ($A425 million) investment for the league to continue beyond this season.
"We are very tapped in and wired in to the Australian business community and those who might be interested," O'Neil told AAP on Friday.
"Yes, we're having some ongoing dialogue with some prominent Australians."
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will stop funding LIV Golf at the end of the season.
Some reports suggest the funding could soon stop, casting doubt on whether LIV's four remaining tournaments this year will proceed.
Ends Bulletin
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