AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 4 at 2300
Al Ahmed (SYDNEY)
The man who disarmed one of the gunman during the Bondi terror attack has been caught up on the wrong side of the law after being charged with assault.
Ahmed Al Ahmed, 44, is accused of allegedly putting his father in a headlock on March 9.
NSW Police have confirmed he was charged on Wednesday for common assault and stalking.
The tobacconist rose to prominence after video captured the moment he crept behind one of the Bondi gunmen and tackled and disarmed him, slowing the attack and saving lives.
He was shot twice in the arm during the incident.
His heroic efforts garnered worldwide attention with a fundraiser reaching more than $2.5 million.
Al Ahmed was awarded with Keys to the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, where he lives, and Waverley.
Legal: Ahmad (MELBOURNE)
A woman accused of marrying Islamic State fighters allegedly lived with a teenage slave who was repeatedly assaulted and raped by her father.
The allegations were detailed in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday as Zeinab Ahmad, 31, applied for bail, a month after she was charged with slavery offences.
Australian Federal Police allege Ahmad left Melbourne to go to Turkey with her husband Dawod in November 2014.
She told migration officers her plan was to stay there for seven months but it's alleged the couple instead moved to Syria in January 2015.
Ahmad's husband Dawod became an IS member but he died in a Syrian drone strike in May 2016, Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning told the court.
After his death, it's alleged Ahmad made social media posts saying Dawod had lived out his dream of becoming a martyr.
Economy (CANBERRA)
Labor's controversial tax changes will have no effect on economic growth or productivity, Treasury officials have conceded.
As the government passed changes to negative gearing, the capital gains tax and trusts through the lower house on Thursday, departmental officials argued the package would boost home ownership and improve intergenerational equity.
But the budget did not improve the outlook for GDP or productivity growth in either the near- or medium-term, Treasury told a senate estimates hearing.
"It, in aggregate, did not have a significant impact (to GDP growth) in the near term," assistant secretary for macroeconomics Angelia Grant said.
At best, the budget firmed up Treasury's confidence in its existing 1.2 per cent long-term assumption for productivity growth.
"If there were not policies ... in order to increase productivity growth in Australia, then our assessment of the risks around the medium term would be different," Dr Grant said.
Legal: Hersant (MELBOURNE)
Neo-Nazis who disrupted an Anzac Day dawn service when they booed a Welcome to Country have pledged to continue their crusade.
Jacob Hersant, 27, Michael Nelson, 22, and Nathan Bull, 24, were on Thursday found guilty and sentenced for behaving in an offensive manner in a public place during the service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance in 2025.
Ian Harvey Lomax, 35, linked to the booing incident, was also found guilty and punished for the offence in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
About 50,000 people stood under the Shrine in the pre-dawn darkness as Bunurong elder Mark Brown began to deliver a Welcome to Country when the peace was broken by heckles and boos from the crowd.
Hersant, Bull and an unknown man began booing from the crowd, with Hersant shouting "we don't want to be welcomed" and "what about the Anzacs", magistrate James Fitzgerald said.
Tobacco (MELBOURNE)
The federal government is digging in against mounting calls to overhaul tobacco tax as the scale of Australia's black market trade is laid bare.
Data showing four in five vapes and cigarettes consumed in Australia in 2025 were bought on the black market has dredged up fresh debate about cutting the tobacco excise.
The black market share of total nicotine consumption has climbed from 12 per cent to 80 per cent from 2017 to 2025, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Introducing legislation to give state tobacco regulators powers to shut down dodgy sellers, Victorian Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation Minister Enver Erdogan acknowledged the excise had contributed to the problem.
"The statistics speak for themselves," he told reporters at state parliament on Thursday.
Legal: Nurses (SYDNEY)
The case against two Australian nurses accused of making anti-Semitic comments to an Israeli influencer might collapse if video footage is struck out of court.
Ahmad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh are accused of being menacing and offensive when they allegedly said they would refuse to treat Israeli patients and threatened violence towards them.
The pair are due to face a trial at the end of August, but the key piece of prosecution evidence might yet be excluded if it is ruled to have been obtained illegally.
Israeli national Max Ilinsky, popularly known as Max Veifer, recorded video of his conversation with the nurses on the platform ChatRoulette in 2025.
The platform, known as Chatruletka in Israel, randomly matches people from across the world to facilitate conversations.
Cannabis (SYDNEY)
When veteran and medicinal cannabis user Michael James tested positive for THC during a roadside stop, he could not see past his humiliation.
It had been more than 12 hours since he took his prescription medicine and its effects had long dissipated, but he was still fined.
"The embarrassment that I felt was incredible," he told reporters on Thursday.
"I'm an ex-military policeman, I obey the law, I was taking a prescribed medication from my doctor for injuries that I've received in service to this country."
But Mr James, alongside 300,000 other medicinal cannabis users, will be able to take the wheel without fear of losing his licence under a world-first program that will transform NSW's drug driving laws.
Under current laws, those who test positive to two roadside oral fluid tests can be slapped with a 24-hour driving prohibition, forcing many to abandon their cars and find alternate ways home, which can be particularly difficult for those in regional areas.
Tax (CANBERRA)
The coalition has signalled it could cross the political divide and work with the Greens to stop contentious tax changes going through parliament, as the prime minister also tries to get the minor party on side.
The tax changes, which will limit negative gearing on properties to new homes from July 2027 and scrap a 50 per cent discount on the capital gains tax for a rate tied to inflation, passed the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The bill will be voted on in the Senate after a rapid-fire inquiry examining the tax overhaul later in June.
The passage of the laws remains unclear, as the government needs support from the Greens to get the changes through.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the coalition, which have already come out against the tax changes, were willing to work with the Greens on voting down the measures.
In finance ...
Greensill (LONDON)
Britain will ban Australian financier Lex Greensill, founder of supply chain financing firm Greensill Capital, which collapsed with huge losses in 2021, from acting as a company director for nine years.
The company collapsed after one of its main insurers declined to renew its cover.
Its UK arm had liabilities of more than Stg1.6 billion ($A3 billion), causing heavy losses for investors and prompting lawsuits and regulatory probes.
"A nine-year ban is a significant period - above the average for director disqualifications - and reflects the serious nature of Lex Greensill's conduct," Insolvency Service chief executive Duncan Beach said in a statement on Thursday.
Greensill's conduct breached his legal duty under British rules to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence as a company director, the agency's statement said.
IREN (SYDNEY)
A leading artificial intelligence data centre operator founded by two Australian brothers will build one of the largest such facilities in the Asia-Pacific region, creating hundreds of new jobs.
IREN will set up the massive data centre in Bundey, South Australia, a place with no residents that's 125km northeast of Adelaide and is home to the state's biggest electricity transformers.
The facility will be connected directly to that substation and is expected to draw up to 800 megawatts - enough to power 400,000 to 800,000 homes.
It's due to open in stages, beginning in 2028, and will support 200 ongoing jobs plus another 500 during construction.
By the time it opens, IREN says, SA's grid will be completely powered by net renewable energy.
In entertainment ...
Diddy (LONDON)
Sean "Diddy" Combs could face new sexual battery charges after allegations made by a celebrity publicist.
The 56-year-old rap mogul is currently serving a 50-month federal prison sentence after being convicted of transportation for prostitution, but it is now reported that he may face new criminal probe.
Venusse D Dunn, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office's chief of communications, has told the Daily Mail newspaper the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have both laid out separate presentations on investigations into the alleged victims claims.
It is said the case, which has been made by celebrity publicist Jonathan Hay, is under review.
Hay previously filed a lawsuit against Combs in July 2025, and in the civil complaint he has accused the rapper of sexual battery in 2020.
Kudrow (LONDON)
Lisa Kudrow has said she finally watched Friends decades after it aired.
The 62-year-old actor starred as Phoebe Buffay in the hit sitcom which followed the lives of six friends played by Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry.
The series ran for 10 seasons, from 1994 until 2004, however, despite its popularity, Kudrow refused to watch it, with the exception of a few screenings with the rest of the cast when the show first came out.
Speaking to her former co-star, Aniston, on Variety's Actors on Actors, Kudrow revealed she watched the show until the early hours of the morning.
"There were whole episodes that I hadn't seen. I just couldn't sit there at home and have anybody walk by seeing me watching a show that I'm in. Because it felt embarrassing to me," she said.
In sport ...
AFL Crows (MELBOURNE)
An inspirational display from Jordan Dawson has helped steer Adelaide to a dramatic one-point victory over Geelong and into the AFL's top six.
The Crows outlasted their opponents in a brutal contest, prevailing 11.9 (75) to 10.14 (74) at a rain-soaked Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
There was more score review controversy when Darcy Fogarty was denied a long-range goal with less than four minutes left.
But the behind that was eventually awarded put Adelaide in front and ultimately proved decisive, with neither side able to muster another score in the desperate final stages.
Dawson (22 disposals, three goals) fought on manfully with a corked hip for most of the second half after teammate Taylor Walker pushed Cats defender Connor O'Sullivan into him in a marking contest.
RL Eagles (SYDNEY)
Manly have celebrated Kieran Foran's coronation as Sea Eagles head coach by moving into the NRL's top four with a 28-14 win over South Sydney.
Foran was rewarded with a permanent deal on Tuesday after resuscitating Manly's season and now has eight wins from his first 10 games in charge following Thursday's win over the Bunnies.
Brookvale Oval - or Four Pines Park as it is known for sponsorship reasons - was renamed Foz Pines Park for one night only in tribute to Manly's new coach as his side moved up to third on the NRL ladder.
Led by rampaging NSW State of Origin back-rower Haumole Olakau'atu, who clocked up 234m from 22 carries, the Sea Eagles claimed their fourth consecutive home win.
Ends Bulletin
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