AAP Rolling News Bulletin for June 8 at 1830
Legal: Waden (BRISBANE)
A man accused of murdering his American girlfriend gave different reasons for why she stopped going to gym classes, claiming she fled creditors or immigration enforcement, a jury has heard.
Mark Sheridan Waden, 50, allegedly killed Priscilla Brooten and buried her body in a trench before dumping it at a Brisbane rubbish tip almost a year later.
Ms Brooten, a 46-year-old US citizen who was staying in Australia without a valid visa, vanished from the home she shared with Waden in Brisbane's northern suburbs in July 2018.
A Brisbane Supreme Court jury heard testimony from several of Ms Brooten's friends on Monday during the second week of Waden's murder trial.
Laetitia Penfold said she met the American for yoga and Zumba classes three or four times a week up until June or July 2018.
Dalamangas (SYDNEY)
Police are working with their Greek counterparts following reports one of Australia's most wanted men has been arrested after three decades on the run.
James Dalamangas was taken into custody on Sunday in the Peloponnesian town of Aigio, according to local media reports.
The 55-year-old had been living under a pseudonym in Greece since a warrant was issued for his arrest over the death of father-of-two George Giannopolous, who was fatally stabbed on Anzac Day in 1999 after intervening in a fight at a suburban Sydney night club.
NSW Police have said they are "encouraged" by the reports and are working with Hellenic police.
The underworld figure has evaded Australian authorities for decades.
Police had tried to extradite him in 2003 and attempts to prosecute him by their Greek counterparts were suspended in 2007.
Tonys (NEW YORK)
John Lithgow has won best leading actor in a play at the Tony Awards for Giant, which depicts a crisis in the life of author Roald Dahl as he faces fallout from remarks deemed anti-Semitic and must weigh apologising against risking his reputation.
It was the 80-year-old Lithgow's third Tony, having won his first 53 years ago for his Broadway debut in The Changing Room.
"At every point we had to figure out, 'Why is this man doing this?'" he told reporters.
"Anti-Semitism, cruelty of all kinds ... these are things that we're dealing with these days up front and personal ... that's what makes Giant so important and such a success."
Rose Byrne is also hoping to pick up her first Tony for her starring role in a Broadway revival of a century-old Noel Coward play.
Tonys (NEW YORK CITY)
Rose Byrne has walked the red carpet at Radio City Music Hall, hoping to pick up a Tony Award for her starring role in a Broadway revival of a century-old Noel Coward play.
The Australian is nominated for best actress in a leading role in a play for her critically-acclaimed portrayal of Jane Banbury in a the 1925 comedy of manners, Fallen Angels.
The Tony Awards are capping a record Broadway season, with no clear frontrunner among the leading nominees and a mix of star-driven shows and new works signalling sustained momentum for the New York theatre industry.
Pop singer Pink will host the televised ceremony in New York on Sunday from 8pm local time (10am Monday Sydney time).
New musicals The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! lead all nominees with 12 nods each, followed by the revival Ragtime with 11, with 24 shows vying for wins across 26 categories.
Ukraine (LONDON)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine will not "silently die" and could maintain its recent surge of attacks deep into Russia if the war continues as he arrived in London for talks.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Zelenskiy and the leaders of Germany and France to Downing Street on Sunday to discuss European support for Ukraine and stepping up efforts to bring an end to the war.
"The main focus is our defence in the war, greater co-operation for the security of all of Europe in the area of air defence, and our shared view of diplomatic prospects," Zelenskiy wrote on X when he arrived in the United Kingdom.
"Europe must be part of the negotiations and must be strong."
Federal (CANBERRA)
Support for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has slumped while One Nation has edged ahead of Labor as the country's most popular political party in a Newspoll.
The survey showed a four-point rise in One Nation's primary vote to 31 per cent while Labor dipped one point to 30 per cent and the coalition gave up two points to 18 per cent.
The Newspoll, published in The Australian, also registered a one-point decline for the Greens to 11 per cent.
The survey sampled 1240 voters and was conducted between Monday and Thursday last week.
It echoes the results of a Redbridge Group/Accent Research poll published a week ago that had One Nation on 31 per cent support, Labor on 28 per cent and the coalition on 20 per cent.
Honours (CANBERRA)
More than 900 Australians are being lauded after receiving honours on the King's Birthday list for services praised as shaping the nation.
Former Tasmanian premier Will Hodgman, gender equality advocate Natasha Stott Despoja and philanthropist Janet Calvert-Jones are among those appointed Companions of the Order of Australia (AC), which is the nation's highest civilian honour.
All up, 34 Australians received honours through the military division, 149 received meritorious citations and 63 conspicuous accolades, with a further 702 recognised in the general division.
Soldiers will perform 21-gun salutes in both Sydney and Melbourne for the King's Birthday public holiday on Monday, where one blank howitzer round will be fired every 10 seconds until all 21 have been expended.
Late doctor and former Victorian Liberal MP Katie Allen was appointed an Officer of the Order, credited with changing how pediatric food allergy is treated after authoring more than 400 publications in leading medical journals. She died in December at the age of 59 after developing a rare form of cancer.
Iran (BEIRUT)
Israeli forces have struck the outskirts of Beirut for the first time since the United States announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week as an Iranian MP threatened to retaliate, putting talks to end the wider war into new jeopardy.
Iran has long said any peace deal with the US would depend on a ceasefire also holding in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Iran-aligned Hezbollah fighters who fired across the border.
There was no immediate formal response from Iran to Sunday's Israeli strikes on the southern outskirts of Beirut but influential Iranian MP Ebrahim Rezaei posted on X that Iran would deliver a "decisive and painful response".
"Look at the sky of the occupied territories tonight," wrote Rezaei, who serves as the spokesman for parliament's national security committee.
In finance ...
Economy Preview (CANBERRA)
Central bankers in Australia will scrutinise consumer and business confidence figures amid a dearth of hard economic data this week.
Sentiment has plummeted amongst households and employers since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict in late February.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer confidence survey, due to be released on Tuesday, will give a sense of how much global uncertainty and the federal budget continue to weigh on spending decisions and inflation expectations.
Also on Tuesday, NAB's business sentiment survey will provide a read on the extent to which businesses are passing on cost pressures.
Financial markets are fully priced in for the Reserve Bank to hold the cash rate at 4.35 per cent at its June meeting, but one more rate hike is still expected by the end of the year.
Boresight (SYDNEY)
Another drone company is about to join market leader Droneshield on the local bourse as unmanned aerial vehicles transform modern warfare.
But the Canberra-based company Boresight is a bit different to its Aussie-listed counterparts.
Spun out of privately held Canberra-based defence technology company Criterion Solutions in 2020, Boresight specialises in making cheap drones for target practice.
"We were conceived to cater to the counter-drone market, particularly the people who were shooting drones down," Boresight chief executive Justin Olde told AAP.
"They needed a cost-effective way of shooting down drones, but something that was a good testing and training tool as well."
ASX-listed defence contractor Electro Optic Systems became particularly adept at shooting down drones.
But it was expensive to buy $2500 drones from JB Hi-Fi purely to destroy them, Mr Olde said.
In entertainment ...
Romano (LONDON)
Ray Romano arrived on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond fearing he could lose another sitcom job.
Admitting he was "terrified" after previously being fired from the cast of NewsRadio before filming on the show even properly began, the comedian reflected on the early days of the Emmy-winning comedy during a reunion panel at the 2026 ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas.
Romano reunited with Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal and several of the show's original writers, for the event, after the sitcom, which ran from 1996 to 2005, became one of the defining American comedies of its era, earning 69 Emmy nominations and 15 wins.
Looking back on his first day filming the sitcom, Romano said: "I was doing stand-up for a living. A couple acting opportunities came up, and one of them was the show called NewsRadio.
In sport ...
AFL Freeze (MELBOURNE)
Collingwood and Melbourne players have formed a circle in the middle of the MCG as a tribute to Neale Daniher.
After a video tribute on the giants screens, the capacity crowd erupted in applause ahead of the AFL Kings' Birthday clash.
The pre-game 12th Big Freeze was held in perfect sunny conditions, a fortnight after Daniher died from motor neurone disease.
It was 13 years since he had been diagnosed with MND. A state memorial service will be held for him on Wednesday, also at the MCG.
The former AFL player and coach became an inspiration for fronting the FightMND charity, with the Big Freeze its annual centrepiece. In 2025 he was named Australian Of The Year.
The impact of Daniher and the FightMND campaign means that the King's Birthday game is the biggest AFL game this year outside the grand final - a status traditionally reserved for the MCG Anzac Day blockbuster.
WC26 Aust (OAKLAND)
Nestory Irankunda still can't believe the new face of Australian football is a young Black man.
The 20-year-old is one of the hottest properties at this year's World Cup, with replicas of his No.17 shirt set to fly out the door.
If Socceroos dynamo Irankunda does something special, his profile could go next level.
But the most prominent of six players of African descent in Australia's 26-man World Cup squad is still getting his head around young Black men like himself and Mohamed Toure becoming the face of the Socceroos.
"It's crazy, because who would have thought?" Irankunda told AAP.
"Now that it's happening, everybody's like: 'wow'. But I never thought it would be possible - maybe one day, but not this early.
Ends Bulletin
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