An Australian businessman who was jailed for insider trading is now among the country's richest people after cashing in on the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Oliver Curtis walked out of a NSW prison on June 23, 2017 after serving 12 months of a two-year sentence for conspiring to commit 45 illicit trades, which banked him and former pal John Hartman $1.43 million.

Less than 10 years after his release, Curtis, 41, has made his debut on the Australian Financial Review (AFR) rich list with an estimated personal fortune of $1.25 billion.

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Curtis has earned this impressive net worth through Singapore-based AI infrastructure start-up Firmus, which is on track for a nearly $7 billlion valuation after computer chip giant Nvidia doubled its investment last month.

The former investment banker is now the 125th-richest person in Australia, according to the AFR.

Curtis is in good company as a rich list debutant.

There are 15 other first-time entries, including the founders of chicken chain El Jannah and clothing brand White Fox.

His path to the rich list is one that is as well-documented as it is tumultuous.

Curtis, the husband of well-known public relations boss Roxy Jacenko, began Firmus alongside his cousin Tim Rosenfield in 2019.

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Just nine years ago, Curtis was a newly-released parolee after a year-long stint at Cooma Correctional Centre.

He served the minimum sentence for insider trading, which took place between May 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008, resulting in a net profit of $1,432,228.85.

At the time, Justice Lucy McCallum said Curtis "shows no sign of progression beyond the self-interested pursuit of material wealth which prompted his offending".

The money was spent on luxury cars, a Bondi apartment and trips overseas.

His co-conspirator Hartman later became the Crown's star witness and served a 15-month sentence at Silverwater jail.

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Curtis was back in business plotting his billionaire redemption arc within months of walking free and reuniting with Jacenko and his children.

Before Firmus, he co-founded cryptocurrency medical start-up e-Nome with his father Nick Curtis.

The company fizzled out quickly and Curtis then pivoted to AI, launching Firmus two years later in 2019.

Despite his criminal record, Curtis was given the green-light to run Firmus as a publicly-listed company in March this year.

Firmus is expected to float on the ASX by September.

Republicans are fretting that a candidate endorsed by Donald Trump may cost them in their most important state.

Ken Paxton has claimed the nomination as the Republican Senate candidate in Texas, beating long-time incumbent John Cornyn.

His comfortable win this morning over Cornyn comes after Trump threw his support behind Paxton last week after a bitter and expensive primary election.

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But Paxton has been so scandal-prone that it could give Democrats an opening in the conservative state.

As Texas attorney-general, his own staff reported him to the FBI with bribery and corruption accusations.

Paxton then fired the whistleblowers.

He was impeached by the state House of Representatives but kept his job after a vote to remove him failed by a single vote in the Texas Senate.

In 2015, he was arrested while attorney-general and charged with security fraud, paying a $A400,000 fine and doing 200 hours of community service in a deal with prosecutors.

He was also caught on CCTV pocketing another lawyer's $A1400 pen when it had been left behind at a metal detector.

"To call Paxton ethically challenged is to call Jeffrey Dahmer suffering from an eating disorder," Republican senator Thom Tillis said.

"This guy is an empty suit and will do us no service by being in the US Congress."

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His wife Angela filed for divorce last year on "biblical grounds", alleging adultery.

Mrs Paxton, herself a state senator, did not make an endorsement in the election.

Despite his misdeeds, Paxton publicly professes his Christian faith and was a co-founder of a Dallas megachurch in the 1990s.

His deeply conservative views have made him a darling in Texas Republican politics.

He has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, transgender rights and COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2022, he said he would be in favour of recriminalising sex between men.

Making Republicans nervous in Texas is the surprising popularity of Democratic candidate James Talarico.

Talarico is a state representative and former teacher who also speaks of his own Christian faith. He has a masters of divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

In the first three months of the year, he raised $A37 million for his campaign, more than ten times Paxton did.

But in the past 20 years, Texas has been the prize Democrats can't quite win.

But Trump is so on the nose with voters that it may cost Republicans their crown jewel.

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Voters have turned hard against Trump, with the most pronounced swing among Hispanic Americans. In Texas, 40 per cent of the population is Hispanic.

Trump's endorsement of Paxton came after a battle with Cornyn to win the president's approval.

Both candidates campaigned on their devotion and loyalty to Trump, but Paxton won out in the end.

Texas is the biggest Republican-leaning state in the United States. If Democrats can make the state competitive, it will transform the way presidential elections are run.

The midterm election will take place in November.

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NASA has signalled plans to establish a permanent base on the moon and will aim to send astronauts back to the lunar surface before the end of President Donald Trump's administration in 2028.

The space agency released details of a three-phase mission that will eventually build habitable infrastructure on the moon to allow humans to "live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable".

The first uncrewed first moon base mission is scheduled no earlier than September 2026 and forms part of NASA's long-term goal of sending humans to Mars.

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin has been selected to send its Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance landers to deliver the first NASA equipment to the surface.

A $188 million ($A267 million) contract has been awarded to Blue Origin for this mission.

A second mission later this year will deliver nearly 500 kilograms of cargo, including a rover, which will help scientists and engineers on earth build a proper lunar terrain vehicle.

The third mission, also targeted for 2026, will fly the first payload which will assist in global scientific investigations and experiments on the moon.

More than a dozen other missions are planned over the coming years ahead of crewed astronaut visits.

Each mission has been designed to "generate operational data and reduce risk" ahead of crewed Artemis missions on the moon, which NASA hopes will be achieved by 2028.

Before this, a mission known as MoonFall will send four drones to fly hops around the lunar surface to survey potential landing sites for Artemis astronauts.

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"The Moon Base will be America's and humanity's first outpost on another celestial world," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

"Every mission, crewed and uncrewed, will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.

"We will go for the science, for all we stand to gain from an economic and technological perspective, for the innovations that will make life better here on Earth, and to prepare for where we will inevitably go next."

Isaacman thanked Trump for his "leadership" and the bipartisan commitment from congress to achieve NASA's cosmic ambitions.

He said the support will enable NASA to achieve what was once believed to be impossible.

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NASA's lunar missions follows the successful Artemis II mission to the moon, which sent four astronauts into orbit around the moon in April for the first time since 1972.

The agency said it will provide an update on the upcoming Artemis III mission, including which astronauts have been assigned to the flight, on June 9.

Artemis III will see the astronauts launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida aboard the Orion spacecraft on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.

It will test "critical rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial human landing systems" which are needed to send crews to the lunar surface, NASA said.

The US is now in a race against China for a spot on the moon.

China's space program is planning a manned lunar voyage by 2030 and is working on plans for an established base on the moon by 2032.

The country launched three astronauts into space on its Shenzhou-23 vessel on Sunday as part of its lunar ambition.

Parts of New South Wales have been hit by near-record rainfall as a weather system moving across the state is giving Sydney a wet end to the month.

It comes as the SES has warned large parts of the state, including Sydney, to prepare for the risk of flash floods.

Authorities warn rainfall will shift from inland areas to parts of the NSW Mid North Coast, and Hunter Valley regions, and could extend into Greater Sydney and the Illawarra.

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"Daily rainfall totals of 20-40mm are likely, with locally heavy falls of 70-80mm possible with slow-moving thunderstorms," the SES warned in a statement.

Dubbo in the state's Central West had nearly 60mm of rain in just 24 hours to 9am yesterday, with the 59.4mm recorded becoming the equal second-wettest day in May since records began in 1870.

The reason for the wet weather is because a low-pressure system and slow-moving troughs are moving across the state.

"Pools of cold upper-level air cause the atmosphere to become unstable, paving the way for wet and stormy weather," Weatherzone's Anthony Sharwood said.

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The rain is set to get worse as the week wears on, with Sydney set to be in the firing line.

Sydney received around 15mm of rain since 9 am yesterday, and could see around 5mm today, with the city draped in fog this morning.

However, it will cop a drenching to end the week, with 80mm of rain potentially falling on Thursday and Friday.

According to Weatherzone, Sydney will get a slight reprieve over the weekend as rainfall eases, but it could ramp up by early next week.