Three Australian states have broken May heat records, with one capital city smashing a 144-year-old record.

The Tasmanian capital of Hobart recorded its hottest ever May day yesterday, exceeding the previous record of 25.7 degrees, Weatherzone reports.

The city hit 26.9 degrees just after 3pm, more than 12 degrees above its average May maximum of 14.6 degrees.

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Warm north-westerly winds contributed to other May records.

At least 20 weather stations in Victoria registered heat records on the same day.

This includes Avalon in Melbourne's western outskirts, which recorded 29.3 degrees at 1.02pm, exceeding the old record of 28 degrees.

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The city of Warrnambool in the state's south-west reached 28.3 degrees at 1.23pm.

May heat records were also broken in NSW.

Deniliquin in the western Riverina region hit 28.5 degrees yesterday, nudging just above the old record of 28.0 degrees.

Hay also exceeded its May record, hitting 29.2 degrees, beating the old record of 29.1 by a whisker.

Ivanhoe hit 29.5 degrees, beating the old record of 29.1 degrees.

Temperatures set to dip

A low pressure system is set to bring rain, gusty winds and thunderstorms to parts of Australia until at least the middle of next week.

A cold front is set to slowly cross into Victoria late today and into tomorrow.

The low pressure system is then expected to move over Bass Strait or southern Victoria on Monday, with a cool south-westerly airstream in its wake, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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A cold front and associated trough will also move into NSW.

The system is set to cross the state between tomorrow and early next week, bringing unsettled weather to southern inland parts of the state.

Residents in the ACT can expect mostly cloudy days with the chance of a shower next week.

Isolated coastal showers will continue in Queensland at least Tuesday as a high pressure system extends over the state from a slow moving high near New Zealand.

South Australian residents can expect a cold front in multiple parts of the state, with isolated showers expected for the west coast district and southern agricultural area.

There will be showers over southern parts of Western Australia until at least Tuesday, along with the chance of a thunderstorm over the western Pilbara tomorrow.

A trough which has moved into the Northern Territory's south-west is expected to reach the Simpson District by this evening.

Off the back of warmer temperatures, showers are expected to fall in many parts of Tasmania until at least Tuesday.

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Emergency services were notified of the emergency at 12:40 today

About 176 people from the flotilla disembarked at a port on Crete.

Two Class A drugs sit at the bottom of the scale for causing individual acute harm.

Jade Bennett and partner Danny Lama put their safety at risk in a dash to save the man.

A US court has prohibited sending a common drug through the mail, in a move that will dramatically reduce access to abortion across the country.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued a sweeping national ban on mailing prescriptions of mifepristone.

The drug, formerly known as RU486, is the most common method of terminating a pregnancy in the USA, as well as in Australia.

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It is taken along with misoprostol as part of a medical termination of a pregnancy.

After the US Supreme Court struck down a constitutional right to an abortion in 2022, seeking a mifepristone prescription across state lines has become common.

Women in states where abortion is illegal would access the pills via a telehealth appointment across state lines.

About a quarter of abortions in the US are made after such a telehealth appointment.

But the ruling by the appeals court would mean pregnant women would need to receive the pills in person.

Abortion is illegal with limited exceptions in much of the US, especially in the southeast of the country.

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Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren described the ruling as being done by "a conservative court packed with Trump-appointed judges".

"This is a page straight out of extremist Republicans' anti-abortion playbook," she said.

"Let me be clear: the abortion pill is safe and effective."

The ruling was made by a three-judge panel, all appointed to the court by Republicans.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray said the judges' decision was "infuriating and infantilising".

"A patient in rural Washington who was going to receive her medication by mail, now has to find a clinic, take time off work, arrange childcare, and travel – sometimes hours – for a pill she could have safely taken at home," Murray said.

"A woman managing a miscarriage will be forced to make that same trip in the middle of one of the worst weeks of her life."

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Meanwhile, Republican Senator James Lankford celebrated the decision.

"The Biden administration endangered the lives of women and girls by removing safeguards for mifepristone," he said.

"Today's Fifth Circuit decision takes a big step to right this wrong. Let's make sure women and girls are protected from this dangerous drug."

Louisiana Attorney-General Liz Murrill described the ruling as a "victory for life".

"The Biden abortion cartel facilitated the deaths of thousands of Louisiana babies (and millions in other states) through illegal mail-order abortion pills," she said. 

"Today, that nightmare is over."

While the ruling was made in Louisiana, it applies nationwide.

It is likely to be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

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US President Donald Trump has accused a member of Congress and frequent critic of his of marrying her own brother.

In a speech given in Florida, Trump repeated a long-disproven myth about Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar.

"I believe she married her brother, which is totally illegal," Trump said.

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"Although, it's a lovely couple, actually, but it's a little bit on the illegal side."

Trump then pretended to be speaking as the couple.

"'Darling, I love you very much.' 'Goodnight, brother. Let's go to bed'," he said.

"Isn't she despicable."

Omar has denied the rumour of her marrying her brother since it began circulating on the internet in 2016.

The rumours appeared to accuse Omar's then-husband of being related to her, which was not true.

She did not mince her words when responding to Trump's comments today.

"This unhinged rant would solicit anger if it wasn't coming from a criminal, who has 34 felony convictions, held accountable for rape and accused of being a pedo," she wrote on X.

"I still don't know how anyone would willingly humiliate themselves like this but here we are. 

"(By the way), the pedophile protection party should find new material for their deflection."

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Omar has represented Minneapolis in Congress since 2019.

As one of the most progressive politicians in Washington, she has frequently been the focus of Trump's ire.

"She comes here from Somalia and she tells us how to run the United States of America," he said.

"She says 'the constitution gives me certain rights and I demand I be given those rights'."

"Get the hell out. What a phony."

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Omar was born in Somalia before moving to a refugee camp in Kenya as a child. 

They arrived in the US in 1995 when she was 12 or 13. Five years later she became a US citizen.

When Omar was allegedly assaulted at an event in January, Trump said she probably set it up herself.

Omar was sprayed with a foul-smelling brown substance while speaking in Minneapolis.

"She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her," Trump said the next day.

In the same speech Trump said it was "treasonous" to suggest the US was not winning the war with Iran.

"We get the radical left to say, 'We're not winning, we're not winning.' They don't have any military left. It's unbelievable," the president said.

"It's actually, it's actually, I believe it's treasonous, okay. You want to know the truth – it's treasonous."

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The United States will withdraw about 5000 troops from Germany in the next six to 12 months, the Pentagon said, fulfilling President Donald Trump's threat as he clashes with the German leader over the US war with Iran.

Trump had threatened to withdraw some troops from the NATO ally earlier this week after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticised Washington’s lack of strategy in the war.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the “decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theatre requirements and conditions on the ground.”

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Germany hosts several US military facilities, including the headquarters of its European and Africa commands, Ramstein Air Base and a medical center in Landstuhl, where casualties from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were treated. US nuclear missiles are also stationed in the country.

The number of troops leaving Germany would be 14 per cent of the 36,000 American service members stationed there.

Nico Lange from the Center of European Policy Analysis told The Associated Press earlier this week that they primarily serve US interests, including “the projection of American power globally,” rather than helping with the defence of Germany.

Trump ignored questions from reporters about the withdrawal on Friday as he boarded Air Force One in Ocala, Florida, following a rally to tout his economic agenda.

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Trump made a similar threat in his first term, saying he would pull about 9500 of the roughly 34,500 US troops who were then stationed in Germany, but he didn’t start the process and Democratic President Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021.

The mercurial US leader has mused for years about reducing the American military presence in Germany, and has railed against NATO for its refusal to assist Washington in the war, which began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Trump wrote Wednesday on social media that the U.S. was reviewing possible troop reductions in Germany, with a “determination” to be made soon. On Thursday, he was still thinking about Merz, posting that the German leader should “spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country” than concerning himself with Iran.

American allies in NATO have braced for a US troop withdrawal since Trump took office, with Washington warning that Europe would have to look after its own security, including that of Ukraine, in the future.

Depending on operations, exercises and troop rotations, around 80,000-100,000 U.S. personnel are usually stationed in Europe. NATO allies have expected for more than a year that the US troops deployed after Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in February 2022 would be first to leave.

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Ed Arnold, an expert in European security at the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, in London, said Europe is more concerned about issues like a US redeployment of Patriot missile systems and ammunition from Germany to the Middle East.

In October, the U.S. confirmed that it would reduce its troop presence on NATO’s borders with Ukraine. The move to cut 1500-3000 troops came on short notice and unsettled NATO ally Romania, where the military organisation runs an air base.

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Australians are set to be hit by major tax changes, including losing access to a popular concession, in this year's federal budget, which is shaping up to be one of the most significant in decades. 

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has pledged to deliver an "ambitious" set of national accounts on May 12 in the face of global conflict and rising inflation, while also saying the economy is being held "hostage" by the war in Iran.

The budget is set to contain three central packages — tax reform, spending savings, and productivity and investment — that are set to address the intergenerational inequity issues younger people are facing.

Here is what you can expect when Chalmers delivers his budget later this month.

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Tax reform 

The government has been dancing around exactly what tax reform it will hand down, but two of the measures that are at least on the table are changes to the $22 billion-a-year capital gains tax (CGT) discount and negative gearing.

Critics have blamed the combination of the policies for contributing to the housing crisis, with a Greens-led Senate inquiry earlier this year finding the CGT discount is flawed and benefits investors over first-home buyers.

An Oxfam report earlier this year found nearly half the beneficiaries of the CGT discount were 24,000 of Australia's richest people.

The specific reforms, including whether grandfathering provisions will be included for investors who are using the discount and negative gearing, are still a bit of a mystery.

The government hasn't confirmed the changes, but has repeatedly failed to rule them out when given the chance, with Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese instead saying the budget will tackle intergenerational unfairness in the tax system and housing market.

"What we are determined to see is a fairer economy that works for more people, including for younger people," Chalmers said this week.

If reformed, it would be the first time the CGT discount is rolled back since the Howard government raised it to 50 per cent in 1999 and the first time negative gearing is changed since it was temporarily limited by the Hawke/Keating government in 1987. 

In his pre-budget speech in March, Chalmers said the tax reform package would also make the system simpler and sustainable and drive business investment but only "if we can afford to". 

"How much of that we can do in May depends a bit on fiscal considerations, international developments, and also, of course, cabinet deliberations," he said at the time.

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NDIS cuts 

Health Minister Mark Butler announced $15 billion would be cut from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) over the next four years to clamp down on ballooning costs and prevent it from becoming "an ATM for shonks, grifters, fraudsters and crooks".

Changes include tighter criteria, standardised and evidence-based assessments, fraud prevention and reduced spending on social and community participation per participant and daily activities.

Initial modelling shows the changes will reduce the number of people on the NDIS from 760,000 to 600,000 by the end of the decade. 

"It costs too much and is growing too fast," Butler said in April.

"We can't afford for the NDIS to continue growing at its current rate."

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Defence boost

Defence will receive an additional $53 billion over the next decade, increasing spending to 3 per cent of Australia's GDP by 2033 under the NATO methodology.

US President Donald Trump has been pressuring Australia and NATO countries to raise their defence spending, complaining that the US does a lot of the heavy lifting.

The funding boost, announced last month by Defence Minister Richard Marles, was partly paid for by the sale of military land and will deliver greater warfare capabilities, systems and communications.

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Cheaper fuel

The federal government halved the fuel excise and removed the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge from April 1 to June 30 to provide some relief for motorists facing soaring fuel costs, which will be funded in the budget.

The measure was estimated to reduce fuel costs by 26.3 cents per litre and almost $19 on a 65-litre tank.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is monitoring fuel prices across the country to ensure the cost savings are being passed on.

More announcements 

• $1000 instant receipt-free tax deduction for work-related expenses for about 6.2 million workers.
• Reducing the private health insurance rebate for those over 65 to the same level as everyone else.
• New Payday Super rules mandating employers pay superannuation at the same time as salary and wage payments will come into effect from July 1.

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Residents of a popular seaside town in Victoria are bracing for an uphill battle to block a McDonald's store from opening on the same street as a primary school.

Members of Phillip Island's tight-knit community have banded together to fight the fast food giant from being approved for development just few hundred metres from a primary school in the township of Cowes.

McDonald's has submitted plans to Bass Coast Shire Council to build a restaurant on 194 Settlement Road in Cowes, which has a population of around 6500 people but often balloons in size due to tourist numbers.

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