Vladimir Putin will head to Beijing, hot on the heels of Donald Trump's own tour.

Crown says man raped woman in ‘the cruddy cab of a truck in the middle of nowhere’.

Contaminated alcohol is finding its way onto Australian liquor store shelves in alarming numbers, prompting a dire warning from the grieving father of a Melbourne teenager who was fatally poisoned in Laos.

Around 30 per cent of bottle shops in Australia are now stocking dodgy booze, according to new research by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC)

Forensic testing carried out by NDARC has found bootleg vodka is being sold at licensed retailers in Melbourne, often at a cheaper price point than legitimate brands.

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The bottles, which contained methanol and plastic contaminants, are being sold to "unsuspecting customers", NDARC's Dr Michala Kowalski said.

"People have very little to differentiate between cheap and potentially contaminated products when looking between bottles on a store shelf," Kowalski said.

"Ingestion of methanol at sufficient levels can be toxic and lead to symptoms ranging from vomiting and abdominal pain to blindness, coma and death."

Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, were killed in November 2024 after unknowingly ingesting methanol-laced alcohol while on a backpacking trip in Laos.

Bianca's father, Mark, told 9News he is "disgusted" by NDARC's findings.

Mark had hoped the illicit alcohol trade which killed his daughter and her friend was a problem that wouldn't reach Australian shores. He was wrong.

"[I'm] quite angry really. Angry that bootleg alcohol is being served here in Melbourne," Mark told 9News.

"To think that the methanol is being sold in retail outlets here is disgraceful.

"It's incredibly scary… we have a heavily regulated alcohol system and it needs to remain that way for a reason."

The sheer scale of the illegal alcohol market in Australia is untested.

However, it is believed to be worth at least $767 million annually, the equivalent of 14 million bottles of vodka, according to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Mark said Australians need to exercise extreme caution when buying or consuming alcohol products which seem "too good to be true".

"I would encourage everyone to remain vigilant in what they're doing, when they're buying their alcohol," he added.

"It's absolutely not worth it. Be vigilant, check the bottles, make sure they look legit."

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It isn't just limited to bottle shops either.

Kowalski said illicit alcohol is also being sold in pubs and nightclubs across Australia.

"We have also been told by law enforcement and liquor regulators in several states that these products are increasingly being sold not just in bottle shops but at on-licensed venues like pubs, nightclubs and pubs," she said.

Victoria Police's State Liquor Unit said it is currently investigating 80 licensed venues for production and importation of illicit alcohol.

National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline 1800 250 015

Support for families and friends of individuals experiencing alcohol or drug dependency: Family Drug Support Australia 24/7 Support Line – 1300 368 186

A resurgence of an almost-eradicated, highly contagious disease in the Northern Territory has now spread across three state borders, in what federal Health Minister Mark Butler has described as a "very concerning" development.

The Northern Territory has recorded 133 cases of diphtheria to date, prompting a major push to increase vaccination rates amongst those in the hardest-hit communities.

One person in the Territory has died, although the exact cause of death remains under investigation.

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Western Australia is also facing a growing outbreak in the Kimberley, with 79 people confirmed to have the illness.

Now, it's been confirmed diphtheria has also spread across the South Australian and Queensland borders, with six and five cases recorded in those states respectively.

"This is probably the biggest diphtheria outbreak we've seen – certainly for decades," Butler told ABC National Radio this morning.

"There's no question this is serious."

Butler said "almost all" of the current cases in the NT were Indigenous Australians and the government was working with the Aboriginal-controlled sector to increase vaccination rates in those communities.

For decades, diphtheria was among the leading causes of death in Australian children, killing more than 4000 Australians between 1926 and 1935 alone.

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However, a vaccination drive starting in the 1940s brought it close to eradication by the 1950s.

Two children in New South Wales caught diphtheria in 2022 but the last death was recorded in an unvaccinated adult in 2018.

It's thought that a drop in childhood vaccination rates globally following the COVID-19 pandemic may be contributing to the current resurgence.

Australian children are vaccinated against diphtheria through a series of shots starting at two months old as part of the National Immunisation Program.

But the number of fully vaccinated children has been creeping downwards since 2020, with the number of two-year-olds who are fully vaccinated dropping below the crucial threshold of 90 per cent for the first time in 2024.

Diphtheria is caused by toxins produced by certain strains of Corynebacterium bacteria.

Early symptoms are similar to that of a cold or flu, including a fever and sore throat, but the more severe form of the disease - respiratory diphtheria – causes swelling of the throat and neck which can block the airways and impact breathing.

The bacterial toxin can also damage the heart, kidneys, brain and nerves.

Spread through respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing as well as skin sores, it is highly infectious. 

Head of Immunisation and Health Systems Strengthening at Burnet Institute, Dr Milena Dalton, said the scale of the current outbreak was "deeply concerning".

"This is no longer an isolated outbreak, and it highlights how quickly vaccine-preventable diseases can re-emerge when there are immunity gaps," she said.

"Diphtheria remains rare in Australia because vaccination works. But this outbreak is a reminder that rare does not mean impossible, and that protection needs to be maintained through timely boosters for adolescents and adults.

"Vaccination and boosters remain our best protection… and they are especially urgent in communities where people face barriers to healthcare."

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The brother of a domestic violence victim has decried the response Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave when he was asked if he would order a royal commission into femicide.

Appearing on Hit 100.9FM Hobart yesterday, Albanese was asked if his government would take action on a petition with more than 93,000 signatures calling for the royal commission to be ordered.

He responded by asking "what does a royal commission do besides fund lawyers?"

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"There's calls for a royal commission about everything," he told the radio station.

"They deserve justice. The question is, does the royal commission do that?

"Royal commissions, they're just processes that take time, cost a lot of money, rather than money going into services."

His answer has disappointed Shaun Azzopardi.

Azzopardi's 35-year-old sister Nikkita was bludgeoned to death by her partner Joel Micallef at their Melbourne home in October 2024.

"Life's never the same. You carry on your day-to-day, but it's like a fake life, in the sense, like it's not meant to be this way and there's a lot of things that could have prevented my sister from being killed," he said.

Micallef was found not guilty because of mental impairment in December last year. He was found dead at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in March.

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Azzopardi says he feels let down by the legal system and has signed a growing petition calling for a royal commission into the killing of women and girls.

The petition is calling for an investigation into current laws, systemic failures, police and the legal system, factors of violence, social media and disproportionately higher rates among First Nations women.

According to the latest government data, a woman was killed by an intimate partner every 11 days in the 2024-25 financial year.

The petition's organiser, anti-violence advocate Sherele Moody, said more than 1300 women and girls have been killed since January 1, 2000.

She has tallied up the number of women killed by men and found 77 were killed in 2025 and 105 in 2024.

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Azzopardi said he felt the federal government was not taking the issue of femicide seriously.

"I just think it's blood on their hands," he said. 

"The question should be back to the prime minister, then. How many more lives is it going to take for it to be taken seriously?"

Questioned about the government's stance, a spokesperson for the prime minister said it will "consider anything that is effective to protect women and their children".

"We have ongoing consultation with the sector about the best way to have an impact," the spokesperson said.

But until a royal commission is held, Azzopardi believes women and girls will continue to be killed. 

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A woman has died after being hit by a ute on the side of the M1 Pacific Motorway south of Brisbane, while exchanging details over a minor crash.

The woman had pulled over her white Audi beside the northbound lanes prior to exit 30 at Logan and was returning to her car after speaking with the driver of a black MG station wagon about 3.40pm.

The woman was then struck by a beige Holden Rodeo utility and died.

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Two separate nose-to-tail crashes happened shortly afterwards, forcing the road to be closed until after 8.30pm.

The driver of the ute, an 18-year-old Boronia Heights man, is speaking with police.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has dashcam footage is urged to contact police.

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Japanese police have arrested two American men after a costumed intruder entered the enclosure of viral internet sensation Punch the monkey.

Footage shows a person in a costume of a bright yellow smiling face wearing a suit scaling the fence of the popular enclosure at Ichikawa City Zoo before dropping into the dry moat that borders the exhibit.

The person is then seen putting the headpiece back on before walking around the enclosure, causing the monkeys to scatter and hide.

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Ichikawa Police said that the men were apprehended by zookeepers shortly after the incident unfolded.

One of the men, a 24-year-old university student, was arrested for allegedly climbing the fence and dropping into the exhibit.

Another man who identified himself as a 27-year-old singer was arrested after he allegedly filmed the ordeal.

Ichikawa Police arrested the pair on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business.

The US pair denied the allegations, and no monkeys were injured during the incident.

In a statement posted to X, Ichikawa Zoo apologised for the incident and said "no abnormalities" were observed from the monkeys in the attraction.

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https://x.com/ichikawa_zoo/status/2056298907978657931

"Last night, we filed a damage report with the Ichikawa Police Station."

The zoo just outside of Tokyo became a tourist hotspot earlier this year after videos surfaced of a baby Japanese macaque named Punch.

He went viral when he was spotted hugging a stuffed Orangutan given to him by zookeepers after being rejected by his mother.

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A father charged with the murder of his partner and their two children in a Sydney home last night was the full-time carer for his sons, it's been revealed.

Emergency services were called to what police allege was a "particularly violent scene" in Campbelltown just before 8pm yesterday, where they found the bodies of a 46-year-old woman and two children, aged 12 and four, inside the home.

9News understands he was the father and full-time carer for the two boys, who both had severe learning disabilities and were non-verbal.

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The family moved to Sydney from Bangladesh about 10 years ago, and the mother worked full-time.

Acting Superintendent Michael Moroney told Today this morning that police understood "the deceased and the two children were related" to the 47-year-old man charged over their deaths.

"Whilst I can't give you specific information in regards to how they passed, what I can tell you is all three persons sustained significant injuries, and it was a particularly violent crime scene," he said overnight.

Moroney told Today that the house was "described as a very traumatic scene, a very horrific scene".

A 47-year-old man was arrested at the scene and taken to Campbelltown police station.

This morning, police said the man had been charged with three counts of domestic violence murder.

He was refused bail and appeared in court today. He will return to court in mid-July.

Community rocked

Moroney wouldn't go into details about any weapons being seized, saying only "a number of items" were found inside, but no guns.

He said the bodies "were located in various parts of the premises" and it was believed the 47-year-old man called emergency services.

"I haven't listened to the Triple Zero call," he said.

"Broadly, quite broadly, the information was, an incident happened at that location and he was requesting police to that scene."

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Moroney said the man had no history with police and there were no offenders believed to be outstanding.

There was no indication of mental health issues, but that would form part of the police investigation.

A large police presence remained into the night on the street, where police had established a crime scene.

The home was cordoned off with police tape, and multiple police vehicles with flashing lights were parked up and down the street.

Police could be seen in the front yard of the home.

Neighbours spoke this morning of their shock and horror at the news.

"My heart sunk and being a mum – not even that, just, two young kids, you know what I mean," one woman told 9News.

Campbelltown detectives are investigating with the help State Crime Command's homicide squad.

Police called on anyone with information to come forward.

The gruesome discovery came hours after police announced hundreds of people had been arrested in a statewide operation targeting repeat domestic violence offenders.

"This today appears to be not something that we had on our radar in terms of being known to police, but I can reassure the public that domestic violence is a number one priority for the NSW Police, and we will continue to prioritise DV offenders," Moroney said.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

The US Justice Department has announced the creation of a $US1.77 billion ($2.48 billion fund to compensate President Donald Trump's allies who claim they were unfairly targeted by the previous administration.

It's an unprecedented move that would allow the president's administration to pay his supporters with taxpayer money from a government agency he controls.

There appear to be few constraints on who can submit a claim to the fund.

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The president has broadly stated that his allies were politically targeted by the justice system, from the years-old Russian collusion investigation to the nearly 1600 people charged in connection to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.

Its creation comes as Trump dropped his $US10 billion lawsuit alleging that the Internal Revenue Service failed to protect both the president and the Trump Organisation from an unauthorised leak of their tax returns.

Trump himself will not receive any payments, but will receive a formal apology, the Justice Department said.

The so-called "anti-weaponisation" fund, with its symbolic 1776 figure, is likely to face immediate challenges in court from Democrats and watchdog organisations who say the effort amounts to corruption by allowing the president to enrich allies over what critics say are unfounded claims of political prosecutions by the Biden administration.

Trump said those poised to benefit from the fund were "treated brutally".

"This is reimbursing people that were horribly treated," Trump told reporters at the White House.

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"They're getting reimbursed for their legal fees and the other things that they had to suffer."

"The machinery of government should never be weaponised against any American, and it is this department's intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again," acting Attorney-General Todd Blanche, who was previously a member of Trump's personal defence team, said in a statement.

"As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponisation to be heard and seek redress."

A commission, made up of five members who have not yet been announced, will run the fund, the department said. Trump will have the power to fire any of the members.

The Justice Department said there were "no partisan requirements to file a claim". It will process claims through December 15, 2028 – a month before Trump's second term as president ends.

Mike Lindell, the Trump ally and MyPillow founder, told CNN he expected to be compensated via the fund.

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"MyPillow is the most attacked company in history," Lindell said via text. "My employees that own the company deserve to be made whole!"

In January, Trump, along with his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, sued the IRS and Treasury Department for at least $US10 billion. The lawsuit accuses the IRS of an unauthorised leak of their tax returns from his first presidency.

Trump's lawsuit alleges that the IRS failed to protect confidential tax information and the tax information of the Trump Organisation.

Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor, was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking Trump's tax records, along with the records of thousands of others.

Trump sued the IRS in his capacity as a citizen, not as the president.

A spokesperson for Trump's legal team said in a statement to CNN that the president was "entering into this settlement squarely for the benefit of the American people, and he will continue his fight to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable".

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said creating the fund was "depraved".

"Trump is shaking hands with himself in order to fund his insurrectionist army to the tune of billions," the New York Democrat posted on X.

"Of all the corrupt things he has done, this is one of the most depraved."

"Donald Trump and his compromised Department of Justice have created a slush fund to make pay outs to Trump supporters and cronies," Public Citizen co-presidents Lisa Gilbert and Robert Wessman said in a statement.

"This scheme amounts to the creation of a January 6 payment fund."

Soon after Trump brought the lawsuit earlier this year, the federal judge presiding over the case in Florida, district Judge Kathleen Williams, expressed scepticism that it was the kind of legitimate legal dispute that belonged in her courthouse.

She asked a group of outside lawyers to brief her on the question. They, too, raised concerns about the propriety of a president seeking monetary damages for personal reasons against a government agency within his executive branch.

Minutes after Trump's legal team notified the court he was dropping the case, nearly 100 House Democrats submitted a "friend-of-the-court" brief accusing Trump of "blatant self-dealing".

They wrote that, if Trump sought to voluntarily submit the case to facilitate such a settlement, the court should scrutinise that maneuver under a legal rule that would allow the court to sanction the lawyers involved.

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Judge critical of how case ended

Williams formally agreed to close the case, but criticised the manner in which the controversial litigation came to an end since Trump's lawyers didn't say in court that there was a settlement.

"Because the notice does not reference any settlement or include a stipulation of settlement, there is no settlement of record," the judge wrote.

Furthermore, Williams noted that the Justice Department, which is meant to be independent, did not lay out in court why it felt a deal was necessary.

"Defendants – federal agencies represented by the Department of Justice, which has an independent obligation to uphold the 'public's strong interest in knowing about the conduct of its Government and expenditure of its resources' and the 'fair administration of justice,'– neither submitted any settlement documents nor filed any documents ensuring that settlement was appropriate where there was an outstanding question as to whether an actual case or controversy existed," Williams wrote.

Legal experts had told CNN that, despite the settlement, the judge may be able to still question whether the lawsuit was improperly filed given its unusual nature, but her decision to close the matter ensures those questions will remain unanswered.

Not the first deal

The deal follows several others reached in lawsuits filed by allies of Trump.

In March, the department settled a lawsuit with Michael Flynn. Flynn sued the government for $US50 million, accusing the FBI of trying to entrap him in the first few days of the Trump administration. Flynn was awarded over $US1 million in the settlement.

Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, also settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration in April. Page was suing the Justice Department and FBI over flawed government surveillance he faced due to Russian contacts in 2016.

Some GOP lawmakers hesitant to back fund

Republican Senator Ron Johnson, a close Trump ally and long-time deficit hawk, backed the president's move, though most Republicans avoided weighing in directly.

"I think when the federal government abuses citizens, they owe citizens some compensation. So I'm supportive of it," Johnson told CNN.

But other Republicans were more hesitant to back the fund without any further information.

"I would really have to take a look at it, because I do want to understand the financials behind this. Where is it coming from? Where is it going? We've got to start counting those dollars," said Senator Joni Ernst, also a deficit hawk.

Pressed by Raju on whether she's concerned Trump could be paying his allies without congressional oversight, Ernst responded: "We just need to scrutinise the way it's being presented and what are those dollars going for."

Senator John Hoeven, a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said he also needed more information and suggested the fund would undergo legal scrutiny.

"You know it's going to get reviewed and go to the courts and all that. So, we'll see what happens from there," he said.

Asked by Raju if lawmakers should review the details, Hoeven responded: "I'm guessing we will, but I really think this is the kind of thing that's probably going to end up in litigation, and I think, yeah, the courts will decide it. I would guess we'll take a look at it."

Senator John Kennedy told reporters he liked the concept of the fund, but he said, "I like it less if we got to go borrow the money".

"Who would be eligible to apply, and what's your metrics? I mean, what's the definition of being abused by the federal government? Does it happen? Of course, and I think it's important that we address it, but one thought is that's why God made courts," he added.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who served as a House impeachment manager after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, warned that Trump could use the fund to pay " a lot of violent offenders who attacked this building".

"It's bad enough that he pardoned people involved in the first violent attempt to essentially overthrow a free and fair election, but now he wants to pay them. It's obscene, and it's all the more obscene when you consider that people are struggling right now," he said.

On whether it was an impeachable act, Schiff told Raju that lawmakers would have to decide "what remedies are feasible," adding, "For right now, we all need to be sounding an alarm about this."

"The American people need to know the president doesn't give a rat's a— about them and their problems. He wants to pay off his cronies. He wants to use their money to do it, and I think it's just awful," he said.

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One of the planet's largest glaciers is about to break apart, and it could have serious repercussions in Australia and abroad.

Thwaites glacier in Antarctica, sometimes nicknamed the "doomsday glacier", is about 120km wide and covers nearly the same area as Great Britain.

Now the massive floating ice shelf that stabilises the glacier is starting to detach.

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Satellite images show signs that the Thwaites ice shelf, a 45km wide body of sea ice that floats just off the glacier, is breaking away.

Massive fractures are now visible around the spot where it connects with the sea floor and meets the glacier.

The ice shelf is also moving a lot faster, another sign that it's about to tear free.

"Suddenly, large areas are just falling to pieces," Christian Wild at the University of Innsbruck in Austria told NewScientist.com.

"It looks like a windscreen that's shattering."

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The British Antarctic Survey predicts the ice shelf's "final demise could happen suddenly" and has even prepared an 'obituary' press release for it.

Though it's impossible to predict exactly when the ice shelf will rip away from the Thwaites glacier, scientists expect the impact of it detachment will be significant.

It could even open the door to the glacier itself collapsing.

Without the ice shelf to buttress it, the Thwaites glacier is predicted to start moving and shrinking at a rapid rate.

It's been shrinking for years and is currently responsible for about 4 per cent of all global sea-level rise.

That number is predicted to spike when the Thwaites ice shelf detaches.

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It could rise to catastrophic levels if the glacier itself collapses, which scientists say could happen suddenly and without warning.

If or when the Thwaites glacier collapses, it's expected to set off a domino effect across the West Antarctic ice sheet that could result in sea levels rising by more than 3m.

That would change coastlines across the globe and may put some of Australia's most iconic beaches underwater.

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