Shock jock Kyle Sandilands has told reporters "don't believe the bullshit" as his high-stakes court case continues to unfold.

Reporters asked the radio host for his response to claims his former co-star Jackie O did not want to be in the same courtroom as him.

"They say they don't want to be in the same courtroom, that's their legal strategy, we have a different strategy," Sandilands said outside of the Federal Court in Sydney today.

"Just don't believe the bullshit that you hear and read, just wait to see what comes out in court."

READ MORE: Abbie Chatfield to guest host KIIS FM's breakfast show amid Kyle and Jackie O's court battle

Sandilands is likely to admit a raft of explicit and offensive statements towards his co-host in the court case.

But the notorious radio host will argue former employer ARN was well aware of his personality and made that behaviour a condition of his contract, his lawyer said today.

Both Sandilands and Jackie "O" Henderson are suing ARN following an on-air spat that blew up their top-rated show.

The cases were heard together in the court today but no reunion between the star pair took place.

Sandilands' barrister Scott Robertson SC argued the radio host's contract was unfairly terminated because he had a "special immunity" to outrageous conduct.

"Particular kinds of conduct … might be considered serious misconduct under workplace law but not when you consider the contract," Robertson said.

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"If you buy Kyle, you get Kyle."

Robertson said headline-drawing outbursts were "contractually desired" by ARN and clips of arguments between the pair were monetised through posting on social media.

Sandilands allegedly said some of Henderson's comments were "weird, psychological bullshit", and her belief in "hype words" was negatively impacting her dating life.

He allegedly made offensive comments to her in September 2025 that prompted her to raise a complaint with station staff.

"Don't f—ing bother coming back either until you get your f—ing shit together like a normal person," Sandilands allegedly told Henderson off-air.

"I've been carrying this whole show for f—ing a year."

The pair are both seeking the full payout of the remainder of their 10-year, $100 million contracts signed at the end of 2023.

READ MORE: US soldier arrested over $573,000 bet on capture of Venezuelan president

Media scrum at court

Arriving in a black Rolls-Royce worth around $1 million, Sandilands told waiting reporters that his case hearing was "just a procedural day" and would offer "no fun".

When asked if he had spoken to his co-host Jackie "O", whose own separate lawsuit against ARN is due to be heard in the Federal Court today as well, Kyle said he did not expect her to appear.

Sandilands said his message for ARN was simple: "Put me back on the radio".

"Let's get the share price back up."

He was then asked about ARN's counter-claim, which detailed a number of alleged breaches by him.

"There's strategy and then there's real and not real… I'm just happy to get in court and get the truth out," he said.

"I'm not really nervous. It's pretty ugly now.

"Once we get inside and we get all the answers out, the truth will raise its head."

But ARN, the parent company of KIIS FM, claimed in court the controversial pair cost the company key advertising revenue through their sacking.

"There is no pleaded allegation … that anyone is suffering any loss by not being on the radio," ARN barrister Tom Blackburn SC said.

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In its defence to Sandilands' lawsuit over his sacking, ARN told the court Henderson sent the station a letter in February claiming her co-host had engaged in "persistent and relentless bullying".

Henderson alleged in court documents she complained to station management multiple times about comments by Sandilands over about six months.

Her lawyer Vanja Bulut said evidence was expected to be called detailing the damage to Henderson's health and wellbeing as a result of the sacking.

Henderson's agent Gemma O'Neill was in court today.

But Sandilands' suit claims he did not deserve to have his contract torn up because he had not committed serious misconduct.

The highly public bust-up moved into the legal arena after an exchange between the star pair in February, when Sandilands accused his co-host of being "off with the fairies".

The on-air comments prompted Henderson to say she could no longer work with her contentious colleague.

As Sandilands left the court, he told reporters "the only thing I wanted today, it's more of a procedural day, was to get this case started quickly".

As the radio host and members of the media walked down the court stairs, a person appeared to trip.

"Enough of the walking and falling over," Sandilands said.

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The upcoming visit by King Charles III to the United States and a meeting with President Donald Trump is shaping as the most important overseas trip of his reign.

There are high hopes on both sides of the Atlantic, the royal visit next week will rebuild the "special relationship" between the US and Britain which has sunk to its lowest level for 70 years over disagreements about the Iran war.

Staunch royalist Trump thinks so telling the BBC overnight the King's visit could "absolutely" help repair Washington-London relations, before offering gushing praise about Charles.

READ MORE: Trump, Kennedy double down on their impossible mathematics claims

"I know him well, I've known him for years," he said. "He's a brave man, and he's a great man. They would absolutely be a positive."

King Charles and Queen Camilla will travel to the US for a four-day visit starting next Monday to mark the ‌250th anniversary of the US declaration of independence from British rule.

The monarch will hold a private meeting with the president and also deliver an address to Congress.

But one expert cautions against expectations the King will be engaging in one-to-one diplomacy with Trump to ease tensions over what the president says has been a lack of support from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Middle East.

"We should be aware this visit has been in the planning for months, and comes after Trump's state visit to the UK," said Sydney University cultural historian Cindy McCreery.

READ MORE: Royals family remember Queen Elizabeth II on what would have been her 100th birthday

The biggest impact of the royal visit on easing recent US-UK tensions will probably be in the public image projecting decades of close economic, military and security links between the two nations, she says.

For Trump, it will offer another opportunity to indulge his love of the royal family and their representation of traditional social authority.

In a video shared on X by the US Department of State today, Trump said: "I look forward to having King Charles come. He's a friend of mine. We've spoken and we're going to have a great time."

Some commentators have recalled comparisons with the White House visit by the King's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, seven decades ago, at a moment of plummeting Anglo-American relations.

READ MORE: Network accused Sandilands of foul-mouthed rant ahead of court showdown

She was received by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1957 during the aftermath of the seizure of the Suez Canal by British and French troops. When the US failed to support the takeover, it sparked a humiliating climbdown by the UK, and was regarded as a key moment when Britain lost world power status..

The then young Queen Elizabeth II was credited with restoring UK relations with the Eisenhower administration through 'soft diplomacy'.

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Employers are cracking down on white-collar cocaine use after detections of the illicit substance almost doubled in Australian workplaces this year.

Positive workplace tests for the illegal party drug were up 45 per cent in the quarter ending March 31, according to the country's largest drug testing agency.

The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA) chief executive Glenn Dobson warned that cocaine detection is no longer slowing down outside of typical holiday periods and is becoming a "sustained" problem in office environments.

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"We did see a holiday spike followed by a partial correction, but cocaine detections have not returned to previous baseline levels," Dobson said.

"Year-over-year, detections are up across almost every state, which may point to a steady and increasingly entrenched supply network."

Cocaine use has climbed in every state except Western Australia, according to tests compiled by TDDA between January 1 and March 31.

The data has been taken from pre-employment, post-incident, regular and random testing in Australian workplaces.

Detections of the drug were highest in South Australian workers, with an 128.2 per cent year-on-year increase, followed by Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

The use of amphetamine-type substances (ATS), including methamphetamine, is also up by 28.3 per cent.

The TDDA has urged employers to ramp up efforts to tackle drug use as a "priority" in light of the alarming statistics.

Dobson told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) that he is seeing "more testing in white-collar environments".

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"If a testing programme is not yet in place, or has not been reviewed for some time, addressing this should be a priority," Dobson added.

"Employers are encouraged to strengthen measures specifically addressing those substances.

"Implementing a targeted testing programme including pre-employment, regular and random testing is one of the most effective tools for early warning and intervention."

Dobson said cocaine detection can be prevalent among high-performing staff in leadership roles.

He described it as a "risk" to everyone in the workplace.

"Cocaine does not announce itself the way some other substances do," Dobson said.

"Employees using cocaine may present as confident and high-performing, even as their judgement, concentration and impulse control are compromised.

"In workplaces where people operate heavy machinery, drive vehicles, or carry out safety-sensitive tasks, that is not just a risk to the individual. It is a risk to everyone around them.

"By the time the problem becomes visible, it may have already been present for some time."

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

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Exclusive: As the cost-of-living crisis forces small Australian businesses to close physical stores, one unlikely niche seems to be thriving: romance book stores.

It's because they offer something online shopping "could never compete with".

Once considered taboo, romance is now one of the biggest fiction genres in Australia and accounts for tens of millions of dollars in book sales every year.

READ MORE: A 'super El Niño' looks likely for Australia, but it's impact remains uncertain

Online book communities and successful book-to-film and -TV adaptations, like Bridgerton and Heated Rivalry, have only made it more mainstream.

But most Aussie readers aren't satisfied with e-books and buying novels online.

More than 75 per cent prefer physical books according to Monash University research, and they're willing to pay a premium for them.

It's all great news for Scarlett Hopper.

She opened Romancing The Novel in Paddington, Sydney less than two years ago and business has been booming.

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It's been so successful that while other retailers are struggling to keep the lights on in one store, Hopper is opening a second location in New Farm, Brisbane this August.

"It's a testament to romance because people used to shame it, they would knock it," Hopper told nine.com.au.

"And they still do, don't get me wrong.

"But clearly something is really working because it's a billion dollar [global] industry."

Have you got a story? Contact reporter Maddison Leach at our breaking newsletter here

A teenager who killed a Queensland grandmother and triggered landmark youth justice laws has lost an appeal over his 16-year sentence.

The boy was 16 years old when he fatally stabbed Vyleen White in a carjacking outside a shopping centre west of Brisbane in February 2024, sparking state-wide outrage.

The crime was the catalyst for controversial "adult crime, adult time" laws, ensuring juveniles face at least 20 years in custody for serious offences like murder.

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However, they were not retroactive, and the boy was sentenced under the state's previous laws, receiving a 16-year jail term.

The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appealed, claiming his jail term was excessive for a non-premeditated murder and that the sentencing judge had made an error.

The boy received the highest sentence ever handed down in Queensland to a 16-year-old for a single stable murder, defence barrister Matthew Hynes told the Court of Appeal justices in March.

"This is a case where there is a single stab with fleeting attention," he said.

However, the court dismissed the appeal, rejecting the arguments.

An advocate said outside court in March that the boy's appeal was an insult to White's traumatised family and there would be community outrage if the original sentence was not upheld.

"A precedent needed to be set and this was the right precedent to be set," Victims 1st ambassador Lyndy Atkinson said.

The teen pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced in November 2025.

He is likely to be released from custody in late 2033, about the time of his 26th birthday, after 60 per cent of his sentence is completed with time already served.

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Donald Trump and his Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr have doubled down on their mathematically incorrect claims about how percentages work.

The US president has repeatedly claimed his policies would reduce prescription drug prices by as much as 600 per cent.

Such a claim is mathematically impossible.

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But speaking in the Oval Office, Kennedy explained how Trump's maths worked.

"(A Democratic senator claimed) it's mathematically impossible to have a drug drop by 600 per cent," he said.

"I said, 'Well, if the drug was $100 and it raises to $600, that would be a 600 per cent rise. If it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600 per cent savings.'"

Trump added: "Right."

Both Trump and Kennedy are wrong. 100 per cent represents the whole of something. It is impossible to reduce anything beyond 100 per cent of itself.

The senator Kennedy was referencing was Elizabeth Warren, who grilled him at a committee hearing yesterday.

READ MORE: Trump's bid to secure power for his party just backfired big time

She criticised Trump's bad maths on the topic of drug prices.

"Which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs," Warren said.

Kennedy defended Trump's maths at the hearing.

"President Trump has a different way of calculating," he said.

"There's two ways of calculating percentages."

READ MORE: CEO of Trump's media company ousted after losing billions

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A special forces soldier involved in the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been charged after he allegedly made a bet on the operation ahead of time.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke allegedly placed $46,000 worth of wagers on Polymarket betting that Maduro would be out of office by January 31.

When Maduro was captured by US troops on a raid on January 3, Van Dyke allegedly made $573,000.

READ MORE: Politicians fined for placing bets on themselves

While the details of his involvement in the operation are not known, he was pictured holding a rifle on the warship where Maduro was taken after his capture.

The 38-year-old has been charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud and a count of an unlawful monetary transaction.

Combined, the counts could result in 60 years behind bars.

"Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible, and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

"Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply."

Van Dyke will appear in court today.

READ MORE: Trump's Secretary of the Navy abruptly leaving the Pentagon

"Gannon Ken Van Dyke allegedly betrayed his fellow soldiers by utilising classified information for his own financial gain," FBI assistant director in charge James C Barnacle Jr said.

"Van Dyke profited more than $400,000 by trading various outcomes related to Venezuela after learning of the operation because of his role as a US Army soldier."

After his successful bets, Van Dyke allegedly transferred the winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency vault, then a brokerage account.

He then allegedly asked Polymarket to delete his account, claiming he had lost access to his email address.

In a statement, Polymarket said they had referred the suspicious behaviour to the Department of Justice.

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"When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ and cooperated with their investigation," the statement said.

"Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is proof the system works."

Apparent insider trading on prediction markets has been rife in recent months.

On Polymarket, 150 accounts bet more than a million dollars that the US would strike Iran the next day.

As predicted, the war with Iran began the next day.

Meanwhile, betting app Kalshi has refused to pay out $77 million in winnings to punters who bet Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be out of office by March 1.

Khamenei was killed by a US and Israeli bombing strike hours before the deadline was reached.

But those bets pale in comparison to the profits made on the stock and commodities markets in recent months.

A series of trades worth $800 million was made minutes before a Truth Social post from Donald Trump sent markets swinging.

READ MORE: CEO of Trump's Truth Social media company ousted after losing billions

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A "super El Niño" gathering strength in the tropical Pacific Ocean raises the likelihood of warmer and drier weather for large parts of Australia in coming months.

El Niño — the climate condition when seas are unusually warm — can upturn usual weather patterns in winter and spring.

This year's El Niño could become one of the most powerful on record, with forecasters predicting it could reach a "super" level, reports Weatherzone.

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What's driving the meteorological phenomenon is a huge slab of warm water sitting up to 250 metres below the central equatorial Pacific Ocean.

"These above-average sub-surface temperatures have strengthened in the last couple of months, with anomalies exceeding 6 degrees in some areas," Weatherzone said.

"It's possible that these warm sub-surface waters will upwell towards the surface in the coming weeks and months, which could kick off El Niño."

The possibility of El Niño developing is also backed by consensus in global weather forecast modelling.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Centre's latest forecast shows there is a 25 per cent chance of a very strong El Niño in the latter half of this year.

READ MORE: Why it's unseasonably warm in southern parts of Australia at the moment

What will happen in Australia?

While El Niño can happen without any major weather changes, it makes some conditions more likely in winter and spring.

Records over the past decade show huge parts of eastern Australia usually experience less rainfall and higher-than-average seasonal temperatures outside tropical regions during El Niño.

Mornings in winter and spring can be unusually cool due to clearer skies.

Spikes in temperature also bring greater evaporation, and together with lower rainfall, raises the risk of drought in some parts.

Lower snow depths in alpine regions also raises the chance of a shorter ski season.

But meteorologists at Weatherzone say even with a stronger El Niño, these conditions in coming months are far from certain.

"It is important to point out that stronger events do not always mean bigger weather impacts and even a weak El Niño can cause significant weather and climate impacts in Australia."

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Microsoft has announced its largest-ever technology investment in Australia, with chief executive Satya Nadella committing $25 billion to expand AI infrastructure, strengthen national cybersecurity and train three million Australians with AI skills by 2028.

Nadella made the announcement during a visit to Sydney, where he met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and toured Australian businesses already putting artificial intelligence to work.

In an exclusive interview with 9News, Nadella said Australia's readiness for AI had impressed him.

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"There's no sort of time lag between what may be happening on the west coast of the United States or the east coast of China and what's happening in Australia," he said.

The $25 billion commitment covers capital and operational expenditure to expand Azure AI supercomputing and cloud infrastructure across Australia by the end of 2029.

The investment is backed by a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian government.

READ MORE: Network accused Sandilands of foul-mouthed rant ahead of court showdown

On the question many Australians are asking, whether AI will cost them their jobs, Nadella was direct.

"The state of AI, and quite frankly even for the foreseeable future, is more about what I'll call task level automation inside of jobs," he said.

He pointed to a conversation with an Australian start-up building a medical scribe tool as an example.

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"One of the things he was describing to me was how much it's benefiting the physicians by reducing their paperwork burden and helping them spend more time with patients."

Microsoft will also expand its cybersecurity partnership with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), with the Microsoft-ASD Cyber Shield program set to cover additional federal agencies.

Since launching in 2023, the program has secured more than 38,000 government accounts and identified 35 previously unknown vulnerabilities.

On skills, Microsoft has committed to training three million Australians with AI-ready workforce skills by 2028 — tripling its previous goal of one million people across Australia and New Zealand, which was achieved ahead of schedule.

A new program, Microsoft Elevate for Educators, launches today to help teachers build confidence using AI in classrooms.

Asked whether Australia could become an AI powerhouse, Nadella said the technology would amplify what the country already does well.

"AI is more an accelerant to the comparative advantage of countries and companies that already have that going," he said.

"Australia today is a powerhouse on many fronts, and those fronts will get more amplified because of their use of AI."

Microsoft also becomes a founding industry partner of the Australian AI Safety Institute under the announcement.

An $US81 billion ($113.5 billion) Warner-Paramount mega merger has received shareholders' stamp of approval, propelling a deal that could vastly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape closer to the finish line.

Per a preliminary vote count on Thursday (early Friday AEST), the overwhelming majority of Warner Bros Discovery shareholders voted in support of selling the entire business to Paramount for $US31 ($43) a share, the company said. Including debt, the deal is valued at nearly $US111 billion ($155.6 billion).

Skydance-owned Paramount wants to buy all of Warner. That means HBO Max, cult-favourite titles like Harry Potter and even CNN could soon find themselves under the same roof with CBS, Top Gun and the Paramount+ streaming service. A green light from company shareholders increases the likelihood of that becoming a reality.

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David Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros Discovery, said in a statement that stockholder approval marks "another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction". Paramount added that it looks forward to closing in the coming months, and "realising the creation of a next-generation media and entertainment company".

It's not a done deal quite yet. The acquisition still faces ongoing regulatory reviews. Many critics have sounded the alarm on further consolidation in an industry already controlled by just a few major players, and are calling for the merger to get blocked — if not from the Trump administration, which seems unlikely, perhaps at the state level in the US or through other court fights.

Meanwhile, Warner shareholders rejected a separate measure Thursday that outlined post-merger payments for company executives.

The takeover fight

Paramount's quest for Warner has been far from smooth sailing. And Warner leadership wasn't always eager to enter this particular marriage.

Late last year, Warner rebuffed Paramount's overtures to instead strike a $US72 billion ($100.9 billion) studio and streaming deal with Netflix. Paramount, meanwhile, went directly to shareholders with a hostile bid to take over the whole company, including the cable business that Netflix did not want. All three companies spent months fighting publicly over who had the better offer on the table. Warner's board repeatedly backed Netflix's bid. But eventually, Paramount offered more money and Netflix abruptly bowed out of the race rather than prolonging the fight.

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That corporate drama may now be over, but the implications remain. Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have voiced "unequivocal opposition" to the deal, in a letter arguing that further consolidation will lead to job losses and fewer choices for filmmakers and movie goers.

Jane Fonda's Committee for the First Amendment called Warner shareholders' vote to advance the merger a "serious setback" on Thursday — but maintained the fight wasn't over.

"A handful of powerful decision-makers should not be allowed to quietly reshape American media, culture, and creative life without accountability," the advocacy group said in a statement, while pointing to other efforts to challenge consolidation.

Some have called on states, rather than the federal government, to fight the deal. California Attorney-General Rob Bonta has been particularly vocal about the transaction, and said his state is investigating it.

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"State attorneys-general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on social media Thursday.

What would come under the same roof

The merger would bring together two of Hollywood's remaining five legacy studios. It would also join two major streaming platforms — Paramount+ and HBO Max — and two big names in America's TV news landscape — CBS and CNN — as well as a heap of other brands and entertainment networks.

Company executives argue this will be good news for consumers, who they say will have access to bigger content libraries, particularly if HBO Max and Paramount+ become one streaming service. And Paramount chief executive David Ellison has tried to assure filmmakers with a 45-day theatrical window guarantee and goal to release 30 movies a year between Paramount and Warner, which he's said will remain stand-alone operations under a combined company.

"I love cinema and I love film," Ellison said at CinemaCon last week.

"You can count on our complete commitment."

But the new owner will also be looking to cut costs. Regulatory filings have already indicated that would include layoffs and downsizing some overlapping operations. And critics are sceptical about consumer benefits — warning of higher prices that could arise when it comes to streaming, and potentially less diversity in content down the road.

Then there's the news. Since coming under Skydance ownership less than one year ago, Paramount-owned CBS has already seen significant editorial shifts, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief. If the Warner takeover goes through, many are expecting similar changes at CNN, which has long attracted ire from President Donald Trump.

Political implications

Other questions of political influence have piled up. The Justice Department and company leadership have maintained that politics will not play a role in the regulatory process — but Trump himself has publicly waded into Warner's future at times, despite backpedalling on what he once suggested his personal role would be. Trump also has a close relationship with the Ellison family, particularly billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is putting billions of dollars on the table to back the bid for his son's company.

Support for Paramount's proposed buyout has fallen largely along party lines in Washington. Democratic senators held a "spotlight" hearing on the merger last week, and have been more outspoken about antitrust concerns spanning from a Paramount-Warner combo. In contrast, lawmakers from both sides questioned Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos and Warner's chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell in February, calling on regulators to heavily scrutinise that deal.

Meanwhile, Paramount has secured money from several sovereign investment funds — including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, as well as funds from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, per regulatory filings. But such investors will not have voting rights in a future Paramount-Warner combo, the filings noted. Paramount has not publicly specified how much they're contributing.

Other countries, including European regulators, are looking at the deal — and again, states could try to challenge it, too.

Shares of Paramount fell nearly 6 per cent on after Thursday's vote, and Warner Bros slipped as well.

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