Key Points
- Ben Roberts Smith loses appeal over defamation ruling
- UN will not support US-backed Gaza aid operation
- Aussie cyclists crash out, win in chaotic Giro D'Italia stage
Former Special Forces solider Ben Roberts-Smith has lost his appeal against a defamation judgement.
Mr Roberts-Smith sued Nine newspapers and two journalists, Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters for their reports, published in 2018 that alleged he'd committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
These included that he was responsible the murder of four unarmed civilians, the killing of a man with prosthetic leg, and that Mr Roberts-Smith had ordered another soldier to execute an elderly prisoner.
But in 2023, a judge found that what they'd reported was substantially true.
The full bench of the Federal Court has now upheld that ruling, and Mr Roberts-Smith may now have to pay out tens of millions of dollars.
Mr Roberts-Smith has never been criminally charged over the allegations.
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The United Nations says it won't take part in a United States-backed humanitarian operation in Gaza.
Israel has blocked all humanitarian assistance to Gaza since early March, demanding Hamas release all remaining hostages before they allow aid in again.
It's also accused Hamas of stealing aid.
A global hunger monitor says around half a million people, which is one-quarter of Gaza's population, are facing starvation.
Israel says it will not stand in the way of the efforts of the US-backed private aid agency the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, due to start work by the end of this month,
But UN spokesman Farhan Haq says the group doesn't meet its standards.
"We participate in aid operations if they are in accordance with our basic principles. As we've stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this."
Palestinian rescuers say more than 100 people have been killed in the latest strikes on Gaza.
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There's a warning for people to be alert to a scam where messages are sent impersonating Australia Post.
The fraudulent messages claim a delivery failed due to an invalid postcode, and then try to get people to click on a malicious link to hand over personal information.
The scams are often sent over iMessage, bypassing telecommunications and network filters, thus making them harder to block.
Australia Post says people should only trust official communications through the AusPost app.
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British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says he's trying to make deals with countries to send them migrants who've been refused the right to stay in the United Kingdom.
His government has this week, under pressure on the issue, unveiled a tougher stance on immigration.
Sir Keir says the deals he's trying to make with yet unnamed countries are on top of measures the government is already undertaking.
"Yes, we are in talks with a number of countries about return hubs and I see them as a really important innovation and that is consistent with the work that we've done."
Sir Keir has travelled to Albania, where he has announced measure to tackle people-trafficking gangs who help migrants travel to Britain illegally, often using small and dangerous boats launched from the French coast.
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Australia's Eurovision entrant, GoJo, says he's still proud of his effort at Eurovision, despite missing out on a spot in the Grand Final.
GoJo- real name Marty Zambotto- was first on stage in the second semi-final in the Swiss city of Basel, putting in a typically colourful performance of his tongue-in-cheek song, Milkshake Man.
He says he knows he did everything he could to succeed.
"I know that I couldn't have done anything better and, I suppose, worked harder if I tried. I want to make Australia extremely proud, and I hope that I did that tonight, and through this whole campaign. It's been very long. It's been incredible."
The Grand Final is at 5am eastern time Sunday morning, live on SBS and SBS on Demand.
The ten countries who qualified are: Lithuania, Israel, Armenia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Finland, Malta, Latvia, Austria, and Greece.
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In cycling, stage six of the Giro D'Italia has brought distinctly different fortunes for two Australians, with Kaden Groves winning the stage, but former winner Jai Hindley forced to abandon the race after a huge crash.
Groves, who hails from Gympie [[gim-pee]] in Queensland, avoided a protester who ran towards the field in the final part of the stage to get the ninth Grand Tour stage victory of his career.
Earlier, 29-year Hindley suffered a concussion after a crash on the wet southern Italian road.
It caused a massive pile-up, and the race had to be stopped temporarily.
He was taken to hospital in an ambulance and will remain in hospital overnight.
Czech rider Mathias Vacek says the conditions made for absolute chaos.
"The roads here are really slippery- and today, in some parts, it was like ice skating. So, yeah- a big crash happened there. And there were probably 60 riders on the ground, you know."
Mads Pederson remains the overall race leader.
