Australia news LIVE: NSW Liberal Party under investigation by ICAC; US-Iran talks conclude in Doha

Washington: All three kidnapping-related messages that have surfaced in news media reports about the disappearance of US Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother have been deemed by federal investigators to be fake communications, an FBI official told Reuters.

The FBI assessment of inauthenticity pertains to the two ransom notes reported in early February, days after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished, and a third, more recent message from someone claiming to know the kidnappers’ identities, the official said.

“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” the FBI official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of an active investigation. A second law enforcement source familiar with the matter confirmed the FBI assessment of the ransom notes.

The disclosure that the FBI has discounted the veracity of the three notes – two of which were widely reported to have been communications from kidnappers – seemed to raise doubts about investigators’ fundamental premise that Nancy Guthrie was abducted for ransom to begin with.

Anthropic said that the US Commerce Department lifted export controls on its most advanced Fable and Mythos AI models, less than three weeks after the company was ordered to suspend their access over national security risks.

Washington has stepped up oversight of new model releases to identify potential threats amid concerns that advanced AI models could be misused by military intelligence in China, Russia or other countries of concern.

A June 12 order requiring Anthropic to immediately restrict access for Mythos 5 and Fable 5 to foreign nationals prompted the company to disable both models for all users as there was no way to verify nationality in real time.

Last week, the US government allowed the company to release Mythos 5 but only to some “trusted” US organisations. The model — designed to detect cybersecurity vulnerabilities — had earlier been made available to a broader group of companies as part of its Glasswing project.

Anthropic said that all export controls on the models have now been lifted after the implementation of safeguards.

Reuters

An American service member is missing after an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea, the US military said.

Three others wounded in the incident are in a stable condition. There was no indication the crash was caused by hostile action, the US military said.

“US Navy assets in the region are currently searching for other aircrewman still missing. The cause of incident is under investigation,” the US Navy’s 5th Fleet said in a statement, adding that the helicopter was deployed to the region on the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier.

Helicopter water landings can be dangerous, even for experienced pilots, given the propensity of top-heavy aircraft to flip upside-down during submersion.

US forces in the region are also on high alert amid periodic flare-ups in violence during the ceasefire between the US and Iran.

Reuters

Communication minister Anika Wells has been making the rounds this morning, and was also on the ABC’s RN Breakfast defending the government’s gambling laws.

Wells said the legislation was “finally ready” and that she believed the government had addressed some of the concerns raised by the Greens, including around inducements.

“We do genuinely believe we have addressed the issue of inducements with Betstop. There’s obviously always more we can do in social policy. The pen is never down, but I guess we will always consider in good faith amendments that are put forward by any parliamentarian, either in the house or in the Senate.”

Wells said both the Greens and the Coalition had received briefings on the legislation, which she says will have a focus on influencers and the impact gambling advertising has on children.

Government front-bencher Anne Aly has defended the government’s gaming legislation, saying they are the “strongest reforms that any government has taken around gambling”.

Aly was on ABC News Breakfast and said part of the challenge facing the government has been the fact that having a “flutter” is “really part of Australian culture.

“I know the minister for communications responsible for this, Minister Anika Wells, is committed to gambling reform, as is our prime minister and our entire caucus. It is a big task to take on.Having a flutter is really part of Australian culture. It’s part of what we do, so this is difficult reform, but it is reform that we need to undertake.”

Asked about David Pockock’s suggestion of a ban on gambling ads on TV and radio, Aly just repeated that the bill was the “biggest sweep of gambling reforms that any government has ever taken.”

Deputy Opposition leader Jane Hume has hit back at the government over their proposed changes to the social media laws, saying it was “undercooked”.

Hume was on the Today show, where she took aim at Communications Minister Anika Wells and the government, saying the bill was only “cancelling Gmail accounts.”

“Clearly that this was undercooked when Anika first brought it to the parliament, this was significant change.”

“It’s really important that we protect young Australians from online harm. But clearly what it was that Labor had devised isn’t working because there’s plenty of children out there that are still online. It seems to be cancelling Gmail accounts, but not cancelling their social media. Something’s got to change.”

“Clearly, Big Tech are simply laughing at Anika Wells because they’re not being charged and she can’t charge them now. We wanted to help her, but we want to get this done right this time. That’s why it needs scrutiny in the Senate.“

Communications Minister Anika Wells has slammed the Coalition and the Greens for delaying changes to the social media ban that would increase penalties for tech companies that fail to kick teenagers off their platforms.

Wells told the Today show the changes were “urgent” and that without the changes, kids remain “at risk.

“Ultimately, it is very simple. Parents feel powerless to protect their kids online. This world-leading law is about giving them some armour to do that. The Safety Commissioner has asked us to give her some more powers to help improve the laws. It’s a four-page bill, and it’s been put off for an eight-week inquiry.

Wells also criticised opposition leader Angus Taylor for his decision to not back the changes, accusing him of siding with the heads of big tech companies.

“We’re not trying to make it a political football. Until yesterday, this was bipartisan. And now there is this craven, tribal, expedient decision on the part of Angus Taylor that he needs to explain. Because honestly, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg must be licking their chops at their new friend in Canberra this morning, with Angus Taylor making a decision to sell out Australian parents and Australian kids to Big Tech.”

Shadow Defence Minister James Paterson was on the Today Show this morning, defending the Liberal party and denying they need a rebrand.

Paterson was responding to questions about polling in The Australian Financial Review this morning that showed One Nation had overtaken the Liberals and Labor in Victoria.

The polling showed Labor and the Coalition equal on a primary vote of 26 per cent each, while One Nation recorded a primary vote of 27 per cent.

Paterson said he didn’t believe in a “logo-led recovery” and denied the party needed to rebrand or change leaders.

Doha: Iran and the US concluded a round of indirect talks with no sign they had made headway towards a lasting peace, focusing instead on issues that they had supposedly resolved two weeks ago.
Sources said negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and financial incentives for Iran, two pillars of the initial agreement they signed in June, rather than more difficult topics that framework was supposed to tee up.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump said the two sides were making progress on possible limits to Iran’s nuclear program – the main reason he launched the war in February. “The denuclearisation of Iran is moving along well,” he told reporters. “They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see.“

But sources said the nuclear program did not come up in the talks, which were technical in nature. US Vice President JD Vance said that would be addressed later.

The two sides did not meet face to face, instead interacting separately with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and top US envoy Steve Witkoff, dispatched to the region for what the White House had billed as “high-level” talks, did not attend the sessions, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The leader of Iran’s delegation, deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi, said talks concluded. Neither side said whether they had managed to bridge their differences.

Reuters

The NSW Liberals are in crisis after the anti-corruption watchdog launched a bombshell public inquiry into illegal donations which will centre on fugitive property developer Jean Nassif’s links to party powerbrokers, councils and the state’s Catholic schools.

With only eight months until the state election, the Liberals face their most significant Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry since the agency’s inception, with a broad range of party figures to feature, including chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW Dallas McInerney.

As well as McInerney, a right-wing Liberal powerbroker and close ally of federal leader Angus Taylor, the watchdog on Wednesday confirmed that Nassif, hotelier and banned political donor Michael O’Hara, and “certain Strathfield councillors” would be the focus of the inquiry.