Australia news LIVE: UAE says Iran has resumed drone and missile attacks; Jefferson Lewis due in court charged with murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby

OpenAI co-founder and President Greg Brockman testified that his stake in the startup is now worth almost $US30 billion ($41.9 billion), prompting an attorney for Elon Musk to ask why he had not donated the bulk of his earnings to the ChatGPT maker’s nonprofit foundation.

After Brockman disclosed his stake in OpenAI — which makes him one of the largest individual shareholders in the company — attorney Steven Molo grilled him over a 2017 entry in his personal journal in which he wrote: “Financially, what will take me to $US1B?”

The private notes have been presented by Musk’s legal team in the blockbuster case that is continuing in California as key evidence that Brockman and OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman were more focused on enriching themselves than developing artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.

Brockman said his musing about his path to $US1 billion was more a commentary on which choice he would “actually be happy with”.

“Which one will I feel like, ‘Man, this is something I’m enthusiastic to get out of bed and actually do the work every single day,’” Brockman said.

“To be clear, it takes $US30 billion to get you out of bed in the morning, but a billion dollars doesn’t get you out of bed in the morning?” Molo asked.

“That is not what I’m saying,” Brockman replied.

Bloomberg

The man accused of murdering Kumanjayi Little Baby is due to appear in court today. Stay tuned for those developments.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy was on the ABC’s 7.30 program last night and was asked to explain the “fundamental failure of protection” of First Nations children.

This was the Labor senator’s response:

A United Airlines jet came dangerously close to disaster when it hit a semitrailer and light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike as it came in to land at Newark Liberty International Airport.

“A major catastrophe was avoided by [a few] feet,” said safety expert Steve Arroyo, who landed on that same short runway many times during his career at United.

“Had it been another five feet lower, eight feet, I mean, no more than 10 feet, that plane would have been all over the New Jersey Turnpike.”

The driver of the bakery delivery truck was treated in hospital for minor injuries. The Boeing 767 was flying in from Venice, Italy, with 231 people aboard and was able to land safely on Sunday (US time). No one on the plane was hurt.

Air traffic control audio suggests the incident may have created a hole on the side of the plane, but the airline and the National Transportation Safety Board haven’t confirmed that.

The NTSB said today that it had reclassified the incident as an accident because of the extent of the damage to the plane, but it didn’t provide any details.

Patrick Oyulu was among those on the turnpike when the plane struck the truck. He posted a short video showing the aftermath of the collision as the plane landed on the runway, just past the highway.

“Truck driver must have seen his life flash by,” Oyulu wrote on X.

AP

Westpac has delivered $3.4 billion in first-half profits, an increase of 3 per cent compared with the same half last year, as it reported a decline in its stressed loans.

The country’s second-largest retail bank today reported its deposits and loans grew more than 7 per cent over the year, and its total loans rose to $890.3 billion as customer deposits hit $745.2 billion.

Stressed loans fell 12 basis points from the September half, to 1.16 per cent of total exposures.

Chief executive Anthony Miller said the banking giant was positioned to deal with the economic challenges of the Iran war, noting it had increased its provisions for bad debts.

“The war in the Middle East is presenting challenges for some customers and the economic impact of the conflict will continue through the year. The disruption to energy supply chains has driven a rise in prices and we’re seeing this flow through to businesses and households, with some sectors more affected than others,” Miller said.

“We’re ready to work with the government to ensure Australia is better prepared for future events, including through ongoing investment in a reliable, sustainable energy system.”

The US and Iran exchanged fire in the Persian Gulf in a flare-up of violence that drew in the United Arab Emirates, prompting calls for renewed strikes on Iranian targets and casting doubt on the fate of the four-week ceasefire.

The US military fought off attacks from Iranian drones, missiles and armed small boats as it facilitated the passage of two US-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters in a briefing.

The Gulf state issued several missile alerts to its residents for the first time since the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran began nearly a month ago.

The alerts came after an oil tanker owned by the UAE’s state oil company Abu Dhabi National Oil Co was struck by Iranian drones in a separate incident outside the Strait of Hormuz.

The generous tax break for high-end electric vehicles will begin to be reduced from next year.

A phased wind-down of the tax break from April 2027 will end in a permanent 25 per cent discount on vehicles worth $75,000 or less in 2029. Australians are currently exempt from fringe benefit tax if they purchase a vehicle under $91,387 through a novated lease.

The cost of the fringe benefit waiver, designed to encourage consumers away from petrol cars, has blown out as high-income earners rushed to sign up for cheap deals that lowered their tax.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the success of the tax break in encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles allowed the government to revise the exemption.

“Four years ago, one in 50 Australian car purchases was an EV or a plug-in hybrid. Now it’s one in four,” he told ABC Radio National.

“But also, our new vehicle efficiency standards have been working well to bring in more affordable models. So four years ago, there was no EV available for under $40,000 now there’s about 10. So that’s enabled us to better calibrate the tax exemption going forward, to focus on those more affordable models.”

Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged vehicle carrier operated by its Farrell Lines subsidiary, has exited the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz accompanied by US military assets.

American forces are actively assisting efforts to restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command (Centcom) posted on X.

“As a first step, 2 US-flagged merchant vessels have successfully transited through the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcom said, adding that US Navy guided-missile destroyers were operating in the Gulf under a directive called “Project Freedom”.

Maersk said the transit of the Alliance Fairfax was completed without incident on Monday and that all crew were safe and unharmed.

Maersk bought Virginia-based Farrell Lines in 2007, the US vehicle carrier operator said. The Alliance Fairfax was among hundreds of ships stranded in the Gulf by the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz in early March.

At least one other US-flagged vessel remains in the area.

Reuters

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is recovering from pneumonia and remains in hospital in critical but stable condition, according to his spokesperson.

Giuliani, 81, came to global prominence in 2001 as he led New York’s recovery from the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre towers, which his spokesperson said led to him developing restrictive airway disease.

“This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilise his condition,” spokesperson Ted Goodman said in a post on X.

He added that Giuliani was now breathing on his own.

Giuliani was at Good Samaritan Medical Centre in West Palm Beach, where he lives, according to a person familiar with the matter and the Palm Beach Post. He was admitted there on Sunday.

Giuliani’s later failed quest to overturn President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat tarnished his image as “America’s Mayor”, earned for his 2001 response to the al-Qaeda attack.

The 2020 effort led to criminal charges against Giuliani in two US states and a defamation lawsuit from election workers. Giuliani has denied wrongdoing in the criminal cases.

Reuters