South Sydney Rabbitohs head coach Wayne Bennett has officially locked in star centre Latrell Mitchell’s long-awaited NRL return for round 26, while also addressing swirling speculation around his potential future as head coach of the Queensland State of Origin side. The high-profile athlete had been sidelined since mid-May, when a back injury triggered a persistent nerve problem that later developed into secondary calf complications that kept him off the pitch for months. Mitchell was named on the Rabbitohs’ extended reserves bench earlier this week and completed a limited light training session, but the coaching staff ultimately made the call to delay his game comeback one more week ahead of the club’s finals push. Even with the extra week of preparation, Bennett noted that Mitchell’s return just weeks out of the finals series represents a massive boost for a Rabbitohs squad that has already secured a top-eight position on the 2024 NRL ladder. “There was a real chance he could have featured this weekend, and he put in a solid training performance,” Bennett told reporters. “At the end of the day, he just needs one more week to get fully up to speed, so we took the cautious approach. It’s ultimately his call – he knows his body better than anyone, so we’re following his lead. There were real questions a while back about whether he would play at all this season, so getting him back fit and firing going into the finals is a huge result for us.” The coach also provided an injury update on winger Campbell Graham, who missed the team’s final captain’s run on Friday with a lingering minor calf complaint but has been cleared to take the field against the New Zealand Warriors this weekend. Away from club football, Bennett addressed ongoing rumours that he could return to the Queensland Maroons head coaching role, following Billy Slater’s recent decision to step down after five consecutive series in charge. The legendary NRL coach has held the Queensland job four separate times previously, most famously leading a widely underrated 2020 squad labelled “the worst Queensland team of all time” to a series victory. With all other high-profile candidates including Cameron Smith and current Queensland head coach Kevin Walters already ruling themselves out of the running for the 2025 role, Bennett has not dismissed the possibility of stepping in once more – all while retaining his current head coaching position at the Rabbitohs. When asked directly if he was interested in taking the job, Bennett downplayed active pursuit of the role but left the door open for a return. “Not really, I’m not looking for the job,” he explained. “But if they need someone to step in, I’ll go. I truly believe there are young, talented coaches out there who can do the job, but I would never let Queensland down. If they can’t find the candidate they want, I’ll give the role serious consideration. I don’t see any conflict with holding an NRL coaching position while coaching Queensland – I did exactly that back in 2020, and I don’t think Queensland changes their rules to match the NRL on that front.” While keeping his own options open, Bennett also threw his full public support behind former player Darius Boyd, who has been linked to the Maroons vacancy after two successful seasons leading the Queensland under-19 side. Boyd developed a close working relationship with Bennett during his playing career, and the veteran coach said the former fullback has more than enough ability to step up to the senior State of Origin role. “I have a huge amount of respect for Darius, and he’s done an outstanding job with the under-19s, winning back-to-back series,” Bennett said. “He’s more than capable of handling the senior role. People always ask if you’re ready for a big opportunity like this, but the truth is you never really know until you take it – coaching is a tough job, but when the chance comes you have to take it. If he gets offered the role, I have no doubt he’ll seize it.” Bennett was also asked about speculation linking him to the vacant Australian Kangaroos head coaching role, after Kevin Walters confirmed he would step down from the national side following the 2024 World Cup to take over Super League side St Helens. The coach gave a short, neutral response, saying his interest in the role sits at “neutral”.
作者： admin
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US sanctions more Cuban companies and officials
Escalating long-running tensions between Washington and Havana, the Trump administration has rolled out a fresh package of economic sanctions targeting a slate of Cuban state entities, government agencies and senior institutional leaders, senior U.S. official Marco Rubio announced this week.
The latest tranche of penalties includes nine state-owned enterprises operating in the mining, metallurgy and construction sectors, Cuba’s national Ministry of Construction, and leading figures tied to the Havana-based Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), a century-old institution founded by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1960.
In an official statement accompanying the announcement, Rubio accused the sanctioned individuals and entities of participating in deliberate subversive anti-U.S. activity. He claimed the grouping arranged the arrival of a new brigade of international sympathizers to Havana to coordinate with Cuban government officials, timed deliberately to align with the centennial celebration of Fidel Castro’s birth.
Rubio further argued that the targeted actors form a core part of what he called the Cuban regime’s core mission to spread Marxist ideology, racial division and communist political violence across the globe. “Today’s designations make clear that the Trump Administration will not tolerate the Cuban regime’s efforts to fund its internal repression or continue its decades-long campaign of subversive anti-American activities,” he said.
Founded to build intentional ties between Cuba and like-minded political and social organizations worldwide, the ICAP regularly hosts international activist delegations, who in turn organize pro-Cuban government advocacy in their home countries. But Rubio leveled serious allegations against the institute, claiming it engages in deliberate deceptive activity, corrupts U.S. citizens through misinformation, deploys espionage tradecraft, and engages in widespread malfeasance.
Fernando Gonzalez Llort, the current president of ICAP, is among the high-profile figures targeted in the latest sanctions. Llort is a former member of the so-called “Cuban 5” spy ring, and was released from U.S. custody as part of a prisoner exchange during the Obama administration’s brief diplomatic thaw with Havana.
This latest round of penalties adds to a sprawling existing sanctions regime that already targets top Cuban leaders across the energy, finance, and national defense sectors. Cuba’s critical tourism industry, long the single largest source of revenue for the island’s struggling government, has already collapsed to historic lows under accumulated U.S. restrictions.
Cuban authorities have issued a sharp condemnation of the new sanctions. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez took to social media platform X to denounce the measure, arguing that it is designed to deliberately punish legitimate Cuban businesses and inflict additional damage on the country’s already fragile economy. Rodríguez added that the new penalties will further hinder the Cuban government’s ability to deliver essential public services to its population, a sector already teetering on collapse after decades of U.S. economic blockade.
Since the start of 2026, the U.S. has enforced a near-total oil blockade on the island. Cuba’s aging national electricity grid is almost entirely dependent on imported fuel to operate, and the blockade has forced public hospitals across the country to switch to emergency backup generators to maintain critical care. Widespread, extended power outages have already sparked rare public protests in recent months, where public dissent against the government is typically met with lengthy prison sentences.
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‘Loss of confidence’: Catholic Schools NSW CEO Dallas McInerney sacked amid ICAC probe
In a swift development following high-stakes testimony before New South Wales’ top anti-corruption body, the chief executive of the state’s peak Catholic schools authority has been removed from his post over allegations tied to illegal electoral funding and Liberal Party branch stacking. Dallas McInerney, who led Catholic Schools NSW (CSNSW) — the organization representing 594 schools and 274,000 students across the state — was formally terminated by the CSNSW board just days after giving evidence to the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
The ongoing ICAC investigation centers on claims that McInerney violated state electoral funding laws by funneling financial resources through CSNSW to a quiet, conservative-leaning faction within the NSW Liberal Party. The faction, known as the Reformers, has been accused of engaging in branch stacking — a practice of packing local party branches with aligned members to shift internal power dynamics — specifically to amplify conservative and Christian voices within the party. The inquiry has also heard that multiple individuals linked to the Reformers faction, including one associate not formally named in the probe, carried out factional political work while on the CSNSW payroll.
McInerney first stepped back from his leadership role earlier this year when his name was first linked to the corruption investigation. During his recent testimony, he stated publicly that he intended to cooperate fully with ICAC’s inquiry and sought to clear himself of all allegations of wrongdoing.
The CSNSW board announced its decision in an official statement this week, confirming that it had unanimously voted to terminate McInerney’s employment after concluding it had lost confidence in his ability to lead the organization moving forward. To maintain operational stability, the board confirmed interim chief executive Peter Yates will remain in the acting role until a permanent replacement can be recruited and appointed.
Notably, counsel assisting the ICAC inquiry, Peggy Dwyer SC, made clear in her opening remarks that there is no suggestion the CSNSW board or the broader organization bears responsibility for the actions under investigation, nor that board members had any prior knowledge of McInerney’s alleged conduct. Even so, the CSNSW statement emphasized that the allegations at the center of the inquiry remain a source of deep concern for the organization and its key stakeholders. In response to the probe, the board has committed to conducting a full, independent external review of CSNSW’s operational governance and procedures to address any gaps that may have allowed the alleged conduct to occur.
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Origin warns 900k customers after bank and ID details stolen
Australian energy provider Origin Energy has disclosed the full extent of a major cyber breach that has compromised the personal data of approximately 900,000 current and former customers, prompting official warnings to affected residents across the country.
The July 2 hack exposed a wide range of highly sensitive consumer information, new details confirm. While the majority of impacted customers only had basic contact and account details accessed, around 15,000 users had their government concession and scheme identification numbers stolen by unauthorized actors. An additional 60 customers had their full bank account numbers taken, and 100 more had complete identifying document information extracted from the compromised systems.
This updated count revises Origin Energy’s initial disclosure, which earlier estimated that up to 2 million of the company’s 4.2 million total customers could be impacted. In the company’s first statement following the breach, officials only confirmed that partial financial information – including the final four digits of credit cards and final three digits of bank account numbers – had been accessed. Officials note that partial financial data cannot be used to make unauthorized purchases or access customer financial accounts, but the full sensitive data compromised in the attack poses far greater risks to a smaller subset of users.
Investigations by Australian authorities have traced the origin of the cyberattack to a third-party call center based in Manila, Philippines, a revelation that came to light earlier this month.
In an official statement, Origin Energy CEO Frank Calabria said the company has made significant progress responding to the incident. “We have substantially completed our review into the information accessed for each affected customer, and our priority is completing our notifications to them and providing support,” Calabria explained. “We have taken a number of steps to enhance the security of our systems to prevent future incidents of this kind.”
To protect impacted customers, the energy provider has rolled out a suite of support measures. These include access to specialist identity theft support and cyber security services, as well as 12 months of complimentary credit monitoring for users affected by the full data compromise. Origin Energy is also urging all customers – even those not confirmed to be impacted – to stay vigilant against phishing and scam communications, regardless of whether they appear to come from Origin, financial institutions, or government agencies.
The company is advising customers to follow basic cyber security best practices, including enabling two-factor authentication on all online accounts and refusing to share personal or financial information with unsolicited contacts. “Customers should remain vigilant to any suspicious activity and to contact us directly with any questions,” Calabria added.
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Hezbollah’s Nawaf Moussawi: Only force can compel Israel to leave Lebanon
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Middle East Eye held at his Beirut office, senior Hezbollah official Nawaf Moussawi — who currently leads the group’s border and resources department and previously headed its foreign relations division and served as a Lebanese member of parliament — has laid out the movement’s uncompromising stance: military force remains the only viable path to liberate occupied South Lebanon, as negotiations alone will never compel Israel to withdraw its forces.
Moussawi argued that ongoing negotiations led by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun are doomed to fail from the start, citing two critical flaws: the talks lack consensus across Lebanon’s fragmented political landscape, and Aoun enters the negotiating table without any meaningful leverage to pressure Israel. He stressed that the armed resistance movement will not abandon its campaign until all Israeli troops fully withdraw from Lebanese territory.
“There is no international pressure strong enough to force Israel out of our land, just as there has been no such pressure in Palestine,” Moussawi stated. “That leaves us with no option but to continue fighting the Israeli occupation until withdrawal is complete.”
The current cycle of cross-border conflict traces back to October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched cross-border strikes against Israel one day after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, opening what the group calls a “support front” to divert Israeli military resources away from its offensive in Gaza. The conflict has since escalated into two major waves of war: the first decimated much of Hezbollah’s traditional military infrastructure and killed most of its senior leadership, including long-time secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. The second outbreak of hostilities began in March 2024, triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran and the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a key spiritual and political figure for Hezbollah. Both Hezbollah and Israeli media have confirmed this second round of fighting also pre-empted a planned large-scale Israeli offensive into Lebanon, after 15 months of repeated Israeli ceasefire violations and the consolidation of Israeli occupation in border areas of South Lebanon.
The escalation has drawn sharp criticism and anger from many Lebanese citizens and international observers, with more than 4,300 people killed in Lebanon since March and additional territory falling under Israeli occupation. But Moussawi rejected blame placed on Hezbollah for the current crisis, shifting culpability entirely to Israel as the occupying power.
“Israeli propaganda once claimed Fatah was the problem, then it became Hamas, and in the future it will be any Palestinian organization that fights to liberate its land,” Moussawi said. “The real problem is always the occupation, not the organizations that resist it. Today they claim Hezbollah is the problem, but Israel would oppose any group that defends the Lebanese people’s right to free their land — even if that group called itself the Democratic Party of America.”
He argued that the US-backed Israeli campaign across Palestine and Lebanon since October 2023 is intentionally designed to inflict widespread destruction to break the will of occupied populations, convincing them that resistance is too costly to pursue. He pointed to the decades-long negotiation track pursued by the Palestine Liberation Organization as proof that talks cannot deliver sovereign statehood, noting that even full surrender would not satisfy Israeli demands. “What the Israelis ultimately want is the extermination of the Palestinian people,” he added.
Since April 2024, the Lebanese presidency and Washington embassy have held direct negotiations with Israel aimed at securing a permanent ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal, and separating Lebanon from the regional war against Iran. The talks have produced a US-backed framework for ending hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, but the deal has sparked massive opposition across Lebanon, with critics raising alarms over threats to national sovereignty, weak accountability mechanisms, and provisions that prioritize Lebanese obligations over Israeli commitments to withdraw. Hezbollah has publicly condemned the framework for failing to guarantee Israel’s full withdrawal from the 6 percent of Lebanese territory it still occupies and secure the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese residents to their southern homes.
With decades of experience negotiating with Israel, including during the 2006 war and talks over the Lebanon-Israel maritime border, Moussawi said the current round of state-led talks has produced zero tangible results. As an example of the framework’s failures, he noted that Israeli forces have only allowed the Lebanese military to deploy in one southern Lebanese village — a village that Israel never occupied in the first place. Talks to deploy Lebanese forces to other currently occupied villages have stalled entirely, while cross-border shelling and skirmishes grow more frequent by the week.
Moussawi argued that the core failure of Aoun’s negotiation strategy is that it proceeded without broad national unity. “Steps like this require consensus from all Lebanese political forces, and this effort does not have that backing,” he said. Beyond lack of consensus, Moussawi emphasized that successful negotiations with Israel require leverage, and Aoun chose to distance his government from Hezbollah’s armed resistance — the most significant source of pressure on Israel. “The resistance is a source of national strength, but he chose to confront it instead of working with it,” Moussawi said. “How can you achieve liberation when you are at odds with your own people? That is the president’s fundamental problem.”
More than 500,000 Lebanese, most from the Shia community that Hezbollah claims to represent, have been displaced by the latest war. Hezbollah has adopted a new asymmetric tactic of ceding territory to draw Israeli troops in, then targeting deployed forces with ambushes and attacks. While the tactic has proven tactically effective, it has also allowed more of South Lebanon to fall under Israeli control, and Israel has razed dozens of southern villages and towns to the ground. But Moussawi insisted armed resistance remains the only path to bring displaced people home to their land.
“Our way of returning our people to the south is to liberate their land. Liberating the land requires fighting the Israeli occupier and driving it back,” he said. “That is what we did in 2000, and this is our path today. If Aoun had secured an Israeli withdrawal, he would be a national hero. Instead, he has not even been able to stop the destruction of occupied villages. Despite all the concessions he has made, Israel has given him nothing in return. Therefore, we have no choice but to resist.”
The question of Hezbollah’s disarmament has also become a flashpoint between the movement and the Lebanese state, with external pressure from Israel and the United States pushing for the Lebanese military to take a confrontational stance toward the group. Days after Hezbollah launched rocket strikes against Israel on March 2 in response to Khamenei’s killing, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam outlawed Hezbollah’s military activities, asserting that the state must hold a monopoly on the use of force. Moussawi claimed the US-backed negotiation framework was intentionally designed to trigger internal Lebanese conflict, shifting the focus from opposing Israeli occupation to fighting Hezbollah.
“The goal is to make Lebanese fight each other instead of fighting the Israeli occupier,” he said. “I do not believe anyone in Lebanon would take up arms against the resistance to occupation, because that would lead to their own destruction before it leads to anyone else’s. Even if the president wanted to fight the resistance, he could not do it. The Lebanese army and security services belong to the Lebanese people, and the people will not turn on each other.”
Moussawi also dismissed another external proposal pushed by US President Donald Trump, which would have Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa — who fought Hezbollah for a decade during the Syrian civil war — deploy Syrian forces to confront the group. He called the plan “wishful thinking that cannot become reality,” noting that al-Sharaa’s government is closely allied with Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently stated that Turkish security begins in Beirut, in the context of opposing Israeli expansion. “How could a Syrian government allied with Turkey become a tool to advance Netanyahu’s interests and expand Israeli power in the region?” Moussawi asked.
Notably, Moussawi revealed that Hezbollah has opened a new channel of dialogue with the Syrian government via Turkish mediation. “We are engaged in genuine and effective dialogue with Turkey, through which new avenues can be opened with the emerging actors in the region,” he said.
After the 2024 war, many outside analysts assessed that Hezbollah’s military wing had been permanently degraded, with most of its senior commanders and their deputies killed and the group unable to match Israeli military strength in the near future. But an investigation published by Middle East Eye earlier this month confirmed that Hezbollah has since restructured its military command and expanded its drone program, recruiting experienced video gamers to operate the unmanned platforms. Moussawi confirmed that while Israeli intelligence successfully penetrated Hezbollah’s old command structure, the group has now shifted to a new generation of commanders who were never on Israeli targeting lists.
“Hezbollah is now fighting with a generation Israel does not know,” Moussawi said. “This fourth generation of commanders was not included on any Israeli intelligence or operational targeting lists, so our brothers today can operate with far greater ease than the martyred commanders who came before them.”
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Bird flu ‘obviously’ will hit Ingham’s, chief executive says
As the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza strain continues to spread across wild bird populations in every Australian state, the chief executive of Australia’s largest poultry producer Ingham’s has warned that an outbreak on one of the company’s commercial farms is no longer a matter of if, but when.
Speaking alongside the release of Ingham’s full-year 2024-25 financial results on Friday, CEO Edward Alexander acknowledged that growing confirmed H5N1 detections in wild birds across the country makes introduction to domestic poultry inevitable. “Assume bird flu does hit, it’ll hit, obviously, one of our farms,” Alexander stated in his remarks, noting that within a two-kilometre radius of an infected site, containment operations would become challenging.
To mitigate the risk of large-scale spread, Alexander explained that Ingham’s operational model was intentionally designed with biosecurity as a core priority. The company spreads its farm locations, feed mills, processing facilities and distribution networks across the country, with geographic separation that acts as a natural barrier to transmission. In the event of an outbreak, rapid depopulation of infected flocks would be deployed to constrain the virus to a single site, and the company’s diversified footprint means that a single outbreak does not have to trigger nationwide supply disruption.
“That means an outbreak in one location does not automatically translate into disruption across our broad network,” Alexander said. “We have the ability to isolate affected areas, protect other parts of the network, and redirect production and supply.”
Ingham’s has also drawn critical lessons from the ongoing global H5N1 crisis that has killed millions of birds and marine mammals across the globe since the strain re-emerged in Europe in 2021. Data from the outbreak shows that more than 700 commercial poultry flocks across 23 European countries were infected in 2024, with 300 additional detections recorded in 16 nations so far this year. Alexander revealed that Ingham’s senior leadership has traveled to Europe to study firsthand responses to the outbreak, allowing the company to develop detailed, tested response protocols ahead of any domestic outbreak.
“This is a real and a significant risk for the poultry industry, as has been well documented in recent media. We take this risk extremely seriously and we are prepared for it,” Alexander said. “We know what we would do. We know how we would respond, and we know where the critical decisions ultimately need to be made.”
Beyond geographic separation and response planning, the company has invested heavily in prevention measures, ongoing wild bird and domestic surveillance, scenario planning and staff training to respond quickly to any detection. Right now, there are no recorded cases of H5N1 in Australian commercial poultry flocks, though state governments have already issued public warnings to beachgoers to avoid contact with sick or dead wild birds.
Alexander also addressed market concerns, noting that contrary to the European experience, where looser biosecurity standards for egg production led to plummeting consumer demand for eggs, there has been no measurable drop in consumer demand for chicken in Australia amid growing public awareness of the H5N1 risk. While an outbreak has not been formally factored into the company’s new financial year projections, Alexander said that unpredictable nature of the virus makes precise forecasting impossible.
“We can’t fully eliminate the risk, but we can control how well prepared we are for it,” he emphasized. “What I can say with confidence is that Ingham’s enters this period of time with the most resilient national network, well-developed biosecurity controls and a team that is prepared to act quickly and decisively if required.”
Alongside its preparedness updates, Ingham’s released full-year financial results that showed a steep 61% drop in net profit to AUD 34.6 million. The decline was driven by lower core earnings and an unexpected AUD 12.7 million addition to the company’s tax bill, related to disputed tax offsets claimed between 2019 and 2021. The company confirmed it will challenge the additional tax assessment and “intends to defend its position” per disclosures in its annual report.
Headquartered in Australia, Ingham’s operates its largest production networks in South Australia and Queensland, with smaller facilities in Western Australia and Victoria.
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Democratic socialist speaks to BBC after shock win in Florida primary
In an upset result that has sent ripples through Florida’s political landscape, a democratic socialist candidate has secured a surprise victory in the state’s U.S. Senate primary, granting an interview to the BBC shortly after the final results were confirmed. The unexpected primary win sets the stage for a high-stakes general election battle this November, where the victorious candidate, named Nixon, will go head-to-head with sitting Republican Senator Ashley Moody. Political analysts have already framed the upcoming race as one of the most competitive contests in the 2024 election cycle, given Nixon’s unorthodox progressive platform that defies traditional Democratic positioning in the traditionally conservative-leaning swing state. Incumbent Senator Moody, who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination, now faces a far more challenging campaign than many party insiders initially predicted, as Nixon’s surprise primary win has energized grassroots progressive voters across the state and drawn national attention to the Florida Senate race.
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Blaize Talagi could earn finals reprieve after MRC hits Jack Cogger with monster ban for ugly high shot
The Penrith Panthers’ push for an NRL premiership has hit a sudden major hurdle just weeks out from the finals series, after starting five-eighth Jack Cogger received a proposed three-match ban from the National Rugby League’s Match Review Committee that would rule him out of the opening round of the post-season tournament.
The ban stems from an incident during Penrith’s Round 25 clash with the Melbourne Storm on August 21, 2026, where Cogger made a grade 2 careless high tackle on Storm player Tyran Wishart. The experienced playmaker, who has locked down the starting number 6 role for the Panthers this season, was immediately sent to the sin bin by referee Grant Atkins midway through the second half, and he was formally charged shortly after the full-time whistle.
Cogger’s history of similar infractions complicates the Panthers’ path forward: the playmaker already served a two-game suspension earlier in the 2026 season for another high tackle on Ashton Ward. While the club and Cogger have the option to contest the charge at Tuesday’s judiciary hearing in a bid to downgrade the ban, that move carries significant risk: an unsuccessful appeal would see the suspension extended to four matches, ruling Cogger out for far more than just the opening week of the finals. In addition to the three-match ban, Cogger also faces a AU$3000 fine for a separate grade 1e dangerous contact charge stemming from the same game. For context, Melbourne Storm forward Josh King, also charged in the match, will pay a AU$1000 fine if he accepts an early guilty plea for his own infraction.
Cogger’s potential absence has opened the door for a surprise NRL recall for dropped playmaker Blaize Talagi, who lost his starting spot after Round 21 due to inconsistent defensive performances. Cogger originally stepped into the role and made it his own, having already proven his value to the side during their 2023 grand final run, where he was a key impact player off the bench.
Coaching staff now face a tough selection call if Cogger accepts the suspension. While Talagi is the most high-profile candidate to replace him in the halves for Penrith’s upcoming Round 26 clash against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, he is not a guaranteed starter. Jack Cole, who stepped in as a late replacement for Cogger in Round 23, is viewed as the safer, more consistent option to partner star halfback Nathan Cleary. Talagi, by contrast, is considered an unpredictable X-factor who can generate attacking points on the left edge but carries more defensive risk.
The timing of this disruption could not be worse for the Panthers, who are still locked in a tight battle for the minor premiership. A few missteps in the remaining regular season games could see the side slip out of the top two on the ladder, forcing them into an earlier finals exit via the knockout format.
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Former NSW MP allegedly targeted by Jean Nassif gives evidence in ICAC probe
A high-stakes corruption inquiry into New South Wales’ Liberal Party has heard scathing remarks from a former senior cabinet minister against a fugitive property developer accused of orchestrating a secret factional campaign to destroy his political career.
Former New South Wales police and transport minister David Elliott took the witness stand at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), where investigators are probing explosive claims that a clandestine conservative Liberal faction dubbed the “Reformers” accepted illegal political donations from Jean Nassif — a developer currently fleeing Australian authorities in Lebanon — and other figures to stack party branches with Christian members to expand the faction’s power.
The inquiry has already aired intercepted phone recordings in which Nassif openly bragged about sabotaging the political careers of both Elliott and former Building Commissioner David Chandler. Elliott, who has not been accused of any misconduct throughout the probe, told the commission he had long worked to keep property developers at arm’s length, particularly those with major projects in The Hills district, where Nassif holds most of his development interests. He explained this deliberate distance was rooted in concerns over both “actual risk of corruption, but also the perception” of improper ties between developers and elected officials.
Elliott recounted the first approach from Nassif’s associates back in 2019, when a woman working for the developer offered to arrange hidden support for his political fundraising. “I asked her how and she said, ‘oh, we’ve got ways of doing it’. That was probably the only covert way it was ever raised with me,” he told the inquiry. Elliott added that he never had a productive or even civil exchange with Nassif, saying: “Nothing positive ever comes from my conversations about Jean Nassif.”
Tensions between the pair boiled over after Nassif’s proposed Cherrybrook development was rejected by local authorities, Elliott said. The developer went “nuts” over the decision, and twice confronted Elliott uninvited: first in a residential car park in 2021, when Elliott was still serving as police minister, and again a year later at a local bar. On the first occasion, Elliott recalled, he brushed off Nassif’s demand for a meeting by telling him directly: “I’m sorry, I don’t speak to developers.”
Elliott, who left parliament ahead of the 2023 state election after his former seat was abolished in a electoral redistribution, told the commission he had consistently pushed back against overdevelopment in The Hills. He also detailed how local constituents had repeatedly raised complaints about shoddy workmanship on Nassif’s projects, including the Skyview development, which he said had obvious visible construction deficiencies. All complaints, he added, were properly referred to the Building Commissioner or NSW Fair Trading for official review.
Counsel assisting the inquiry Penny Dwyer SC put to Elliott an unproven allegation that he had requested a donation from Nassif to the Mutual Forum, the Liberal Party’s official fundraising body. Elliott flatly denied the claim, adding that he had no knowledge of Nassif donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to him or any associate. “It’s been ten years since I spent more than $50,000 on the campaign, and the last one was about $10,000 or $15,000,” he said, rejecting any suggestion of improper financial ties.
When questioned about Christian Ellis, a prominent Liberal powerbroker and co-founder of the Reformers faction at the center of the probe, Elliott said he had never met the figure. He also told the commission he had never even heard of the Reformers faction until the ICAC investigation launched. He added that the more religious, hardline conservative wing of the NSW Liberal Party was often referred to by unflattering terms internally, including “the cult.”
On the subject of former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet, who is not accused of any wrongdoing despite his brothers being named in the probe, Elliott said Perrottet was a leading figure in the party’s right faction, and had previously publicly criticized Ellis after sacking him over claims that Ellis failed to process hundreds of constituent inquiries. When asked about reports that Nassif was blocked from attending a Liberal Party event attended by former prime minister Scott Morrison and Perrottet, Elliott said he had no advance knowledge of the incident, but added: “I would have loved to have been there.”
The current ICAC inquiry was triggered by a parliamentary probe into development approval processes at The Hills Shire Council, which evaluated Nassif’s controversial Cherrybrook project, after allegations of improper influence were aired in state parliament.
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Champions Arsenal embrace being ‘hunted’ as Premier League returns
The English Premier League, one of the world’s most watched and competitive top-flight football leagues, is set for its 2025-26 season kickoff this Friday, just over a month on from the conclusion of a dramatic 2024 World Cup. Defending champions Arsenal will get the new campaign underway at their Emirates Stadium home against promoted side Coventry City, with manager Mikel Arteta openly embracing the pressure of being the team every rival will target this term.
Last season marked a historic milestone for the north London club, who ended a 22-year wait to lift the Premier League trophy after three consecutive seasons finishing as runners-up. Having broken their title drought, the Gunners have entered the new term as clear bookmakers’ favourites to retain their crown, and they sent an early warning to challengers with a dominant 3-0 victory over 2023-24 runners-up Manchester City in last weekend’s Community Shield.
Arteta has strengthened his squad this transfer window with the additions of Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis, and a deal for Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa is also on the verge of completion. Speaking ahead of Friday’s opening fixture, the Spaniard insisted his side is ready to handle the weight of expectation that comes with being defending champions, saying that being the hunted is far preferable to chasing the leader.
“We start from scratch, from zero, and we’re going to have to prove we are at the level to go back to that position again,” Arteta said. “We need to show that desire, and the ambition to be better than what we were last season, a month ago, a week ago. If you give me the choice, I want to be first, I want to be hunted, and I want to be in control of our future, rather than depending on somebody else.”
For Arsenal, last season’s title win was a cathartic moment after years of near-misses that sparked widespread questions about the club’s ability to compete at the very top. Arteta believes that overcoming those years of disappointment has built the resilience needed to become only the second side in Arsenal’s history to win back-to-back league titles, a feat the club last achieved in the 1930s.
He warned that the 38-game season is a long test of endurance, adding: “We need to breathe because it’s going to be a long marathon. We have the ability to improve, to evolve, and that’s what I sense and I feel around the club, especially around the players.”
Standing in Arsenal’s way on opening night is Coventry City, who are making their return to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years after winning promotion from the Championship last season. The Sky Blues’ journey back to the top flight is one of English football’s most heartwarming recent stories: just seven years ago, the club was competing in the fourth tier, and financial turmoil surrounding their stadium forced them to ground-share with other clubs on two separate occasions.
Even so, manager Frank Lampard is under no illusions about the tough challenge his side faces this term. “We will go through tougher times this year for sure because of the competition we’re up against now,” Lampard said. “It’s just a reality that we need to be ready for.”
Friday’s curtain-raiser is followed by a full schedule of matches across the weekend and Monday, with major changes at the top of many of the league’s biggest clubs. Manchester City, who finished second last season, will begin their first campaign in 10 years without iconic manager Pep Guardiola, who stepped down at the end of last season after claiming 20 major trophies during his decade-long tenure. Former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has taken on the unenviable task of replacing Guardiola, and will kick off his reign with a home fixture against Bournemouth on Sunday.
Liverpool, who finished a disappointing fifth last season, have also appointed a new manager: Andoni Iraola, formerly of Bournemouth, will take charge of his first game for the Reds on Sunday away at Newcastle United, replacing the sacked Arne Slot. Over at Chelsea, Xabi Alonso will begin his tenure as Blues boss with a tasty west London derby against Fulham on Monday.
Other opening weekend fixtures include Manchester United’s trip to newly promoted Hull City – who are back in the top flight for the first time since 2017 – on Saturday. Big-spending Tottenham Hotspur, who narrowly avoided relegation last term, travel to Brentford the same day, while 2024-25 Europa League winners Aston Villa, who have lost multiple star players over the summer, head to Brighton on Sunday.