Donald Trump guilty on 34 charges, major update on Kate Middleton return: Australia news live

A racist street name in northern NSW is set to disappear, but not all residents are happy about it.

Byron Shire councillors will consider a recommendation to change the name of Hottentot Crescent in Mullumbimby to “Moonlight Close” after council resolved to commence the name changing process for the crescent in November following a concerned resident’s request.

While John Simons’ change.com petition calling the removal of the name “Hottentot”, which is a racial slur in South Africa, garnered 383 signatures, not all residents and community members supported the change.

Last year, 12 submissions to council from past and present residents objected to the proposal, with one writing that they firmly believed Hottentot Crescent’s name should be retained.

“My understanding is that our street name was chosen decades ago, after a tree, the Hottentot Bean Tree (Schotia Brachypetala). Never in my time as a resident here, have I heard another person ever relate the street name in regards to a racial slur,” the resident wrote.

“While I appreciate the concerns raised, it is essential to acknowledge that names can change in meaning and connotation over the years.

“Altering the street name would greatly impact residents and the council long term with endless administrative changes and potential financial costs.”

- NCA NewsWire

An emergency “Code Yellow” has been declared in South Australia's public hospital system as a new Covid and flu wave smashes health staffing numbers and generates a surge in new patient presentations.

South Australia Health chief executive Robyn Lawrence triggered the emergency on Thursday and at a press conference on Friday morning confirmed at least nine elective surgeries would be postponed and some patients at Adelaide’s overwhelmed metropolitan hospitals would be transferred to regional centres.

Read more here.

OK, so this is an odd one.

It's come to the attention of Yahoo Lifestyle there are people out there peeling mushrooms before cooking them.

Taking to an Australian cooking group online, one mum said she does it but her daughter doesn't, prompting others to say they also do it.

Personally, I think it's crazy but what am I to know. Have your say below.

Ivanka Trump has offered just four words in her public support of her father Donald Trump as he became the first US president ever to become a felon.

“I love you dad,” she wrote on her Instagram Story, accompanied by a photo of her as a child with her father.

The 42-year-old was a noticeable absentee at her father's seven-week-long hush-money trial.

Read more here.

Donald Trump has become the first US president to be convicted of a felony. In a historic decision, a 12-person Manhattan jury found the former president guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in an effort to disguise a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Trump is also the first major party candidate — and the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee — to run for president as a felon.

So what does this mean for Trump? Yahoo US has answered all your main questions about the former US president. Read the full story here.

One of the big questions is can Trump still run for president? Well the answer is yes.

A guilty felony conviction doesn’t prevent Trump from running for president. Under Article II of the US Constitution, there are only three qualifications that need to be met for the office of the presidency: The person must be at least 35 years old, be a natural-born citizen and have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.

It's a divisive mode of transport that's surged in popularity in recent years, with critics of e-scooters saying their use is not being policed properly.

But police in Melbourne say they're cracking down on those doing the wrong thing, with close to 300 infringements issued in a compliance blitz.

"E-scooter riders have been held to account," Victoria Police stressed.

Among those caught included 73 people who were caught riding an e-scooter on footpaths. They were stung with a $192 fine.

And five people were detected with illegal e-scooters with a speed capable of more than the 25km/h cap. They were fined a whopping $962. Such vehicles can only be used on private property.

The biggest offence detected was riders without an approved helmet, with 137 people getting a $240 fine.

Do you think police are doing enough to regulate e-scooter usage? Have your say below.

A female pedestrian has been killed in the NSW town of Orange.

Police say a woman believed to be in her 30s was struck by a vehicle on Friday morning. Investigations have commenced with police seeking witnesses and dashcam footage. The driver will be interviewed later today.

The husband of Samantha Murphy has revealed he knew straight away a phone discovered in a renewed search by police belonged to his wife.

The phone was one of several "items of interest" retrieved on the outskirts of Ballarat on Wednesday. Mick Murphy told Nine News he knew straight away it was his wife's when police called him.

His wife vanished in February when out for a run and her body has never been found. Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, has been charged with her murder.

Read more here.

Hopes Kate Middleton will return to royal duties next month after her cancer diagnosis have been dashed, with insiders believing it will likely be months away.

The Princess of Wales was expected to return to work and participate in the Colonel’s Review on June 8, where she would usually be expected to take the salute after being made colonel in chief of the Irish Guards in 2023.

After it was revealed that Kate had "turned a corner" with her treatment, it's since been confirmed she won't be at the Colonel's Review.

"It has been a great relief that she is tolerating the medication and is actually doing a lot better," a family friend told Vanity Fair, also adding that Kate and Prince William's inner circle had "rallied around" the couple.

"There is no timeline, and there is certainly no hurry," another source added. "It will be when Catherine feels ready and when she gets the greenlight from her medical team. But she will 100% be coming back to work, of that there is no question."

It's now believed that Kate won't return to work until at least September.

Read more here.

The United States Consulate in Melbourne and the offices of several members of parliament have been targeted in acts of vandalism.

Victoria police say red paint was thrown at the offices from 4am on Friday and have vowed to "thoroughly" investigate the incidents.

The building housing the United States Consulate General on St Kilda Road in Melbourne was covered in red paint and several foyer windows were smashed.

Graffiti outside the building included the phrases "Free Gaza" and "glory to the martyrs".

Police are also investigating vandalism at offices on Main Street at Mordialloc, Hall Street in Moonee Ponds and High Street, Northcote.

- AAP

Today marks five years since Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez vanished from Byron Bay following a night out at a local bar.

He was just 18 when he disappeared on May 31, 2019 and his case gripped Australia for months during the resulting search.

An inquest later found that Hayez was likely dead, either by falling while climbing a steep cliff face late at night or he was killed by another person and his body disposed of.

However his family say a lack of evidence surrounding those theories gives them hope he is still alive.

“We still do not have any answers, we do not have any proof he is dead,” his cousin Lisa Hayez told 7News. “We still have hope.”

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump has rejected the guilty verdict and offered a series of unsubstantiated claims.

"This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt, a rigged trial, a disgrace," he told reporters.

"We didn't do a thing wrong. I'm a very innocent man. It's OK. I'm fighting for our country. I'm fighting four our constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now.

"This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponents a political opponent."

The New Yorker hasn't wasted any time releasing it's next cover. Take a look below.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has stressed the jury who found Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records did so solely on "evidence and the law".

"The 12 every day jurors vowed to make a decision, based on the evidence and the law and the evidence and the law alone," he told reporters shortly after the decision.

"Their deliberations led them to a unanimous conclusion, beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant, Donald J. Trump, is guilty.

"While this defendant maybe unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors, by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favour.

"The only voice that matters is the voice of the jury and the jury has spoken."

Four Jetstar crew members have been taken to hospital after reporting an “unusual smell” on a flight from Gold Coast to Cairns.

Queensland Ambulance Service Cairns senior operations supervisor Joanne Selby confirmed paramedics attended Cairns Airport on Thursday after receiving a call just after 9.30am with reports of “several people being overcome by fumes on a domestic flight that had just landed.”.

They treated four women, one in her 20s, two in their 40s and one in her 50s.

Read more here.

-NCA NewsWire

There's a possibility Donald Trump won't be able to vote in November's US presidential election.

The former president is the presumptive nominee for the Republican party and on Thursday (local time) he was found guilty on 34 charges relating to falsifying business records.

Florida, where Trump resides, restricts the ability of a felon to vote, often until that person has served their sentence, Politico reported.

Trump could face a maximum of four years in jail, and while that's unlikely, any sentence must be completed before November for him to vote, Alex Saiz, legal director of the Florida Justice Center, told the publication.