What you need to know today
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news this Friday, October 10. Here’s what is making headlines today.
- A Mexican judge is expected to hear closing statements before he hands down his verdict in the trial of three men accused of killing two Australians and their American friend in 2024.
- The AFP plans to expand its overseas operations into more countries to target offshore organised crime figures orchestrating violence in Australia, its commissioner has revealed.
- Former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon – whose son died in an army parachuting accident two years ago – has warned stricter safety rules for military training exercises would do more harm than good.
- Police raids on the homes of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were unlawful, a British court has found, in a significant victory for the former prince.
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The US has been accused of inaction by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a deadly Russian bus strike killed at least 33 people.
Court to hear closing statements after murder of Perth brothers in Mexico
A judge is expected to hear closing statements before handing down his verdict in the trial of three men accused of killing two Australians and their American friend in Mexico in 2024.
The men – Jesus Gerardo, known as “El Kekas”, and two others identified as Irineo Francisco and Angel Jesus – have faced court in the coastal Baja California city of Ensenada over the past month.
They are accused of killing Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, along with their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad, in an alleged robbery-gone-wrong while the trio was on a surfing holiday.
After multiple delays, the boys’ mother Debra Robinson requested last week that a verdict be delivered before a pre-booked return flight home to Australia.
The judge agreed closing arguments would be heard on October 8, US time, with the verdict delivered the following morning. Any sentencing would likely take place the following week.
Closing statements are expected from both lawyers, the Robinson parents and Jack Carter Rhoad’s fiancee. Nine also reported the three accused may be given the chance to provide a final statement.
Christa Pike ‘up and walking’ after surviving botched execution, lawyer says
Death row inmate Christa Pike is “up and walking” – though mentally “foggy” – after waking up from the botched attempt to execute her in Tennessee last week, the BBC reported.
Pike, 50, survived two supposedly fatal injections, 30 years after she was sentenced to death for brutally torturing and murdering her classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when she was 18. Experts have described it as unprecedented.
One of her lawyers, Stephen Ferrell, told the BBC he had not spoken directly to Pike, but had been told her arms were swollen and barely functioning as she took her first steps in her hospital room.
He said Pike was “fairly well”.
Trump rules out fresh strikes on Iran before midterms
US President Donald Trump ruled out a fresh attack on Iran before the midterm elections, responding to heightened speculation in the media that he might resume strikes shortly.
The US has dispatched a third aircraft carrier strike group, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, to the Middle East, and Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade of Iranian ports.
Axios reported on Wednesday (US time) that the Pentagon had ordered Central Command to finalise plans for resuming major combat operations, possibly before the midterms.
But Trump said he would not attack that early.
What you need to know today
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news this Friday, October 10. Here’s what is making headlines today.
- A Mexican judge is expected to hear closing statements before he hands down his verdict in the trial of three men accused of killing two Australians and their American friend in 2024.
- The AFP plans to expand its overseas operations into more countries to target offshore organised crime figures orchestrating violence in Australia, its commissioner has revealed.
- Former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon – whose son died in an army parachuting accident two years ago – has warned stricter safety rules for military training exercises would do more harm than good.
- Police raids on the homes of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were unlawful, a British court has found, in a significant victory for the former prince.
-
The US has been accused of inaction by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a deadly Russian bus strike killed at least 33 people.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
