An Australian student has arrived in Japan after he was released from detention in North Korea. Alek Sigley left North Korea via Beijing yesterday to reunite with his Japanese wife in Tokyo. Swedish officials helped to broker his release.
Prime minister Scott Morrison says millions of Australians will receive tax benefits as early as next week. Labor ultimately backed the bill in the senate last night, after its proposed amendments failed, while the Greens voted against the legislation. It means more than 10-million Australians will receive a tax cut of up to one-thousand and 80 dollars.
There have been more than 50 aftershocks following a 6-point-4 magnitude earthquake in southern California. The quake hit near the city of Ridgecrest, about 175 kilometres north-east of Los Angeles. There has been widespread minor damage, with this bottleshop one of the hardest hit while a number of blazes have broken out in the region. Reverberations were also felt in Las Vegas. US president Donald Trump has been briefed on the earthquake ahead of his Independence Day celebrations in Washington.
And police have arrested four men in Sydney, after seizing drugs worth nearly 400-million dollars. Border Force officers examined a shipping container supposedly carrying clothing last month. Instead, they found 500 packages, weighing half a tonne, containing the drug ice. The men — aged between 33 and 55 — have been charged, and three will appear in court today.