WA news LIVE: One dead, two injured in horror Forrestfield crash; WA's housing crisis laid bare
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9.36am
One dead, two injured in horror Forrestfield crash
One person has died and two have been rushed to hospital after a horror crash in Forrestfield, at the intersection of Hale Road and Tonkin Highway, just after 10pm on Wednesday night.
WA Police have since charged a 26-year-old man, who was driving a white Nissan Navara and allegedly failed to stop when asked by police, instead leading them on a chase.
That chase ended when the 26-year-old allegedly hit a blue Ford Falcon station wagon, killing the man who was driving it.
A female passenger in that vehicle was also injured and rushed to Royal Perth Hospital. The driver of the Nissan was taken to hospital under police guard for treatment.
The man, from Middle Swan, has been charged with manslaughter, reckless driving to escape pursuit, dangerous driving causing bodily harm in circumstances of aggravation and no authority to drive.
He was refused bail and will appear in front of the Midland Magistrates Court today.
The crash has closed Tonkin Highway. Main Roads WA are assessing damage to two traffic light poles – one of which had to be removed this morning.
Hale Road is also closed westbound from Reynolds Road to Tonkin Highway and emergency services remain on site.
Drivers are urged to seek an alternative route.
9.36am
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Here's what's making headlines today:
It was 3.53am on Tuesday when Ben Holland, the head of Qantas' integrated operations centre, received a call from a duty manager. Information was streaming in about two ultra-long-haul Qantas flights from Perth to London and Paris.
NATO secretary general Mark Rutte never thought the message would be shared publicly when he texted Donald Trump after US planes bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.
In just 48 hours, US President Donald Trump pivoted from an unprecedented bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities to announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, resulting in a flurry of diplomatic activity that left allies and adversaries scrambling to keep up.
As the NATO summit in The Hague drew to a close earlier this morning, US President Donald Trump was asked at a press conference about NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte calling him 'daddy' in praise of his brokering of the Israel-Iran ceasefire.
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ABC News
44 minutes ago
- ABC News
Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin multiple wins in Alaska
The bizarre summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska should sway all but the most credulous doubters that the White House is more interested in friendly relations with Russia's dictator than achieving a lasting peace in Ukraine. An abridged program saw the two leaders swiftly conclude the meeting earlier than had been expected. They then heaped praise on one another at a press conference that didn't feature any questions from the press. Worryingly, Trump is still as unconcerned about handing Putin symbolic victories as he is unwilling to put any real pressure on the Russian leader. The venue itself was telling. Russia has long carped that Alaska, which it sold to the US in the 1860s, is rightfully still its territory. Prior to the meeting, Kremlin mouthpieces made much of Putin's team taking a "domestic flight" to Anchorage, recalling billboards that went up in Russia in 2022 proclaiming "Alaska is ours!" That wasn't helped by yet another Trump gaffe prior to the meeting when he said he would "go back to the United States" if he didn't like what he heard. When Putin's plane landed, US military personnel kneeled to fix a red carpet for the Russian president to walk across — as a respected leader, rather than an indicted war criminal. Putin was then invited to ride along with Trump in his limousine. Beyond the optics, Trump handed Putin a number of other wins that will shore up his support at home and reinforce to the world that US-Russia relations have been normalised. A summit is typically offered as a favour — an indication of an earnest desire to improve relations. By inviting him to Alaska, Trump gave Putin a stage to meet the American president as an equal. There was no criticism of Russia's appalling human rights abuses, its increasingly violent attempts to fragment the transatlantic alliance, or its desire to reshape its fortunes by conquest. Instead, Trump sought again to portray Putin and himself as victims. He complained that both had been forced to "put up with the 'Russia, Russia, Russia' hoax" that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. He then gifted Putin yet another win, putting the onus for accepting Russian terms to end the war in Ukraine back onto the Ukrainian government and Europe, by observing "it's ultimately up to them". Putin got exactly what he could have hoped for. Aside from the photo ops, he framed any solution to the conflict around the "root causes" — code for NATO being to blame rather than Putin's unprovoked war of imperial aggression. He also dodged any prospect of vaguely threatened US sanctions, with Trump returning to his familiar refrain of needing "two weeks" to think about them again. And then, having pocketed both a symbolic and diplomatic bonanza, Putin promptly skipped lunch and flew home, presumably also accompanied by the bald-headed American eagle ornament that Trump had presented to him. After Trump's subsequent call with European leaders to brief them on the summit, details about a peace proposal began to leak out. Putin is reportedly prepared to fix the front lines as they stand in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, provided Kyiv agrees to cede all of Luhansk and Donetsk, including territory Russia doesn't currently hold. There would be no immediate ceasefire (which is Europe's and Ukraine's preference), but a move towards a permanent peace, which aligns with the Kremlin's interests. Make no mistake: this is a thinly disguised trap. It amounts to little more than Putin and Trump slinging a dead cat at Ukraine and Europe, then blaming them as laggards and warmongers when they object. For one thing, Ukraine still controls a sizeable portion of Donetsk. Giving up Donetsk and Luhansk would not only cede coal and mineral reserves to Moscow, but also require abandoning vital defensive positions that Russian forces have been unable to crack for years. It would also position Russia to launch potential future incursions, opening the way to Dnipro to the west and Kharkiv to the north. Trump's apparent backing for Russia's demands that Ukraine cede territory for peace — which NATO's European members reject — means Putin is succeeding in further fracturing the transatlantic partnership. There was also little mention of who would secure the peace, or how Ukraine can be reassured Putin will not simply use the breathing space to rearm and try again. Given the Kremlin has opposed NATO membership for Ukraine, would it really agree to European forces securing the new line of control? Or American ones? Would Ukraine be permitted to rearm, and to what extent? 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an hour ago
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