Natarsha Belling

a major court loss for mining billionaire Gina Reinhart.

After a decades-long legal battle, Justice Jennifer Smith has ruled Miss Reinhart's mining company must share the proceeds from a lucrative mining project in WA with the family of iron ore pioneer Peter Wright.

Mr Wright was Gina's late father Lang's business partner.

Now Mr Wright's descendants are entitled to half of past and future royalties from the Hopedowns mines in the Pilbara.

But Justice Smith did dismiss the Wright family's claim for part ownership of another major mining project.

Gina Reinhart is Australia's wealthiest person and was said to be worth more than $40 billion in this year's rich list in The Australian.

Our airlines are taking a major hit as the fallout continues over the oil crisis in the Middle East.

Virgin is now cutting flights and increasing fares just a day after Qantas made a similar announcement.

Virgin has released a statement saying the price of jet fuel has been extremely volatile and more than doubled since the end of February 2026, which impacts fuel costs for the June 2026 quarter.

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Meantime, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is off to Asia again today, this time to Brunei and Malaysia, to help shore up relationships with the countries that supply Australia's fuel.

Also heading overseas is Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is travelling to Washington DC to attend the G20 Finance Minister's meeting, as well as meeting with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Before boarding his flight this morning, the Treasurer admitted there are tough times ahead.

It comes as the IMF warned the energy crisis caused by the war in the Middle East could trigger a global recession.

Pressure is mounting on our federal treasurer to deliver a measured budget next month that provides much-needed cost of living relief but doesn't fuel further inflationary pressures.

Overseas now, and the US has announced that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to hold in-person peace talks.

The announcement came after ambassadors from both nations met in Washington with Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State.

Fighting is still continuing between Israel and Hezbollah, which was one of the sticking points in the negotiations for a peace deal in the wider war between Iran, Israel and the US.

Meantime, a trailer was dropped for an upcoming sit-down interview with the US president on Fox News.

Donald Trump claiming Iran wants to make a deal and the US has basically won the war.