Andre McKechnie, aged 54, brought his fight for the salty brown brewing byproduct to Victoria's Supreme Court, according to court registry documents provided to Associated Press on Tuesday. His legal action targets both Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety and the prison management agency Corrections Victoria, with trial proceedings set for next year.

The lawsuit seeks a judicial declaration that defendants denied McKechnie's charter-protected right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian" under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, Associated Press noted. McKechnie additionally seeks recognition that defendants violated the Corrections Act through "failing to provide food adequate to maintain" his "well-being," the court documents state. His legal petition requests that the court mandate that the Vegemite prohibition decision be "remade in accordance with the law."

Since 2006, Victorian corrections facilities have maintained a Vegemite ban, with Corrections Victoria explaining it "interferes with narcotic detection dogs," according to Associated Press. Prison officials implemented the prohibition after discovering inmates would coat illicit drug packages with Vegemite, hoping the pungent smell would divert canine attention from contraband substances. The spread's yeast content also triggered its ban from Victorian facilities due to its "potential to be used in the production of alcohol," as stated in the contraband list.

Crime victim advocate and attorney John Herron characterized the lawsuit as frivolous and insulting to victims' families, Associated Press reported. "As victims, we don't have any rights. We have limited, if any, support. It's always about the perpetrator, and this just reinforces that," Herron stated, whose daughter Courtney Herron died after a 2019 beating in a Melbourne park, with her killer receiving a not guilty verdict due to mental impairment, according to Associated Press. "It's not a case of Vegemite or Nutella or whatever it may be. It's an extra perk that is rubbing our faces in the tragedy that we've suffered," Herron added, Associated Press noted.

Port Phillip Prison, a maximum-security facility, currently houses McKechnie, who was 23 when he fatally stabbed wealthy Gold Coast property developer Otto Kuhne in Queensland in 1994, according to Associated Press. A life sentence for murder was imposed on McKechnie, who transferred a decade later from Queensland's to Victoria's prison system, Associated Press reported. His writing from last year revealed eight years of freedom on Victorian parole before he "decided that I had had enough," subsequently returning to prison where he has remained for the past decade, according to Associated Press.

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Baldoni's high-profile $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times was officially dismissed after Baldoni failed to meet a court-ordered deadline to amend his complaint.

In a ruling published on October 31, Judge Lewis Liman of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York determined that Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, failed to respond to an order directing them to explain why a final judgment should not be entered. As a result, the lawsuit was permanently closed.

The affair, which began as a sharp conflict between actors who became rivals, expanded into a stormy legal dispute that ignited Hollywood and led to a deep rift in Lively's close relationships, including the one with Taylor Swift, who was a close friend of Lively until the crisis erupted. According to reports, Swift's name was linked to the proceedings when she was asked to testify, but in practice, she avoids being directly involved and maintains distance from everything related to the legal drama – a choice that, sources claim, ended the longtime friendship between the two.

The new ruling marks the end of an affair that was already on the verge of collapse on Baldoni's side since June, when Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni's original complaint. At that time, the court determined that Baldoni's defamation claims lacked a legal foundation, as many of the statements he relied upon – including excerpts from the sexual harassment complaint Lively filed and the article published in The New York Times – were protected under the doctrine of reporting immunity and legal privilege.

While the latest ruling essentially nullifies Baldoni's lawsuit for defamation and extortion, it is likely not yet the final outcome of the story. He retains the right to appeal after the court rules on Lively's motion for reimbursement of legal expenses. However, this represents a significant defeat for the director and actor, who had called their lawsuit a "counterattack" as part of a legal battle that became one of the most turbulent, publicized, and messy in Hollywood.

Baldoni filed the lawsuit in January 2025, shortly after Lively filed a lawsuit against him for sexual harassment on the set of the film "It Ends With Us," which he directed and in which he also starred in the lead role alongside her. In her lawsuit, filed in December 2024, Lively claimed that Baldoni behaved in a harassing manner during filming, including an incident in which he "leaned forward and moved his lips from her ear to her neck slowly," and told her, "It smells so good." She added that he pressured her to include a graphic sex scene and made intrusive comments about her private life with her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds.

After Lively's lawsuit became public, Baldoni accused Lively, Reynolds, and The New York Times of attempting to destroy his reputation through a coordinated smear campaign, relying on an article published in the newspaper in December 2024 under the headline "We Can Bury Anyone: Inside Hollywood's Spin Machine," which described the filing of Lively's complaint to California's Civil Rights Department and discussed in detail the tensions surrounding the film's production.

The ruling issued this week closes, at least for now, Baldoni's offensive side, but leaves Lively's lawsuit open, which may reveal more details about what happened behind the scenes of the controversial film.

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"Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual 'mouthpiece' for the Radical Left Democrat Party. I view it as the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER," the president wrote, as reported by Fox News. "Their Endorsement of Kamala Harris was actually put dead center on the front page of The New York Times, something heretofore UNHEARD OF!"

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In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday at the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court, it was claimed that although Osher Ad markets itself to the ultra-Orthodox community and professes its kashrut to be Mehadrin, it sold a chametz product at its Petah Tikva location during Passover, leading the siblings to eat chametz on the holiday.

The statement of claim asserts "The defendant is a supermarket chain that directs its advertising and services to the ultra-Orthodox sector. The chain prides itself on the Mehadrin kashrut of its products and frequently promotes itself as being tailored to the ultra-Orthodox public."

According to the suit, on April 15, 2025, during the Passover holiday, the brother went to the Petah Tikva branch. "Plaintiff 1 relied on the defendant, as it states that it operates with rabbinic approval and under the supervision of Mehadrin kashrut authorities, and purchased, among other items, a 'gnocchi' product, based on the reasonable and required assumption that it was a kosher for Passover product. No sign on the product shelf or in any other location indicated that the product was chametz."

The siblings prepared and consumed the gnocchi at home. Subsequently, the brother examined the packaging and noticed that wheat flour was listed among the ingredients. "Upon learning of this, the plaintiffs were overcome with astonishment and profound shock. The mere realization that they had consumed chametz during the Passover holiday – an event representing a severe violation of their religious conscience and way of life – caused them intense feelings of distress, insult, and deep sorrow."

The lawsuit claims consumer deception and further, according to the Chametz Law (Prohibition of Chametz), any business owner is prohibited from publicly displaying chametz products during Passover. It was also claimed there was negligence, a violation of autonomy, a breach of disclosure duty, and mental anguish involved. Osher Ad did not provide a response.

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The claim was brought forward for the families of Avinatan Or, Eitan Mor, and Omri Miran through attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat HaDin – Israeli Law Center. The plaintiffs argue Khan has not been acting in good faith, seemingly to avoid addressing allegations of sexual attacks he carried out on an employee under him.

They assert that Khan waited eight months prior to seeking arrest warrants for three key Hamas figures – Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar, and Ismail Haniyeh – while tying this to the same measures against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-defense minister Yoav Gallant. Furthermore, he avoided issuing warrants for Palestinian Islamic Jihad heads and further Hamas officials presently responsible for holding the hostages.

The claim contends that via these deeds, Khan not only invented libels against the State of Israel and offered a misleading depiction to the plaintiff, but additionally delivered aid to the terror groups and supported them. The families say Khan has enabled the terrorists to persist in holding their dear ones by not pursuing action against them, particularly those residing in Qatari hotels and beyond the Strip who presume to engage in talks extorting the State of Israel.

Attorney Darshan-Leitner stated, "The International Criminal Court has become a branch of Hamas. Through its direct actions, it has given the terror murderers tremendous backing. Khan's goal is to prevent Israel from achieving the war's objectives – the destruction of Hamas and the release of the hostages – by portraying it as a criminal state."

She continued by noting that Khan has cynically exploited the distress of the hostage families, the starved and injured in the terror tunnels, all this in order to escape the threat of justice for alleged sexual offenses he committed himself.

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According to Trump, "The damage he has done by always being Too Late is incalculable. Fortunately, the economy is sooo good that we've blown through Powell and the complacent Board."

Trump added that he was pondering whether to let a substantial legal case against Powell advance "because of the horrible, and grossly incompetent, job he has done in managing the construction of the Fed Buildings." According to Trump, the renovations were billed at three billion dollars "for a job that should have been a $50 Million Dollar fix up. Not good!". Powell has challenged Trump's math in recent days, including directly in front of the cameras when the president visited the central bank, telling him he was wrong because he used figures that were in part referring to a building that had already been completed five years earlier.

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Michaels, 32, claims that Geffen, 82, reneged on promises he had made to him over the years, including a commitment to financially support him and ensure his welfare for life, despite no written agreement being signed between them. According to the lawsuit filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the relationship between the two began in 2016, in a meeting on the dating site SeekingArrangements, a controversial platform for relationships between "sugar daddies" and "sugar babies."

David Geffen accused of paying thousands for sex, forcing cosmetic procedures on estranged husband in bombshell lawsuit https://t.co/m1ZS7O4zDZ pic.twitter.com/6MNrtFQisZ

— Page Six (@PageSix) July 23, 2025

 Michaels claims that already on the night of their first meeting, Geffen paid him $10,000 for sexual relations, and since then, the relationship between the two developed into an institutionalized romantic relationship, initially as an intimate partnership, and later as marriage without a financial agreement.

Without contract and with many expectations

In March 2023, the two married in a civil ceremony, without a prenuptial agreement, which, according to Michaels, strengthened his sense of security and trust toward his billionaire partner. However, shortly afterward, the picture changed. According to the lawsuit, Michaels, who allegedly gave up his modeling career and financial independence, found himself controlled, manipulated, and allegedly humiliated. Geffen demanded that he undergo laser hair removal, painful dental treatments, and even frequently criticized his external appearance.

The sharper allegations further claim that Geffen turned Michaels into a "display object," attractive prey for photos with his friends from the upper echelon, while in private treated him as a tool for sexual satisfaction and as a redesign project. According to Michaels' claim, Geffen even supplied him and himself with various drugs, including cocaine, MDMA, and cannabis, aboard his luxurious yacht, Rising Sun, where he frequently hosted high-level guests.

From promise to love to billion-dollar lawsuit

After Michaels entered rehabilitation treatment in early 2025, he claims he tried to rehabilitate his life and break free from his dependence on Geffen. But according to him, Geffen responded with a drastic step by cutting off financial support, demanding divorce unilaterally, and even demanding that Michaels vacate his New York apartment, which allegedly caused him to become homeless.

The lawsuit claims that the relationship between the two resembled the plot of the movie "Pretty Woman," but in a dark version involving a young, Black, homosexual, and formerly orphaned man, who was trapped by a white and influential tycoon who "wrapped the exploitation in a cloak of compassion and generosity." Michaels now seeks financial compensation, residential housing, and ongoing financial support that will allow him to live with dignity.

Publicized legal battle

Geffen's attorney in the civil lawsuit, Patricia Glaser, completely denied the allegations, declaring, "There was never any contract, written, oral, or implied, between the parties. We will respond to this lawsuit decisively and boldly. This is a pathetic and false lawsuit."

Geffen, who retired from his businesses and whose wealth is currently estimated at $9 billion, is represented in the divorce proceedings by senior attorney Laura Wasser, known as Hollywood's "divorce queen," while attorney Patricia Glaser leads his legal defense in the civil lawsuit. Michaels, for his part, is assisted by attorney Samantha Spector, who has collaborated with Brian Friedman, a prominent attorney specializing in complex celebrity cases.

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Tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal and Facebook's first outside investor, strictly limits his children's screen time to 1.5 hours per week, reflecting concerns about the impact of social media on children's health and prioritizing offline activities and real-world interactions.

Thiel made the revelation in an interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.

Meta, Facebook's parent company, is facing a lawsuit from 33 states alleging that Facebook and Instagram harm young people's mental health.

While acknowledging valid critiques about social media's impact on children's health, Peter Thiel believes it's too easy to blame Big Tech for all problems.

There is rising concern about children becoming dependent on the internet from a very young age, leading to the term "iPad kids."

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and Google CEO Sundar Pichai also impose strict screen time limits on their children, reflecting a growing trend among tech leaders.

Sources: Business Insider, BreadHeads , Livarava  , Bitin

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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A NIS 250,000 ($78,500) lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by prosecutors on behalf of the Director of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss against a vaccine protester who allegedly leads a smear campaign against the official.

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Yosefa Barak Tamir is accused of publishing "false and offensive" posts on social media that targeted Elroi Preiss and even using her relatives and underage son.

According to the lawsuit, Barak Tamir shared over 60 such posts in the past two and a half weeks alone, all of which were part of a systematic campaign aimed at defaming the senior Health Ministry official.

Elroi Preiss is seen by many as the face of the government's pandemic policies. In the past months, she has become the target of opprobrium by anti-vaxxers and was even assigned a private security detail in December last year after police determined she was the target of credible death threats.

The prosecutors stressed that while criticism of officials is not inherently illegitimate, and is, in fact, part and parcel of a healthy democracy, Barak Tamir's posts were "a deliberate attempt to violate the plaintiff's good name and professionalism … and to undermine public confidence" in the Health Ministry.

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A judge on Monday proposed a compromise in a defamation case former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched against his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, a Netanyahu spokesman said.

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Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, repeated his assertion that his successor, Netanyahu, exhibited "crazy behavior" as a high-profile defamation lawsuit between the two political heavyweights got underway.

The two fallen prime ministers faced off in a largely empty Tel Aviv courtroom in the opening of Netanyahu's defamation suit against Olmert. Netanyahu was joined by his wife, Sara, and oldest son, Yair. Olmert, the only Israeli prime minister ever to go to prison, sat alone on a bench, his legs crossed, across the room.

Netanyahu is suing Olmert for remarks he made last year, during the aftermath of a series of inconclusive parliamentary elections. At the time, Netanyahu refused calls to step down while on trial for corruption charges.

In two separate interviews, one with Channel 12 and another with the news site DemocraTV, Olmert leveled criticism at Netanyahu and said that "what is irreparable is the mental illness of the prime minister, his wife, and his son," referring to Yair Netanyahu.

"They are in need of psychiatric treatment," Olmert told the news site in April.

The Netanyahus have sued Olmert, seeking nearly NIS 837,000 ($269,000) in damages for Olmert's "obsessive efforts to harm their good name in public, out of jealously and deep frustration."

Neither Netanyahu nor Olmert spoke to the press at the start of the hearing.

But during the proceedings, Olmert defended his remarks on DemocraTV last year.

"I followed their actions, I heard recordings of members of the family, I consulted with experts and with people close to them who know them intimately," Olmert said, according to Hebrew media reports. "They detailed to me behavior that in common parlance is abnormal behavior, crazy behavior."

Proposing a compromise, Judge Amit Yariv suggested that Olmert state that his comments about the family's mental health were only an opinion rather than a fact, a spokesman for Netanyahu said, adding that the Netanyahus agreed to the idea.

There was no immediate indication that Olmert would accept the compromise.

Olmert preceded Netanyahu as Israel's prime minister, but resigned in 2008 before he was formally indicted on corruption charges. Olmert was convicted of fraud in 2014 and served most of a 27-month prison sentence. Olmert, 76, is now in private business.

As for Netanyahu, he is on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes. He denies any wrongdoing and has accused police, prosecutors and the media of conspiring against him.

He was ousted from the prime minister's office after a coalition of parties opposing him formed a coalition government last June. Netanyahu is currently serving as opposition leader in the Knesset.

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