US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to meet in the “coming days”, a Kremlin aide has said.

It follows Trump saying there was a “good chance” he could meet his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts together in person “very soon” to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump’s deadline for Russia to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine or face more sweeping sanctions is due to expire on Friday.

A possible meeting between Trump and Putin would follow US envoy Steve Witkoff holding talks with the Russian president on Wednesday.

Witkoff has travelled to Moscow four times previously, visits followed by optimism from Trump but ultimately no major breakthrough in peace talks.

Trump was also asked at a White House briefing on Wednesday night whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin had agreed to a three-way summit, and he said there was a “very good prospect”.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov noted that the idea of a three-way summit was mentioned at talks in Moscow on Wednesday, but was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the option was left by Russia “without comment”.

Zelensky indicated his support for a summit, acknowledging that various formats of meetings had been discussed – “two bilateral and one trilateral” – and added that Europe “must be a participant” in any talks.

He wrote on X: “Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side.”

Ushakov said a location for a meeting between Trump and Putin had been agreed, with further details to be announced later.

The official, who advises Putin on foreign affairs, said all parties have begun working on the details.

Last month, Trump admitted to the BBC that after all four of Witkoff’s previous visits, Putin had disappointed him after talks had initially led to optimism.

The US President is now striking a more cautious tone, telling reporters on Wednesday: “I don’t call it a breakthrough…we have been working at this for a long time. There are thousands of young people dying… I’m here to get the thing over with.”

On Wednesday, the Kremlin released a vague statement about Witkoff’s visit, calling the discussions “constructive” and noting that both sides had exchanged “signals”.

Zelensky meanwhile said he had spoken to Trump about Witkoff’s visit, with European leaders also on the call.

The Ukrainian president has been warning that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money.

Expectations are muted for a settlement by Friday – when Trump’s deadline expires – and Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine despite the US threat of sanctions.

As pressure builds, Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on Indian imports over its continued purchase of Russian oil.

Before taking office in January, Trump said he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a day. The conflict has raged on and his rhetoric towards Moscow has since hardened.

Three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul have failed to bring the war closer to an end, three-and-a-half years after Moscow launched its full-invasion.

Moscow’s military and political preconditions for peace remain unacceptable to Kyiv and to its Western partners.

Russian demands include Ukraine becoming a neutral state, dramatically reducing its military and abandoning its Nato aspirations.

It also wants Ukrainian military withdrawal from its four partly occupied regions in the south-east, and the demobilisation of its soldiers.

Russia also demands international recognition of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as the annexed Crimea.

Other conditions include a ban on Ukraine’s membership in any military alliances, a limit on the size of the Ukrainian army, Russian as an official language, and the lifting of international sanctions on Russia

The Kremlin has also repeatedly turned down Kyiv’s requests for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

Meanwhile, the US approved $200m (£150m) in additional military aid to Ukraine on Tuesday, including support for drone production.

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs on more than 90 countries around the world have come into effect.

Moments before his deadline passed for countries to negotiate US trade deals, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that billions of dollars were now flowing into his country as a result of his import taxes.

Trump is using tariffs to encourage jobs and manufacturing industries to return to America, among other political goals.

Separately on Wednesday, he threatened to raise the tariff on imports from India to 50%, unless that country stopped buying Russian oil. He also threatened a 100% tariff on foreign-made computer chips, to push tech firms to invest more in the US.

Trump’s trade policies have been broadly aimed at reshaping the global trading system, which he sees as treating the US unfairly. One of his key pledges as he returned to the White House in January was to cut the trade deficit – the shortfall between what America buys and what it sells.

His tariffs work by charging US importers a tax on goods they buy from other countries. Those importers may pass some or all of the extra cost on to customers.

Trump has also been accused of throwing the global economy into turmoil in recent months, though markets have recently been more stable.

The overall average US tariff rate is at its highest in almost a century, thanks to a range of other industry-specific taxes affecting products such as vehicles and steel.

The duties that came into effect on Thursday were first announced in April. Many were later paused amid market turbulence, and to give other countries time to strike new trade deals with the US.

A patchwork of rates were set for different countries – and were adjusted over time by Trump, who ultimately set a negotiating deadline of 7 August.

• What tariffs has Trump announced and why?
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Export-dependent economies in South East Asia are among the hardest-hit.

Manufacturing-focused Laos and Myanmar face some of the highest levies at 40%. Some experts said Trump appears to have targeted countries with close trade ties with China.

But after more than four months of uncertainty, markets in Asia seemed to take the news in their stride on Thursday.

Major share indexes in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and mainland China were a little higher, while markets in India and Australia were lower.

The latest set of tariffs will offer countries some stability after months of chaos, said economist Bert Hofman from the National University of Singapore.

“This is supposed to be it,” he said. “Now you can start to analyse the impact of the tariffs.”

Some major economies – including the UK, Japan and South Korea – reached agreements to ensure goods exported to the US would face a lower tariff rate than Trump threatened in April.

The European Union has also struck a framework deal with Washington, in which Brussels has accepted a 15% tariff on goods from the trading bloc.

Switzerland has said it will hold an extraordinary meeting on Thursday after its officials were unable to reach a deal with the US.

At 39%, the tariff rate on Swiss goods is one of the highest imposed by the US, and threatens to hit the country’s economy hard.

Taiwan, a key Washington ally in Asia, was handed a 20% tariff. Its president Lai Ching-te said the rate was “temporary” and that talks with the US were ongoing.

Other tariffs unveiled by Trump after he returned to the White House in January have been aimed at the US’s top three trading partners – China, Canada and Mexico – with a variety of political goals in mind.

Last week, he boosted the tariff rate on Canada from 25% to 35%, saying the country had “failed to cooperate” in curbing the flow of fentanyl and other drugs across the US border. Canada insists it is cracking down on drug gangs.

But most Canadian exports to the US will dodge the import tax due to an existing trade treaty, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Higher tariffs on Mexico were paused for another 90 days as negotiations continue to strike a trade deal.

Meanwhile, the US and China have held a series of talks in a bid to agree an extension to a 90-day tariffs pause due to expire on 12 August.

• Trump orders India tariff hike to 50% for buying Russian oil
• Apple to invest $100bn after pressure from Trump
• Analysis: Trump’s global tariffs ‘victory’ may well come at a high price

Some of Trump’s recent tariff moves have been bound up with a separate effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

He has threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” aimed at Moscow’s trading partners if a ceasefire with Ukraine is not agreed by Friday, although it is unclear whether positive noises following talks between Washington and Moscow and a potential meeting between Trump and Putin will affect this.

In the interim, Trump threatened on Wednesday to raise the tariff rate on Indian goods to 50% from 27 August, as he pushes the world’s third largest importer of energy to stop buying oil from Russia.

Delhi called the move “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable” and vowed to protect its national interests.

The move marked a “sharp change” in Trump’s approach to Moscow that could spark concerns among other countries in talks with the US, said market analyst Farhan Badami from financial services firm eToro.

“There is the possibility here that India is only the first target that Trump intends to punish for maintaining trade relations with Russia,” Mr Badami said.

Also on Wednesday, Trump said he would impose a 100% tariff on foreign-made semiconductors.

That threat came as tech firm Apple announced a new $100bn (£75bn) US investment after coming under pressure from the White House to move more production to the US.

Major chipmakers that have made significant investments in the US appear to be able to dodge the new tariff. Government officials in Taiwan and South Korea have said in separate statements that TSMC, SK Hynix, and Samsung would be exempt from the new levy.

The White House did not immediately respond to a BBC request for clarification.

The BBC has also contacted SK Hynix and Samsung. TSMC declined to comment.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump’s second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher’s weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Once branded “Australia’s worst mother” but now considered the victim of one of its greatest miscarriages of justice, Kathleen Folbigg has been offered A$2m (£975,580, $1.3m) in compensation for 20 years of wrongful imprisonment.

Ms Folbigg was convicted over the deaths of her four babies in 2003, but freed in 2023 after a judicial review of her case found they may have died of a genetic condition.

Legal experts had estimated that the 58-year-old could expect one of the highest compensation payouts in Australian history, likely upwards of $10m.

However, on Thursday Ms Folbigg’s lawyer said the she had been offered $2m by the government, which they called “profoundly unfair and unjust”.

“The sum offered is a moral affront – woefully inadequate and ethically indefensible,” Rhanee Rego said in a statement.

“The system has failed Kathleen Folbigg once again.”

In a statement, New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley said the decision was based on “thorough and extensive” consideration of Ms Folbigg’s application for compensation.

“At Ms Folbigg’s request, the Attorney General and government have agreed to not publicly discuss the details of the decision.”

Ms Folbigg’s four infant children – Caleb, Patrick, Sarah, and Laura – each died suddenly between 1989 and 1999, aged between 19 days and 18 months.

Prosecutors at her trial alleged she had smothered them, relying on circumstantial evidence – including Ms Folbigg’s diaries – to paint her as an unstable mother, prone to rage.

In 2003, she was sentenced to 40 years in jail for the murders of Sarah, Patrick and Laura, and the manslaughter of Caleb, later downgraded to 30 years on appeal.

Ms Folbigg has always maintained her innocence, and in 2023 a landmark inquiry into her case found her children could have died of natural causes because of incredibly rare gene mutations.

Ms Rego said the payment offered to Ms Folbigg did not fairly take into account the suffering she had endured.

“When Lindy Chamberlain was exonerated in 1994, she received $1.7 million for three years in prison,” she said, referencing another mother falsely convicted of murder after her infant daughter was taken from an outback campsite by a dingo.

“Kathleen Folbigg spent two decades in prison, yet for her wrongful imprisonment she has been offered $2 million.”

After her release, forensic criminologist Xanthe Mallett told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she “wouldn’t be surprised” if compensation awarded was upwards of A$10m.

Meanwhile, Professor Gary Edmond, from the University of NSW, told the Guardian Australia that Ms Folbigg’s compensation payout “would have to be” the largest in the country’s history.

Other local media reported that she could receive damages of up to A$20m.

After nearly two years of war, Hamas’s military capability is severely weakened and its political leadership under intense pressure.

Yet, throughout the war Hamas has managed to continue to use a secret cash-based payment system to pay 30,000 civil servants’ salaries totalling $7m (£5.3m).

The BBC has spoken to three civil servants who have confirmed they have received nearly $300 each within the last week.

It’s believed they are among tens of thousands of employees who have continued to receive a maximum of just over 20% of their pre-war salary every 10 weeks.

Amid soaring inflation, the token salary – a fraction of the full amount – is causing rising resentment among the party faithful.

Severe food shortages – which aid agencies blame on Israeli restrictions – and rising cases of acute malnutrition continue in Gaza, where a kilogramme of flour in recent weeks has cost as much as $80 – an all-time high.

With no functioning banking system in Gaza, even receiving the salary is complex and at times, dangerous. Israel regularly identifies and targets Hamas salary distributors, seeking to disrupt the group’s ability to govern.

Employees, from police officers to tax officials, often receive an encrypted message on their own phones or their spouses’ instructing them to go to a specific location at a specific time to “meet a friend for tea”.

At the meeting point, the employee is approached by a man – or occasionally a woman – who discreetly hands over a sealed envelope containing the money before vanishing without further interaction.

An employee at the Hamas Ministry of Religious Affairs, who doesn’t want to give his name for safety reasons, described the dangers involved in collecting his wages.

“Every time I go to pick up my salary, I say goodbye to my wife and children. I know that I may not return,” he said. “On several occasions, Israeli strikes have hit the salary distribution points. I survived one that targeted a busy market in Gaza City.”

Alaa, whose name we have changed to protect his identity, is a schoolteacher employed by the Hamas-run government and the sole provider for a family of six.

“I received 1,000 shekels (about $300) in worn-out banknotes – no trader would accept them. Only 200 shekels were usable – the rest, I honestly don’t know what to do with,” he told the BBC.

“After two-and-a-half months of hunger, they pay us in tattered cash.

“I’m often forced to go to aid distribution points in the hope of getting some flour to feed my children. Sometimes I succeed in bringing home a little, but most of the time I fail.”

In March the Israeli military said they had killed the head of Hamas’s finances, Ismail Barhoum, in a strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. They accused him of channelling funds to Hamas’s military wing.

It remains unclear how Hamas has managed to continue funding salary payments given the destruction of much of its administrative and financial infrastructure.

One senior Hamas employee, who served in high positions and is familiar with Hamas’s financial operations, told the BBC that the group had stockpiled approximately $700m in cash and hundreds of millions of shekels in underground tunnels prior to the group’s deadly 7 October 2023 attack in southern Israel, which sparked the devastating Israeli military campaign.

These were allegedly overseen directly by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his brother Mohammed – both of whom have since been killed by Israeli forces.

Hamas has historically relied on funding from heavy import duties and taxes imposed on Gaza’s population, as well as receiving millions of dollars of support from Qatar.

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing which operates through a separate financial system, is financed mainly by Iran.

A senior official from the banned Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most influential Islamist organisations in the world, has said that around 10% of their budget was also directed to Hamas.

In order to generate revenue during the war, Hamas has also continued to levy taxes on traders and has sold large quantities of cigarettes at inflated prices up to 100 times their original cost. Before the war, a box of 20 cigarettes cost $5 – that has now risen to more than $170.

In addition to cash payments, Hamas has distributed food parcels to its members and their families via local emergency committees whose leadership is frequently rotated due to repeated Israeli strikes.

That has fuelled public anger, with many residents in Gaza accusing Hamas of distributing aid only to its supporters and excluding the wider population.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid that has entered Gaza during the ceasefire earlier this year, something Hamas denies. However BBC sources in Gaza have said that significant quantities of aid were taken by Hamas during this time.

Nisreen Khaled, a widow left caring for three children after her husband died of cancer five years ago, told the BBC: “When the hunger worsened, my children were crying not only from pain but also from watching our Hamas-affiliated neighbours receive food parcels and sacks of flour.

“Are they not the reason for our suffering? Why didn’t they secure food, water, and medicine before launching their 7 October adventure?”

India has unexpectedly become a key target in Washington’s latest push to pressure Russia over the Ukraine war.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump doubled US tariffs on India to 50%, up from 25%, penalising Delhi for purchasing Russian oil – a move India called “unfair” and “unjustified”. The tariffs aim to cut Russia’s oil revenues and force Putin into a ceasefire. The new rate will come into effect in 21 days, so on 27 August.

This makes India the most heavily taxed US trading partner in Asia and places it alongside Brazil, another nation facing steep US tariffs amid tense relations.

India insists its imports are driven by market factors and vital to its energy security, but the tariffs threaten to hit Indian exports and growth hard.

Almost all of India’s $86.5bn [£64.7bn] in annual goods exports to the US stand to become commercially unviable if these rates sustain.

Most Indian exporters have said they can barely absorb a 10-15% rise, so a combined 50% tariff is far beyond their capacity.

If effective, the tariff would be similar to “a trade embargo, and will lead to a sudden stop in affected export products,” Japanese brokerage firm Nomura said in a note.

The US is India’s top export market, making up 18% of exports and 2.2% of GDP. A 25% tariff could cut GDP by 0.2–0.4%, risking growth slipping below 6% this year.

India’s electronics and pharma exports remain exempt from additional tariffs for now, but the impact would be felt in India domestically “with labour-intensive exports like textiles and gems and jewelry taking the fall”, Priyanka Kishore of Asia Decoded, a Singapore-based consultancy told the BBC.

Rakesh Mehra of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (Citi) called the tariffs a “huge setback” for India’s textile exporters, saying they will sharply weaken competitiveness in the US market.

With tensions now escalating, experts have called Trump’s decision a high-stakes gamble.

India is not the only buyer of Russian oil – there are China and Turkey as well – yet Washington has chosen to target a country widely regarded as a key partner.

So what changed and what could be the fallout?

India’s former central bank governor Urjit Patel said that India’s “worst fears” have materialised with the recent announcement.

“One hopes that this is short term, and that talks around a trade deal slated to make progress this month will go ahead. Otherwise, a needless trade war, whose contours are difficult to gauge at this early juncture, will likely ensue,” Mr Patel wrote in a LinkedIn post.

The damaging impact of the tariffs is why few expect them to last. With new rates starting 27 August, the next 20 days are critical – India’s moves in this bargaining window will be closely watched by anxious markets.

The key question is whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will quietly abandon trading ties with Russia to avoid the “Russia penalty” or stand firm against the US.

“India’s efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian military hardware and diversify its oil imports predate pressure from the Trump administration, so Delhi may be able to offer some conciliatory gestures in line with its existing foreign policy behaviour,” according to Dr Chietigj Bajpaee of Chatham House.

He says the relationship is in a “managed decline”, losing Cold War-era strategic importance, but Russia will remain a key partner for India for the foreseeable future.

However, some experts believe Trump’s recent actions give India an opportunity to rethink its strategic ties.

If anything the US’s actions could “push India to reconsider its strategic alignment, deepening ties with Russia, China, and many other countries”, says Ajay Srivastava of the the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank.

Modi will visit China for the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit – his first since the deadly 2020 Galwan border clashes. Some suggest a revival of India-Russia-China trilateral talks may be on the table.

The immediate focus is on August trade talks, as a US team visits India. Negotiations stalled earlier over agriculture and dairy – sectors where the US demands greater access, but India holds firm.

Will there be concessions in areas like dairy and farming that India has been staunchly protecting or could the political cost be too high?

The other big question: What’s next for India’s rising appeal as a China-plus-one destination for nations and firms looking to diversify their supply chains and investments?

Trump’s tariffs risk slowing momentum as countries like Vietnam offer lower tariffs. Experts say the impact on investor sentiment may be limited. India is still courting firms like Apple, which makes a big chunk of its phones locally, and has been largely shielded since semiconductors aren’t taxed under the new tariffs.

Experts will also be watching what India does to support its exporters.

“India’s government so far has not favoured direct subsidies to exporters, but its current proposed programmes of favourable trade financing and export promotion may not be enough to tackle the impact of such a wide tariff differential,” according to Nomura.

With stakes high, trade experts say only top-level diplomacy can revive a trade deal that seemed within reach just weeks ago.

For now the Indian government has put up a strong front, saying it will take “all actions necessary to protect its national interests”.

The opposition has upped the ante with senior Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi calling Trump’s 50% tariffs “economic blackmail” and “an attempt to bully India into an unfair trade deal”.

Is Modi’s touted “mega partnership” with the US now his biggest foreign policy test? And will India hit back?

Retaliation by India is unlikely but not impossible, says Barclays Research, because there is precedent.

“In 2019, India announced tariffs on 28 US products, including US apples and almonds, in response to the US tariffs on steel and aluminium. Some of these tariffs were eventually reversed in 2023, following the resolution of WTO disputes,” Barclays Research said in a note.

Angela Rayner has given China two weeks to explain why parts of its plans for a new mega-embassy in London have been blanked out.

The deputy prime minister’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government sent a letter asking for further information and requested a response by 20 August, the BBC understands.

Beijing’s plans for the new embassy have sparked fears its location – Royal Mint Court near London’s financial district – could pose an espionage risk. Residents nearby also fear it would pose a security risk to them and attract large protests.

The BBC has contacted the Chinese embassy in London for comment.

A final planning decision on the controversial plans will be made by 9 September, the BBC understands.

In a letter seen by the PA news agency, Rayner, who as housing secretary is responsible for overseeing planning matters, asks planning consultants representing the Chinese embassy to explain why drawings of the planned site are blacked out.

The Home Office and the Foreign Office also received copies of the letter.

It notes that the Home Office requested a new “hard perimeter” be placed around the embassy site, to prevent “unregulated public access”, and says this could require a further planning application.

There are concerns, held by some opponents, that the Royal Mint Court site could allow China to infiltrate the UK’s financial system by tapping into fibre optic cables carrying sensitive data for firms in the City of London.

Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong also fear Beijing could use the huge embassy to harass political opponents and even detain them. Last month, the UK condemned cash offers from Hong Kong authorities for people who help in the arrest of pro-democracy activists living in Britain.

Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister, said: “No surprises here – Labour’s rush to appease Xi Jinping’s demands for a new embassy demonstrated a complacency when it came to keeping our people safe. Having deluded themselves for so long, they’ve recognised we were right to be vigilant.”

Responding to security concerns earlier this week, the Chinese embassy told the BBC it was “committed to promoting understanding and the friendship between the Chinese and British peoples and the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. Building the new embassy would help us better perform such responsibilities”.

China bought the old Royal Mint Court for £255m in 2018. At 20,000 square metres, the complex will be the biggest embassy in Europe if it goes ahead.

The plan involves a cultural centre and housing for 200 staff, but in the basement, behind security doors, there are also rooms with no identified use on the plans.

Beijing’s application for the embassy had previously been rejected by Tower Hamlets Council in 2022 over safety and security concerns.

It resubmitted an identical application in August 2024, one month after Labour came to power.

On 23 August, Sir Keir Starmer phoned Chinese President Xi Jinping for their first talks. Sir Keir confirmed afterwards that Xi had raised the embassy issue.

Rayner has since exercised her power to take the matter out of the council’s hands amid attempts by the government to engage with China after a cooling of relations during the final years of Conservative Party rule.

Senior ministers have signalled they are in favour if minor adjustments are made to the plan.

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Famed Australian crocodile wrangler Matt Wright urged friends to “torch” evidence and tried to pressure a hospitalised witness after a fatal helicopter crash, prosecutors have told his trial.

The former Netflix star is accused of three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice over the crocodile-egg-harvesting disaster in 2022.

Mr Wright’s friend and Outback Wrangler co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson, who was suspended from the aircraft in a sling, died when it hit the ground. Pilot Sebastian Robinson also was seriously injured.

Mr Wright has pleaded not guilty, and his defence team deny he tampered with any evidence.

In their opening address to the Northern Territory (NT) Supreme Court, the prosecution said it was not alleging that Mr Wright was responsible for the crash, but accused him of interfering with the investigation.

He was not on board but was among the first on the scene in Arnhem Land, about 500km (310 miles) east of Darwin.

The court was told he had a “play around” with the dashboard of the damaged helicopter and falsely reported its fuel tank level.

Prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC also claimed Mr Wright was involved in “systemic under-recording” of flight hours and, worried he might be blamed for the crash, tried to destroy or alter the logs for the helicopter involved.

The jury was on Thursday shown transcripts of secret recordings made inside Mr Wright’s home, including a “critical passage” in which prosecutors claimed he was discussing requests from aviation authorities looking into the incident.

“Just torch it. I don’t know where it is but I’m thinking it’s either there – I’ve got to send it to CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) or the ATSB (Australian Transport Safety Bureau),” Mr Wright said, according to the transcript provided by prosecutors.

Mr Gullaci also told the court that Mr Wright had visited Mr Robinson at a Brisbane hospital to put “the hard word” on the injured pilot. He alleged Mr Wright asked Mr Robinson to transfer flight hours from the crashed aircraft to another helicopter.

During the defence’s opening statement, lawyer David Edwardson SC said that under-recording flight hours was standard practice for many pilots in the NT – but Mr Wright “emphatically denies” he broke the law trying to cover this up.

Both parties agree that authorities were ultimately provided the correct, original flight records, he said, and recordings captured inside Mr Wright’s home and relied upon for two of the key allegations were “extremely poor”.

He added that the defence would dispute the evidence of conversations between Mr Wright and Mr Robinson, saying the pilot’s credibility – as well as his extended family’s – was “seriously in issue”.

Mr Wright is best known globally as the star of National Geographic’s Outback Wrangler and Netflix’s Wild Croc Territory reality shows. The 43-year-old also owns several local tourism businesses and has been a tourism ambassador for Australia.

His trial is expected to run for up to five weeks.