Good morning. Here are your headlines from around regional Australia and beyond. Scroll down and refresh for weather, road reports and more.
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MANDURAH: When Coodanup resident Roshelle Taylor speaks about her daughter Yvonne she can’t hold back the tears
Fourteen months after her daughter died, the 19-year-old said she believes her life would be completely different had she taken a simple blood test while pregnant.
Yvonne was one of the almost 2000 Australian babies born each year with congenital cytomegalovirus infection (CMV), a virus contracted from their mother while in the womb. Read more.
SECRET HARBOUR: Detectives are currently investigating a firearm incident in Secret Harbour on Monday afternoon. Police were called around 2pm to reports of possible shots fired at a home on Noosa Drive. Read more.
PINK LAKE: Esperance Detectives do not believe the burned car found at the scene of the Pink Lake bushfire was the source of the blaze. Detective sergeant Darryl Noye said he believed the car was burned as result of the fire. Read more.
GRACETOWN: The Shire of Augusta Margaret River has reiterated the importance of the public heeding warnings to stay off the closed lookout structure at Gracetown’s Southpoint/Huzza’s carpark. Read more.
BUSSELTON: Sharks are still being spotted close to shore around the South West coast which has not deterred some surfers from braving the water during the annual salmon run. Read more.
MANDURAH: Mandurah’s latest reality television stars have been revealed, with a former Mandurah Mail journalist set to take on the small screen.
Local twins Andrew and Jono King are featuring in a promotional video for Channel 7’s upcoming season of House Rules. Read more.
REGIONAL NEWS
Police are urging people to be wary of purchasing tickets, coupons and vouchers for Sydney's Royal Easter Show through unofficial sellers following reports of credit card fraud.
Two brothers who pleaded guilty to assaulting a publican following a funeral, received identical sentences when they appeared together in Orange Local Court.
Lithgow City Council has cleared up the confusion surrounding the expenditure of last year’s Halloween Festival.
The ever increasing problem of domestic violence is now seeing, on average, one domestic related homicide every two weeks in NSW, an increase this year already.
NATIONAL WEATHER
What does it look like in your neck of the woods today?
NATIONAL NEWS
►To be played by John Clarke was a badge of honour for many politicians. While some humourless types might grouch about being lampooned, others took it as a sign that they were, if nothing else, recognisable enough to be the target of Clarke's coruscating wit.
"His laconic wit was rarely wide of the mark. I should know. With lethal accuracy he made politicians and prime ministers his prey," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. Read more
►Treasurer Scott Morrison has indicated a tax on empty housing stock could be in the May budget, along with plans to encourage elderly Australians to downsize their homes.
He also left the door open to allowing first home buyers to raid their superannuation to fund a deposit, and said further tightening on regulations for foreign investors had "his very close attention". Read more
► He is serving a prison sentence over his secret business dealings at Circular Quay. Now Eddie Obeid's family has been hauled into court to answer questions about the cash profits from two harbourside cafes at the centre of the trial.
The former NSW Labor minister's wife of 51 years, Judith Obeid, appeared in the witness box in the Supreme Court in Sydney on Monday to give evidence about how the money was spent. Read on
VIDEO SPECIAL
Imagine rising to 3000 feet in a plane not too dissimilar to something used in World War II when the engine seems to quietly stall, the nose tips towards the ocean above Port Kembla and you start spinning. Ahead of this year’s Wings Over Illawarra air show, organisers decided to put reporter Desiree Savage in one of the Southern Biplanes to find out exactly what it’s like. Watch the video here
WORLD NEWS
►SAN BERNARDINO: At least two adults were killed and two students were struck by gunfire in a classroom shooting on Monday at a Southern California elementary school, police and fire officials said.
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said the shooting at North Park Elementary School, east of Los Angeles, appeared to a "murder-suicide" and that two wounded students had been taken to the hospital for treatment. Read on
►GAZA STRIP: Everybody in Gaza fears another war. After the 2014 conflict, which killed 2250 Palestinians and 70 Israelis, little has changed on the ground for the territory's 2 million residents.
A local psychiatrist, Khaled Dahlan, recently told me in Gaza that Palestinians had multi-generational trauma, having been dispossessed and attacked for decades. "We have had so many conflicts" in the last 70 years, he said.
The World Health Organisation estimates that at least 20 per cent of the population has severe mental illness. Read more
►MOSCOW: Western powers are weighing new sanctions on Russia and Syria for a deadly chemical attack last week, as leaders seek to present a united front ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Moscow.
"The game has now been changed and it's important that message should be heard from the Americans to the Russians," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters on the first of two days of talks between foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) nations in the ancient Tuscan town of Lucca. Read on
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
2015 U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro meet at the Summit of the Americas in Panama for talks aimed at thawing relations; the historic meeting marks the first interaction in decades between top leaders of the two nations.
2013 Japan's Honda, Nissan and Mazda automakers announce plas to recall 3.4 million cars due to airbag defects.
2011 In France, a law banning wearing the burqa and hijab goes into effect.
1986 Halley's Comet makes closest approach to Earth this trip, 63 M km.
1972 U.S.S.R. performs underground nuclear test
1967 Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," premieres.
1961 Bob Dylan's 1st appearance at Folk City, Greenwich Village.
1951 President Truman fires General Douglas McArthur.
1947 Jackie Robinson becomes 1st black in modern major-league baseball.
1906 Einstein introduces his Theory of Relativity.
FACES OF AUSTRALIA: Johnny Kassel
Inspired by the recent wet weather-inspired fungus photo galleries, Johnny Kassel has shared his passion for the fascinating organism. Johnny Kassel has lived ion the Mid-North Coast of NSW for about 12 years and has an avid interest in nature, especially the flora and fauna native to the Macleay region. Check out his fine fungi here