Here’s your headlines from around regional Australia and beyond. Scroll down and refresh for weather, road reports and more.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
8.30am: That's a wrap for this morning. Remember to check in on your local paper's website for breaking news throughout the day.
8.26am: After a quiet start Wollongong shoppers and visitors have come out in droves for Boxing Day sales in the city centre. Read all about it.
8.17am: Sydney was gifted one of the most exhilarating starts to the 72nd Sydney to Hobart, as spectators flocked to the harbour foreshore on a glorious Boxing Day.
8.10am: I think I might get one of these for myself. Not that I’ll need to eat for a while after Christmas.
8.05am: The iconic Tathra Wharf to Waves ocean swim carnival is fast approaching.
Officials have set down January 14-15 for the event and are urging everyone to book the dates in their calendar as there is something for everyone on the day. Find out more.
8.00am: There’s no reason for school holiday boredom. Here’s a stack of stuff to keep ‘em entertained.
7.36am: A man has died after being pulled unconscious from the water in Shoalhaven on Monday night. Full story.
South Coast weather
Partly cloudy. Medium (50%) chance of showers inland, slight (30%) chance elsewhere. The chance of a thunderstorm this afternoon. Light winds becoming E 15 to 20 km/h in the late afternoon then tending NE in the evening. Daytime maximum temperatures around 30.
Roads and rail
For those hitting the road this morning we’ve got a clear run so far. Good news for train commuters, there are no delays on the South Coast line.
Regional news
LAUNCESTON | Street seals not ‘uncommon’
An Australian fur seal took the internet by storm when he wandered from an estuary onto the streets of Newstead on Boxing Day.
Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Marine Conservation Program wildlife biologist Doctor Rachael Alderman said it wasn’t that uncommon for seals to be found in urban settings during summer because they’re in the midst of their breeding season.
BALLARAT | Disaster scheme opens
More than $23 million will be pumped into Victorian communities to help combat the impact of natural disasters.
Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan and Victorian Deputy Premier and Minister for Emergency Services James Merlino announced the allocation, with the federal contribution part of the $52 million national partnership agreement on natural disaster resilience.
MAITLAND | Scores of feral shopping trolleys litter streets
More than 100 shopping trolleys littered Maitland’s central business district on Christmas morning.
Some trolleys contained the remnants of smashed bottles of alcohol, others were left empty and turned upside down in front of business houses.
BENDIGO | Living in a car and singing for her supper
When Roshani Priddis is asked where she calls home, her answer is unexpected.
“Our Toyota Hiace,” the 29-year-old says.
Although she grew up in Tamworth, the singer-songwriter has spent the last two years busking around Australia with her partner, musician Tim Everett, living out of their car the entire time.
National news
Nine days before he died, a young Sudanese refugee's exasperation at what he saw as the inaction of the health providers at the Manus Island detention centre reached breaking point.
In broken English, Faysal Ishak Ahmed filled out a complaint form, demanding to know why more than 20 visits to the centre's clinic had not produced a diagnosis of his ailments, let alone a treatment plan.
A young girl has died while her twin brother remains in hospital in critical condition after having been pulled from a backyard pool in northwest Sydney last week, according to NSW police.
Toddlers Robbi and Charli Manago, 23 months old, were found unconscious in the pool of their home on Charbel Place, Kellyville Ridge about 7pm on December 20.
National weather radar
International news
The Tunisian suspect behind the truck attack that killed 12 people in a Berlin Christmas market last week appears to have passed through Lyon in France as he fled to Italy, a French judicial source said on Monday.
The Russian investigation into the crash of a military transport plane that killed dozens of members of the Red Army Choir is focusing on pilot error or a technical fault, rather than terrorism, a top official said on Monday.
Sunday's crash was the second national tragedy for Russia in less than a week, once again in the shadow of the country's military involvement in Syria. Once again, the nation was left with more questions than answers.
On this day | December 27
1945 International Monetary Fund formally established by 29 member countries
1949 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands grants independence to Indonesia
1979 Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, President Hafizullah Amin overthrown
The faces of Australia: Andrew Costello
IN a country where a beef breeder is so prized she sleeps in the family home and the sale of just one calf would double a family’s annual income, one humble Australian charity is making big inroads in addressing poverty.
It’s not via handouts that Cows for Cambodia is making a difference, it’s via a hand-up. Read on
