Welcome to your daily morning news catch-up. There's a lot to get through on this Monday morning so settle back and discover what's been happening.
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> A Maitland scientist is at the helm of a new study demonstrating the benefits of a fibre-rich diet in reducing airway inflammation and curbing the onset of asthma in both pregnant mothers and their infants.
> Maitland’s state MP wants an inquiry into the April superstorm so elected representatives of all political stripes can work together more effectively to help communities that are hit by future natural disasters. Read more here.
> Maitland-ites were among the thousands of people who turned out at Broadmeadow Racecourse for a colourful start to Sunday morning.
> When Montana-Jade Jenner and her partner Peter Burl learned they were having twins they were ecstatic but the elation quickly turned to heartache. Read more here.
> The federal government has announced funding to improve mobile phone coverage in Paterson and Vacy. Read more here.
> A merger between Maitland City Council and Dungog Shire Council is likely to be taken off the table today.
> A Maitland Mercury poll in May asking whether readers supported gay marriage found 81.63 of respondents in favour. Read more here.
HUNTER:
STUDENTS dropped lit cigarettes down their peers' pants, threatened to cut off others' fingers with a knife, pulled air-conditioning units out of the wall and drank an entire bottle of alcohol before vomiting at assembly.
These were among the most serious incidents reported at Hunter and Central Coast schools last year. MORE.
SHELLHARBOUR:
Shellharbour ratepayers will have to wait until the 2017-18 financial year to see all the proceeds from the council's $13 million Tullimbar land sale realised.
In April the council said it had exchanged contracts for the sale of a 42.25-hectare parcel of land at Tullimbar to help fund the $59.5 million Shellharbour City Hub project. MORE.
BENDIGO:
POLICE are hunting for those responsible for throwing molotov cocktails at a California Gully home in the early hours of Sunday morning.
No motive has been established for the targeted attack on the house in Hunter Avenue where a man and his teenage child were sleeping. MORE.
ARMIDALE:
MORE disturbing allegations about animal cruelty published in national media at the weekend are expected to be among evidence presented when a parliamentary inquiry into puppy farms sits in Armidale next month.
Several conflicting stories about the state of a number of northern puppy farms and breeding properties will be aired when the inquiry sits in Armidale on July 14. MORE.
WYALLA: Firefighters rescue 12 dogs during housefire. MORE.
BUNBURY:
Police dog Geoffrey has helped apprehend a man who punched a taxi driver in the face and exited without paying the fare.
A 60 year old taxi driver contacted police just after 10pm on Saturday night and alleged that one of his passengers punched him in the face and exited the cab without paying the fare. MORE.
NATIONAL NEWS
HOUSING: The "wall of Chinese capital" hitting property markets in Sydney and Melbourne will not ease up until the government introduces its anti-money laundering legislation, says an expert in 'flight capital'. MORE.
MAFIA IN POLITICS: The Calabrian Mafia has infiltrated Australian politics at both state and federal levels by ingratiating itself with individual party donors and members of Parliament, according to confidential police reports. MORE.
MURDER: A 61-year-old man has been charged with two counts of murder after the deaths of three people in Hermidale in western NSW, which were discovered after someone found a body in the driveway of a rural property. MORE.
NATIONAL WEATHER RADAR
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TUNISIA:
Before the bullets came laughter. As 23-year-old Seifeddine Yacoubi hopped off an inflatable boat about midday at the popular holiday resort of El Kantaoui, north of Sousse on Friday, he quickly blended into the hundreds of people enjoying a sunny day. The aviation student carried a beach parasol and joked and laughed with tourists as he moved among the mainly European holidaymakers, seeking out anyone from Britain or France. MORE.
UNITED STATES:
Across the United States fossil fuel companies threatened by the rapid growth of renewable energy have started fighting back, seeking to slow down the spread of cheap green power. It is a war between two of the most powerful industrialists in the country, men in part responsible for the creation of the Tea Party and an evolving coalition that includes, ironically, a key Tea Party leader and traditional green activists. MORE.
CAMBODIA:
The company's bulldozers came early one morning and pushed Ota Khami's wooden stilted house into muddy waters swirling towards the Mekong, the 4345-kilometre river whose roaring currents, waterfalls and gorges have long enchanted travellers and inspired explorers.
Ota Khami's seven children and wife wept as the giant machines crushed his mango, cashew and jackfruit trees.
"We couldn't do anything – our lives were ruined," says the 55-year-old villager from north-east Cambodia.
Now, 12 months later, the land that Ota Khami says he slashed and burned in the late 1990s to make his home alongside the Sesan River near the border with Laos has been turned into a canal next to a 75-metre-high concrete wall, one of 11 hydroelectric projects being built, under construction or planned in an area known as the Mekong basin in Cambodia and Laos. MORE.
FACES OF AUSTRALIA: ASHLEY GORDON
HE WAS a legend in the NRL, playing with the Newcastle Knights and Penrith Panthers and was named 1990’s Dally M Winger of the Year.
Now Indigenous footballer Ashley Gordon has turned his attention to helping people off the field.
Mr Gordon now manages the Warruwi Gambling Help program and will visit Wagga on Wednesday to have a yarn about problem gambling. MORE.
