Hunter roads: All Hunter roads are clear this morning.
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Hunter trains: There is a good service on the Hunter line and on the Central Coast and Newcastle line and the Hunter line.
Hunter weather: Cloudy and a high chance of showers in Newcastle (23 degrees), Raymond Terrace is in for a cloudy day with a very high chance of showers (22 degrees), cloudy day for Maitland with showers (23 degrees) and a cloudy day with a high chance of showers and (26 degrees).
Hunter beachwatch by Dave Anderson: Fresh onshore winds and an increase likely with a low pressure system to the south in the Tasman.Conditions to be choppy and southern facing breaks the better options. Swell South at 2m and wind also South tending S/E by the afternoon. Tides full first up and better breaks off Nobbys,Cliff,Pogos and Merewether.Some protection at Stockton and One Mile up at Port Stephens.Dudley,Blacksmiths and Catho to the south. Swimming conditions to deteriorate with sweeps forming the the north and dangerous on rocks.Best to head to ocean bathes if not a strong swimmer. Water temp 22C.
► Tributes are flowing as hearts break around the rugby league world following news of Sharnie Kimmorley’s death. More here.
► A HUNTER Catholic priest has been charged with child sex offences after a man alleged he was sexually abused by two Catholic priests and another man in the Taree area in the late 1970s. More here.
► MARYVILLE man Jim Plummer has been reunited with his stolen bike, after police retrieved it from a house in Cardiff on Wednesday afternoon. More here.
► The NSW teachers union has demanded the Department of Education do more to protect the health of staff and students from a mould infestation at Maitland Public School. More here.
► HUNTER Development Corporation has signed off on the clean up of the final piece of the former BHP steelworks site – a $21 million project that when finished will close a chapter in Newcastle’s history. More here.
► IF you have a product, service or simply a concept that can benefit the Hunter, now is the time to voice it. More here.
► KNIGHTS prop Daniel Saifiti reckons it’s about time he stamped his authority on a game. More here.
► Lyme is the most common tick-borne disease in the northern hemisphere and is caused by Borrelia bacteria entering the body through a bite from a tick. Help us get Lyme disease recognised in Australia. More here.
► ON Sunday, Bob Porter is planning to sit in a park near Munmorah Power Station and watch a huge part of his working life topple to the ground. More here.
► When the news bulletin of the Westminster terror attack hit TV screens on Thursday morning Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon’s immediate thought was of his daughter, Caitlin, who is a paramedic in London. More here.
► Three men have been charged in relation to a spate of alleged motor vehicle break-ins in Maitland. Police believe two 22-year-old men and a 25-year-old man were involved in multiple thefts from motor vehicles across the Central Hunter after they were allegedly caught with tools used to break into homes and cars. More here.
► Traditional pizza, perhaps not as Australians know it but certainly as the Italians know it, has come to Maitland. More here.
► THE state government’s plan to restore 64 staff positions that had been axed from Hunter and Central Coast TAFE campuses has sparked a political row. More here.
► A Metford business has been struck by thieves just three days after it opened. More here.
► Ranger patrols of parking areas throughout February resulted in 85 warnings to drivers outside Port Stephens schools. More here.
►SAIL Port Stephens is going big for its 10th anniversary regatta. The largest number of class events and marine conferences in Sail Port Stephens history will be staged as part of the 2017 regatta, which will be held April 3 to 9. More here.
Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered.
►WOLLONGONG: Stephen Grimmer plans to be there when the man accused of taking his sister, Cheryl, from Fairy Meadow beach and killing her in 1970 fronts court today. Read on
►LAUNCESTON: The Tasmanian government and farming body has welcomed Food Standards Australia and New Zealand’s (FSANZ) decision to recommend low-THC hemp seed products be granted food status.
A government spokesman said the Tasmanian government had been a long-time advocate for the use of low-THC hemp in food as it would present an economic opportunity for the state’s farmers. Read more
►BUNBURY: A mentally ill man who sparked a 12-hour siege in Bunbury and held his chained up friend hostage with a speargun has been sentenced to four years and nine months in a mental health facility.
David Charles Batty, 54, held his friend captive at a park in the state's south-west in July 2015 - threatening to blow him up with a fake explosive he said was wrapped around his chest. Read on
►BENDIGO: The Supreme Court has heard a man accused of shaking his daughter to death had “no idea” how her injuries happened when interviewed by police.
Joby Anthony Rowe, 24, was questioned by the homicide squad shortly before the death of his daughter, Alanah Rowe, on August 30, 2015.
Mr Rowe has been charged with child homicide and on Thursday the jury in his trial was played a video recording of the interview in which he denied hurting the three-month-old. Read on
►DUBBO: The crew involved with the emergency landing of a flight out of Dubbo have been congratulated for their skill during the incident.
Emergency services were called to Dubbo airport after a Regional Express (REX) flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday morning. There were 26 people on board the flight to Sydney when the pilot reported a right engine failure alert. Read on
►HORSHAM: A gun store owner believes the duck hunting season is a Wimmera tradition that needs to continue. Read on
SA: An Eyre Peninsula woman has captured an amazing example of parental diligence with her video of an adult emu caring for a group of about 40 juveniles. Watch the video here
National news
►VIC: In the past 12 months, 82,800 Australians have moved to Victoria from interstate, around 500 carloads a week. Read more
►NSW: A man who allegedly impersonated a doctor worked shifts at the Royal North Shore and Mona Vale hospitals, health authorities revealed on Thursday. Shyam Acharya allegedly assumed the identity of a doctor from India - Dr Sarang Chitale - migrated to Australia and was employed by NSW Health between 2003 and 2014. Read on
►VIC: One of Jane Garrett's former senior advisers is a contender to replace Steve Herbert in the Victorian Parliament, after he sensationally quit politics. Ending a difficult week for the Andrews government, in which further pressure was piled on the Premier over the entitlements scandal, Mr Herbert said he "no longer [had] 100 per cent to give" after 15 years in state politics. Read on
►QLD: Queenslanders who lost millions of dollars in the devastating 2011 floods - but whose properties suffered no physical damage - could receive compensation if a second class action against Seqwater is given the go-ahead on Friday morning. Read on
National weather radar
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International news
►LONDON: Major landmarks in the British capital gradually reopened on Thursday afternoon and life began to return to normal, the day after a lone attacker descended on Westminster, killing three and injuring 40 more. Read on
►BEIJING: Chinese media have blown hot and cold on Australia as Premier Li Keqiang arrived for a five-day visit. To its English language audience of diplomats and business people, the state tabloid Global Times has raised the prospect of cheap Chinese infrastructure opening up Australia's deserted north. Read on
►DUBAI: "I was thinking I was going to die that night, I didn't know what to do."
The militants came to the town in the dark. The girls, aged between 16 and 18, were at their boarding school, studying for their final exams. From their school dormitory they heard gunshots and men yelling, and they knew it was Boko Haram.
Next month, April 14, marks three years since Islamic extremists from the Boko Haram group stormed the government high school in Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria, and abducted 219 girls at gunpoint. Read on
On This Day
The faces of Australia: Ted Taylor
This was one of Ted Taylor’s earliest memories of growing up in the Snowy Mountains where transport was by horseback, schooling was by correspondence and real-life experiences, friendships were forged through blizzards, and community was as strong as the freezing winds that blew across the mountains in the depths of winter. Read on