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Fine and sunny today with a top of 34 in Albury-Wodonga. Max temps: Corowa 34, Culcairn 34, Wangaratta 34, Corryong 33, Bright 31, Falls Creek 18.
Catch up on news here:
Huge cigarette haul found on the Hume
Police have recovered more than 16,000 cartons of cigarettes stashed in the back of a truck on the Hume Highway at Holbrook. More here
Major firefighting aircraft stationed at Albury airport
Albury airport will be a major base of operation for firefighting services this fire season. Two large air tankers, two air cranes and three air attack supervision craft are stationed at the airport due to increased fire risk across New South Wales. More here
La Trobe scholarship for Yarrawonga and district students
John Richards, a long-time supporter of La Trobe University Albury-Wodonga, has launched an annual scholarship for undergraduate students aged 30 and under living within a 25km radius of the town. More here
Rorter rips off the system
An Albury man who earned $65,316 and claimed nearly $30,000 in Centrelink benefits has been given a suspended jail term and will be forced to pay the cash back. More here
Albury-Wodonga boys fighting at Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup
“Yeah it was a bit (intimidating) because they’re like a foot bigger, but we got through it against South Australia,” captain Mitch Donovan said. Albury-Wodonga has a number of under-age players at the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup, who normally play under 16 level in the local competition. More here
State of the nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing – well, we have you covered.
Regional news
►GOULBURN, NSW: Tales of devastating losses have been shared at The Loaded Dog pub after fires sweep through the region. Employee Vicki Bowes said she heard of one landowner who had lost 200 head of sheep at Lower Boro: “He lost stock in the fire before Christmas. He had just replaced those and now he’s lost more in this fire.”...read the full story.
►MELBOUNRE, VIC: Rainbow Serpent Music and Arts Festival organisers are calling for a fresh approach to recreational drugs laws after a horror weekend in Melbourne resulted in three deaths…full story here.
►SYDNEY, NSW: 40 years on the memories of the Granville train disaster are still raw for rescuers like Gerry Buchtmann who pulled both the living and the dead from beneath a road bridge that had collapsed onto two commuter train carriages in the nation’s worst rail disaster.
► WAGGA WAGGA, NSW: If it’s so hot outside you wouldn’t walk your dog, why would you race a horse? animal activists ask. This comes after a full cart of races went ahead on Tuesday in temperatures above 40 degrees...catch up on the full story.
National news
►Properties have been damaged and other homes remained under threat as bushfires raged into the evening across the Hunter Valley and near the ACT...catch up on the latest here.
►A toddler has been taken to hospital in a serious condition after he was pulled unconscious from a backyard swimming pool in Sydney's west. The boy is the latest victim in a string of water-related incidents this summer...full story here.
► 2016 has been declared the hottest year on record. The World Meteorological Organisation said temperatures in 2016 were about 1.1 degrees higher than the pre-industrial period...That beat the 2015 record by 0.07 degrees.
National weather radar
International news
► Now will Julian Assange be extradited to the US to face charges? Last week, the WikiLeaks Twitter account, widely believed to be run by Julian Assange, tweeted: "If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition.” But he has in the past promised much more than he delivered.
►INDONESIA: Permadi Arya became famous – or infamous, depending on how you look at it – for his satirical YouTube videos lampooning extremism. One of them, You are Shiite, sends up those who preach that only Sunni Muslims will be guaranteed a plot of land in heaven. But not everyone was amused.
Faces of Australia:
With two generations of leather tanning in her blood and a love of nature, taxidermy was a natural progression for Hillston local Cassandra Hall.
Her grandfather was a drover and the source of Cas’ skills in leather working.
Not scared to get her hands dirty as a child, Cassandra would go out hunting with him and help mount his prized catches.