The deaths of a Brisbane mother and her three children have prompted an outpouring of anger, sadness and disbelief among family members, politicians, domestic violence advocates and the Australian community. Hannah Clarke, 31, also known as Hannah Baxter, and her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, died after the family car was set alight on a street in …

Police have confirmed two people have died after a train derailed north of Melbourne. A Transport for NSW spokesperson confirmed the train had come off the rails near the town of Wallan, 45 kilometres north of the Victorian capital. The train was the Sydney to Melbourne XPT service with around 160 passengers on board. There are five passenger cars derailed, …

Here’s what you need to know this morning. Water restrictions to be relaxed Level two water restrictions across Sydney are to be relaxed after recent downpours boosted dam levels. The downgrade from level two to level one is expected to come into force on March 1. Warragamba Dam is currently at 80 per cent capacity, up from 44 per cent …

An elderly Chinese tourist hospitalised in France has died of the novel coronavirus, becoming the first fatality in Europe, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn says. France has recorded 12 cases of the virus, out of a global total of 69,092 according to Centres for Disease Control data collated by Johns Hopkins University. The vast majority of those suffering from the virus are …

It always pays to read the fine print. Last month’s report by the Australian National Audit Office into the now notorious sports grants scheme wasn’t happy reading for the Government. But there was one line the Prime Minister latched onto. It was a line in the opening “summary and recommendations” section, a mere nine pages in. “No applications assessed as …

Diplomatic tensions over Britain’s decision to allow Chinese telco Huawei into its 5G network have boiled over after confidential discussions with Australia about the policy were leaked. The ABC can reveal the UK’s High Commissioner has taken the rare step of writing to the heads of two federal parliamentary committees to formally protest the leak of details of sensitive talks …

A man has died and a woman has been injured after being washed off the rocks by powerful waves at Bondi Beach. Emergency services were called to Mermaid Rocks after reports of two people in distress in the water around 5:30pm. The man, aged in his 40s, was pulled to shore with the help of bystanders but couldn’t be revived …

Syria’s Parliament [People’s Assembly] has unanimously passed a resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman state at the turn of the 20th century. The move was adopted during the session held today at the Parliament in Damascus. The resolution expressed the sympathy of the Parliament with the Armenian people and recognized that Armenian, Syriac and Assyrian peoples …

China’s Hubei province has reported 81 more deaths from coronavirus, bringing the total to 780 and taking the global count past that caused by the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003. The national health commission confirmed cases across China had risen to 37,198, with 811 deaths. The number of people who died from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) reached 774. The announcements came …

Back in October, the nation’s often-warring media companies joined forces in a rare display of unity. As part of the “Right to Know” campaign, newspaper front pages were blacked out and TV ads ran across the networks. It was an attempt to harness “people power” behind the cause of press freedom. The rival bosses of News Corp, the ABC and …