Michaela Dunn identified as victim who died in Sydney stabbing attack

The family of the 24-year-old woman, whose body was found in a Clarence Street unit after Tuesday’s rampage, asked for privacy

The woman murdered in a vicious knife attack in Sydney has been named as Michaela Dunn.

The 24-year-old was allegedly killed at an apartment on Clarence Street in city’s CBD on Tuesday by Mert Ney, a 20-year-old who police say had a history of mental health issues.

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Sydney stabbing: one woman killed and one injured in ‘terrifying carnage’ in CBD

Police say 21-year-old suspect from western Sydney was carrying information on extremist ideologies when arrested

A man who allegedly stabbed a woman to death in Sydney’s central business district before attacking others on a busy city street with a butcher’s knife was arrested carrying information about terrorist attacks and extremist ideologies on a USB drive.

But police say the man did not have any known links to terror groups, and that he acted alone. The attacks are not being treated as a terrorist attack, the New South Wales police commissioner, Mick Fuller, said on Tuesday night.

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Sydney’s desalination plant set to expand as drought continues

NSW government wants to be ready to increase water supply if the drought worsens

The New South Wales government has begun preliminary planning to boost output at Sydney’s desalination plant, in a bid to secure the city’s water supply as dam levels continue to drop.

The Kurnell plant, which can currently supply drinking water for up to 1.5 million people in Sydney, returned to operation in January for the second time since 2012.

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Weather warning: cold snap continues across south-eastern Australia

Strong and gusty winds to bite parts of New South Wales as frosty temperatures sweep Victoria

Wild weather conditions are predicted to lash parts of New South Wales on Sunday afternoon, with conditions in Victoria expected to remain icy as the state is swept by another cold front.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast weather conditions in NSW would ease on Sunday morning before picking up again with strong and gusty winds in many areas of the state for the rest of the day.

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Wild weather: severe winds, snow, surf and rain lash Victoria, South Australia and NSW

Delays at Melbourne and Sydney airports, Frankston pier ripped from its moorings and snow at the AFL as polar blast strikes

Icy winds up to 120km/h, snow, wild surf and rain continued to lash South Australia, Victoria and parts of New South Waleson Friday, and snow fell at the AFL in Canberra.

The “strongest weather system this winter” to hit south-east Australia has continued its path of carnage across the country, grounding flights in Sydney and Melbourne, and leading to hundreds of calls to the State Emergency Service across all three states.

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Sydney councillor’s verbal abuse over rainbow flag was vilification, court finds

Julie Passas fined $2,500 after calling Ashfield neighbour’s flag celebrating same-sex marriage Yes vote ‘offensive’

A Sydney local councillor’s behaviour has been found to amount to homosexual vilification after she verbally abused a neighbour for displaying a rainbow flag on the day of the same-sex marriage postal survey result.

Julie Passas, who was the deputy mayor of Inner West council at the time, told neighbour Daniel Comensoli the flag he erected to celebrate the 61% Yes vote was “offensive to my culture and religion” and that he should not be allowed to marry “until you could breastfeed and have children”.

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Jihadist who planned attack on police and carved slogan into cellmate’s head jailed for 34 years

Bourhan Hraichie planned attack on Bankstown police station and threatened to kill NSW prisons boss

A New South Wales man who carved a terrorist slogan into a cellmate’s forehead and planned an Islamic State-inspired police shooting will spent at least 29 years in jail.

Bourhan Hraichie, 22, pleaded guilty in the NSW supreme court to four offences over his long-running plan to organise a terrorist attack on Bankstown police station, and causing grievous bodily harm to Michael O’Keefe with intent to murder.

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NSW set to decriminalise abortion as health minister says it’s ‘time for change’

Independent MP Alex Greenwich to introduce bill developed by cross-party working group

The New South Wales health minister has declared it’s “time for change” when it comes to abortion law, ahead of the introduction of a new bill which would see pregnancy terminations regulated as a medical procedure around the state.

Currently abortions in NSW are dealt with under the Crimes Act 1900.

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No ‘reasonable doubt’: inquiry reinforces guilt of convicted baby killer Kathleen Folbigg

The 51-year-old mother was jailed in 2003 for at least 25 years for killing her four babies

An inquiry into Kathleen Folbigg’s convictions for killing her four babies has reinforced her guilt, a former New South Wales district court chief judge has found.

Reginald Blanch QC, who presided over the inquiry, has concluded he does not have “any reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Kathleen Megan Folbigg”, in a report made public on Monday night.

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NSW police to help investigate death of Sydney man Lucas Fowler in Canada

Canadian police are calling the death of NSW senior police officer’s son and his US girlfriend a double homicide

The New South Wales police have sent two homicide detectives to Canada to assist in the investigation into the death of Lucas Fowler, the son of a senior NSW police officer.

They confirmed on Saturday that Fowler and his American girlfriend, Chynna Noelle Deese, were shot dead on Monday on the Alaska highway, 20km south of Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia.

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Festival deaths inquest: police pushed to release protocols after ‘unconscionable’ strip searches

Counsel assisting coroner says public deserves to know ‘under what circumstances are police entitled to strip search patrons’

The New South Wales coroner will push for the state’s police force to release its strip search protocols as part of an inquest into drug-related deaths at music festivals.

Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer told the court on Thursday that the inquest had yet to receive “police protocols” on when strip searches could be carried out in the state, but that she intended to pursue the matter .

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Toddler killed in Sydney driveway tragedy son of Olympic athlete Isaac Ntiamoah

One-year-old Josiah Ntiamoah died after being hit by a car at the front of a Green Valley home

A one-year-old boy who died after he was struck by a car in a driveway in Sydney’s west is believed to be the son of Olympic athlete Isaac Ntiamoah.

The toddler was hit by the car at the front of a Green Valley home about 3pm on Friday, New South Wales police said in a statement. His mother took him to Liverpool hospital but he died a short time later.

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Gladys Berejiklian urged to rule out logging in Murray Valley national park

Labor says deputy premier John Barilaro’s plan is outrageous while the Greens label it ‘criminal’

New South Wales Labor has demanded Gladys Berejiklian rule out Liberal party support for a Nationals bill that would open up the Murray Valley national park to logging.

The premier refused to comment on Thursday after the deputy premier, John Barilaro, vowed to de-gazette the park in the state’s Riverina region or reduce its size.

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‘Drug of the moment’: 5% of year 10 students have tried MDMA, expert says

Drug educator Paul Dillon says it’s ‘ludicrous’ to think pill testing will stop drug deaths, but Australia does need to try something

One in 20 year 10 students have tried ecstasy, an Australian drug educator has told an inquest into NSW music festival deaths.

“It just baffles me,” Paul Dillon said in Sydney on Tuesday. “Certainly amongst young people, MDMA is the drug of the moment.”

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Melbourne girl, 13, dies from the flu as national death toll nears 300

Crystal-lee Wightley dies at her family’s home three days after getting sick

A Melbourne family say they are heartbroken after a 13-year-old girl died from the flu late last week, as the national death toll nears 300.

Crystal-lee Wightley had the flu for three days before she died at her family’s home.

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Union forced to drop legal action against Wollongong’s western civilisation degree

Backdown comes after university intervened to have its governing body sign off on Ramsay Centre degree despite it never being considered by its academic senate

The peak union for university academics and staff has been forced to drop legal action against the University of Wollongong over its approval of the controversial Ramsay Centre-funded western civilisation course.

The National Tertiary Education Union announced on Friday that it had withdrawn its action in the New South Wales supreme court over what it had described as the “unlawful” approval of the degree by the university late last year.

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Jodi McKay: new NSW Labor leader says she’s ‘more than a match’ for Gladys Berejiklian

McKay says she can beat Gladys Berejiklian and education will be a ‘critical issue’ under her leadership

Newly elected New South Wales Labor leader Jodi McKay says she is “more than a match” for the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and she is not going to be pretend the two women are anything alike.

McKay’s election on Saturday was a landmark moment in NSW politics, making it the first time the premier and opposition leader have both been women.

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Recommendations from Opal Tower debacle not acted on

Engineers say changes are years overdue and obvious before Opal or Mascot Towers evacuations

Australia’s engineers say the recommendations from Opal Tower have still not been acted on, as the Mascot Towers apartment buildings in Sydney continued to sink further into the ground this week.

An emergency report into the cracked Opal Tower was completed in February by prominent university deans of architecture after the brand-new building was dramatically evacuated in December.

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Two workers exposed to unsafe radiation dose at Lucas Heights nuclear facility

Exclusive: production at Australia’s only nuclear medicine facility halted after ‘safety incident’

Production has ceased and an urgent investigation has been launched after two employees at a newly-opened Australian nuclear medicine facility at Lucas Heights were exposed to an unsafe dose of radiation late last week.

Just two weeks after it was granted a license to enter into full domestic production, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Antso) has confirmed production at its new $168m nuclear medicine facility has been halted after “a safety incident” on Friday morning.

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