Good morning central Victoria!
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We’re in for a hot one today - mostly sunny with a top of 40 in Bendigo, Maryborough and Redesdale; 38 in Castlemaine; 37 in Kyneton; and 42 in Echuca.
Catch up on news here:
Thomas Keating could face two-year suspended sentence
Thomas Keating, the boyfriend of a Victorian woman who was killed in a tragic jet-ski crash in Thailand, is expected to be formally interviewed and charged on Thursday. Read More here.
Bendigo Health CEO stands down
Bendigo Health chief executive John Mulder has temporarily stood down. Mr Mulder said in a statement he had stood down but was unable to provide further comment for legal reasons. Read more here.
Pilots celebrate new runway
Bendigo is a step closer to achieving its high-flying ambitions, with a new 1600 metre-long runway at the city’s airport open for use. Read more here.
Riding for Disabled to stay in 2017
After a summer of uncertainty Bendigo Riding for the Disabled has confirmed it has enough clients to continue this year. Read more here.
“Inspirational” Geary to captain Saints
“He plays the right way and inspires people around him.” High praise for Jarryn Geary from St Kilda coach Alan Richardson after the former Bendigo Pioneers star was announced as Saints captain for 2017. Read more here.
State of the nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered.
► WAUCHOPE: Once a jolly swagman worked at a Melbourne bank, tired of his office job, camped behind a desk. So he packed up his things and he headed for the open road, 40 years on and he is yet to take a rest.
Born in 1954 in the Western Victorian town of Minyip, John Cadoret was in his early twenties when he decided to leave his shared flat and party life behind, simply because he wanted to.
“I don’t regret anything. Regrets are useless. You just hopefully learn. I have learnt to take each day as it comes.” More here.
► VICTOR HARBOR: A 50-year-old Murray Bridge man is one of two men accused of murdering another man in Victor Harbor last week.
Both men were arrested and charged after a deceased man was found inside a home at Hayborough on Wednesday, February 1. More here.
► BIRDSVILLE: Birdsville is an outback Queensland town used to hot weather, but the current heatwave is unusual even for them.
Daily temperatures in Birdsville have hit 43 or higher since Australia Day, even reaching a high of 46 degrees on Tuesday.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Brett Harrison said Birdsville's temperatures have been "well above" average for at least a couple of weeks. More here.
► TAMWORTH: Paramedics have welcomed Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s commitment to increasing their death and disability cover, on the back of a 90-day statewide campaign to put them on par with their police counterparts.
The state’s paramedics have campaigned to reverse cuts to their death and disability pension since the reduced cover was announced in August. The anticipated January 17 announcement about the improvements to the cover was delayed until January 31.
And despite vowing to improve paramedics’ cover, the new premier is yet to officially hand down an announcement, as “discussions continue”. More here.
► HOBART: A woman watched on as her friend was shot in the head, turned sideways, and uttered just one word, a court heard.
Klaus Dieter Neubert, 74, is accused of killing his estranged wife Olga Neubert, while she sat in her car at a red light in May 2015.
Mr Neubert has pleaded not guilty in the Hobart Supreme Court to murdering his wife and causing grievous bodily harm to her passenger Josephine Ramos Cooper. More here.
National news
► The Catholic church is a "law unto itself" in need of serious cultural reform if it is to properly address widespread allegations of child sexual abuse within its ranks, a royal commission heard.
The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse there was a lack of transparency within the church.
"We are, as it were, a law and a world unto ourselves," he said. More here.
► The Turnbull government has been accused of holding parents "hostage" by surprisingly combining its childcare reforms with $8 billion in payment cuts to unemployed young people, welfare recipients and families whose employers provide paid parental leave.
The government had previously flagged it would combine its childcare changes with cuts to family tax benefits, but went further on Wednesday by rolling several previously rejected welfare cuts into the same bill. More here.
► You've seen loved ones mark themselves "safe" in an emergency on Facebook before. Now the social media giant is going one step further.
Facebook today announces "Community Help", a follow-up tool to its well-known "Safety Check" mechanism that allows individuals to mark themselves safe during disasters or attacks.
The new function will allow users to organise relief, such as food, shelter, transportation and basic items after a crisis. More here.
► Pity the poor souls who live in Bourke, Birdsville and Moomba.
These rural towns are all about to endure four days above 40 degrees. Birdsville and Moomba will suffer through three days above 45.
This summer's most extensive, and brutal, heatwave is building over central and eastern Australia.
Inland parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and northern Victoria are set to swelter through at least four days of extreme heat, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. More here.
National weather radar
International news
► LONDON: Rolf Harris has been found not guilty of groping two women and a teenage girl, however he still could face a retrial on four other counts of groping four different teenagers.
After more than 26 hours of deliberation beginning last Wednesday, the jury was only able to reach majority verdicts on two charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. More here.
► INDONESIA: Indonesia's chief security minister Wiranto has said that President Joko Widodo will visit Australia on February 26, which he said showed the relationship between Australia and Indonesia "was not shaky".
The confirmation of the presidential visit came as Australian Army chief Angus Campbell met with Indonesian military chief Gatot Nurmantyo after a furore earlier this year when material considered offensive by Indonesia was discovered at a Perth army base. More here.
► WASHINGTON: The fate of Donald Trump's migrant crackdown was being decided on Tuesday night, after a rapid-fire, phone-hook-up court hearing, during which the much of the skepticism from the three-judge panel was directed at the lawyers attempting to defend the President's controversial executive order.
The San Francisco-based Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said a decision on a Trump application, to be released from a stay order issued by a Seattle court, would "probably" be issued in the coming days, clarifying the position of tens of thousands of travellers whose visas were revoked under Trump's order and then reinstated after the Seattle decision. More here.
On this day
The faces of Australia: Scarlett Walker
On Wednesday morning Scarlett Walker strapped on her school bag for the first time to begin kindergarten.
Years of learning, fun and friendships await her schooling life.
But when she leaves college and puts the school bag down for the last time 14 years from now, the world is likely to be a different place. Read more here.