Welcome to the 9News.com.au live blog for Friday, June 10, 2022. After a four-year battle, the Nadesalingam family has finally touched down in their adopted hometown of Biloela. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is visiting Australia. Three people have been sentenced to death for fighting with Ukrainian forces against the Russian invasion. The US House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol will open its hearings today, with a focus on former President Donald Trump. And airports are seeing massive queues as people prepare to take off for the long weekend.
- Ardern to push on deportations in PM's first visit from a foreign leader
- Pro-Moscow rebels sentence Brits and Moroccan to death
- Missing daughter of murdered couple found alive over 40 years later
- US Capitol riot hearings opening with focus on extremists, Trump
Thanks for following along with today's live blog.
We will be back tomorrow.
In the meantime, you can stay up to date with all the latest news on 9news.com.au and nine.com.au.
The New South Wales government will trial a new transport app that allows subscribers to plan, book and pay for a tailored commuter experience.
Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport Rob Stokes said the Opal Plus App will initially run for 12 months for a select 10,000 people and will streamline services like rideshare, e-bike rental, taxi rides and parking.
A man is in a critical condition after a "serious incident" at Urbnsurf in Melbourne's north this morning.
Ambulance Victoria said paramedics were called to the incident at the surf park in Tullamarine at 11.30am.
The man has been taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Priya Murugappan said immigration detention was incredibly difficult for her family and two daughters, saying she is looking forward to starting a new chapter in their lives.
She said the detention facilities had minimal access to medical facilities and care.
"Long time in detention, no medical facilities, no healthy food, mentally stressful," she said.
"Detention life is hard on both children mentally.
"The treatment wasn't human - we had a really hard life and I hope nobody has to go through that time. I hope there is a change in government."
Murugappan said she can't describe the feeling of finally arriving home.
"I felt like I was flying, I can't describe the moment of landing in Bilo," she said.
"Landing here gives me a lot of hope and for my daughters, I hope I can give my girls a better life and better future.
"Words can't describe what I am feeling."
The Murugappan family, also known as the Nadesalingam family, shed tears of joy as they were welcomed back to the Biloela community in Queensland.
Supporters of the Tamil family gathered on the tarmac awaiting their arrival, cheering and waving "welcome home" signs as they got off the plane.
"Me and my family is very happy," Priya Murugappan said.
"Again, it's hard to imagine it, back to my community Bilo."
She said after four years of travelling and detention, the family holds great love for the community that supported them.
"My strong love, everything, (to) my community and Australian people, (to) my family (for) helping," she said.
"Happy for all in Bilo, our wonderful friends."
The Nadesalingam family is addressing the media after touching down in Biloela.
They are joined by their supporters from the Home to Bilo campaign.
You can watch the press conference live at the top of this page.
After a four-year battle, the Nadesalingam family has finally touched down in their adopted hometown of Biloela.
The Biloela community has been determined in their campaign to see the Tamil asylum seekers return to the central Queensland town after they were detained in an Australian Border Force raid in 2018.
The family spent four years in detention on Christmas Island and later in Perth.
Labor granted the family bridging visas to remain in Australia after its election win and set in process the move to bring them home to Biloela.
Colour, smiles and tears of joy are filling Thangool Airport as the family makes their way home.
Western Australia's casino regulator has approved a US equity giant's acquisition bid of Crown Resorts.
Blackstone will be allowed to become the new owners of Crown and has been given the group a casino gaming licence.
It comes after both NSW and Victoria gambling authorities approved the group to operate in their respective states.
"As the prospective new owner of the Perth Casino, Blackstone will be required to meet a number of stringent conditions," Racing and Gaming Minister Tony Buti said.
"These conditions align with a number of the recommendations stemming from the recent Perth Casino Royal Commission."
Gaming and Wagering Commission Chair Lanie Chopping said Blackstone has been subject to an "extensive probity assessment".
"The Gaming and Wagering Commission's probity approval has been granted subject to a number of conditions designed to ensure that the Commission has oversight and the capacity to monitor any change in licensee management or ownership," Chopping said.
A barista has been left shaken after a man threw two hot coffees at him over a disagreement in Sydney's west.
The incident occurred at Soul Bowl in Rosehill just after 11 am yesterday.
Lily Semaan, the owner of the cafe, said the man had insisted to pay for a young woman's coffee and she refused.
CCTV of the incident was posted to social media in a bid to identify the offender.
A man has been shot in the arm in the New South Wales Hunter region.
Police were told the 27-year-old man was walking his dog on Middle Road, Paxton, when he was approached from behind and shot around 2.30am this morning.
"He did not see anyone and went home before he was driven to hospital where he remains in a stable condition," NSW Police said in a statement.
Police are investigating the incident.
Travellers will soon be able to add their Opal cards to their digital wallet on their mobile phones as part of an upgrade.
The NSW government has put aside more than $550 million for the Opal Next Gen upgrade which sets out to modernise the ticketing system.
Around 10,000 people will be selected to take part in an Opal Plus 12-month trial, which allows subscribers to bundle together public transport, rideshare, ebike rental, taxi and parking.
In what might be considered a mixed blessing at best, scientists are one step closer to making a Terminator.
Researchers in Japan have developed living skin that can be used to cover a robotic structure - in the case of this project, a finger.
The skin not only has a similar texture to human skin, but can self-heal and repels water.
A reporter has asked Ardern about security arrangements to combat the rising challenges in the Pacific.
Ardern said the voice of the Pacific Islands needs to be heard when speaking about the challenges.
"We want to see an increasing elevation of the Pacific Island voice within our region," she said.
"We've heard a lot of dialogue about the Pacific, not much of a chance for the Pacific to speak for themselves on these issues."
The issue of deportation has been raised, and Ardern has called for further discussions around the deportation of New Zealanders.
"I heard there was a real awareness of some of the issues that we have long raised, a longstanding expectation that Australia not deport individuals who have lived in Australia for a long time and are essentially Australians," she said.
Albanese said his government will work through the issue of deportation and how section 501 is implemented.
"We've listened to the concerns and there's more work to do," he said.
Albanese said he and Ardern discussed climate change overnight and that both countries see it as a "national security challenge".
"The challenge of climate change is, of course, also a national security challenge as well as being a challenge for our actual environment, but also an opportunity for us to grow jobs and increase economic activity," he said.
Albanese spoke of the "ambitious action" his government plans to take in terms of climate change.
"We will submit, I can confirm today, that we'll submit an updated nationally-determined contribution to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change soon," he said.
Ardern has also addressed climate change as a significant issue for Australia and New Zealand.
"As the Prime Minister has already said, climate change is a global issue - one that is writ large in our region," she said.
"And we are very eager to work alongside our Pacific partners on the significant threat, the number one threat in the eyes of our Pacific neighbours in your region."
Ardern added the pair also discussed the war in Ukraine, Indigenous policy and the Christchurch Call to Action.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern are looking to take trans-Tasman relations to "a new level".
"What that means is new jobs, new growth, new opportunities to cooperate both in terms of our economy," he said.
Albanese and Ardern are looking to work together to face global challenges like climate change.
"Together we face global challenges of a changing climate, economic head-winds, a more insecure regional circumstance that we have to deal with strategic competition in the region," Albanese said.
Travellers heading off for the long weekend have also been met with long queues at Melbourne Airport this morning.
About 97,000 passengers are expected to pass through the airport today, which is set for its busiest day since the start of the pandemic.
Melbourne Airport has advised travellers to arrive early to ensure they have enough time to clear check-in and security.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern will soon hold a joint press conference.
Keep an ear out for what they say on China, the Pacific, and Australia's deportation policy.
You can watch the two leaders speak in the player above.
Two British citizens and a Moroccan were sentenced to death Thursday for fighting on Ukraine's side, in a punishment handed down by the country's pro-Moscow rebels.
The proceedings against the three captured fighters were denounced by Ukraine and the West as a sham and a violation of the rules of war.
Meanwhile, as the Kremlin's forces continuing a grinding war of attrition in the east, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to liken his actions to those of Peter the Great in the 18th century and said the country needs to "take back" historic Russian lands.
A hero dog that saved her owner from a mountain lion in California last month has died after her condition suddenly deteriorated.
Erin Wilson took to Instagram to announce her beloved Belgian shepherd, Eva, died yesterday morning at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
The two-and-a-half-year-old dog was rushed to the vets after she began panting, while there she suffered seizures and slipped into a coma.
The Washington Post has fired Felicia Sonmez, the reporter who has been extraordinarily critical of her colleagues and the newspaper's leadership over the last several days, two people familiar with the matter has told CNN.
Sonmez did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Post declined to comment.
The Daily Beast was first to report Sonmez's exit.
A stepfather in Florida has been convicted of child abuse after a restaurant employee last year noticed concerning signs and used a surreptitious note to ask a boy if he needed help, the Orange County State Attorney's Office announced Monday.
A jury found Timothy Lee Wilson, 36, guilty of two counts of false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13, three counts of aggravated child abuse with a weapon, four counts of aggravated child abuse, and one count of child neglect, a news release from the state attorney's office said.
An investigation revealed the boy was kept away from his family in a hotel room used for storage, was regularly deprived of food and drink, and was subjected to military-style exercises and other abuses, according to the release. Officers recovered multiple items used as weapons against the child, the release added.
The US House committee is opening its hearings into the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Former US President Donald Trump is expected to be in the spotlight for his actions around the riot, which threatened to stop the certification of Joe Biden's presidential election win.
It's airing on prime time in the US - except on Fox News - and you can watch the hearings live too, in the player above.
The chairman of the US House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection and Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election is ready to open Thursday's prime-time hearing declaring the deadly attack and the lies that led to it put "two and half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk."
Representative Bennie Thompson said "the world is watching" the US response to the panel's year-long investigation into the Capitol attack and the defeated president's extraordinary effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory.
"America has long been expected to be a shining city on a hill. A beacon of hope and freedom," Thompson planned to say, according to excerpts released in advance.
"How can we play that role when our own house is in such disorder? We must confront the truth with candor, resolve and determination."
The committee planned to present never-before-seen video and a mass of other evidence to show the "harrowing story" of the deadly violence that day and also a chilling backstory as Trump, the defeated president, tried to overturn Biden's election victory.
A Swiss Zoo has welcomed the arrival of an albino Galapagos tortoise.
The Tropiquarium in Servion successfully hatched two of the endangered babies and were surprised when one emerged with no pigment.
Albinism is extremely rare in turtles and tortoises.
Vladimir Putin (pictured) has compared himself to revered Russian monarch Peter the Great, who conquered Swedish land in the 18th century.
The Russian president made the remarks as he visited an exhibition to mark Peter the Great's birthday in Moscow.
He said that Peter had not conquered foreign territory, but returned Russia's rightful possessions.
"He was returning it and strengthening it," Putin said, making an apparent comparison to his own invasion of Ukraine.
"Well, apparently, it has also fallen to us to return and to strengthen."
Peter the Great, who reigned from 1682 to 1725, is regarded as Russia's first emperor.
Putin himself has nursed a desire to restore Russia to imperial greatness, many observers believe.
Eight-year-old Sienna Santiago was left fighting for her life in ICU after living in a house found to have "very high levels of mould".
Her father, former NT police officer Stephen Thomson, lived with his young family on the Tiwi Islands in police housing riddled with mould.
They moved to Pirlangimpi in April 2017 and said for the next two years he repeatedly reported the mould to police management, as did the remote sergeant on the island.
Ardern says the Pacific's strength is in its collective voice, as China continues to build ties in the region.
Beijing recently demanded New Zealand stop "interfering" in the Pacific, after concerns over new security arrangements.
"Our connections into the Pacific, they run deep," Ardern said.
"We have large Pacific communities in New Zealand, Pacific members of Parliament, Pacific ministers. So the relationship for us is not a bilateral relationship; it's a family relationship. And so I don't see our relationship as ever being able to be described as interference.
"I do think it's time that actually there is an opportunity for our Pacific neighbours to speak for themselves. There's a lot of commentary around what's happening in the region. Very little opportunity for them to speak to it."
She said China's presence in the Pacific was not new, but that potential militarisation in the region was worth being concerned over.
"But off the back of those recent trips you also saw that the Pacific held its ground on security arrangements, and, you know, that again, I think, speaks to the fact that the Pacific are speaking and sharing their own views," she said.
Ardern has acknowledged that Australia's deportation policy, which has been an issue for New Zealand for some time, remains in focus as she meets with Albanese.
She said New Zealand did not oppose deportations in general, but only in specific circumstances.
"When someone comes here and essentially, hasn't even really had any connection with New Zealand at all, has spent their entire formative years and grown up here and have all their connections in Australia and are essentially Australian, sending them back to New Zealand, that's where we've had the grievance," she said.
"I've heard the Prime Minister prior to winning the election speak to his acknowledgement that that is the part of the policy that we've taken issue with. Even that acknowledgement says to me he's hearing us, he knows it's a problem."
She said she would give Albanese time to consider the issue, but that she wanted to see "movement" on it.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed what music was exchanged between her and Anthony Albanese when the two met last night.
The pair of leaders exchanged gifts to mark Ardern's first visit down under since 2020.
"I know that he enjoys music and so I shared with him a few from the Flying Nun label in New Zealand, Aldous Harding, the Clean's Compilation," Ardern told Today.
"In exchange, I got Powderfinger, Spiderbait and Midnight Oil."
She diplomatically dodged a cheeky question about why no similar exchange had been done with former PM Scott Morrison.
"We talked about music on occasion but I'm not sure I would've picked necessarily the right music if I was given that task," she said.
Three people have been killed in another mass shooting in the US.
The attack took place at a business in Smithsburg in Maryland, and a state trooper was shot in the shoulder, according to Governor Larry Hogan.
Hogan said he didn't have all the facts immediately from a briefing with law enforcement but said the suspect shot the state trooper in the shoulder, who then returned fire. He said he didn't know the status of the shooting suspect after the gunfire.
However, police have said there is no threat to the community.
The shooting occurred at a business in the community of Smithsburg, Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sergeant Carly Hose said earlier by telephone.
The sheriff's office said it would release information as it was able, saying in a brief statement that the incident was rapidly evolving.
It declined to elaborate on the exact number of victims or the extent of victims' injuries, although Hogan had said there were potentially three fatalities.
The address given by authorities for the shooting corresponded to a manufacturing facility.
US Representative David Trone, a Maryland Democrat, tweeted that his office was in contact with authorities in the area and actively monitoring the situation in Smithsburg. News photographs showed a large law enforcement presence, including emergency vehicles at the scene.
It's the latest in a spate of mass shootings that has rocked the US in recent weeks.
Smithsburg, a community of nearly 3000 people, is located about 120km northwest of Baltimore.
A rescue is underway to save two factory workers who became stuck in waist-deep chocolate in the US.
Authorities are responding to the situation at the Elizabethtown Mars M&M factory in central Pennsylvania.
Lancaster County dispatch said the two employees feel into the tank around 1:51pm local time and could not get out.
Petrol prices around the country are through the roof in a worrying sign of what's to come for motorists.
One service station in Brisbane reached $2.24 a litre for unleaded yesterday - 3c/L more than Queensland's previous high in March.
And the pain is being felt around the country.
A species of "superworm" native to South and Central America could be the key to solving Australia's plastic waste crisis, a new study suggests.
According to the CSIRO, Australians consume one million tonnes of single use plastic each year - just 12 per cent of this is recycled.
But researchers at the University of Queensland have made a surprising discovery after feeding the common Zophobas morio superworm a diet of polystyrene, one which could change the process of recycling forever.
Early morning crowds are flooding Sydney Airport ahead of the Queen's Birthday long weekend.
At just 6am, the scene was reminiscent of the Easter travel logjam, when people were forced to wait for hours to check in.
About 80,000 people are expected to move through the airport today, with 380 flights leaving and 380 flights arriving.
There are also long waits for passports, with people paying money to skip long queues at passport offices.
People on AirTasker are offering up to $150 for people to hold their place in line during wait times which can be up to eight hours.
Welcome to the 9News live blog for Friday, June 10, 2022.
The US House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol will open its hearings today, with a focus on former President Donald Trump.
Road safety warnings have been issued ahead of the long weekend after a teenager was killed in Queensland.
Three foreign nationals have been sentenced to death for fighting with Ukrainian forces against the Russian invasion.
And New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is visiting Australia.
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