Russia fires 26 missiles into Syria

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu 

It appears that Russia's entry into the war on IS is having more impact than all the coalition countries put together.

Russia launched 26 cruise missiles at 11 targets from their warships in the Caspian Sea, destroying IS command centres and training camps in Syria which has caused panic among the extremists.

The missiles flew 1,500 kms before reaching their targets and Russia needed the permission of Iran and Iraq to travel through their airspace. The missiles used are capable of hitting a target within 3 metres at a range of up to 2,500 kms.

Video evidence shows that IS is keeping it's hardware near mosques and the Russian Defense Ministry believes they will now bomb mosques in Palmyra and other Syrian cities and blame it on the Russians.

Hmeymim airbase is currently being used by the Russian Air Force after a request from President Assad.

Iraq wants Russia to play a bigger role than America in the fight against IS and is expected to ask them to start airstrikes on its soil.

Geoff Hunt family inquest

In September 2014, Geoff Hunt completely lost his mind and killed his wife and three children.  On the kitchen table he left a note "I'm sorry, it's all my fault, totally mine."

Kim Hunt 41 lay dead on the garden path and inside, their children, Fletcher 10, Mia 8, and Phoebe 6 lay dead in their beds and in a nearby dam, police found the body of Geoff Hunt 44, along with a shotgun.

This week the inquest took place in Wagga Wagga Local Court and Hunts' close family heard what had gone wrong to bring about this tragic event.

Mrs Hunt had been involved in a near-fatal car accident in 2012 which left her with a brain injury that changed her personality. After spending seven months in hospital, she returned home and would "explode with rage" at her husband.

She confided in a relative that she did not love her husband any more and was no longer attracted to him and the night before she and the children died, she told support worker Lorraine Bourke about how frustrated she was with him.

And in June 2013 she told a counsellor it would be better if she had died in the accident and was having suicidal thoughts but she would not use a gun because it was "too messy."

So we begin to understand the reason behind Geoff Hunt's depression, as his wife slips further into mental illness, but it doesn't explain why he believed the children had to die too.

Before the accident, Mrs Hunt was described as a "warm and loving mother, a perfectionist with lots of energy."

But Mr Hunt's parents noticed something was wrong.  Just days before they died, his mother said "Geoffrey had no smiles today." His father replied "No, he hasn't smiled in a week."

Mosque leader kicks cameraman

Neil El-Kadomi, chairman of the Parramatta Mosque

Neil El-Kadomi, chairman of the Parramatta Mosque kicked a cameraman from Nine News yesterday when he was being questioned and photographed outside his mosque.  He denied any association with the 15 year old boy who murdered Curtis Cheng on Friday afternoon.

Detectives are about to review a month's worth of security footage from the mosque after Hizb ut-Tahrir denied claims that one of their imams who gave a speech on Friday, was part of the Islamic organization.

Mr El-Kadomi denied he knew the boy and claimed the teen was an infrequent visitor at the mosque.  "He died and his secret died with him, I don't know if it's terrorism, what the boy's motive is we don't know" he said.  "We are Australian and we live in Australia, the mosque has no link to the crime, the community is very shocked by what happened."

This morning, police arrested a student on his way to Arthur Phillip High School, the same school attended by the 15 year old who shot and killed Curtis Cheng.

Police wanted to question him about alleged posts on social media but when the boy threatened and tried to intimidate them, he was handcuffed and taken to Parramatta Police Station.

Teenage killer linked to Hizb ut-Tahrir

Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad

The 15 year old listened to a lecture by an extremist group at the Parramatta Mosque just hours before he shot and killed Curtis Cheng with one shot to the back of the head.

Curtis Cheng (left) and family

Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad heard a talk by Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, changed into a black robe and set off with a gun to police headquarters, a 15 minute walk away from the mosque.

He dumped his backpack at the nearby high school he attended, closed for the holidays, and inside, police found material linked to a Sydney Islamic bookstore.

Parramatta Mosque

After the teenager shot Mr Cheng, he danced for joy, shouted Allah, Allah, and continued firing at police until he was killed in a shootout with three constables.

The schoolboy regularly skipped class to pray at the mosque and police have seized recordings of the imam's sermons on Friday.  A senior Hizb ut-Tahrir figure is believed to have given a lecture on the day of the shooting.

Hizb ut-Tahrir made headlines last year when four Australian children, one only 6 years old, were seen on video shouting "You're never too young to be a soldier for Khalifa" and chanting "O Bahar, we want your head." 

The extremist group rejects democracy, secularism and all Western models of state.

Neil El-Kadomi, a senior figure at Parramatta mosque said Farhad had occasionally visited the building but he did no know him by name. "Because he was very quiet, nobody noticed him" he said. "He's not known in the mosque.  He came to the mosque to heal himself before he did the crime, which is wrong."

Mr El-Kadomi said the mosque had nothing to do with the shooting and did not condone it.

Radicalized teen kills man in Parramatta

As Curtis Cheng was leaving work and heading for home yesterday, he was shot at close range and died on the street outside the building where he worked at Police headquarters in Parramatta.

He was an IT employee and 17-year veteran of the Police Force's Finance Department and his killer was a 15 year old radicalized Muslim boy.

After shooting Mr Cheng, the boy ran around outside the building, waving his gun in the air shouting Allah, Allah and was shot dead by police who emerged from the building in response to the incident.

He was born in Iran of Iraqi-Kurdish background and is a naturalised Australian citizen.  He was not known to police and has no criminal history.

The Chairman of the Parramatta Mosque, Neil El-Kadomi said he was contacted by police last night and shown a photograph of the boy who was known to enter the mosque before the attack.  "We don't know him" he said after reviewing CCTC footage from his mosque to try and establish what time he was there.

"I looked at the footage and we stayed until late at night....we have 400-500 people coming every day....we don't accept what he did, it's a crime" he said.

The Sunni mosque is about 15 minute walk away from the police building where the shooting took place.

Titanic menu sold online

A menu for the last luncheon served to first-class passengers sold for $88,000 at an online auction.

The menu was saved by Abraham Lincoln Salomon, one of the passengers who escaped in the "money boat" that was filled with wealthy people.

Titanic Lifeboat No 1 was the fourth lifeboat launched from Titanic at 1am on 14 April 1912. Although it had the capacity to hold 40 people, there were only 12 onboard and most of those were men even though the captain made it clear that women and children go first.

First Officer Murdoch allowed five passengers and seven crew to board Boat No 1.  They were Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, a prominent Scottish landowner and sportsman, his wife Lady Duff Gordon, her secretary Mabel Francatelli, Abraham Salomon and CE Henry Stengel.

Sir Cosmo

When it was discovered that Boat No 1 could hold 40 people yet only 12 were onboard, rumours started to circulate in the press that Sir Cosmo had bribed the crew not to rescue those drowning in the water and dubbed it "the money boat."

Split into three sections - first, second and third, first-class had the advantage of being closer to the top deck where lifeboats were being deployed and a gate separating second and third class sections remained locked.  

Because of the captain's "women and children first" rule, 1,347 men perished, 103 women and 53 children.

Passenger deaths by class - 130 first-class, 166 second-class and 536 third-class.

Of the 899 crew members, 685 died.

Captain EJ Smith who went down with his ship

When the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized and sank in January 2012, 32 lives were lost. But Captain Francesco Schettino had no concept of the "women and children first" rule.  He made sure he was one of the first to abandon ship.

Koori Knockout in Dubbo 2015

Giles Cubby and Zaidon Britt will play for Goodooga Magpies under 17s 

Around 13 per cent of residents in the NSW country town of Dubbo identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and residents are very upset about a letter they received from the Housing Office of the Department of Families and Community Services (FACS).

This upcoming long weekend, Dubbo will be celebrating the Koori Knockout and it's clear from the letter that authorities are expecting trouble.  They wrote to all housing residents asking them to contact police for advice on "how to manage situations that get out of hand."

As the warmer months of the year approach ... FACS is well aware there are a number of activities scheduled to take place in Dubbo.

One of these activities is the NSW Annual Aboriginal Football Knockout to be held in Dubbo over the long weekend.

Please be assured that FACS is very supportive of all activities, in particular the football event.

However, we are aware that the football, in particular, brings high numbers of visitors into Dubbo to celebrate this event with friends and family and many stay in social housing properties.

Having visitors is enjoyable however sometimes it may bring stress particularly if you are unsure of how to manage situations that get out of hand.

Iris Blackhall, a social housing resident who lives opposite the oval where the tournament will be held said she had never before received a letter telling her how to behave.  "It's racially discriminating, I'm 60 years old and I don't go out of my way to make problems for anybody" she said.

FACS admits the letter was poorly worded and is now knocking on everyone's door, apologising for their mistake.