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A landmark housing deal between the federal and state government will see 17,000 new homes built across South Australia- 7,000 of them reserved for first home buyers.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas have announced the deal together in Adelaide.
The federal government will fund a series of concessional loans for housing, and the things that are needed for housing, such as additional water infrastructure that will unlock 4,000 dwellings in Adelaide's north.
South Australia becomes the first state to sign onto Mr Albanese's promise at the last federal election to build 100,000 homes around Australia for first home buyers.
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A senior federal Liberal Party frontbencher is urging the party to concentrate on issues that matters to Australians, rather than its own internal politics.
Andrew Hastie yesterday withdrew from contention for the leadership, following another round of intense speculation about Sussan Ley's future in the job- this one coming after another row with the National Party.
Opposition Immigration spokesman Paul Scarr has told the Nine Network the party needs to be focused on things like the economy, rather than navel gazing.
"I support Sussan Ley, she's our leader, I support her 100%. But can I just say, the most important meeting next week will be the meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia which will be considering increasing interest rates which will be impacting millions of Australians, and I think that needs to be our focus."
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The head of the United Nations is warning the U-N faces imminent financial collapse unless its financial rules are overhauled, or all member nations pay their dues.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to all UN member nations that cash for its regular operating budget could run out by July, which could dramatically affect its operations.
Mr Guterres didn't name any specific country of the 193 member states, but the financial crisis comes as the U-S, traditionally its largest donor, has not paid its mandatory dues to the world body.
The US now owes $3.1 billion dollars to the UN 's regular budget, plus it will owe $1.1 billion dollars for this year, according to a UN official.
U-N spokesman Farhan Haq says the problem has been building for quite a while now.
"Over the years we've had to scramble and use whatever funds we have available to keep our operations going. Once our reserves have dwindled to this extent, our ability to do that has been undercut for when it comes to paying. It's now or never. We do not have the sort of cash reserves and the sort of liquidity to keep functioning as we've done in previous years. And this is something that the Secretary-General has warned with increasing strength each year.”
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IS has claimed responsibility for an attack on an air force base in the west African country of Niger earlier this week that wounded four soldiers and damaged an aircraft.
IS says the attack, which occurred in the nation's capital, Niamey, was a surprise and co-ordinated late night attack that inflicted heavy losses.
State television in Niger is reporting the country's armed forces responded quickly to the attack, killing 20 of the attackers, and arresting 11 others.
Niger has struggled to deal with deadly jihadi violence in its region.
The head of Niger's military government, Abdourahamane Tchiani, is claiming France, Benin, and the Ivory Coast supported the attack, although he hasn't provided any evidence of this.
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Emmy-winning actress Catherine O'Hara has died at the age of 71 after a brief illness.
She's most recently known for her role as the eccentric Moira Rose in 'Schitt's Creek' - a globally acclaimed show that won O'Hara an Emmy award for best actress.
The actress is also remembered for her role as Kate McCallister, the mother of Macaulay Culkin's character in the movie 'Home Alone', and Delia Deetz in the film 'Beetlejuice'.
O’Hara started her comedy career in the 1970s and helped to create the Canadian sketch show SCTV.
She broke into film in the 1980s with her first big screen credit in romantic comedy Nothing Personal with Donald Sutherland, and in 1985 she had a role in Martin Scorsese’s black comedy After Hours.
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In football, Socceroos defender Callum Elder has done his chances of being picked for the World Cup squad later this year no harm, with a starring role in his side Derby County's five-nil win in the English second tier.
Elder provided the cross to set up the first goal of the win over Bristol City, which moves Derby into sixth spot on the Championship table, and thus, into the playoff places for promotion to the Premier League next season.
The 31-year-old left fullback is originally from Sydney.
He played in Australia's matches against Colombia and Venezuela last year.
