“What do you hope will change as a result of this?” It was a question that had so many obvious answers.

But the Muslim worshipper looked at me emphatically, frustration in his eyes and in his voice.

“We want people to understand us better. We’re sick of being tarred with the same brush. Right now we are not blaming an entire race. We are not blaming an entire faith. We blame one person. The person who fired the gun.”

He had flown in from Auckland for the reopening of the Al Noor Mosque where 42 innocent people were shot dead a week earlier.

The place smelt of fresh paint. The bullet holes had been plastered over. The carpet ripped up. The blood washed away. Left behind was an eerie vacant building, a void filled with grief.

I’m the first to admit I knew very little about the Islamic faith before jumping on a plane to Christchurch to cover the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history.

But I’ve returned home in awe of the people, their principles, their approach to life and their unfathomable ability to forgive.

At the National Remembrance Service last Friday where the names of the 50 lives lost were read out, the crowd of 20,000 was told “when someone shows you hate, respond with love”.

No one has put that into practice more courageously than Farid Ahmed whose beloved wife was shot dead as she tried to wheel him to safety. Speaking from his wheelchair on stage he explained why he had chosen to forgive the gunman.

"I don't want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano. A volcano has anger, fury, rage; it doesn't have peace, it has hatred. It burns itself within and it burns the surroundings,” he said.

He went on to say he loves the mass murderer as a brother.

“I don’t agree with what he has done. I don’t support what he has done. Probably he has gone through some suffering in his life. Some traumatic thing happened to him and he couldn’t process it. I do not hate him. I cannot hate him. I cannot hate anyone.”

It’s extraordinary to think a man whose wife was so callously taken from him, could have the compassion to forgive her killer. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I could do the same.

When covering a story like this, you carry a heaviness with you. There were times before a live cross or after when I broke down in tears.

Like the day the youngest victim 3-year-old Mucad Ibrahim was buried. He had been at the Al Noor Mosque with his dad when the gunman, high on hate, blasted through the front doors and opened fire.

Mucad thought it was a game and ran towards him. In the chaos that followed his tiny body was carried from the mosque by a stranger. It was days before his family learnt his tragic fate.

On another day I was outside the cemetery as the mass burials got underway. Waiting to go live into the Sydney news, I was rehearsing what I was going to say when I noticed a group of men in their twenties huddled outside the cemetery entrance.

One looked up at me apologetically. “Sorry, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’ve just told my friends to be quiet because you’re about to go on TV.”

It broke my heart to think he was about to bury his loved one but was worried about interrupting me. “Please don’t apologise,” I said, thinking ‘I’m the one who is sorry. Sorry this happened to you’.

Muslims believe people killed in worship, go to paradise. In a small way this is helping their grief.

But the rest of the world can help too. By remembering regardless of how we look, how we dress, our faith, language or culture we are all one human family.

And it’s always easier to love than it is to hate.

New footage has been released of the moment convicted killer Brett Cowan was arrested over the murder of Sunshine Coast schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.

The vision has been released just hours after the Queensland State coroner handed down his findings into the investigation into Daniel’s death and how police handled Cowan's arrest.

The harrowing vision shows Cowan in bushland on the Sunshine Coast as police arrive on the scene to arrest him.

An officer can be heard telling him to stay where is as he is approached by police.

“Police! Stay there, Brett. Stay there, mate,” an officer can be heard saying.

“You're under arrest for the murder of Daniel Morcombe.”

“Cool, I'm under arrest for Daniel Morcombe's murder,” Cowan is recorded as saying.

The arrest came after months of undercover operations and nine years after Daniel went missing.

State Coroner Terry Ryan yesterday handed down his report from an inquest into Daniel's death more than 15 years since he vanished on the Sunshine Coast on his way to buy Christmas presents.

It took 10 years to secure Brett Peter Cowan's conviction after he abducted, murdered and buried the 13-year-old in 2003.

The coroner recommended an independent review of high-risk missing persons cases or murders unsolved for 12 months and a faster return of remains to families.

Cowan was a convicted child sex offender, admitted being in the Sunshine Coast area when Daniel disappeared and had a weak alibi.

But Mr Ryan stopped short of admonishing police over the "largest criminal investigation in the history of Queensland" with 100 dedicated officers and about 10,000 interviews.

Both Queensland police and the state attorney-general are considering the findings.

Bruce and Denise Morcombe backed Mr Ryan’s findings and were cheered and applauded as they left court for what will be the very last time yesterday.

- with AAP

Following an investigation by nine.com.au, a formal request from one of the world's leading DNA scientists has been lodged with London Metropolitan Police for access to 18 complex DNA samples which are potentially loaded with vital clues about Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

There is hope that Dr Mark Perlin's powerful computational DNA testing methods could blow open the cold case by successfully cracking the 18 samples which frustratingly stumped a UK lab in 2007.

The offer comes after revelations about the case in nine.com.au's podcast series Maddie.

Dr Perlin, chief scientist at Cybergenetics, a renowned laboratory in Pittsburgh, US, sent a formal pro bono offer to detectives at Operation Grange to analyse that particular set of DNA samples, which had all been ruled "inconclusive", "too meagre" and "weak" by UK scientists during the original 14-month Portuguese police investigation.

Two of the 18 DNA samples Dr Perlin wants to look at were lifted from the boot of a rental car hired by Kate and Gerry McCann 25 days after Madeleine mysteriously vanished while on holiday in Portugal, almost 12 years ago.

Having reviewed a 2007 Forensic Science Service (FSS) report supplied by nine.com.au, Dr Perlin said it was "possible" Madeleine's DNA was present in the McCann hire car, potentially opening up or ruling out a line of the police inquiry, which had stalled with the "inconclusive" results.

The other 16 samples of interest to Dr Perlin were taken from areas inside the McCann holiday apartment in 2007 by a Portuguese forensic team. Dr Perlin will discuss the 18 DNA samples in greater detail in Monday's upcoming episode of Maddie.

In Dr Perlin's email to Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall, who heads up Operation Grange, the UK strike force investigating Madeleine's disappearance, he confirmed he would conduct analysis of the 18 samples for no cost. Scotland Yard's Operation Grange, launched in 2011, has cost British taxpayers more than $20 million and it has recently requested further funding from the UK Home Office.

Cybergenetics and Dr Perlin's analysis could either confirm or conclusively rule out some of the questions around the DNA samples.  

Mr and Mrs McCann, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, have strenuously denied they were involved in the disappearance of their daughter. Nine.com.au does not suggest any involvement on their part.  

As revealed in earlier episodes of Maddie, Nine.com.au's multi-episode podcast investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, Dr Perlin has pioneered world-renowned DNA testing technology able to solve crime scene evidence once thought to be indecipherable.

Dr Perlin's testing methods have helped identify victims of the 9/11 terror attack on New York's World Trade Centre and overturned wrongful convictions based on dodgy DNA evidence.

The now closed FSS in Birmingham had "failed" with the limited DNA testing methods it used to analyse a raft of "inconclusive" McCann samples, Dr Perlin said.

"[If] a lab can produce informative data, even if it is complex and mixed, but they can't interpret it then you can have tremendous injustice; of guilty people not being convicted, of innocent people staying in prison," Dr Perlin said. "What is needed is an objective and accurate interpretation that can scientifically resolve the DNA."

Dr Perlin said forensic and law enforcement agencies around the world, such as the FSS and other official UK bodies, routinely hold and archive the DNA data his lab Cybergenetics needs to make an accurate analysis and possibly help unlock the Maddie mystery.

"It would be a great way to resolve the case using modern technology and get a definitive answer to at least this one question that had perplexed the FSS ten years ago," he said.  

Portuguese police had focused on the McCann hire car and certain areas inside the family's Algarve holiday apartment after intensive search work by two specialist British cadaver dogs, three months after Madeleine went missing. The two dogs had alerted inside the apartment, car and on several personal family possessions. Any alerts by cadaver dogs need to be corroborated by additional evidence, such as DNA.

One month after the dogs had searched those areas, Madeleine's parents were declared arguidos, formal suspects.

Arguidos status was lifted from Mr and Mrs McCann when the Portuguese police investigation was shelved in August 2008.

Aged three when she vanished in May 2007, Madeleine would turn 16 in 2019.

Episode seven of Maddie will be released on Monday, April 8.

LISTEN TO LATEST EPISODES OF MADDIE NOW 

Maps, graphics, stories and all episodes of Maddie here: nine.com.au/maddie

Graham Belfield and his wife Nadine fell pregnant for the first time in 2011.

The couple had what Graham described as “a perfectly normal” pregnancy, and were getting ready to spend the rest of their lives with their son-to-come, Cameron.

But, just ten days out from Nadine’s expected due date, their world was turned upside down.

“My wife had a weird feeling, so we got that checked out at night time and we found out that we’d lost the baby,” he told 9News.com.au.

“On September 21, 2011 my wife gave birth to our son, Cameron, and he came out stillborn.

“It was a freak accident - the umbilical cord detached from the placenta and it was an immediate bleed out. We never knew anything like that could happen and you could lose a baby at such a late stage.

“We were planning our lives as family and then we had to plan for the funeral. It was the weeks and months and, to a certain extent, years after that has impacted our family ever since.”

Baby Cameron is one of the six babies stillborn in Australia every day.

That is a figure that has not reduced in 20 years and for every one child that dies of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), 35 more are stillborn.

For 39-year-old Graham and his family, who live in Sydney’s south, he said that one night in late 2011 completely changed their lives.

“Our life was turned upside down. It devastated our immediate family. It devastated our friends,” he said.

“The impact was not just on our family, it was on our extended family and our close community. We were searching for answers and we were reaching out to everyone for help.

“We thought it was that you get past the first 12 weeks and then everything goes smoothly… It was something that wasn’t talked about, it's certainly something we weren’t aware about – especially when you have a perfectly normal pregnancy.”

The Belfields, and their son Cameron, are the inspiration behind the Sydney 2 CAMberra charity bike ride that raises funds for the Stillbirth Foundation Australia and Red Nose, formerly known as SIDS and Kids.

For Graham and Nadine’s high school friend, Lee Heslehurst, the idea behind the ride came at a time when the couple’s mates were searching for any way they could help them.

“I went to the hospital and the first thing I thought of (that) I could do was to grab the baby seat and take it home with me,” he said.

“I got Graham’s keys and I went and got his baby seat, so he wouldn’t have to get back in his car with empty arms and see the empty seat.

“Shortly after that - it would’ve been two or three weeks past - that I was in Canberra for work. At the time, we were all training a fair bit, we’d just completed an ironman and, ‘I thought we need to do something here’.”

Mr Heslehurst, who is the founder and president of the event, said it started in 2012 with 40 riders and a $20,000 fundraising goal.

It raised $56,000 for the inaugural ride and – now in its eighth year – has so far raised more than $1.2 million. This year's goal has been set at $300,000.

“It started off as a way of raising money. Red Nose related to it as an opportunity for counselling on steroids because it gives dads the opportunity to talk to other dads who’ve been affected and work through their grief in a way they probably can’t during a counselling session,” he said.

“One key quote that we’ve received from one of our riders is that the Sydney to CAMberra gives him the opportunity to be the father to his daughter that he’s lost in the way he’s a father to his other kids every other day of the year.”

Gavan Gordon, the event’s director who also went to school with Graham and Nadine, said the ride has now grown to include 100 riders venturing on the two-day 300km journey to the nation’s capital – which this year begins on April 12.

He also said it allows people to annually honour their children or the children of loved ones who have been lost to SIDS or Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI).

“We see these families year after year, time after time. We’ve watched our families grow and it’s an opportunity for them to come and honour their children that are no longer with them but also spend a weekend dedicated to them,” he told 9news.com.au.

A lot of riders have names on the back of their jerseys as tributes to the children they have lost.

“It allows everyone to talk about it. We found the majority of the riders were men, because typically men were meant to put on a brave face to push forward and allow them to show some emotion.

“It’s created that opportunity for them to honour their children and address those emotions and feelings that they’ve never been able to.”

For Graham, it’s entirely about his son.

“It’s a weekend that I can spend with Cameron, it’s in honour of Cameron,” he said.

“I share the whole weekend and we share his life with my extended family and friends. To be riding every year, it’s our special weekend together.”

This year, Nine sports presenter Erin Molan and five-time World Triathlon champion Craig Alexander are both ambassadors for the ride.

NSW Senator Kristina Keneally is also a supporter and advocate for the event.

Ms Molan’s sister tragically lost her baby to stillbirth, while Ms Keneally played a central role in a senate inquiry into education and research about stillborn children.

Mr Gordon said that is an example of not only the wide range of people affected by stillborn babies, but also the need to continue working to raise awareness.

“For us, we started this ride to help a mate out,” he said.

“It’s grown to a stage now where it has created so much support, it has donated so much good funds, it’s created this unity of people that come together annually for the ride.

“To be able to give back to the community and those people that need it, it’s fantastic and it’s what spurs us on to do this on a volunteer basis - to be able to offer that support to the community.”

Eight years on from their loss of Cameron, Graham said he’s made “lifelong friends” from the Sydney 2 CAMberra ride.

“There’s a lot of emotion on every day of the ride,” he said.

“You’re riding with that emotion, feeling that loss, but then it’s a celebration because you’ve got your son and your whole family together.

“The weekend’s also about what we’re achieving and what we’re doing as a community and as family as we’re seeing our family continue to grow…. We’re bringing the issue into the forefront of society and that is also something to celebrate.

“From the loss, we gain strength.”

Since 2011, the Belfield’s have had two more children – a six-year-old son, Mitchell, and a three-year-old daughter, Breanna.

Alex Mandla, 6, looks up at his therapist with a cheeky grin. "Where are we walking to?" he whispers.

Eliza tells him to just keep going - and he does - as his proud mum and other therapists watch on.

It's the furthest Alex has ever walked using just his walking sticks.

Clutching his favourite toy - purple doggy - he beams with pride.

"And purple doggy thinks it's spectacular, right purple doggy? Oh, he thinks it's incredible!" he says.

Despite everything he's been through in his short life, Alex can't help but make the people around him smile.

But mum, Andrea, never thought she would see him achieve so much.

Alex has cerebral palsy. In November last year he underwent major surgery - a selective dorsal rhizotomy - to help treat it.

Very few of these operations are performed in Australia, and the NSW Public Health system is assisting Alex's family with the cost of intensive therapy at 'Therapies for Kids' - which has just opened in a new building in Leichhardt.

Before the surgery, Alex was unable to stand or take independent steps. His mother thought he would always need a walker or a wheelchair. She's amazed at how far he's come.

"It was incredible. I didn't think he would be able to do that at this stage, so early," she told 9News.

Four-year-old Will Dale, also has cerebral palsy and attends Therapies for Kids.

Two years ago he was unable to sit or roll. With the help of his therapists here, he's able to take a few steps on his own.

"He's able to sit up on his own now, which was amazing," his mother Melanie Dale said.

"We've just got a lot of hope for him now. They believe in him here and it gives us so much hope that he will walk."

Therapies for Kids founder Debbie Evans has spent a life time helping other people.

She travels the world looking for the newest best treatment for children who need extra help - whether that be kids like Will and Alex who have cerebral palsy, or children from the community who've injured themselves at sport, or babies born with developmental delays.

"I still cry. I've always said the day I stop crying when a child achieves something or attains a skill is the day I retire," she said.

One of the unique aspects of Therapies for Kids is the range of equipment in their gym.

Debbie is especially proud of a unique harness system - the only one of its kind in Australia - that allows children to play and move independently, while the harness supports their body weight.

"It allows us to guide a child or take our hands off and you just see the world open," she says.

Now she's been able to open the centre in a new purpose-built location, Debbie can only look forward to helping more children in the future.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is not expected to see the Governor General to call a federal election for at least another week.

9News has confirmed Mr Morrison will not announce the date of the looming ballot until at least next week, despite speculation it may be called tomorrow.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has appeared less than impressed with discussions regarding possible election dates.

“If the Prime Minister wants to play games about when he calls the election, I’m just not interested,” he said.

Mr Shorten’s comments come as his crackdown on issues like negative gearing could be harming his election prospects for the upcoming vote.

A leaked poll obtained by 9News in the marginal western Sydney seat of Lindsay has shown that just 36 per cent of seniors plan to vote for the Labor Party in the election, while 48 per cent will vote Liberal.

9News understands a dozen seats in NSW have been polled recently, with Labor trailing behind the Coalition – including in seats with voters aged over 65.

“We want to make sure when you need your health care system - and people over 65 need it more than any other age group – we are going to make sure this system is there for you,” Mr Shorten said.

In the seat of Lindsay, currently held by Labor, the leaked poll has the party behind the Liberal Party 55-45 and more than 10 per cent of people are tipped to vote for One Nation.

Despite those figures, Mr Shorten may be able to win the federal election with seats solely in Victoria, where even the safest Liberal MPs are facing threats from Opposition candidates.

The leaked poll also comes after Bill Shorten today outlined plans to boost specialised cancer nurses across Australia, saying he wants to employ an additional 42 prostate cancer nurses nationally.

The move more than doubles the number of federally-funded prostate cancer nurses, building on the 28 already funded by the Commonwealth.

Three alleged burglars who took a nine-year-old boy along with them as they broke into a home in Brisbane’s south and sparking a high-speed police chase have been arrested.

Queensland Police allege two men, a woman and her son all arrived in a ute at a home on Hume Street in Drewvale about 1.20pm yesterday.

While the mother and son stayed in the vehicle, it is alleged the two other men then broke into the home, belonging to resident Vinny Kang, and stole property including electronics, medicine and a TV.

The alleged crime came just three weeks after the same robbers smashed Mr Kang’s window to steal jewellery, passports, wallets, computers, phones and the car keys of his wife.

“My neighbour saw one guy kick the door and then called me and called the police,” Mr Kang told 9News.

“I think the target was the car.”

After police were alerted yesterday, the ute was later seen on Macquarie Way where they attempted to stop the vehicle before the woman got out and the two men sped away.

Authorities say the woman, aged 36, allegedly claimed the car had been stolen from her and her son, who remained inside, had been kidnapped.

A police helicopter then tracked the ute, which was seen driving in a dangerous matter through multiple red lights, across Brisbane until it lost control and crashed on Winstanley Road in Carina Heights.

The two remaining men then tried to run from the car, but police were able to catch and arrest the pair and the child was safely recovered.

The mother has since been charged with burglary, and the two men – aged in their 20s – have been charged with deprivation of liberty, burglary, unlicensed driving and failing to stop for police.

One of the men will also face an drink-driving charge.

All three people are expected to appear in Richlands Magistrates Court on April 8.

Australian Federal Police have spoken with the mistress of a Gold Coast businessman as a person of interest in an investigation into the murder of his wife.

Keran Kaur was seen leaving the Surfers Paradise Police Station late last night after speaking with detectives about the death of Ravneet Kuar, whose body was found in a canal in India on March 25.

Ms Kuar, 29, worked as a registered nurse at Tricare on the Gold Coast before she travelled to India on February 25 to visit family and friends with her four-year-old daughter.

Indian authorities have alleged that Keran Kaur was having an extra-marital affair with Ms Kuar’s husband, Jaspreet Singh, and had conspired with him to kill her.

9News reported last month that Mr Singh – who had stayed behind in Australia - said he took a phone call from his wife on March 14 and that was the last that he had heard from her.

“She said I’ll ring you back in 10 minutes, went back to her home and I don’t know what happened,” he said at the time.

“I don’t know, I just want my wife back.”

Keran Kaur was allegedly in Punjab the day Ms Kuar vanished.

The Australian Federal Police have also returned in recent days from a trip to India to speak with Indian authorities and have since confirmed they plan to work with detectives overseas to determine the circumstances around Ms Kuar’s disappearance and death.

For mothers such as Meagan James, labour is often faster the second time around.

Son number two for Meagan and her husband did arrive quicker than their first boy - with baby Josh entering the world in almost record time.

“I was declared in labour at 10.15am and he came out at 11 o’clock. It was quite a ride,” an elated Meagan told 9News.

Due to her gestational diabetes, Meagan's obstetrician at Jessie McPherson Private Hospital induced her labour - meaning the 41 year old’s contractions were triggered with medical help.

Newborn Josh’s 45-minute delivery is unique because Meagan is the first woman in a new trial to investigate if a common supplement - melatonin - could improve induced labour.

Lead researcher Miranda Davies-Tuck of the Hudson Institute explains that inductions are carried out when a baby is overdue or other pregnancy complications arise.

“So there comes a point where it is safer for the baby to be born, rather than to continue with the pregnancy,” Dr Davies-Tuck told 9News.

But inductions can be painful and up to a quarter fail – meaning an emergency cesarean section is required to deliver the baby.

Dr Davies-Tuck’s trial will recruit 700 pregnant women to investigate if taking a couple melatonin pills before labour could improve the success rate of inductions.

“The women who are induced (may) have those same sort of benefits that women who labour spontaneously at night have… shorter labours, maybe less painful labours," she said.

Melatonin is natural sleep regulating chemical that also plays a part in birth.

When a woman goes into labour the hormone, oxytocin, stimulates her uterus to contract.

Melatonin, which is also a hormone, works in tandem with oxytocin enhancing and regulating contractions.

“So it actually makes labour shorter and it makes the muscles work a lot better.," Dr Davies-Tuck said.

The trial, run through the Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash health, is a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled trial.

In other words, half the recruits will be given melatonin tablets – the other half a placebo tablet.

To maintain the integrity of the trial Meagan was not told if the pills she took were melatonin tablets or the sugar pills… but either she was happy to be involved in the study.

“I work in medical research so I believe in supporting the research community," she said.

"Also melatonin is a natural substance that our body produces naturally so I thought I would give it a go.”

And Josh’s rapid birth is big news in the birthing suite.

“It seems to be the talk of the town at the moment that it was so quick.”

A teenager motorcycle rider will face court after colliding with a young boy and his sister on a road in Adelaide’s north.

In horrifying dashcam footage released of the incident, the 12-year-old boy and his sister can be seen riding scooters alongside Waterloo Corner Road before they wait to cross at the intersection of Whites Road.

When the pedestrian light turns green and the boy steps out onto the road, however, a motorcyclist who was not wearing a helmet is then seen smashing into him.

“It was so quick, it was a shock,” witness Andrew Stuart told 9News.

“The boy had a lot of injuries – a broken leg, swollen head, a lot of cuts on his arms.

“At first, you didn’t know if he was going to survive what had happened – that’s something you don’t want to see.”

As the young boy’s sister watched on helplessly, the 17-year-old motorbike rider and witnesses rushed to help him on the side of the street.

“She was in shock, she was crying. That’s why we had to quickly take her home and grab her mum,” Mr Stuart said.

The boy was rushed to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital suffering leg and head injuries and tonight remains there in a stable condition.

The motorcyclist was also taken to hospital for injuries and has since been reported by police for a string of offences, including riding while unlicenced, disobeying a red light and failing to wear a helmet.

He is expected to face court over the incident at a later date.

A Western Australian hospital is being sued for negligence over the death of an infant baby boy at the facility just three days after he was born.

Lucces Batten was born at the Fiona Stanley Hospital, in Perth’s south, in February 2016. Within 36 hours of his birth, however, the baby boy had died.

At the time, his parents attributed his death to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), but it is now expected they will sue staff at the hospital for alleged negligence.

It is believed the lawsuit will claim hospital staff advised Lucces’ mother to co-sleep in the same bed as the newborn while she was on medication, following a difficult labour.

Hospital staff then allegedly failed to monitor the pair properly and Lucces was smothered.

Former Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon said the death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of parents co-sleeping with their newborn children.

The South Metropolitan Health Service has since confirmed legal action is being taken against it, but would not comment on the matter pending upcoming legal proceedings.

The case is expected to be heard in the Supreme Court next month.

A Perth man is in police custody after boarding a train in the city with an allegedly homemade bomb device.

The 45-year-old man is accused of boarding a train at the Currambine Station about 4pm on Thursday this week and leaving behind the device.

Emergency services were called to the scene after a commuter found the small explosive device concealed in a black case.

Transit guards alerted authorities who then tested the case, which contained a carbon dioxide bottle, black powder and a fuse but no batteries.

Police managed to handle the device and remove it from the train without disrupting the city’s peak hour rush, but have said that if wires inside it had been connected it could have caused a small explosion.

Lincoln Hine was arrested by police yesterday when he was allegedly found with a meat cleaver in his backpack and a small quantity of drugs.

The 45-year-old faced Perth Magistrates Court today on four charges of possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances.

He was formally refused bail and is expected back in court later this month.

A worker who had been inside a waste management factory in Melbourne that erupted into a blazing inferno had a chemical drum explode in his face in the incident.

Vigneshwaran Vasantharajan had been working to remove dangerous waste from the Campbellfield factory yesterday when the fire was first sparked.

One of Mr Vasantharajan's friends, who had finished his own shift at the factory just before the fire started, told 9News the man had to be rushed to hospital with severe burns by a truck driver.

"(They were) on his left side, from his ears and cheek and everywhere got injured," Vasantharaj Vasanthakumar said.

The factory fire is tonight continuing to burn amid revelations its owner is linked to four other warehouses stocked with toxic waste.

Crews are working this weekend to manage the fire, which started about 6.40am yesterday and sent a toxic black plume over Melbourne.

It was brought under control by midday yesterday but is expected to burn for days with two workers hospitalised, one of whom remains in an induced coma.

It comes as The Age reported that Bradbury Industrial Services controls illicit stockpiles of chemicals found at four other warehouses in March.

The news has sparked fears more fires could erupt.

The Campbellfield factory had been storing almost three times the quantity of chemical permitted, the EPA found.

Operators of the Campbellfield business had their licence suspended by the Environmental Protection Agency in March.

The company had been repeatedly found storing excess highly-flammable material.

The factory is allowed to hold a maximum 150,000 litres of waste material, including solvents, inks, paints and other flammable materials, before being processed.

Mr Vasantharajan's friends have since said he told them he didn't feel safe working at the factory, revealing there had been other smaller fires in the past.

"They know that it's not safe to work there, but all the other jobs they got are far from this place," Mr Vasanthakumar said.

Witnesses reported a number of explosions as the inferno spewed large volumes of black smoke.

Nearby businesses were forced to evacuate.

It took 175 firefighters to bring this blaze under control and 11 schools in this local area were shut down.

No students were attending school in this area yesterday and thick black toxic smoke blanketed most of the city.

Merlynston creek has been contaminated by run-off.

Victorian Coroner Darren Bracken attended the site on Friday and will investigate the cause of the blaze.

Premier Daniel Andrews said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Meanwhile, Mr Vasantharajan remains in a stable condition in hospital after regaining consciousness overnight and briefly speaking with friends this morning.

His recovery is expected to take some time.

An Arizona man has been arrested over the alleged fatal shooting of a 10-year-old girl in what appears to be an act of road rage.

Summer Brown was riding with her family Wednesday evening when their car appeared to cut off a white pickup truck in traffic, said Sgt Vince Lewis, a spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department.

The driver, identified as Joshua Gonzalez, 20, followed them closely for the duration of their trip until they pulled into their driveway, he said.

"The suspect ... opened fire on the vehicle, striking it numerous times," Sgt Lewis said. 

"The victims had just arrived home."

Summer's father, Dharquintium Brown, said the suspect "was ready to start shooting" as soon as they arrived.

"I got out of my vehicle, and asked him, 'What's going on?' " he told CNN affiliate KNXV. 

"And he just got to firing. He shot my car, and he shot me, and he shot up my house and he killed my daughter."

Summer was declared dead at a local hospital. Her father suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. 

He was driving the car with his wife and two daughters as passengers. His wife, Taniesha Brown, and their other daughter were not injured, police said.

"This nightmare is going to replay in my head forever," Taniesha Brown said, according to the affiliate. 

"I can't sleep. I hope she's at peace."

After the shooting, police released a surveillance video showing the truck trailing the family's car and a composite sketch of the suspect. That generated numerous tips, one of which led authorities to the suspect's truck.

Authorities identified it despite modifications that changed its appearance, including different tires, Lewis said. A handgun found in the suspect's home was linked to forensic evidence at the scene, he added.

Gonzalez was booked into jail on one count of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault, police said. Information on his attorney was not immediately available.

The beating heart of Australia has come alive with lights and colour, in a celebration of First Nations people.

Parrtjima is the only festival of its kind and showcases Aboriginal culture and thousand year old stories though a striking display of illuminations, projections and sculptures in the middle of the desert.

It aims to rival Sydney’s 'Vivid' and began in Alice Springs last night.

Two kilometres of the MacDonnell Ranges have been illuminated with moving projections to tell the story of Mparntwe country and its importance to the Arrernte People, in a powerful light show narrated by actor Aaron Pederson.

Curator Rhoda Roberts AO said hearing Mr Pedersen talk about his country with heartfelt warmth and generosity helped begin a heeling process for visitors.

“There is no where else in the world where you can sit under the night sky and actually hear a voice that resonates the tangible and intangible,” she said.

“I don’t think there’s much landscape that’s been lit by a light festival like this has.”

Another display at Alice Springs Desert Park tells the story of Aboriginal stockmen and the language they developed through giant sculptures made out of recycled metals, based off small children’s toys.

“They started recycling copper wire and things that were sitting around their communities into tiny little horses to tell the stories of their lives as stockmen,” said Ms Roberts.

“To be able to (create) a four-metre cowboy with the hat and the cowboy boots, made out of old car bonnets, it’s pretty innovative.”

Marie Elena Ellis is one of the artists behind a collection of colourful moths dispersed throughout Todd Mall.

Her piece features a poem titled ‘I am the desert’ on the insect’s wings.

“My inspiration comes from within, who I am and where I come from,” she said.

“I am the desert because I come from the desert and I belong to the desert.”

It’s the second year Todd Mall has been included in Parrtjima, which is now in its fourth year.

For 2019, the event was moved forward to April, which is a traditionally quiet time of year for tourism in Central Australia.

Tim Watsford, from NT Major Events, hoped the festival would help bring visitors to town and fill up hotel rooms.

“Every year Parrtjima has changed, so if you came in 2018 you’re going to see something new,” he said.

“It’s big, it’s bright and it’s better than ever.”

Parrtjima runs until April 14.

Daniel Jones has survived a living nightmare.  

A web of lies and deceit spun by the woman who had promised to love him resulted in Mr Jones facing 20 years behind bars for crimes he did not commit.

But the calculated story Sarah Jane Parkinson made up to ruin Mr Jones’ life would finally fall apart, thanks to a remarkable detective who found Parkinson had set out to destroy Mr Jones and his family.

‘Sex, lies and police tape’ airs this Sunday at 8.30pm on Channel Nine. For more information on 60 Minutes, visit the official website.

Tonight on 60 Minutes, a broken family speaks exclusively to reporter Liz Hayes, about the woman who tried to bring them down and their unwavering determination to prove their son’s innocence.

Daniel Jones met Sarah Jane Parkinson in 2011, and the pair quickly fell in love.

Within just a few months they began planning a wedding and building their own home.

But the day they were scheduled to move into their new house, the fairy tale unravelled.

For months, Sarah Jane Parkinson had been feeding a story of heartbreaking abuse and violence to her police colleagues at Queanbeyan police station, where she worked as a clerical assistant.

She told her police friends she was being brutally assaulted and abused by her fiance, Mr Jones.

When questioned by police, Mr Jones was adamant he had never been violent towards Parkinson – but taking her word against his, police backed Parkinson.

“I'd just built a house and she'd moved in with me, everything was going well,” Mr Jones tells 60 Minutes reporter Liz Hayes in an exclusive sneak peek.

“I had everything going right…and in that instant, everything just went to s---.”

Mr Jones was slapped with an apprehended violence order, but Parkinson told him it was just her police colleagues being overprotective and she would fix things.

But the AVO was just the beginning of a harrowing ordeal that Mr Jones says ruined his life, devastated his family and took everything from him.

Parkinson’s false accusations resulted in police charging Mr Jones with over 32 offences – including domestic abuse and violent rape – and being incarcerated in Goulburn Corrections Centre, a maximum security prison in New South Wales, while awaiting his trial.

As a former prison officer, Mr Jones says he feared for his life every day.

He wrote to his parents: “I’m scared – I shouldn’t be, because I’ve done nothing at all – but there is a small percentage in me that tells me I’m f---ed.”

Just as all hope seemed lost, a new detective was assigned to the case: Leesa Alexander. Her investigation into Parkinson’s allegations finally exposed the truth – and her lies.

“The idea of an innocent person being in jail is horrific, not just to a police officer, but everybody,” Detective Alexander says.

What followed was the unravelling of Sarah Jane Parkinson’s cruel fantasy story about her fiance, and exposed her attempt to strip Mr Jones of everything he owned, including the house they had built together.

“She'd be up with the worst (criminals),” Det Alexander says.

Internal Liberal polling has revealed real concern for Tony Abbott with the former prime minister facing a 12 percent swing which could see him pushed out of his blue-ribbon Sydney seat of Warringah.

It is now believed Prime Minister Scott Morrison has decided against visiting the governor-general today, effectively ruling out May 11 as the election date.

Australians are now expected to go to the polls on May 18.

Labor has savaged Mr Morrison's reluctance to fire the starter's gun on the election claiming the prime minister is buying himself more time to sell his economic and security messages.

Labor is banking on gains around Melbourne, with the seats of Chisholm, Casey, La Trobe, Dunkley, and Corangamite up for grabs.

While the Coalition are hoping to pick up the Victorian regional seat of Indi from retiring independent MP Cathy McGowan.

Opposition frontbencher Anthony Albanese dismissed suggestions the prime minister was delaying the poll to navigate the upcoming Easter and Anzac day public holidays.

"If you believe that I've got a bridge I can sell you," Mr Albanese told Sky News.

Labor believes the election has been pushed back so the government can exploit taxpayer-funded advertising.

Mr Albanese estimates the coalition is spending more than $600,000 per day on partisan ads.

"This is a farce," he said.

The prime minister made light of the feverish election timing speculation when he ducked out to watch a junior rugby game on Saturday morning.

"All these guys (reporters) think I'm going to Canberra in the morning," Mr Morrison told onlookers in Sydney.

The delay will allow coalition MPs time to return to their electorates and gauge community reaction to the federal budget.

On the downside for the coalition, the Senate is scheduled to hold a week of budget estimates, which could potentially prove damaging.

A Galaxy poll published by the News Corp tabloids has highlighted the issues of greatest concern to voters ahead of the election.

Cost of living is the biggest gripe across all demographics, with power bills the biggest household stress.

Health ranks second on the list of of concerns, while climate change and the environment is a bigger concern among baby boomers than among millennials.

An elderly woman found dead in the hallway of her Melbourne home told neighbours she was living in fear in the weeks prior to her death.

Victorian homicide police are continuing their investigation into the death of Vicki Ramadan, 77, whose body was found inside her Sydenham home in Melbourne’s north-west yesterday.

9NEWS understands a neighbour made the grisly discovery just before 10am, when he went to the woman’s Marlborough Way home. 

He found the back door broken into and Ms Ramadan’s body on the floor. 

She had recently fled to Queensland to be with one of her children after becoming worried about her safety. 

The 77-year-old’s home had been burgled a number of times in recent years, with the most recent incident occurring in late 2018. 

The exact cause of death is yet to be determined however police are treating as suspicious.

Detectives believe Ms Ramadan was last seen on Friday 29 March when she was dropped home by a neighbour after she was found wandering the street disorientated.

She was known to frequent nearby shopping centres including Watergardens and was a regular user of public transport, including buses and taxies.

It is also believed the woman's home may have been burgled just weeks ago.

Meanwhile, other residents voiced their concerns about the death occurring in such close proximity to their homes.

“It’s a bit confronting, to think that it’s around here,” a woman told 9News.

“She was just a lovely lady that would sit on her porch and say hello every morning. She loved dogs and kids – they put a smile on her face.

“It’s very sad because it’s a quiet little neighbourhood on this end. There’s usually not too much going on.”

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

The moment a quick-thinking Canberra mum dragged her two kids from the family car just seconds before it exploded into flames has been caught on camera.

Catherine Mayes had just pulled up at a park with her two children, 20-month-old Tommy and five-month-old Hunter, when she heard a “pop” and then a “fizz” from a portable battery pack which was sitting on the front seat of the car.

The battery pack then started smoking and caught on fire.

CCTV vision shows Ms Mayes getting Tommy out of the car and then struggling to get Hunter out as fast as she can from his child seat.

“We’ve got to get away bubba,” Ms Mayes can be heard saying on a voicemail message to her partner John Stasik’s phone.

Ms Moyes manages to get Hunter out and within seconds the four-year-old Mazda CX5 explodes into flames.

“I was just like auto pilot - I need to get my babies out,” she told 9News.

“The ‘what ifs’ are overwhelming but I’m just lucky, just lucky I did get them out and it could have been so much worse.”

The Boxo battery pack that exploded can be used to jump start your car, charge your phone and other items.

The family had been keeping it in the car in case of breakdowns.

The battery pack comes with a warning about being left in the sun but it still shouldn’t catch alight.

Mr Stasik said he was in awe of his partner’s quick reactions to save their kids.

“I’m just glad Catherine was like... superwoman really like, to get them out that quick... and just... oh, she's amazing,” he said.

A fragile calm has settled over the deadly, disputed border between Israel and Gaza, but no one here believes it will last.

After a fortnight in which simmering tensions exploded into fiery clashes, the quiet is welcome, but tenuous. The ceasefire - brokered by Egypt - came after an intense exchange of rockets and air raids between the Hamas militants who control Gaza, and the Israeli Defence Forces.

Communities on both sides of the border are accustomed to the violence, and weary residents live in unrelenting fear of attack.

“It’s scary. We’ve had 15 years of constant tension,” Roni Kaider tells 9News.

Roni lives in the southern Israeli village of Netiv Ha’asara, right on the border. You can’t get much closer to the wall separating Israel and Gaza, and you wouldn’t want to.

Every home has a safe room, or inbuilt shelter, and bomb shelters also line the streets. Some have been painted in brightly coloured murals by the local children, a jarring reminder of how normalised war and violence is here.

Ms Kaider has raised five children and ten grandchildren here, despite two wars and the daily threat of another. The village is what’s known as a moshav; an agricultural co-op where all the families help farm the land. On a calm day here - and there aren’t many right now – it’s a deceptively tranquil setting, and the sudden air raid sirens seem especially piercing.

“We have 15 seconds to run to a shelter” she said. “Usually we do a sort of drill with the children counting to 60, and if nothing’s happened we can get on with our day because it normally takes less than that for a rocket to fall.”

Ms Kaider is an activist and, despite the danger and security concerns, she works to unite people divided by the wall and the conflict.

“I connect sometimes between schools, they exchange videos and suddenly they see they’re not demons on the other side of the wall, they’re children just like themselves,” Ms Kaider said.

With a population of more than 2 million people, the city of Gaza has often been described as the biggest prison on earth. Palestinians are allowed out only to work, and many aren’t allowed to leave at all, because of a blockade by Israel and Egypt.

Every Friday for over a year there have been violent protests at the border, where Palestinians rally against the blockade.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in these protests in the past year, usually by Israeli army gunfire.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unapologetic, telling reporters in the United States last week “I have a message for Israel’s enemies; we will do whatever we must do to defend our people and our state.”

Mr Netanyahu was in America for talks with US President Donald Trump, when a long-range rocket fired from Gaza hit and destroyed a home near Tel Aviv, wounding seven people.

The two leaders stood shoulder to shoulder as President Trump gave perhaps his strongest endorsement yet of the Israeli regime.

“The United States recognises Israel's absolute right to defend itself,” President Trump declared. “Under my administration the unbreakable alliance between the United States and Israel has never been stronger.”

The diplomatic visit was cut short, and Prime Minister Netanyahu - who is also the country’s self-appointed Defence Minister - returned to Israel, as his forces unleashed a furious round of rocket and mortar attacks over Gaza.

The violence comes as Israeli Defence Forces begin bolstering the border with an imposing new structure. A 65-kilometre long, six-metre high galvanised steel and barbed wire “smart fence” is being erected, designed to keep Hamas militants and citizens from the Palestinian city out of territory claimed by Israel.

The fence will reinforce the current security network, which includes an Iron Dome defence system intercepting rockets overhead, and a subterranean wall preventing Hamas digging underground attack tunnels.

Peace talks between Israel and Palestine collapsed in 2014, and the border region has been a hotbed of deadly flare ups ever since.

Civilians on either side - like Ms Kaider – can do nothing but pray for peace, and hope for a breakthrough.

“Let’s make amends, let’s make a future for us both,” she said. “I believe we can, I really do.”