8.52am That's it from me this morning. Be sure to check out Morning Rush again tomorrow for the latest news and online chatter. Have a lovely Monday.
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8.46am This week is NSW Missing Person Week. For 2014, Police have partnered with Alzheimer’s Australian for the theme ‘‘Dementia and Missing Persons. Learn how to prevent these words appearing in the same sentence’’. On average, 35,000 people are reported missing in Australia every year. Approximately one third of missing persons go missing more than once – this is particularly the case with young people and for those people with dementia.
8.42am WORLD NEWS A third attack on a United Nations school in Gaza has killed 10 people and wounded at least 40 in an attack UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as a "moral outrage and a criminal act". SMH
8.36am And the Commonwealth Games are over for another four years, until they hit the Gold Coast in 2018. What did you think?
8.32am Looking to keep the kids occupied this morning? The Lagoon is hosting its Toddlers High Tea todayfrom 9.30am.
8.28am A designer's look inside Char Char Bar & Grill, the Aussie restaurant with an African twist under WIN Stadium.
8.24am Win tickets to see the Dragons take on the Panthers at WIN Stadium this weekend. To enter, fill out the form at this link. Entries at 10pm tonight, so be quick.
8.20am I could use one of these right about now.
8.16am The Doug Anthony All Stars are performing at the IPAC on August 28. Journalist Ben Langford spoke with Tim Ferguson about why the regrouped.
8.12am Eww. Hordes of rats up are "moving up the hill" as wharves are knocked down at Barangaroo and 600 public housing tenants are "forcibly displaced", a United Nations aged care conference has been told in New York.
The rats are relocating to Millers Point, where bubonic plague broke out in 1902, and residents say they are using towels to barricade their bedrooms to keep them out. SMH
8.08am Police are investigating a break-in at a Nowra nursing home at about 9.40pm on Saturday. A man entered the nursing home on Wallace Street, went into a number of rooms and rummaged through drawers. He was confronted by two residents and escorted from the building. Police would like to speak with a man who might be able to assist with their investigations. He is described as having an olive complexion, about 180 centimetres tall, with a thin build, short dark hair in a Mohawk style and a tattoo on his inner left arm.
8.04am It's been a long time since the Crown Street Mall was open to traffic.
It's 8am. Roads and rail around Wollongong are looking good. Right now it's almost 11 degrees in town.
7.56am The children’s chorus from the Wollongong Con will be performing with Opera Australia in Mozart’s The Magic Flute on August 8 & 9.
7.52am MUSIC NEWS Aussies are going great guns in the US charts this year. 2014 has been the best year of Australian musicians in the States since 1981. So far, Iggy Azalea, Sia and pop band 5 Seconds of Summer have topped te album chart. SMH
7.48am Over the weekend, UOW became a hive of activity as more than 150 gamers descended on the campus for Gamefest 2014.
Organised by UOW’s Video Gaming Association, Gamefest 2014 saw competitive gamers fight for the right to claim victor of their virtual battleground while casual gamers relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere.
7.44am August 4 is the day officially given to Dom Perignon’s invention of champagne, all the way back in 1693. On this day in 1914, Germany invaded Belgium and in 1944, a tip off led to Anne Frank and her family being arrested by the Gestapo.
7.40am TRAFFIC ALERT The earlier truck breakdown at Mascot on General Holmes Drive has been cleared.
7.36am STRANGE BUT TRUE Lesson learned this morning: don’t ever skimp on the cheese. At a cultural festival in Auburn on Sunday afternoon it's alleged a 41-year-old purchased some gozleme from a food stall, but returned shorty afterward complaining about the small amount of cheese on it. When the 21-year-old stall owner tried to refund the man, the pair reportedly began to argue. It’s alleged the 21-year-old punched the older man in the head, causing a cut to his left ear, which required five stitches. The 41-year-old was taken to hospital and the 21-year-old charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm. He has been granted conditional bail to appear in Burwood Local Court on August 26.
7.32am Are you watching the Glasgow closing ceremony? Kylie Minogue is performing right now.
7.28am CELEB GOSS Beyonce has rapped about the fight between her sister Solange and hubby Jay Z in an elevator earlier this year. At least she’s got a sense of humour about it.
7.24am SPORT It wasn't just Wollongong's football faithful who were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero to the A-League All Stars camp.
Socceroos goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic told the Mercury of his desire to lace up the boots alongside the former Juventus legend ahead of the All Stars clash with the Italian giants next Sunday.
7.20am WORLD NEWS The Ebola crisis continues to worsen. The bodies of two men previously showing symptoms of Ebola lay in the streets of Monrovia for four days before being collected by health workers on Sunday, residents told Reuters. Authorities in Liberia's capital have begun digging graves intended for victims of the outbreak that has already killed 156 people so far in the West African country and more than 729 people in the region, according to the World Health Organisation. SMH
7.16am The annual Illawarra Police Charity Ball was on last Friday night. Have a look at this gallery of pics from the event from 1998 to 2014 - fashions have definitely changed in the last 16 years!
7.12am Woonona High School is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. If you’re in the mood for a longer read, the Mercury spoke to principal and former student Belinda Wall about her memories.
7.08am Illawarra savvy snappers, we want your photos. The Mercury is putting together its 2015 calendar, showcasing the beauty of the region. The six photos which receive the most amount of reader votes will be selected for the calendar. Winners will also pick up a cool $500 cash. Send your photos to competitions@illawarramercury.com.au by August 22 for a chance to win.
7.04am August 4 is psychic day. Care for a look at your future?
It's 7am. Roads and trains around the Illawarra are looking good and the sun is starting to shine.
6.56am TRAFFIC ALERT A truck has broken down on Heathcote Road near Narrow Bridge. Traffic is affected in both directions.There’s also a truck broken down at Mascot on the Foreshore Road on-ramp to General Holmes Drive. One northbound lane is closed.
6.52am LOCAL NEWS A Wollongong man has developed a new parking app for Android and iPhone, warning drivers when rangers are in the area writing tickets.
6.48am CELEB GOSS If you missed this one yesterday, Missy Higgins has announced she is pregnant. Congrats!
6.44am A elderly man has leg injuries after spending almost eight hours trapped in an underground grain silo on Queensland’s Darling Downs. The man became trapped up to his chest about 2pm on Sunday, after part of the silo collapsed, causing him to fall. He is in a stable condition. AAP
6.40am It’s the 108th birthday of Sydney’s Central station. She’s looking pretty good at more than a century old.
6.36am NATIONAL NEWS Catherine Livingstone, the new Business Council of Australia president, says Australian universities are enrolling too many domestic students who should opt for vocational education and training instead
6.32am Happy birthday Mr President! Barack Obama is turning 53 today. Also celebrating their b-day are singer Jessica Mauboy and actors Billy Bob Thorton and Daniel Dae Kim.
6.28am COMMONWEALTH GAMES Congrats to the Diamonds who won the netty gold medal over NZ in Glasgow. And to the Hockeyroos, who also took gold over the weekend.
6.24am Tickets for the musical Dirty Dancing go on-sale today! The show will play at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre from November 28. For tickets, visit Ticketmaster.
6.20am Did you need an extra blanky on your bed in the early hours of Sunday morning? It was Sydney’s coldest start to the day in four year, with the mercury shivering at 5.5 degrees. This morning isn't too bad, with the temp about 10 degrees in Wollongong. Still cold enough for your slippers, though.
6.16am On Monday, hundreds of people are expected to join NSW Governor Dame Marie Bashir at the Balgownie War Memorial to mark the 100th anniversary of the declaration of World War I. Balgownie Road, between Meadow Street and Foothills Road, will be closed from 10am to noon with detours in place. Para Street will be closed to traffic at the same time and used for parking.
6.12am COMMONWEALTH GAMES England outshone Australia in the medal tally, with 174 all up compared to out 137. I thought second still sounded pretty good, but it seems it’s our worst Comm games performance since 1986. Still, 49 gold ones is an achievement.
6.08am Let’s take a look at the national headlines, courtesy of the SMH
*At least 25 delegates who attended Melbourne’s high-profile AIDS conference intend to seek asylum in Australia after failing to board their flights home last week. The men and women are mostly from African countries including Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia,
* The proposed $7 GP co-payment needs to be scrapped for pensioners, at least three of the government's own MPs say. This comes as a new survey showed two-thirds of households thought their financial position would worsen over the next year because of the budget.
*More on the case of baby Gammy, whose biological parents refused to care for him. His Thai surrogate says his Australian biological parents told her they could not take him because they are too old to care for twins.
6.05am Here’s what’s making news in today’s Mercury
*The most profane tweeters in Australia were to be found on the western fringes of the Illawarra, according to a survey of four million Twitter users between June 2013 and May 2014.
*A new piece of public art worth $60,000 will be installed in George Dodd Reserve. The "Migration Public Art Project", an initiative of Wollongong City Council and Italian cultural group Calabria Centro Cultural, recognises the work migrants have done in the city.
*Wollongong City Council will develop a master plan for Port Kembla's historic Hill 60 to preserve the site's Aboriginal and European heritage and cash in on its tourism potential.
*The Wollongong Sam’s Warehouse store shut its doors on Sunday, leaving 18 workers out of a job. The future of the Shellharbour Sam’s Warehouse store is yet to be determined.
6.02am Let’s take a look at the skies and the roads
WEATHER Another sunny day today, with some frost and light winds this morning. We’re heading for a top of 17 degrees, but right now it’s still chilly enough to crank the heater.
TRAFFIC All good on major Illawarra roads this morning, with ongoing roadworks at Gerringong and Mount Ousley. Keira Street between Market and Crown Streets remains closed to traffic in Wollongong.
TRAINS There is good service on the South Coast line.
6am And it's back to another working week - I hope you had a lovely weekend. Stay with Morning Rush until 9am.