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Amanda Keller snaps up multi-million dollar townhouse

<p dir="ltr">Australian radio and TV presenter Amanda Keller has snapped up a townhouse in Sydney’s Newtown area with husband Harley Oliver. </p> <p dir="ltr">The property set them back $1.923 million, a hefty price tag that likely had a lot to do with its sought after location just steps from the busy Enmore Road. </p> <p dir="ltr">It boasts a modern warehouse-style appearance, with two levels that contain three bedrooms - one with its own built-in wardrobe and balcony - and an additional 47 sq m for garage space. However, the home’s title declares a total of 343 sq m, as it also includes a garden courtyard.</p> <p dir="ltr">Described as being at the back of “a whisper-quiet complex”, the townhouse is one of four, and features polished concrete floors throughout, an open plan living space with bifolds onto a paved courtyard, a renovated laundry, and high ceiling with exposed beams. </p> <p dir="ltr">“The combination of quality modern comforts and generous proportions offers an unsurpassed standard of living,” its listing read. </p> <p dir="ltr">It was listed through Adrian William Real Estate’s Adrian Tsavalas and Kate Ferrante, and was the first time the house had been on the market since 2013, when it sold for less than half of its 2023 price at $870,000.</p> <p dir="ltr">The median price of a three-bedroom home in Newtown has been tracked by PopTrack as $1.876, while in July 2022, it was at a high of $1.95 million.</p> <p dir="ltr">Keller and Oliver reportedly snapped up their latest property as an investment, though there is currently no evidence that it is being advertised on any rental website.</p> <p dir="ltr">The couple - who have been married since 1990 - are no strangers to Sydney real estate, having lived in Coogee for over two decades after making a move from the northern beaches. They’ve made their fair share of changes to their home in that time, submitting four different development applications for the likes of a pool and a ‘vergola’.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to CoreData, they bought that long-term home in 2001 for $900,000, while prices now average at around $2.615 million in the suburb.</p> <p dir="ltr">They also own a property in the South Coast at Culburra Beach, and paid only slightly less for it - $1.475 million - than their lavish Newtown buy.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: realestate.com.au, Getty</em></p>

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Olivia Newton-John's daughter's emotional memorial tribute

<p>Olivia Newton-John’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi has delivered an emotional speech at her mother’s memorial service, saying she “feels like a little girl”.</p> <p>Almost six months after her death at the age of 73, Newtown-John was remembered at a star-studded service at Hamer Hall in Melbourne.</p> <p>She passed away on August 8, 2022, after battling breast cancer for three decades.</p> <p>Newtown-John’s husband John Easterline spoke at the beginning of the service followed by his daughter’s emotional tribute.</p> <p>“My heart is broken in two. The other half is with my Mumma,” Lattanzi said with tears.</p> <p>“I know she is holding it for me until we meet again. I stand here before you so desperately wanting to feel strong and confident and speak eloquently. But the truth is, I feel like a little girl lost without her mother.</p> <p>“She was my safe space, my guide, my biggest fan and the Earth beneath my feet.”</p> <p>Lattanzi also said she knew her mother was “standing beside her” and could hear her voice telling her not to be afraid.</p> <p>The grieving daughter mentioned her and her mother had the same “cackle,” and revealed although her mother would never tell a dirty joke, she would “laugh the hardest at them”.</p> <p>“I loved making her tea and then making it five times again until I got it right. I loved our snuggles. I would crawl into bed with her late at night even until I was 20 years old. I loved the way that she smelled,” Lattanzi said.</p> <p>“I loved writing music and singing with her and how she would always notice if I was slightly off-key.</p> <p>“She cherished her friends and her family and she was so grateful to her fans and she loved you all so dearly. She would want us all to laugh and reminisce together, enjoy and celebrate her life.”</p> <p>Aussie singer and actress Delta Goodrem broke down at Newtown-John’s memorial service as she was giving a speech about how the late actress was so special to her.</p> <p>“It’s beautiful to see everybody,” Goodrem said as she was interviewed at Hamer Hall in Melbourne, ahead of a moving performance.</p> <p>“It’s beautiful,” Goodrem continued, flooded with emotion. “Sorry.”</p> <p>“I’m so happy to see everybody coming together on a day to celebrate someone who touched all of our lives,” she said when asked why she was so emotional. “I think that’s really what it is.”</p> <p>In a video shown at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall, Dolly Parton said, "The world lost one of its greatest talents when Olivia left us.”</p> <p>Nicole Kidman also paid tribute, saying that Newton-John was "just a light in the world" and that growing up, she "wanted to be Olivia Newton-John.”</p> <p>Some of the other celebrities and friends who paid tribute to Newtown-John during the service included Hugh Jackman, Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, RuPaul, Pink and Sir Elton John.</p> <p>Image credit: Getty</p>

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Bombshell testimony rocks Chris Dawson trial

<p dir="ltr">An explosive bombshell detail rocked Chris Dawson’s judge-only murder trial on Thursday as Dawson’s former rugby league teammate testified that he was approached by Dawson and asked if he knew someone who could help “get rid” of his wife.</p> <p dir="ltr">Former Newtown Jets player Robert Silkman told the court that six years before Lynette Dawson disappeared, her husband approached him on a flight to the Gold Coast and posed the question to him.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I was sitting there and Chris come along and kneeled down to my level where I was sitting and asked me did I know anyone who could get rid of his wife,” Mr Silkman told the court, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/get-rid-of-his-wife-chris-dawsons-teammates-bombshell-claim/news-story/0d90c610d2f21f701d972e9e1557968c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news.com.au</a> reported.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Well, I was taken aback. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘For good?’ He said, ‘Yeah’.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I said, ‘Look, I’ll talk to you when I get back to Sydney’. That was the end of the conversation.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Silkman told the court that he did not engage in any further conversation with Dawson.</p> <p dir="ltr">Then the former Newtown Jets player’s past was questioned due to his friendship with fellow teammate Paul Hayward, who was the brother-in-law of infamous criminal Arthur “Neddy” Smith.</p> <p dir="ltr">Neddy, a convicted murderer, drug trafficker and armed robber, spent most of his life in jail and died in 2021.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Silkman told the court that he was only socially acquainted with Neddy due to his friendship with Mr Hayward.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Yeah, I wasn’t actually drinking with (Smith), I was drinking with Paul Hayward who took me to the hotel with him,” Mr Silkman told the court.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Neddy Smith was in the company.”</p> <p dir="ltr">This then led to Dawson’s barrister Pauline David questioning Mr Silkman’s criminal history and accusing him of willingly lying if there’s a “dollar” in it, the publication reported.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You have a very loose relationship with the truth,” Ms David said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s not correct,” Mr Silkman said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Chris Dawson has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Lynette, who went missing from the family home in Sydney's Northern Beaches in January 1982.</p> <p dir="ltr">The trial continues.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Nine News</em></p>

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Three murder counts laid over deadly boarding house fire

<p dir="ltr">A man has been charged with murder after allegedly setting fire to a boarding house that killed three people.</p> <p dir="ltr">Emergency services were called to the Newtown home in Sydney’s inner-west in the early hours of Tuesday morning.</p> <p dir="ltr">After putting the ferocious blaze out, emergency workers and police discovered three deceased men inside the burnt property, while another three people were taken to hospital in a serious condition.</p> <p dir="ltr">A 45-year-old man attended Surry Hills police station on Tuesday night where he was charged with three counts of murder and one count of destroy or damage property by fire or explosive more than $15,000.</p> <p dir="ltr">He was refused bail and will appear in Central Local Court on Wednesday where police will allege he doused the house with an accelerant and ignited it about 1 am on Tuesday.</p> <p dir="ltr">NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter said investigators will resume searching the house.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We still haven't been able to explore all the rooms in the boarding house so fingers crossed that the death toll won't rise but we still have some fears that people could be unaccounted for yet,” he told ABC Radio Sydney.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We're hoping we will be able to get up into that first storey (today) and make sure that we recover what we know is there and then clearly look for any other people who might have perished.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: YouTube</em></p>

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“Excessive”: $344 parking fine sparks controversy among locals

<p>A $344 parking fine has caused dismay among a NSW community who believed the “excessive” ticket should not have been handed out. </p> <p>A motorist in Newtown, Sydney was given a $344 fine for parking within ten metres of an intersection with no traffic lights. </p> <p>The black sedan was parked in a zone where there was no marked signs to indicate he couldn’t park there. </p> <p>"Sorry for this person who got this ticket, but shouldn't there be sign there saying no parking?" the man wrote in a post that has since gone viral.</p> <p>"And ten metres seems excessive."</p> <p>The driver was parked on a suburban street in central Newtown, near Erskineville road, on Angel Street. </p> <p>" That's the law," one man replied.</p> <p><img style="width: 474px; height: 267px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7829879/driving.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/44e30dd7f71a4decaa07492b0c04f7bd" /></p> <p>"Ah…. this is the law. It was widely publicised when they introduced it," another woman agreed.</p> <p>"It's also dangerous for other road users and pedestrians to park that close to an intersection so fair call on the fine, in my opinion."</p> <p>"There's someone who repeatedly parks like this at the top of the street I live in," another woman commented.</p> <p>"It's so bloody irritating and freaking dangerous given it's right near a school."</p> <p>However, other members in the community took to the side of the motorist, arguing rangers in the area were not consistent with charging people for illegal parking. </p> <p>"It seems they are not consistent with it," the driver replied. </p> <p>He said a parked car near his home was also in "violation" but didn’t receive a fine.</p> <p>"(It) might be the law but also means with this rule there is even less parking around for inner west residents and visitors," another woman said.</p> <p>"Ten metres is excessive, that would mean you could fit three cars on a Newtown street rather than nine," one woman insisted.</p> <p>"Rangers only enforce it sporadically, I've seen cars that are creating an actual traffic hazard left alone, and others that are completely out of the way of anything given tickets. Who knows," another man said.</p> <p>"Ten metres is a lot further than most people realise," someone else responded.</p> <p>Road laws are particularly complex in NSW, and it is no wonder motorists are confused by the rules. </p> <p>According to RMS, drivers are not permitted to park within ten metres of an intersection without lights. </p> <p>However, there are exceptions to the rule, including when there is a sign permitting drivers to park there and motorists are allowed to park on the continuous side of an intersection of T-intersection.</p>

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Olivia Newton-John opens up about missing ex

<p>In an interview with Nine Network’s <em>60 Minutes</em> program, Olivia Newton-John has opened up about the disappearance of her ex-partner Patrick McDermott.</p> <p>Newton-John had been dating McDermott for nine years when he disappeared off a fishing boat in California,<span> leading to a deluge of theories from fans and media. </span></p> <p>But the <em>Grease</em> star refuses to believe the former cameraman would fake his death, “It was very hard, he was lost at sea and nobody really knows what happened.”</p> <p>Newtown-John admitted to reporter Karl Stefanovic that she still wonders about the disappearance from time to time, but it doesn’t consume her like it once did.</p> <p>“It's human to wonder. Those are the things in life you have to accept and let go because whenever you go through difficult times there are always those concerns but... I live on.”</p> <p>What are your views on McDermott’s disappearance? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.</p> <p><em>Video credit: Twitter / 60 Minutes  </em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="/news/news/2016/08/olivia-newton-johns-unauthorised-biopic-green-lit/"><strong>Olivia Newton-John’s unauthorised biopic green-lit</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="/entertainment/music/2016/02/top-10-wedding-songs-of-all-time/"><strong>Top 10 wedding songs of all time</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="/travel/cruising/2016/07/7-best-musicals-you-can-see-on-a-cruise-this-year/"><strong>7 best musicals you can see on a cruise this year</strong></a></em></span></p>

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Olivia Newton-John’s unauthorised biopic green-lit

<p>Olivia Newton-John’s unauthorised biopic has been given the green light, despite the Aussie star’s attempts to stop the production last year.</p> <p>Production company FremantleMedia decided to go ahead with the project after receiving funding from Film Victoria.</p> <p>When the project was first announced last December, Australian singer Delta Goodrem was slated to play her idol.</p> <p><img width="334" height="443" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRDcxczczSU9_AAtNVjiD7iKsmlLot9mT6LVmsSXhEt4iDGEOhm" class="irc_mut ihpHX9tpGlwc-HwpH6ZlgJaI" style="margin-top: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p>At the time, New Idea revealed sources close to the 67-year-old star said Newton-John was furious and doing “everything in her power” to shut the production down.</p> <p>“[Olivia’s] very upset and is not taking [Delta’s] calls. She expects Delta to publicly disassociate herself from the movie before she’ll talk to her again,” the source said.</p> <p>However, the 31-year-old <em>Voice</em> judge is still tipped to play Newton-John. Goodrem has publicly spoken about how she looks up to the <em>Physical </em>singer.</p> <p>"Olivia's been an incredible guiding light with me," she told Reuters in 2008.</p> <p id="ext-gen146" class="mol-para-with-font"><span>"She's always given me really great advice... She's beautiful and we have a beautiful friendship."</span></p> <p><a href="http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2016/07/filmvic-backs-olivia-newton-john-drama.html" target="_blank">FilmVic</a> released a statement on Sunday that read: “The story of Olivia Newton-John will chart her remarkable path through one of the world’s toughest industries, and provide a glimpse into the extraordinary achievements of one of Australia’s most loved icons.”</p> <p>Do you think this biopic should be made? Are you looking forward to watching it? Share your thoughts in the comments below. </p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/06/shocking-actor-transformations-for-movie-roles/"><em>10 shocking transformations by actors for movie roles</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/06/incredible-actors-who-havent-won-an-oscar/"><em>8 incredible actors who haven’t won an Oscar</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/05/7-actors-children-who-became-actors-too/"><em>7 children who followed in the footsteps of their actor parents</em></a></strong></span></p>

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