-With AAP.
1. “I didn’t see it, but I felt it.” At least one dead after helicopter crash on top of a New York City skyscraper.
A helicopter has made a crash landing onto the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper, killing at least one person and sending a plume of smoke skyward from the top of the building.
The crash occurred shortly before 2pm local time on Monday, on a rainy day at the AXA Equitable Center on Seventh Avenue.
Dozens of emergency vehicles swarmed the busy area, a few blocks north of Times Square.
The city fire department said on Twitter that one unidentified person was killed. Media reports said the person killed was the helicopter pilot.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was at the scene soon after the crash, told reporters it appeared a helicopter attempted a forced emergency landing on the roof and no one inside the building had been injured.
Nathan Hutton, who works on the 29th floor, said the building shook when the helicopter slammed into the roof.
“It felt like you were just standing there, and someone takes their hand and just shoves you,” he said. “You felt it through the whole building.”
Melvin Douglas, 50, who was selling umbrellas on the street, said he heard a “rumble” when the helicopter crash landed.
“I didn’t see it, but I felt it,” Douglas said. “Smoke was on top of the building.”
A fire that broke out on the roof was quickly brought under control, the fire department said. The building, which houses a number of corporate offices, was evacuated.
US President Donald Trump was briefed on the crash.
“Phenomenal job by our GREAT First Responders who are currently on the scene,” he said on Twitter.
“The Trump Administration stands ready should you need anything at all.”
2. A family of seven have been taken to hospital after a suspected carbon monoxide leak at their Sydney home.
Five children and two adults in Sydney’s east have been rushed to hospital after a carbon monoxide leak which has been traced to a pool heater.
Emergency services were called to the stately home on Wentworth Road in Vaucluse after 1.30pm on Monday.
NSW Ambulance found two adults and five children suffering from nausea and dizziness, a spokeswoman told AAP.
It’s understood the patients were all in stable conditions and conscious but it’s unclear who called emergency services.
The seven were taken to nearby hospitals.
Fire and Rescue NSW’s crew identified high levels of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of the home.
They traced it to a pool heating system, which runs on natural gas, identifying it as the likely source of the odourless, colourless but potentially fatal gas.
Carbon monoxide is particularly dangerous to humans because it displaces oxygen in the body which damages internal organs and the brain.
“At extremely high levels, carbon monoxide can cause death,” NSW Health’s website says.
The crew cut off the heater, a spokesman said, before ventilating the home.
The pool’s heating system will now be investigated but it’s suspected the system’s flue may have malfunctioned or a seal may have been damaged allowing the gas to leak into the home, FRNSW’s spokesman said.
The spokesman warned people to check their heating systems as winter brings lower temperatures.
“If you have a flue, make sure it’s properly installed and functioning, and have it regularly checked,” he told AAP on Monday.
FRNSW urged people to also avoid using outdoor heaters, particularly those with external gas bottles, as indoor heaters because they produce large amounts of carbon monoxide.
3. A Sydney family wake to a terrifying home invasion.
A man in a pair of Sydney Swans budgie-smugglers has confronted an intruder who broke into his parents’ home, armed himself with knives and barricaded himself in a bedroom with the family dog.
The man and his wife were visiting their grandparents with their young daughter when the 33-year-old male intruder allegedly forced his way in through a glass door about 3.45am on Monday, police say.
After being woken by the noise, the man made his way downstairs and found the intruder in the home, then moved quickly to get his family to safety and call for help.
The terrified family hid in an upstairs bedroom, as they waited for police to arrive, unable to escape as the man, who had armed himself with knives from their kitchen, barricaded himself in the grandparents’ bedroom one floor below.
“It’s very terrifying to have someone come into your house at that time of night, an unknown male, he was very erratic at the time,” Acting Inspector David Nupier told reporters in Sydney.
“Very distressing for the family involved.”
Police were able to free the family safely after arriving on the scene and establishing a perimeter around the home.
But it wasn’t until after they began negotiating with the armed man that they realised the family dog was inside the room with him.
“After a period of time they were able to convince this male to surrender without incident,” Insp Nupier said.
The dog escaped without injury.
The intruder, who is known to police, was taken to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment to a cut on his arm.
“He’s still in hospital, waiting to undergo treatment,” Insp Nupier said, explaining that police did not expect to charge the man before Tuesday.
“There’s a number of tests they need to do and he’s waiting to see certain specialists.”
4. Qld man faces trial over cold-case killing
A cold-case murder trial has heard of grisly allegations a Queensland man bought cleaning supplies for “working with acids to clean floors” after cutting up his wealthy uncle and throwing the “offal” into a river more than 20 years ago.
Gerhard Wagner, 61, was last seen riding a motorcycle from a workshop after working on his prized yacht on January 7, 1999, a Brisbane Supreme Court trial into his murder has been told.
His body and the motorcycle have never been found.
Robert James Wagner, Gerhard’s nephew, pleaded not guilty to his murder on Monday.
The court was told Wagner’s uncle had “considerable assets”, plans of sailing the world on his yacht and a dinner date with his partner at a Breakfast Creek steakhouse before his disappearance.
Crown prosecutor Philip McCarthy said the Crown contended Gerhard “is not someone walking the earth as we speak” before detailing the various changes Wagner made to his uncle’s will in the months before his disappearance.
He said Wagner owed Gerhard $84,000 and was in a difficult financial position before he disappeared.
It is alleged Wagner murdered his uncle in the garage of the Ashgrove unit he lived in which was owned by his uncle.
He said Wagner was a “habitual diarist” and wrote to himself asking rhetorically “is there anything in my statement that is suspicious?” in the wake of Gerhard’s disappearance.
A witness came forward with claims Wagner told him he had “knocked his uncle off” and got away with it.
The witness, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, said Wagner told him he had cut and hacked his uncle to pieces with a knife.
Wagner allegedly told the witness some of the body – described as the “offal” – was thrown into a river while other parts were disposed of in locations in the Glass House Mountains.
Wagner’s barrister, David Funch, asked the jury to consider whether there was an accidental way Gerhard could have died and disappeared and if any witnesses had a reason to fabricate a case against him.
The trial continues.
5. Queensland mother shares tribute to her two-year-old son who was found in a dam.
The young mother of a little boy found dead in a dam three days after he went missing on an isolated Queensland cattle station says she can't believe he is gone.
Police divers found Ruben Scott's body 100 metres from his home on Koolatah Station on Queensland's Cape York Peninsula on Friday afternoon.
Natasha Scott says none of it feels real.
"Ever since you left me it feels like you're going to walk back through my door, yell out 'mum ma' and give me a big cuddle," she wrote on Facebook on Monday.
"I had you when I was just 16, we did it incredibly hard but eventually got on our little feet.
"You used to laugh and smile when I played back the videos I recorded of you and now all I do is cry because I know you're never coming back to me."
Over the weekend, Scott wrote that she wish she could outlive her son.
"I love you so incredibly much and I’ll always have you in my heart. I never ever thought I’d have to make a status like this in my entire life, but this is what it’s came to and I have to come to the realisation that you’ll never be in my arms again. The love I have for you is completely unconditional and always will be."
"I hope you’ll be watching over me up there, I’ll forever need your guidance. Fly high my son, I love you to the moon and back. I wish I could’ve outlived you. You’ll be my forever and always."
Ruben was last seen by Scott at 5.44pm on Tuesday, sparking an immediate search for the two-year-old.
Indigenous rangers, police, State Emergency Services crews, workers from neighbouring properties and the toddler's family scoured the property on foot, horseback, motorbikes and from the air.
But their hopes of finding him alive were dashed late on Thursday when his family was told too much time had passed for him to have survived alone.
Divers searched the waterways, which are known crocodile habitats, finding his tiny body in a lagoon at the edge of the homestead's yard.