MORNING BRIEFING: The Federal Energy Minister 'unreservedly' apologises to Sydney's Lord Mayor for falsely claiming her council spent $15 million on travel, while parts of NSW remain blanketed in haze as winds fan smoke from bushfires.

Kangaroos have been spotted digging for water in dried-up creek beds as severe rainfall deficiencies continue.

Yes, rain is on the forecast for parts of the country, although it won't be drought-breaking. But as the rainclouds gather on the horizon the question we are all asking is: "Where is it going to fall?".

Western United come away with a 3-2 win in their Melbourne derby against the Victory despite trailing 2-0 after just seven minutes. Look back at that remarkable win and Western Sydney's 0-0 draw with Brisbane in our ScoreCentre.

The theory in media circles is that the banking royal commission was big news because "everyone has a bank account". There seems to be no corresponding extrapolation for aged care, writes Anne Connolly.

As the drought bites deeper, residents in a growing number of rural communities are fighting to stop local groundwater being taken to satisfy Australia's thirst for bottled water.

A NSW school principal who has been accused of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl has been released from custody on strict conditions.

Geoffrey Rush's barrister tells an appeal hearing his client has been "slurred" by The Daily Telegraph's lawyer, who yesterday accused the actor of "delivering lines" when describing the impact the newspaper's articles had on his life.

Sydney woman Susan Leslie O'Brien may be home before Christmas after being sentenced to three-and-a-half months in jail for hitting and killing a Balinese teenager with her car.

It's criticised for being "disingenuous", and many Christian students say it can be socially draining. So why hasn't face-to-face evangelism gone out of fashion in a digital world?

A father is dead and his son is fighting for life in hospital after both were stabbed at a construction site they owned in St Peters.

The case of Quanne Diec and former nightclub bouncer Vinzent Tarantino shows even when an accused person confesses to a crime, criminal matters can later play out unexpectedly in court.

Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry has notched up plenty of career highlights, but her biggest is being involved in the "watershed moment" of women's sport in Australia.

Ariana Grande surprised her fans by sharing a kiss with her new boyfriend in the brand-new, at-home music video.

Los Angeles-based tech company Production Club is currently working to provide an alternative to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The family is not releasing the cause of death, a friend said.

THIS man’s lover tried to bust him out of jail in a suitcase, but was spotted lugging the heavy load out of the prison.

It won't shock you to hear that livestreaming services are seeing an upswing in viewership due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people at home, but now it's clear just what kind of effect the outbreak has had on viewing habits. Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet have determined that watch hours surged 23 percent between February and March, to just over 1.2 billion. Other services saw increased demand as well, but their gains were relatively slight. Microsoft's Mixer saw a 15.9 percent gain, while YouTube's gaming streams saw a 10.7 percent boost. Facebook Gaming saw a modest 3.8 percent increase.

ASUS has refreshed its line of gaming laptops with new 10th Generation Intel Core processors, NVIDIA RTX 2070/2080 Super graphics and a bunch of other features designed to make gaming and content creation slicker and smoother. First up, the new Zephyrus S17 (pictured), which comes with a 17.3-inch display with super narrow bezels in an 18.7-millimeter-thin chassis. A 300 Hz refresh rate and 3ms grey-to-grey response time means the display is lightning fast, and it comes with Pantone-validated color accuracy as well.

ASUS has been pushing laptops with second screens for a couple of years now, but it's still searching for a winning formula. Last year's ZenBook Pro Duo pushed the keyboard down to the edge of the laptop's body, with the rest of the surface housing a second screen. The problem with that configuration was an awkwardly placed trackpad. But, you know who cares less about trackpad placement? Gamers. Hence, almost a year later, the company's Republic Of Gamers (ROG) division has its own spin on the concept: the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15.

Microsoft's buccaneering simulator, Sea of Thieves, already has 10 million players on Xbox One and Windows 10. The company announced that the game is coming soon to Steam, adding to an already large stable of Microsoft games on Valve's platform, and allowing existing Steam users to connect more easily with friends. The game, which was developed by Rare, challenges players to complete voyages across the open seas. What makes things more interesting is the fact that crews can run into pirate ships manned by other gamers -- and attempt to plunder their booty.

Gaming on Twitch is largely a one-way affair. You can join a Marbles on Stream race or play a slightly delayed Jackbox Party Pack game, but the service is largely meant for passive viewing. Amazon aims to fix that before long, however. The company tells the New York Times that it's developing games both Twitch streamers and their viewers can play together in "real time." While details are scarce, you should see games become available throughout the summer.

Naughty Dog has just about finished work on The Last Of Us Part II. It's taking care of the last few bugs and then the long-awaited sequel should be all set. However, Sony has delayed the game for a second time. It's pushing back the release date indefinitely from May 29th due to the coronavirus outbreak.

While he's been in the periphery of the game since the start of the current season, Deadpool is finally making his way to Fortnite proper. If you purchased this season's battle pass, you can obtain the skin by finding the mercenary's two hidden pistols (hint: look in the menus). After finding the weapons, head to a phone booth on the island to change outfits.

It's not just multi-manufacturer racing leagues like NASCAR going digital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Porsche is livestreaming its Mobil 1 Supercup Virtual Edition starting on April 4th at 10AM Eastern, when drivers take to a digital version of the Spanish Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for two races in 911 GT3 Cup cars. The iRacing-based series will have 31 drivers, 22 of which are full-time Supercup racers -- the nine others are factory and young professional drivers fielded by big-name sponsors like TAG Heuer and Vodafone.

If you're devoted enough to livestreaming that you want the kind of features you'd expect from a TV studio, Blackmagic might have your back. It's releasing the ATEM Mini Pro, an enhanced version of the ATEM Mini switcher that's focused on the most elaborate streaming setups. There's now a hardware streaming engine that lets the Pro stream directly to Twitch, Facebook and YouTube through an Ethernet connection, with no special software required. You can also save recordings for posterity to USB flash drives, and multiview on the HDMI output lets you monitor all inputs on one screen.

PlayStation 5 uncovered: The Mark Cerny tech deep dive
Richard Leadbetter,
Eurogamer

If you're craving even more explanation on the PlayStation 5 than lead architect Mark Cerny shared during his in-depth chat a couple weeks ago, get comfy. Eurogamer shared part two of its chat with Cerny this week, and while there weren't any new revelations per se, there was more detail on the things we'd already heard about.

Applicants who have tested positive for the virus but did not require hospitalization will still be allowed to enlist

The framed picture depicts a young boy sitting on the floor playing with a nurse superhero toy

'I want to see every community treated fairly,' NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says

Dr. Tanjii Reed Marshall says we must step for our kids.

“Laughter is often the best medicine.”

She was in a bitter custody battle with Stevie J.

Is this some royal shade or nah?

Georgia's governor lifted the state’s order.

You can still experience prom doing the COVID-19 outbreak.

Will Smith, Kevin Hart, Todd Tucker, and more!

The tea will be spilled this August.

Churches and mosques are find ways to stay active.

She also reveals whether she would come back to the show.

She gushes about her 17-year-old Sy’rai in interview

The verbal altercation turned deadly.

The book is a follow-up to ‘The Underground Railroad’

The former president was weirdly credited.

The entertainer was all smiles as he celebrated a day early!

Trump Administration not sticking to its own order.

"I really want to cry right now like oh my god!!!!"

“This means so much to me!!!”

She is the daughter of the legendary Lenny Kravitz.

The campaign has partnered with Vital Voices.