► ALBURY: Homeless recidivist hoon Luke Robin was high on “ice” as he raged his way through Albury at high speed.

The now 23-year-old’s driving was so dangerous and idiotic that police had no choice but to abandon their pursuits. Read the full report.

► HOBART: A Tasmanian school has taken the extraordinary step of banning students from taking candy canes to school in the lead up to Christmas.

And the Bellerive Primary School isn't going to stop at young tackers bringing in candy canes, as it looks to ban kids from bringing in birthday cakes from next year. More here.

► WARRNAMBOOL: A fugitive paedophile who escaped a mental health facility in Melbourne has been caught hundreds of kilometres away in Warrnambool, the town where he raped a child.

Christopher Austin, 22, was arrested at a home in Warrnambool about 12.30pm on Friday and taken into custody after 10 days on the run. Read on.

► DAWSON: George Christensen has laughed off becoming an internet sensation for posing for a photo in a singlet with a whip, saying jokes at his expense are like "water off a duck's back".

Mr Christensen, the member for Dawson in north Queensland, posed for the photo for a profile of him in Saturday's Good Weekend magazine. Take a look.

► HUNTER: Police have allegedly uncovered bullets, nunchucks and a “large hunting knife” from a vehicle stop in Lambton, a suburb of Newcastle.

The haul was allegedly seized from a Toyota Prado parked about 11pm on Wednesday. Read on.

► DAPTO: Police say speed was undoubtedly a factor in a crash that killed a man at West Dapto. 

The man, aged in his 20s, was a passenger in a car that was incinerated on Cleveland Road about 2.10am Friday.

The car came unstuck on a bend about 1.2kms west of Dapto High School. More here.

► CEDAR VALE: A group of Cedar Vale, QLD residents have grown increasingly frustrated after their telephone and internet services were suddenly cut more than two weeks ago, with no indication of when they would be restored. Read on.

► WESTON: A blaze broke out at a car wreckers in Weston in NSW on Friday evening.

The fire, at the corner of Government Road and Mitchell Avenue, sent a plume of black smoke into the air and was contained before it spread to surrounding bushland.

It took at least five fire trucks to contain the blaze. More here.

► NEWCASTLE: The Newcastle Herald has scooped a Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism for the newspaper’s coverage of the RAAF Base Williamtown contamination scandal.

At a ceremony in Brisbane on Friday night, the judges of Australia’s most prestigious journalism awards recognised the reporting of Herald scribes Michael McGowan, Carrie Fellner, Donna Page, Michelle Harris, Gabriel Wingate-Pearse and Joanne McCarthy in the category of best community/regional affairs coverage. Read on.

► Hundreds of high-tech high-skilled jobs in fast-growing businesses are going begging in Sydney because the city has become too boring and expensive to attract the creative young talent needed to build the industries of the future, leading entrepreneurs say. More here.

► Amid the chaotic and action-packed final sitting week of Parliament for 2016, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton quietly added a sixth property to his impressive and expanding portfolio. Read on.

► The proportion of IT professionals from India granted 457 visas and paid base salaries of $53,900 or less, much lower than experienced Australian IT professionals, has tripled under the Coalition government, a study has found.

The Australian Population Research Institute has found that IT professionals are the largest single occupation represented in the 457 program and more than three-quarters are Indian nationals who mostly work in Sydney or Melbourne. Read on.

International news

► USA: This may be the most depressing news clip you'll see this year.

CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota sat down with a group of Donald Trump backers on Thursday morning to talk about the 2016 election and the false allegations - made by the President-elect - that "millions" of undocumented immigrants had voted illegally on November 8.

The result is both stunning and super depressing.  Watch the whole 100 seconds.

► INDONESIA: Bali murder suspect Sara Connor has broken her media silence, insisting her British DJ boyfriend is not an aggressive person and that she can't believe what occurred the night a Bali police officer died on Kuta beach.

In her first media interview since her arrest, Connor, from Byron Bay, repeatedly stressed she was innocent, telling reporters: "I don't even know why I am here". Read on.

1854: Eureka Stockade - In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 goldminers at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences

1967: The first human heart transplant performed by Dr Christian Barnard in South Africa

1989: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over

It was just an ordinary day like any other when she received the life-changing diagnosis.

Amanda was enjoying a barbecue at a friend’s property with her husband, Mark, and sons Rhys, 8, and Evan, 7, when she fell off a farm quad-bike and landed in an embankment.

“I’m not an experienced rider so I wasn't going very fast when I flipped the quad,” she laughed.  “I went to the doctor as I was feeling sore and sorry for myself.”

After a series of tests, they discovered she had six malignant tumours in her right breast, and the cancer had spread to three lymph nodes in her arm. Read her story.