Australia: New South Wales drivers will now be tested for cocaine as authorities work to curb the state's horror road toll which has seen 17 people die this year after 392 people were killed in 2017, which was an eight-year high. Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced a raft of tough new measures, including doubling the number of roadside drug tests by 2020, increasing penalties for drug drivers and looking to reduce the risk posed by people taking prescription drugs. The announcement comes as 29-year-old actor Jessica Falkholt clings to life in a Sydney hospital after her family was wiped out in a Boxing Day car crash involving a driver with a shocking driving history on his way home from a Nowra methadone clinic. Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn says cocaine will be added to the list of drugs subject to roadside testing including cannabis, ecstasy and P.
Britain: A father was murdered and his pregnant girlfriend injured in an attack by a crossbow-wielding neighbour in an ongoing row over noise, locals said. Shane Gilmer, 30, had recently returned home from a date with his partner Laura Sugden, 27, when he was killed in a bloodied attack by an intruder. Sugden and her unborn baby survived, and were in a stable condition. Detectives were searching for Anthony Lawrence, 55, who went missing following the killing. However, they discovered the body of Lawrence inside a vehicle at a 'rural location in North Yorkshire' following a two-day manhunt. The killing of Gilmer shocked the village of Southburn, near Driffield, East Yorks. Neighbours said Lawrence had turned up at the couple's house last month to complain about noise, and had been to their home on Friday night to complain again about music.
Indonesia: The Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali has spewed thick plumes of ash 2500m into the sky in the latest eruption, the country's disaster management agency says. The eruption was brief and there were no casualties, said agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, adding that the resort island's international airport was operating normally. Authorities raised the warning alert to the highest level on November 27 and ordered the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people.
United States: President Donald Trump is disputing a newspaper's account of an interview with him last week in which he was quoted as saying he probably had a "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Accusing the Wall Street Journal of misquoting him, Trump said in tweets that he told the newspaper that "I'd probably" have a good relationship with Kim, using a conditional tense, which he insisted was a "big difference". The White House released a portion of the audio from the interview that it said showed Trump said "I'd." The Wall Street Journal released its own audio that it said backed up its version of the events. The Trump comment was important because any hint that there had been direct contacts between the two leaders, who have exchanged threats and insults, would suggest a major shift in the US-led pressure campaign against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programmes.
