The Military Leader who was allegedly involved in the production of the bombs that were used in the 2002 bali bombings has been arrested in Indonesia.

Aris Sumarsono, known as Zulk ar naen, has evaded capture for 15 years, but surrendered to counterterrorism police late on Thursday. 

Sumarsono is suspected to have ties with the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network .  

Germany announced the country would go into a hard lockdown over the Christmas period as the coronavirus’ latest figures showed 20,200 more infections and a further 321 deaths.

Chancellor Angela Merkel blamed Christmas shopping for a "considerable" rise in social contacts that likely led to coronavirus infections record levels.

Restaurants, bars and leisure centres have already been closed since November, and starting December 16 it is for non-essential shops and schools to close across the country as well as strict restrictions on gatherings to be adopted.

Heavy rain, damaging winds, serious flooding and high tides are set to impact Queensland and parts of NSW for the next several days.

According to the Bureau of Meterology (BOM), heavy rainfall was expected to impact parts of the NSW coast and northern rivers from Sunday night to early Monday morning.

The widespread heavy rainfall is expected to ease late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Veteran support charity, Mates4Mates, is calling on the community to put in a call over Christmas to a veteran who may be isolated.

Mates4Mates National Clinical Manager and Clinical Psychologist, Georgia Ash, said there’s been an increase in veterans presenting mental health challenges this year and she expects it to continue to rise.

Open Arms provides 24-hour care via 1800 011 046 for veterans and their families, and Lifeline provides 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14.

A new fleet of high tech cameras have been distributed to all policing regions across the state to assist officers with investigating dangerous hooning activity.

The cameras will have the ability to capture crystal clear footage of everyone involved in hooning incidents, and will be used as evidence in court. 

Police Minister Mark Ryan says anyone who is driving recklessly, being a nuisance on the roads or damaging property, can expect police to take strong action.

Acting Premier Steven Miles and Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Shannon Fentiman announced today a date for draft Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws to be implemented in Queensland, following discussions with the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC).

A shorter implementation time of 15 months was decided and would assure no delays possible in taking the matter to parliament.

The QLRC will provide a review update in February with a final report and draft bill in May and legislation is expected to be introduced into parliament in late May.

The most ambitious vaccination campaign is U.S. history has start this week after the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNtech was approved by drug regulators.

This weekend, 2.9 million doses of the vaccine traveled by plane and guarded truck from facilities in Michigan and Wisconsin to designated locations, mostly hospitals, in all 50 states.

The first injections will start to be given today to high risk health care workers.

Four people have been left in critical condition following a fight that broke out between Trump demonstrators and counter-protesters  in Washington DC on Saturday. 

Trump supporters were marching the streets of DC to show their support following a supreme Court ruling on Friday that rejected a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in four states. 

Pro-Trump rallies also took place in other state capitals, including Atlanta, Georgia and St Paul, Minneapolis. 

The Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus) entered into force yesterday for Australia, Cook Islands, Kiribati, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga. 

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the agreement brings more opportunities for Australian farmers and would forge greater shared regional prosperity.

The arrangement establishes a regional framework to enhance and promote labour mobility cooperation and to include mobility for unskilled and semi-skilled labour.