Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has revealed that he searched CIA and NSA databases for proof of Aliens.
 
Mr Snowden says he found no evidence of extraterrestrial life after scouring the top secret US networks.
 
He says ““If [this information is] hidden, and it could be hidden, it’s hidden really damn well even from people on the inside.” 
 

Indigenous musician and activist Archie Roach is awarded the Victorian Australian of the Year.
 
Mr Roach runs Ruby’s foundation – named after his late wife – which aims to improve opportunities for young First Nations people through art and culture.
 
Mr Roach said "We live in the most blessed country on this Earth," as he accepted the award.
 
The 63-year-old will join winners from across the country for the announcement of the national awards on Australia day eve in Canberra.
 

Melbourne drivers are facing delays on the Monash Freeway in the Melbourne suburb of Chadstone after an earlier crash.
 
Police were called to the scene about 2.15pm on Thursday and investigators were told a car crashed into the back of a broken down truck on the freeway between Huntingdale Road and Forster Road.
 
The driver, a 29-year-old Patterson Lakes man, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
 

Brisbane City Council committee chairs have new guidelines on the use of ratepayer-funded Cabcharge cards.
 
It was revealed in August that ratepayers had footed the bill after spending almost $14,000 on taxis this last council term for committee members using taxis since 2016.
 
The Cabcharge cards are issued     to members of the council’s establishment and coordination committee, the chair of council, the leader of the opposition and the chief executive officer.
 

 The Queensland parliament has passed new “lock-on” laws, supporting the bill with 86 votes to one.
 
These laws will criminalise dangerous locking devices used by climate protesters and give police expanded powers to search suspected activists.
 
The environmental group Frontline Action on Coal has condemned these laws.
 
Frontline Action on Coal spokesperson Andy Paine said “the Queensland community should be concerned about these laws”
 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the removal of all "backward" and "shabby" facilities at the Mount Kumgang tourist resort, the current resting place of the 30-year-old floating hotel.

"The buildings are just a hotchpotch with no national character at all." he said.

Mr Kim called for the "unpleasant-looking facilities" to be removed and rebuilt to "meet [North Korea's] own sentiment and aesthetic taste".
 

A hire company says it was ‘shell shocked’ after 39 Chinese people were found dead in one of its trailers. 

The company said it provided police with information about the person who the company leased the trailer to. 

A 25 year old man from Northern Ireland was arrested on suspicion of murder and remiains in custody. 

The recycling crisis is prompting Victorians to switch to a six-bin system for rubbish collection.
 
China’s decision to stop importing foreign waste as forced Victoria to reconsider how it deals with recycling.
 
Elissa McNamara, the project director at infrastructure Victoria says "The system where everything's all put in the one bin has been around for 20 years, and we haven't updated that.

It’s the decision that has divided the nation. The ban to stop people from climbing Uluru.

While the vast majority of locals support the controversial move to stop visitors from scaling the rock, tourists have flocked to the region in a last-ditch effort to make it to the top of one of Australia’s most famous landmarks.

From Saturday, in recognition of the rock’s cultural significance to the Anangu people, the climb — which was built in 1964 on the steep western face of the rock — will be closed for good.