Facebook has removed 500 accounts and pages which are allegedly involved in distributing fake news in Central and Eastern European countries.

The accounts have more than 900,000 followers combined and more than $160,000 worth of active advertisements at time of their closure.

Facebook says the accounts are loosely connected to Russian state groups.

The African Union, a pan-African political organization, has urged the Democratic Republic of Congo to postpone the release of its presidential election results.

A number of African Union heads of state and government met in Ethiopia to release a statement about the controversial election hosted at the end of December.

The statement reads “there were serious doubt on the conformity of the provisional results, as proclaimed by the National Independent Electoral Commission”.

A Tasmanian farmer says he's lucky not to have lost his entire crop after lightning started a fire on his Central Highlands property.

Fortunately, the lightning strike did not hit the driest area of land and was spotted by a farm worker and extinguished before it spread.

As of yesterday, 64 bushfires were burning across Tasmania and authorities have called for more interstate help to battle the largest blazes, in the state's remote south-west.

A Tasmanian coroner has found shortcomings in the care provided to a man with schizophrenia which led to his preventable death.

Coroner Rod Chandler found Nigel Douglas died in hospital because the medical staff gave him too much-sedating medication and didn’t monitor its effects on his breathing.

Mr Chandler says medical staff should have monitored Mr Roberts' respiration more carefully and frequently.

A Gold Coast woman has been deported from Thailand after overstaying her visa by 111 days.

The woman was due to leave last week but concerns were raised when she messaged her friend she was in a detention centre and asking for help.

The woman is expected to land in Sydney airport this morning.

Minister for Police, Mark Ryan, welcomed 78 new police officers to the Queensland Police Service in an induction ceremony held at the QPS Academy at Oxley campus.

Graduating as First Year Constables, the new officers have completed 25 weeks of intensive training, preparing them for their new roles serving the community.

Of the 78 officers sworn in, 14 are graduates of the fourth Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Recruit Preparatory Program in an effort to increase diversity in the police force.

The University of Oxford has suspended new donations and sponsorships from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

The firm is facing accusations from the US and other countries that its equipment could be used for espionage.

Oxford says that it will continue with its existing research contracts where Huawei funding has been received or committed.

A Ghanaian undercover journalist, Ahmed Hussein-Suale,  has been shot dead after revealing rampant bribery within Ghana’s football leagues;  which resulted in a lifetime ban for the former head of Ghana’s Football Association.  

Ahmed was shot twice in the chest and neck by two unidentified men on motorbikes. 

His death comes after a Ghanaian politician called for retribution against him following his revelations of corruption in Ghana’s football leagues.