A 24-year-old man who held a shotgun to the chest of a Ballarat father of one and demanded the keys to his $63,000 luxury car faces up to 25 years behind bars. Read more.

North ward Ballarat councillors are pushing for a development plan to be established to guide future development in Miners Rest. Read more.

The future of the historic former Golden Point Primary School is back up in the air. Read more.

A recovered alcoholic says drug addicts are falling through the cracks in Ballarat with a dire lack of rehabilitation facilities to treat their complex needs. Read more.

Ballarat Cricket Association suffered a tough return to the provincial grade of Melbourne Country Week. Read more.

A much cooler day today - a top of just 22 degrees.

Need a national news snapshot first thing – well, we have you covered. 

► ABERDEEN: Police are investigating following a fatal accident between two vehicles in the Upper Hunter on Monday.

Just before 2.30pm, emergency services were called to the New England Highway, Aberdeen, following reports two vehicles had collided. Full story.

► TASMANIA: The death of a teenager in the state’s South on Saturday night has been described as “traumatic” by police.

Seventeen-year-old Margaret Mary Lore, of Richmond, was with a group of friends when she fell 15 metres from the top of a cliff at Blackmans Bay, south of Hobart. Full story.

► BATHURST: A BATHURST family has been left disgusted after receiving several pieces of raw and under-cooked chicken from the local KFC outlet. Full story.

► MAITLAND: A planned public-private partnership for the new Lower Hunter hospital should be canned following the retirement of Health Minister Jillian Skinner, Maitland Labor MP Jenny Aitchison says. Full story.

► MOUNT AUSTIN: A man has been arrested and at least two are injured after a tense stand-off with police on Monday night. Full story.

► SYDNEY: Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been forced to defend her new minister for women, Tanya Davies, and reassert the government's position on abortion after she revealed that "personally, I am pro-life". Full story.

►HEATHCOTE: Four girls have been taken to hospital after they were hit by a falling tree branch at a high school in southern Sydney, on the first day back after the summer holidays. Full story.

IMMIGRATION: The day she started work in the United States, Shadi Sherafat came bearing gifts: Tim Tams and toy koalas for the team, a boomerang for her boss. She may have been born in Iran but was now a proud Australian. Full story.

► JAKARTA: After three years of life in limbo in Indonesia, Hazara refugee "Saira" and nine of her extended family members received wonderful news from the UN refugee agency in October - they would be resettled in the United States. Full story.

► RUSSIA: The last time Mikhail Gorbachev was in the news, he gave Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. That thought has now vanished as the former Soviet president warns "it all looks as if the world is preparing for war". Full story.

► BANGKOK:  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered a "cleansing" of rogue police and the disbandment of his country's anti-drugs unit after the abduction and killing of a South Korean businessman under the cover of his deadly drugs crackdown. Full story.

1950 - U.S. President Truman announced that he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb. 

1971 - Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon. 

1983 - The wearing of seat belts in cars became compulsory in Britain. 

1985 - The final Jeep rolled off the assembly line at the AMC plant in Toledo, OH. 

1990 - McDonald's Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow, Russia. 

1995 - U.S. President Clinton invoked presidential emergency authority to provide a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy. 

2000 - An Alaska Airlines jet crashed into the ocean off Southern California. All 88 people on board were killed. 

2005 - Keanu Reeves received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

She organised the year 2000 celebrations in Nowra and the World’s Biggest Pumpkin record in Junction Court and recently Julie Ludlow has become a Nowra Rotarian. Read on.