12PM NEWS UPDATE
– Police say the driver of a car which crashed killing all four occupants on the far north coast overnight was overtaking a truck on double lines. Tweed Byron police say the Hyundai sedan was in the path of an oncoming truck at the time, when the driver swerved and hit a tree near Ballina.
– Islamic state militants in Iraq have apparently executed a second American journalist, 31 year old Steven Sotloff – once again recording the act in a disturbing video. It shows a masked militant with a London accent apparently beheading Mr Sotloff, before threatening the life of a British captive.
– The cold blast has brought Spring snow to parts of inland New South Wales. Some children have been given the day off school in Tamworth to make their first snowmen. An area around Hanging Rock and Sheeba Dam was also blanketted in white.