The $6.2m haul is the biggest Lotto win since a $16m jackpot on December 10.

A witness said the injured man had wounds to his arm and neck.

An Education Review Office audit found the school failed student safety standards.

‘The attack on the victim was serious and potentially life-threatening.’

Tetraplegic father Mark Rihari lost vital medical equipment in the blaze.

A woman has been charged after an alleged carjacking in Sydney's west.

Witnesses claim they saw a woman try to get out of the passenger side of a moving delivery van on the M4 motorway near Reservoir Road in Blacktown at 10.30am today.

Police were called and tracked the vehicle across multiple suburbs with the help of the police helicopter.

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When the van allegedly failed to stop, police started a chase, but stopped it due to safety concerns.

Police then found the passenger of the van on King Street in Parramatta.

The 30-year-old woman was uninjured.

The van was eventually stopped on James Ruse Drive in Rosehill.

The alleged driver, a 48-year-old woman, was arrested and taken to Granville Police Station.

She was charged with two counts of taking and driving conveyance without the consent of the owner, taking/detaining a person with the intent to obtain advantage to cause actual bodily harm, and police pursuit – not stop – driving dangerously.

Police allege the woman stole a second vehicle outside a hospital in Kingswood before stealing the van.

She was refused bail to appear before Parramatta Local Court tomorrow.

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Police say it is not yet clear how long the remains have been on the island.

The Trump administration launched military strikes on Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago.

A US official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.

Another US official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.

READ MORE: Trump says 'we will retaliate' after three Americans are killed in Syria attack

“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.

The new military operation in Syria comes even as the Trump administration has said it’s looking to focus closer to home in the Western Hemisphere, building up an armada in the Caribbean Sea as it targets alleged drug-smuggling boats and vowing to keep seizing sanctioned oil tankers as part of a pressure campaign on Venezuela’s leader.

The US has shifted significant resources away from the Middle East to further those goals: Its most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in South American waters last month from the Mediterranean Sea.

Trump vowed retaliation

President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” after the shooting in the Syrian desert, for which he blamed IS.

Those killed were among hundreds of US troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the militant group.

During a speech in North Carolina on Friday evening, the president hailed the operation as a “massive strike” that took out the “ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup.”

Earlier, in his social media post, he reiterated his backing for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who Trump said was “fully in support” of the US effort.

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Trump also offered an all-caps threat, warning IS against attacking American personnel again.

“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE U.S.A.,” the president added.

The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets,

A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the U S officials said. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket artillery also were used, one official added.

US Central Command, which oversees the region, said in a social media post that American jets, helicopters and artillery employed more than 100 precision munitions on Syrian targets.

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How Syria has responded

The attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago.

Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops and said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” which came as the US military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.

Syria’s foreign ministry in a statement on X following the launch of US strikes said that last week’s attack “underscores the urgent necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in all its forms” and that Syria is committed “to fighting ISIS and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat.”

Syrian state television reported that the US strikes hit targets in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal al-Amour area near the historic city of Palmyra. It said they targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by ISIS as launching points for its operations in the region.”

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IS has not said it carried out the attack on the US service members, but the group has claimed responsibility for two attacks on Syrian security forces since, one of which killed four Syrian soldiers in Idlib province.

The group in its statements described al-Sharaa’s government and army as “apostates.” While al-Sharaa once led a group affiliated with al-Qaida, he has had a long-running enmity with IS.

The Americans who were killed

Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring US service members killed in action.

The guardsmen killed in Syria last Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a US civilian working as an interpreter, also was killed.

The shooting near Palmyra also wounded three other US troops as well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was killed.

The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba has said.

The man stormed a meeting between US and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards.

___

Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed.

Police say one person has serious injuries and four others are moderately hurt.

Christmas Day is now just days away, which means the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has been able to announce the official forecast.

Some Aussies may need to move celebrations indoors as a few states are warned of possible showers, as well as relatively cool to mild temperatures.

"It will be a varied Christmas Day across the country, with cool conditions across much of the south-east compared to an expected hot day in Perth, and hot and stormy conditions for much of the Northern Territory," the BoM says.

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Victoria and South Australia are expected to remain dry but the bureau is forecasting showers for western and northern Tasmania.

There's also a risk of showers for eastern NSW with onshore winds and a partly cloudy day on the forecast, so not ideal beach weather.

However, it should be generally dry and sunny elsewhere, with above average temperatures forecast for north-east NSW and southern Queensland.

Large parts of the Sunshine State, including the south-east and the tropical north, are set to see showers and storms.

While over on the west coast, it will be a hot and dry day across southern WA.

So what does the weather have planned for your neck of the woods? Let's check out the state-by-state forecasts:

Queensland

Brisbane is set to see a shower or two, with highs of 33 degrees and balmy overnight lows of 22 degrees.

Through eastern, central and northern Queensland, there's a risk of showers and storms.

Maximum temperatures in the low 30s near the coast and across northern parts, to high 30s elsewhere through southern inland areas.

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NSW

A generally dry and mostly sunny day across the state, although there's the risk of showers for the east coast.

Sydney is expecting a shower or two with highs of 26 degrees, falling to lows of 19.

Maximum temperatures for the state will be within a few degrees of the December average – low to mid 20s about the south coast, grading to high 20s about the north coast.

Away from coast, maximum temperatures in the high 20s in the south, grading to low 30s in the north.

ACT

Canberra is set for a mostly sunny Christmas Day with highs also reaching 27 degrees but a chilly evening is forecast, with lows down around 10 degrees.

Victoria

It's set to be a cool to mild day with the slight risk of a light morning shower about the exposed southern coasts, clearing to a dry afternoon.

Maximum temperatures will be well-below average, with the partly cloudy skies keeping maximum temperatures in the high-teens to low 20s in the south.

Melbourne can expect a mild and partly cloudy day with highs of just 17 degrees, dropping down to 13 degrees.

It'll be dry and sunny in the north.

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Tasmania

A gusty westerly flow will bring showers to western and southern Tasmania.

Daytime temperatures are generally 2 to 6 degrees below the December average, and in the mid-teens through western and southern parts but reaching around 20 degrees for the northeast.

Hobart is set for a cloudy day with highs reaching 16 degrees, before dropping to 9 degrees overnight.

South Australia

A dry and mostly sunny day across South Australia, with cloud clearing in Adelaide for a top of 26 degrees.

While maximum temperatures will be in the mid to low 20s about the east coast, it'll be cooler in the far south-east, where the maximums are only set to reaching the high teens.

On the flip side, inland temperatures could reach into the high 30s.

Western Australia

It'll be a dry and warm-to-hot Christmas Day across much of the state, with daytime temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s, grading to low 40s away from the coast, through central and northern parts.

Perth is forecast to reach a scorcher with tops of 40 degrees forecast, while overnight lows will remain at a warm 25 degrees.

Tropical showers and storms are forecast for the Kimberley.

Northern Territory

And cloudy with showers and storms across much of central and northern NT, with a shower or two and possible storm forecast for Darwin.

They'll see a top of 32 degrees, with lows of 26 degrees.

Dry and mostly sunny in the far south.

– Reported with Bureau of Meteorology

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