The UV Index is predicted to reach 11, which is extreme. 

There is a minor flood warning for the North and South Esk rivers. 

​► Tackling future bushfire seasons: January marked the start of a bushfire that would go on rip through Tasmania’s most valued wilderness.

​► Riverside High School students prove film prowess: Four Northern schools collected awards at this year's MyState Student Film Festival.

​► Wearable wallaby undies? That’s right: It’s less about cuts of loin, and more about loin clothes: it’s a wallaby fur g-string.

​► Silver lining for Tasmania in Melbourne: Tasmanian athletes had a busy and wet night at the Zatopek 10 in Melbourne on Thursday.

Need a national news snapshot first thing? Well, we have you covered.

Before the regional news …

​►HOBART: The state government will not back any attempt to revive a carbon emissions trading scheme, considering a second Bass Strait interconnector the best way to boost renewable energy investment in the state.

South Australian Premier Weatherill is expected at a COAG meeting on Friday to demand state and territory leaders establish an emissions trading scheme without federal government involvement.

►BENDIGO: The Victorian premier will campaign for Bendigo to become home to a new government agency at tomorrow’s Council of Australian Governments national summit. 

Premier Daniel Andrews said he wanted to strike a “city deal” with the prime minister for the proposed Regional Investment Corporation to be based in the central Victorian city. 

►NEWCASTLE: Immunologist and accused serial sex offender Dr Jeremy Coleman has now been charged with 130 indecent and sexual assault charges against more than 80 alleged victims, Newcastle District Court has heard.

Dr Coleman had previously been charged with 37 offences, the majority of which relate to patients at his Watt Street practice. 

►WAGGA: The Wagga Catholic diocese has been linked with a pregnancy centre accused of surreptitiously doling out anti-abortion advice.

The Women’s Life Centre in Albury aims help “any woman facing an unplanned pregnancy or worried that they may be pregnant”.

While the service claims to be founded on “the core belief of the dignity, beauty and the unique gift of women and the precious individuality of each person”, it’s paraphernalia and marketing fails to mention its unashamedly anti-abortion stance. 

►WODONGA: A drug-dealing Howlong prostitute is now being hunted by police after failing to appear for sentencing.

Carli Kreyts was supposed to have fronted Albury Local Court this week on eight largely drug-related charges.

►PORT MACQUARIE: Rick Anderson says he isn’t scared of sharks and he is appealing to others to learn to love them.  

“I try and convince people that once you see a shark eye to eye it’s totally different to sitting on a surfboard, body board or even a boat looking at every shadow that goes underneath thinking it’s a shark coming to get you,” he said. 

►FREMANTLE: Fremantle Docker Hayden Ballantyne and his fiance Alyssa Hennessy were married at a private ceremony in North Dandalup.

►MELBOURNE: Julie Morgan is exactly the sort of person likely to qualify should Victoria's proposed assisted dying laws pass next year. And she doesn't want them.

When her time comes, Ms Morgan does not want to feel as though she is being rushed out the door. Nor does she want other vulnerable Australians, particularly older women, to feel any pressure or obligation to "step out of the way".

►CANBERRA: The Labor Party has given Australia's authors and publishers an early Christmas present, revealing it will oppose any attempt by the government to relax parallel import restrictions on books, leaving the changes unlikely to pass the Parliament.

The law currently prevents the importation of cheaper foreign books but the Coalition last year backed the view of the Harper competition policy review, which proposed that restrictions be removed.

Check out what’s expected near you today.

►INDONESIA: Toys poke through the debris clenched in the giant jaws of five excavators. They are clearing a marketplace in Meureudu which was flattened by the earthquake that struck Aceh on Wednesday morning.

Villager Taufik Hidayat, who has been volunteering at the site since just after the quake struck at 5.03am, has seen far worse.

►LONDON: Online propaganda, hacking and cyber-attacks from states with 'hostile intent' pose a "fundamental threat" to the sovereignty of democratic countries including Britain, the head of MI6 says.

And Alex Younger says Russia's actions in Syria is creating a breeding ground for terrorists.

In a wide-ranging and rare speech at MI6's new headquarters in central London, Mr Younger, or "C" as he is referred to, said the internet had opened up a new frontier he called "the increasingly dangerous phenomenon of hybrid warfare."

1983: Pacino stars in Scarface

1972: “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy tops the US pop charts

1854: “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson is published

Carols on Christmas Eve, presents in the morning followed by a delicious Christmas dinner.

Maybe some games afterwards, a few phone calls to relatives, and a quick check on the state of the back-yard cricket pitch before Boxing Day.

How many of these will you tick off on December 25? 

For Captain Zoe Lippis it will be very different.