CORRUPT politician Eddie Obeid and an ex-union heavy have lost their Australian honours in disgrace, but Rolf Harris still has his. | Shame file

THE world’s fastest car — the Bugatti Veyron, which has a top speed of 431km/h, almost twice the speed that planes take off — has been sold to a mystery buyer in Australia.

FOR 16 harrowing hours, 16 brave men and women endured an unimaginable ordeal confronted by a madman with a pump-action shotgun.

FRIENDS and relatives of the eight children stabbed to death in Cairns are struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

WHEN he last saw his 14-year-old daughter, she kissed him and asked him for some money. He told her he would give it to her on her birthday, today. Instead, he is searching for answers as to why she and seven other children were murdered.

SHE’S five months old and sleeps on a wet mattress in a tent. In any other situation, she’d be taken into government care. The travesty is, this is government care.

HOW great are our cops? A police officer shot in the face during the Martin Place siege says he’ll be back at work tomorrow. He’s just one of many who have excelled during this ordeal.

LAWYERS for an Australian man facing 20 years’ jail in Indonesia this afternoon hope the court will take his marijuana dependency into account.

FORMER Prime Minister John Howard has hit out at Australian actor Cate Blanchett labelling her speech at Gough Whitlam’s funeral “outrageous”.

FIVE fathers have lost children in the Cairns massacre, which claimed four boys and four girls aged 2 to 14. The father of one of the female victims had planned to see her for her birthday today.

HE’S snagged one of Australia’s highest gongs in this year’s Australia Day Honours List, but our ambassador to France wants more.

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic cleric Cardinal George Pell will tender his resignation to Pope Francis on Wednesday.

UPDATE: THE Australian of the Year finalists have met the PM before a celebratory lunch as the nation waits to find out who will be awarded the top honour.

INCREDIBLE scenes are unfolding close to the scene of the siege at the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place. Hundreds of well-wishers have laid floral tributes to Katrina Dawson, a 38-year-old mother of three enjoying a coffee with barrister colleagues when Man Haron Monis burst in, and Tori Johnson, 34, a ca...

ROLLING UPDATES: Andrew Bolt grilled Bronwyn Bishop on why she turned against Tony Abbott in the leadership spill that led to Malcolm Turnbull’s rise to the top job.