South Australia's prison staff are urging the state government to follow the rest of Australia and ban smoking by inmates, arguing it's a health and safety issue.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho has called US President Donald Trump's address to the United Nations "the sound of a dog barking", brushing aside Trump's remarks that the United States may be forced to "totally destroy" North Korea.

Fake $50 notes emblazoned with bright blue and white Chinese symbols are being passed off for real currency across Hobart, sparking a police investigation.

A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.4 has struck Vanuatu's Erromango island in the Pacific Ocean, the US Geological Survey says.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says she is not aware of any Australian casualties from the catastrophic Mexican earthquake.

A "pretty emotional" Darius Boyd will be ready to fire on his injury return in Brisbane's NRL preliminary final against Melbourne, despite the loss of his beloved grandmother this week.

North Queensland centre Justin O'Neill has revealed how it took him over a month to overcome the disappointment of being axed from this year's triumphant Queensland State of Origin side.

Jake LaMotta, the boxing champion whose memoir inspired Martin Scorsese's 1980 film Raging Bull, has died.

The locally-built Holden Commodore is going out with a bang, winning a coveted award as the best value car in its class.

A healthy diet alone can control gestational diabetes and doesn't put the mother at greater risk of having a big baby, an Australian study has found.