A 16-year-old Brisbane schoolgirl is missing after she was dropped at a busway on February 11, but never went to school.

While Latrell Mitchell can now find the funny side of his ongoing contract saga, former suitors North Queensland won't be laughing after the NRL star admitted he only visited Townsville in the off-season to go fishing.

Health authorities are scrambling to track hundreds of passengers who left a cruise ship in Cambodia last week after a woman tested positive for coronavirus, heightening fears of a global spread of the disease.

Global automotive giant General Motors has delivered the final death blow to Holden, with the brand synonymous with Australian motoring to shut down by 2021.

About 200 Australians on a coronavirus-hit cruise ship in Japan will be evacuated on Wednesday to an unused workers camp near Darwin for a fresh two-week quarantine period.

The prime minister is angry that General Motors took billions of dollars in government subsidies only to let the Holden brand die and then walk away from the Australian market.

The number of reported new cases of coronavirus in China's Hubei province has risen after two days of falls as authorities impose restrictions on movement to prevent the spread of the disease which has now killed more than 1700 people.

Holden has refused to commit to remaining part of the Supercars championship beyond 2020 after parent company General Motors announced it was retiring the automotive brand.

After helping to transform the NBL wooden-spooners into a finals outfit, Cairns Taipans import Scott Machado is out to impact the pointy end of the competition.

Australians should be disturbed by the very serious problems in the provision of health care to people with cognitive disability, the chair of the disability royal commission says.