►Cyclists may sacrifice world titles in bid to improve at Olympics after Australia’s disappointing Rio campaign. Read on

► Photographers were all over Rio for Day 12 of the 2016 Olympic Games. See the photos.

►Need a national news snapshot first thing? We've got you covered. But also check out what's happening around regional Australia …

►HORSHAM: A judge has demanded answers about why it took police six years to charge a man for sexual acts with a child, despite his victims coming forward in 2007. Read on

►WOLLONGONG: Three of four staff at a Bellambi child care centre were tied up with administrative tasks – one of them a Facebook-style app for updating parents – when a five-year-old autistic boy slipped away unnoticed, a court has heard. Read on

►WODONGA: The accused murderer of Whorouly woman Karen Chetcuti called his lawyer with a fake story of being abducted by two Lebanese men in the days after her death. Wangaratta solicitor Geoff Clancy was forced by the Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to reveal details of a phone call from Michael Cardamone on the afternoon of January 16 this year. Read on

►WARRNAMBOOL: Colourful character Allan ‘Swampy’ Marsh has decided to sell his beloved chicken farm and travel his way to retirement. Mr Marsh, who was integral in maremma dogs guarding penguins on Middle Island, which then inspired hit movie Oddball, is selling his Purnim property as he prepares for a six to 12-month European adventure. Read on

►BATEMANS BAY: Batemans Bay Men's emergency accommodation facility Hope House is in danger of closing due to a funding crisis. Manager Shirley Diskon said that without urgent financial assistance, Hope House would not last another two months. Read on

►DEVONPORT: A man is sad and angry after a cruel thief broke into his backyard and kicked Molly, his four-month-old boxer-cross puppy to death. Read on

►BUSSELTON: Bikers taking part in the 2016 Black Dog Ride tour roared down the Bussell Highway on Thursday morning as they began their 4500 kilometre journey around WA. Read on

►TASMANIA: The state government hopes to start receiving the first cohort of the 500 additional Syrian refugees before the end of the year, Premier Will Hodgman says. The government wrote to the federal government in September to say it wanted to help at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis by settling an additional 500 asylum seekers in Tasmania. Read on

►NSW: It's the agonising decision: watch your child's tiny body writhe under the strain of an endless procession of severe seizures, or risk prosecution under Australian drug laws in the hope that cannabis could relieve the contortions. Read more

►USA: If it appears that Donald Trump isn't even trying to win the US presidential election, it's because at this point, he is trying desperately to lose it, according to documentary-maker Michael Moore. Trump's controversial – and confounding – presidential campaign grew out of a desire to raise his bargaining power within the entertainment world for his shows The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice, Moore has written. Read on

►CHINA: The Chinese government has warned Australian "protectionism" could harm ties and threaten future investment between the two countries in the wake of the federal government's preliminary decision last week to block the sale of Ausgrid to buyers from China and Hong Kong. Read on

Veterans, school groups and community leaders came together on Wednesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, and acknowledge the six Bendigonians who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. More photos

A Nowra horse breaker believes the NSW government could learn from departments overseas which are successfully controlling their wild horse populations. 

The NSW government plans to reduce the number of feral horses in Kosciusko National Park from 6000 to 600 over twenty years by trapping, mustering, fertility control and ground shooting, leaving a small core population.

While Henry Goodall said he was no expert, he has worked with horses all his life, ridden in the high country and has written a thesis on the economics of different control procedures. Read more