With less than a fortnight until Donald Trump's inauguration as US president, a number of his Cabinet nominees are about to face their confirmation hearings. Mr Trump is predicting that all of his Cabinet picks will win Senate confirmation, despite many of them being contentious choices. Mr Trump has continued to hold business meetings in the lead-up to his incumbency and has again lashed out on Twitter, this time against actress Meryl Streep.

Farmers in central Queensland have warned the Federal Government that they won't walk away from their land, despite plans to remove them to allow for the expansion of a nearby military training facility. Hundreds of local residents gathered at a fiery community meeting north of Rockhampton yesterday, urging politicians to dump the plans. The Department of Defence plans to acquire land next to the Shoalwater Bay training facility to cater for larger war games and an increased number of Singaporean troops training in the region. Upgrades would be paid for by the Singaporean Government, as part of a $2.2 billion dollar deal signed last year.

Michael Chamberlain, whose nine-week-old daughter Azaria was snatched and killed by a dingo at Uluru in 1980, has died. The 72-year old former Seventh Day Adventist pastor was officially cleared of any involvement of the crime in 2012, 30 years after he was convicted of being an accessory to murder. He and his former wife, Lindy, faced four separate inquests over the course of 30 years before finally being exonerated.

The complicated health portfolio has been taken over by Arthur Sinodinos, while Sussan Ley awaits the outcome of the investigation into her travel claims. The Cabinet Secretary will take over a range of major reforms that the Government is trying to push through, including reforms to aged care, changes to GP services and private health insurance. The sudden appointment will require him to get across a lot of detail quickly.

Scrutiny into ministerial expense claims continues, with four ministers billing taxpayers thousands of dollars while attending a 2015 New Year's Eve party hosted by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Those ministers are Peter Dutton, George Brandis, Mitch Fifield and Simon Birmingham. A further 18 ministers did not claim any expenses for attending the event. The revelation comes after Sussan Ley was forced to stand aside as health minister, pending an investigation into her travel entitlements. South Australian crossbench Senator Nick Xenophon is vowing to re-introduce legislation he first drafted in 2015 to overhaul rules about expenses. He says he was convinced to drop the legislation after the major parties promised that a review into the Brownyn Bishop 'Choppergate' scandal would produce real results. But, with little progress made on recommendations from the review, and with continuing reports of questionable expenses claims, Senator Xenophon says it's time to restore the public's faith in politicians.

A man in outback Queensland is just hours from setting a world record for playing lawn bowls for three days. Shayne Barwick has battled heat, rain and fatigue - and now sheepishly admits his world record attempt didn't need to be quite so long.

The Colong Foundation for Wilderness is considering a legal challenge to stop an 800-bed resort development inside Kosciuszko National Park. Prominent among the concerns of the environmental group are fears that the park is being over-developed with little regard to the effects of climate change. The CSIRO predicts that climate change could shrink Australia's ski season by up to 80 days a year by 2050.

London is struggling to deal with an air pollution problem that the city's mayor says is now killing an estimated 10,000 people every year. The popularity of diesel-powered motor vehicles in the British capital is producing levels of poisonous nitrogen dioxide that are among the worst in the world. Anti-pollution campaigners are ramping up their efforts and the mayor has said he will double the funding to try to fix the problem.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has enlisted moderate Islamic clerics to try and convince Indonesians that they need to resist the lure of intolerant hard-liners. Addressing a rally, the President and colleagues presented a united front in the face of protests from Islamists who are calling for Sharia law and a ban on non-Muslims holding public office.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has given the strongest indication yet that her Government is likely to prioritise placing limits on immigration over retaining access to the Europe's free trade zone when it leaves the European Union. In an interview with Sky News, the Prime Minister said that Britain cannot expect to hold onto 'bits' of its EU membership when it leaves. Moves from the UK Supreme Court and the Scottish Parliament may make the path to Brexit slower and more fraught than she wants.