Good morning and welcome to your morning wrap of news, sport, and weather around Sydney for Wednesday, December 27. It should be cloudy again today with a slight chance of showers this morning and temperatures around 26 in the city and 28 in the west.
Christmas carnage: Road toll spike angers senior police
They have been young men travelling alone, older men waiting in parked cars, young women walking along a road and middle-aged women sitting in passenger seats.
They have occurred before dawn on lonely country roads and during peak hour in front of dozens of witnesses on major city thoroughfares.
And they have gone from having a seat at a Christmas dinner table to statistics in the soaring festive season road toll which now sits at 20 dead across NSW in 11 days. Read more
Semi-trailers block traffic at Pitt Street as crowds flock for sales
Sydney's most popular shopping destination featured some conspicuous new additions on Tuesday morning, as crowds queueing for a Boxing Day bargain took note of a number of large semi-trailers parked around Pitt Street Mall and the Queen Victoria Building.
Security upgrades were obvious in the city, with bollards and semi-trailer trucks used as temporary barricades. The semi-trailers were particularly jarring in Sydney's prime shopping district, parked at odd angles to stop traffic from getting through. Read more
Heavily-tattooed man who will marry Salim's sister has a dark past
The ties binding two of Sydney's most controversial families, the Ibrahims and the Mehajers, are set to be tightened after a senior Nomads bikie and cousin of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim announced his engagement to Salim Mehajer's younger sister Sanaa.
Convicted killer Mouhamed "Moudi" Tajjour, a former vice-president of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang, announced his engagement to Ms Mehajer on his Instagram account on Christmas Eve. Read more
Government spending on consultants blows out by $250m: auditor
State government agencies have overspent on contractors and consultants by a quarter of a billion dollars.
The heavy reliance on outside consultants, particularly in transport agencies responsible for billion-dollar investment programs, has been regularly criticised by state auditors. Read more
Warner lights up dull Boxing Day
Milestone man David Warner celebrated the end of a four-year Ashes drought by trading barbs with England's Test newbie as Australia dug in for the long haul on a dull MCG pitch.
The series is over but if the level of chirp from both sides is a guide they are not treating this marquee fixture as a dead rubber, though it was not as heated as in Brisbane when England felt Australia skated close to the line.
Test debutant Tom Curran lived up to his reputation as a "feisty character" by getting under Warner's skin but had no answer after getting his comeuppance. Read more