News in 5: Royals release Xmas card; Tributes over balcony deaths; Tyrell Cobb's mum jailed.

1. Prince William and Kate Middleton have released an adorable family Christmas card.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to share a new photograph of their family. The image features on Their Royal Highnesses’ Christmas card this year. The photograph shows The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their two children at Kensington Palace. It was taken earlier this year by @chrisjacksongetty Their Royal Highnesses have also announced this morning that Princess Charlotte will attend the Willcocks Nursery School in London from January 2018. The Willcocks Nursery School has said: “We are delighted that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen the Willcocks Nursery School for Princess Charlotte. We look forward to welcoming Charlotte to our nursery in January.”

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Dec 18, 2017 at 3:25am PST

There may still be seven sleeps until Christmas Day, but there are precisely ZERO sleeps until the world’s most favourite royals release their annual family portrait.

Appearing on Kensington Palace’s official Instagram, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge shared a new official family snap, featuring their adorable children Prince George, 4, and two-year-old Princess Charlotte.

The family are all matching in powder blue, but 35-year-old Kate shows no sign of a baby bump. The Palace confirmed the image was snapped earlier in the year, before the family announced they were expecting their third child.

Eagle-eyed royal watchers also believe the image was taken on the same day as Prince George’s birthday portraits were snapped, as he appears to be wearing the same outfit.

Of course, the couple’s adorable children steal the spotlight in the image, with George’s uneven socks and Charlotte’s cheeky grin catching the public’s eye.

The Palace also confirmed that Princess Charlotte will attend the Willcocks Nursery School in London from January 2018.

The school is one of London’s most exclusive, costing upwards of AU$34,000 for three terms. Students learn “social and emotional development” and take part in activities like French lessons, cooking, drama classes and painting.

“We are delighted that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen the Willcocks Nursery School for Princess Charlotte,” a spokesperson for the school said.

“We look forward to welcoming Charlotte to our nursery in January.”

2. “There is a light and it never goes out”: Daughter’s heartbreaking tribute to mum killed at Tupperware party.

Cheryl Taylor, 59, has been named as one of two women who were killed when a balcony in Doncaster East gave way during a holiday Tupperware party.

According to reports, the group of 30 people were believed to be crammed on the balcony taking a group selfie on Saturday night when it gave way beneath them.

Mum Cheryl Taylor died at the scene, while another woman, aged 37, died in hospital on Sunday morning.

On Monday, Cheryl's daughter, Melissa, shared a heartbreaking tribute to her mother on Facebook.

"There is a light and it never goes out," she wrote alongside a photograph of her and her mother.

Family and friends also paid tribute, describing the Tupperware manager as "one of the most beautiful ladies I ever got to meet".

"Cheryl Taylor was a remarkable person, caring and sensitive, funny and witty," friend Sean Clarke shared.

"The world is a poorer place for your passing Cheryl, yet we that knew you are much the better for having you in our lives. Thank you for being you, it was an honour to call you a friend.

"It is clear at this time that there was one more angel needed in heaven."

The balcony collapse prompted a major emergency services response with police, firefighters and paramedics swarming to the "chaotic" scene, as neighbours did what they could to help the injured.

"The crash was biblical, the sound of it was just like nothing I've heard before," local resident Andrew Stone told reporters at the scene.

Ten women and seven men, aged between 20 and 69, were taken to hospital with soft tissue injuries, fractures and lacerations.

3. A new report shows more Australians are dying from prescription drug abuse than illegal drugs.

One million Australians misused pharmaceuticals in the previous 12 months, a new report reveals.

AAP reports an analysis conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows the misuse of powerful prescription medications for non-medical reasons is rising and now account for more drug-induced deaths than illegal drugs.

"Over the past decade, there has been a substantial rise in the number of deaths involving a prescription drug, with drug-induced deaths more likely to be due to prescription drugs than illegal drugs," said AIHW spokesperson Matthew James.

The report, released on Tuesday, looked at two main types of prescription drugs: opioid analgesics (which include morphine, codeine and tramadol), and benzodiazepines - prescribed to improve sleep and treat stress.

According to the report, the number of people older than 14 to have misused a pharmaceutical drug in 2016 was at 4.8 per cent, up from 3.7 per cent in 2007.

Use of pharmaceuticals for non-medical reasons in 2015-16 was higher than all illegal drugs, except cannabis (10.4 per cent), and more people sought treatment for opioid painkillers compared to a decade ago, increasing from 56 per cent in 2006-07 to 73 per cent in 2015-16.

Benzodiazepines were the most common single drug type identified among the 1,808 drug induced deaths, accounting for 663 deaths in 2016.

Prescription painkillers such as oxycodone, morphine and codeine accounted for 550 of the drug induced deaths.

Earlier this year, the National Drug Strategy Household Survey showed that indigenous Australians were more than twice as likely to have recently used a pharmaceutical for non-medical purposes than non-indigenous Australians.

The survey also found people living in remote areas were almost twice as likely as those living in major cities to have recently used a pharmaceutical for non-medical purposes.

4. Mum jailed for nine years for her role in the death of four-year-old Tyrell Cobb.

A Gold Coast mother jailed for nine years for hitting her son Tyrell Cobb in the stomach so hard he died maintains she is innocent, AAP reports.

The Brisbane Supreme Court had heard Heidi Strbak was a "good mother when stoned" but violently lashed out at her four-year-old child when she was deprived of cannabis in May 2009.

Tyrell was last seen at preschool on a Friday with no observable injuries other than a bandaged hand, which he had caught in a toy box a week earlier.

By the Sunday night, he was dead and his tiny body covered in bruises.

One of the marks included a "smiley face" scar on his leg that was caused by a heated cigarette lighter at least four to six weeks earlier.

Strbak pleaded guilty to manslaughter in November but claimed she had not harmed her son.

Breaking her silence in court on Monday, Strbak said she loved Tyrell more than she could possibly describe.

"I have not caused the injuries that I am being blamed for and I believe that it is a mistake, an injustice," she said.

Justice Peter Applegarth found Strbak likely punched Tyrell in the stomach in frustration then chose not to seek medical help to avoid a child protection investigation into his "constellation of injuries".

After the boy vomited bile multiple times throughout the weekend, Strbak then struck him again, causing his eventual death on May 24.

"The last hours of his life must have been miserable and painful," Justice Applegarth found.

Strbak silently sobbed as she was sentenced to nine years' jail.

The 34-year-old, who has so far spent two months in custody, will be eligible for parole in October 2021.

5. Trump's new 'America First' national security strategy expected to name China and Russia as "competitors" to US power and prosperity.

President Donald Trump will declare that China and Russia are competitors seeking to challenge US power and erode its security and prosperity, in a national security strategy he will lay out in a speech on Monday, US time.

"They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence," excerpts of Trump's strategy released by the White House read.

The strategy, a product of months of deliberations by the president and his top advisers, does not repeat former President Barack Obama's 2016 description of climate change as a US national security threat, aides said.

Trump has vowed to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord unless changes are made to it.

"The United States will continue to advance an approach that balances energy security, economic development, and environmental protection," the document will say, AAP reports.

Trump's national security posture reflects his "America First" priorities of protecting the US homeland and borders, rebuilding the US military, projecting strength abroad and pursuing trade policies more favourable to the United States.

The singling out of China and Russia as "revisionist powers" in the document reflects the Trump administration's wariness of them despite Trump's own attempts to build strong relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A senior administration official who briefed reporters said Russia and China were attempting to revise the global status quo - Russia in Europe with its military incursions into Ukraine and Georgia, and China in Asia by its aggression in the South China Sea.

The strategy will pledge to protect critical US infrastructure from cyber hacking and vow to "go after malicious cyber actors". Both China and Russia are often accused of cyber attacks against US targets, allegations they deny.

6. Yes, being addicted to taking selfies is a very real thing, scientists say.

Research has suggested that an addiction to taking selfies is a very real, and very serious condition, The Age reports.

While the term 'selfitis' was originally coined as a joke in 2014 as the trend - inspired by celebrities like Kim Kardashian - began to take off, researchers have discovered the phenomenon is related to other technology-related disorders, like "nomophobia" (the fear of not having a mobile phone at hand).

"This study arguably validates the concept of selfitis and provides benchmark data for other researchers to investigate the concept more thoroughly and in different contexts," the paper, written by Dr Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University and Madurai-based Janarthanan Balakrishnan.

During the study, 400 participants from India - the country with the most Facebook users - were ranked on a 'Selfitis Behaviour Scale' that determined which factors provoke the condition.

The scale included factors like self-confidence, attention seeking and social competition.

"The concept of selfie-taking might evolve over time as technology advances, but the six identified factors that appear to underlie selfitis in the present study are potentially useful in understanding such human-computer interaction across mobile electronic devices," the researchers said.

"As with internet addiction, the concepts of selfitis and selfie addiction started as a hoax, but recent research including the present paper has begun to empirically validate its existence."