Warning: This article contains information about domestic violence which may be distressing for some readers.
1. Man jailed after forcing his ex-girlfriend to walk naked down a freezing street.
At around 5am on January 17, 2016, Jasson Melo entered the New York City apartment he shared with his ex-girlfriend and their two-month old daughter and began to argue with her about text messages she had received from another man.
For two hours, he struck her repeatedly on her face and body, before making her walk outside in the freezing weather dressed in only a towel, Buzzfeed News reports. He then followed her down the street as he berated her.
He also filmed the entire thing on his phone, before posting it on Instagram.
At one point during the now-deleted video, when the woman passed by a group of garbage cans, Melo stripped the towel away from her body and forced her to pose naked next to the trash.
"You're going to pay the price like a whore, right there by the trash," he could be heard saying in the clip.
"Pose with your trash."
The woman - whose name has not been released to the public - said she was forced to move to Florida, fearing for her and her child's safety, after the video went viral online.
This week, Jasson, now 26 years old, was convicted of coercion, assault, menacing, endangering the welfare of a child, and aggravated harassment. He was sentenced to two to seven years in prison for his actions.
"In this egregious case of domestic violence, Jasson Melo repeatedly assaulted the mother of his two-month-old child, forced her to walk outside in January naked, filmed his act of utter humiliation, and then disseminated it in a manner that caused it to go viral," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance said during the trial.
"It is my hope that anyone who is suffering from domestic violence and abuse knows that there is help available."
The woman told the court she was "devastated" by the incident and the video, Buzzfeed News reports.
"It was really hard," she said.
"It's still hard to get over it. It's something that I'm going to have to live with forever."
If you or someone you know is in need of help, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT.
2. Woman spent 60 hours in isolation after a gastro outbreak on a cruise ship docked in Brisbane.
A Brisbane woman has revealed she was forced to spend 60 hours in isolation after falling ill a few days into a two-week cruise from New Zealand to Brisbane.
Helen Perry, 57, was one of 200 passengers to be affected by a gastro outbreak during a Tasman Sea cruise aboard the Sea Princess.
She told 7 News she originally thought she was seasick due to rough seas before realising she had caught the virus.
"I was very sick overnight for probably about 12 hours, then still had a few symptoms the following day," she said, adding she was told to remain in her cabin for another 24 hours after her symptoms had subsided.
She believes she fell ill after sitting next to another passenger she now realises was showing symptoms of common stomach illness norovirus.
"She looked green around the gills and pale. She was coughing and spluttering," she said of the fellow passenger.
"I remember thinking, 'Oh my gosh I think she's sick' - then it was probably 24 hours after that that I got sick."
Despite her illness, Helen says the Sea Princess crew remained "friendly" and "professional", taking every precaution to further prevent the spread of the illness.
The outbreak caused delays for new passengers to board the Sea Princess on Thursday morning as comprehensive cleaning took place onboard, according to a Queensland Health spokesperson.
The latest cruise ship outbreak comes less than six months after a similar outbreak aboard the Sea Princess's sister ship, the Sun Princess, which docked in Brisbane in August after at least 91 people contracted the stomach illness.
Despite the recent cases, Princess Cruises defended the safety of their ships.
"There is a 750 times greater chance of experiencing norovirus on shore than while travelling on a cruise ship," a Princess Cruises spokesman said.
Symptoms of Norovirus can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramping as well as low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and a general sense of tiredness.
3. The world's safest airlines have been named, and an Aussie carrier has made the top spot for the fifth year running.
It's all good news for Aussies who plan on travelling in 2018, with multiple Australian airline carriers being named among the top 20 safest airlines.
The rankings, released by AirlineRatings.com, are determined based on audits pf 409 carriers from the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
For the fifth year running, Australian carrier Qantas has been ranked the world's best, thanks to it's reputation as the "world's most experienced airline".
"Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the jet era," said AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas.
Other Australasian airlines to make the top 20 list include Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand. Qantas' budget offering, Jetstar, was also ranked in the top 10 for the world's safest low cost airlines.
Of course, with the good comes the bad, with the site also naming it's least safest airlines. These include North Korea's Air Koryo, which uses Soviet-era planes and four separate Nepalese airlines.
4. More than three children a day had to be rescued from hot cars in 2017.
Queensland insurer RACQ has revealed that it rescued 1200 children trapped in locked, hot cars in 2017, according to The Courier Mail.
On average, more than three children a day were being locked inside cars, with staff recently being called to 13 separate incidents in just one day.
The roadside assistance arm of RACQ also revealed that an average of two dogs a day were also rescued from vehicles across the state.
While most cases of children or pets being locked in cars were accidental, it can take just minutes for temperatures inside cars to become life-threatening, especially in the summer months.
"In the summer months this is a big concern, especially with those really warm days," RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie told The Courier Mail.
"The vast majority of them are accidental lock-ins and they're due heavily to parents and caregivers giving the child the car keys to play with while they put groceries or a pram in the boot. It happens so often."
She said it was important for parents and drivers to seek help immediately should a child or pet become locked inside a car.
"There is no safe amount of time to leave children alone in the car," Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor Chris Perera said.
5. So, an unusual species of bird may have just been discovered in Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden.
Staff and members of the public rushed to identify a bird seen nesting in Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden as it's the first of its kind ever seen.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, a "rare" pied currawong was spotted in the area with a "washed-out appearance".
Normally, pied currawongs are mistaken for magpies, due to their similar black and white feathers. Many believed the bizarre bird was at first an "albino crow", before wildlife expert Dr John Martin concluded it was simply a currawong suffering from leucism, a rare genetic condition that reduces the skin pigments in animals.
But, Dr Martin said, leucism is different to albinism.
"The difference is that traces of colour are present [in cases of leucism]," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“This pied currawong has small patches of coloured feathers...a washed-out appearance instead of a complete lack of colour like an albino bird"
The Royal Botanic Garden is now encouraging members of the public to name the rare bird, which has bred and is currently feeding two large (and healthy) chicks that do not appear to display signs of leucism, via Facebook.
The most popular suggestions? Elsa (based on the main character from Frozen), Spirit, Ghost and, of course, Birdy McBirdface.
6. Doctors are pushing for harsher penalties for young drivers caught texting while behind the wheel.
Learner and probationary drivers would lose their licences for a year if caught texting or using their mobile phones as part of tough new road safety measures proposed by Australia's peak medical body, AAP reports.
The Australian Medical Association made the call as it released its first ever position paper on road safety following a horror few weeks on the nation's roads, with 66 deaths during the holiday period so far.
The AMA wants stricter enforcement of laws covering the use of mobile phones and electronic devices in cars, with a "zero tolerance" approach towards L-plate and P-plate drivers.
Association president Dr Michael Gannon said mobile phones and electronic devices were distractions for drivers and a major cause of accidents, trauma, and death.
He said while licence suspensions may seem "harsh", driving was a responsibility and not a right.
"We want a change in the mindset of all drivers that it's a privilege and not a right to get behind the wheel," Mr Gannon told reporters on Thursday.
"We don't wish to discriminate against young drivers but they are a vulnerable group, they don't have the experience of others."
Federal Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce flagged he's willing to discuss the issue with his state and territory colleagues but is reluctant to back the AMA's proposed crackdown on younger drivers.
"I'm not going to start saying that we should be banning people or banning provisional drivers for a year," he told ABC radio.
"I think there is already a penalty process in place and I'm only too happy to speak to my other COAG ministers about what they believe is a good national approach to this."