High profile Perth bikie Troy Mercanti is released from custody after spending the weekend behind bars on serious sexual assault charges, with police revealing more offences could follow.

A Chinese military jet has detonated flares near an Australian Navy helicopter which was operating in international waters, forcing the pilot to take evasive action to avoid an accident.

The Australian actor won a silver Logie for his role as Sergeant Frank Gilroy in popular 1980s soap A Country Practice. 

A Victorian judge has been reprimanded for using "demeaning" and "gratuitous" language towards a woman at the centre of a sexual assault trial.

The 31-year-old NSW shearer has set the first Australian women's merino shearing record for the most ewes shorn in an eight-hour period.

Seven red heeler puppies were pulled from the banks and water of the Port River, while two cats were left stranded on the side of a highway in the Mid North.