State of the Nation | Sunday, October 23, 2016

► WELLINGTON POINT: A mother and seven children have lost almost everything after a fire destroyed their home.

To add to Alex Turner’s trauma, looters have rifled through the remains of the house, stealing smoke-damaged property and leaving clothes strewn outside. Read on.

► INVERELL: It was one of the most brutal and callous murders Inverell has ever seen, and two decades on, one family is still desperately seeking answers.

Twenty years will pass on Sunday since 17-year-old Michael “Billy” Hegedus was violently gunned down in his parent’s service station in the northern NSW town. Read on.

► BATHURST: Two people have died and one person has been seriously injured after a single vehicle crash in the state’s Central Tablelands.

Officers from Chifley Local Area Command attended and have established a crime scene and with the assistance of the Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit the circumstances surrounding the crash will be investigated. Read on.

► NEWCASTLE: An elderly couple have been robbed at knife point in their own home.

Police have been told a man aged 79 and a woman aged 78 were sitting in their lounge room watching television, when two men, one armed with a knife, entered the rear door of their home. Read on.

► ORANGE: The Australian National Field Days (ANFD) have been hailed another success as 7000 people visited on Saturday. It was a slow start for the third day as visitors waited for a break in the weather. Read on.

► MALLEE: Farmer Nick Hulland​ has been teased mercilessly this week as his portrait has been painted on to the 35-metre high wheat silos of his home town, Patchewollock.

Mates are calling him "silo man" instead of his nickname Noodle, and joke that he paid big bucks to be immortalised on these sentinels overlooking the tiny Mallee town, population 250, which is 420km north-west of Melbourne. More here.

​► MOONEE VALLEY: There was sunshine, rain and hail at Moonee Valley Racecourse on Saturday.

However, the inconsistent October weather didn’t deter a large crowd of racegoers attending the 2016 William Hill Cox Plate Carnival.

The main event, the $3 million Group 1 William Hill Cox Plate over 2040 metres, was won by Winx. More here.

► When professional punter Eddie Hayson sent a homophobic text message to Herald reporter Andrew Webster in September, few were more horrified than Michael Jones.

But Jones – who is the second cousin of Denis Bendall, the Balmain star who broke his neck and was forced to retire in 1979 – did have one secret: for his entire NRL refereeing career, Jones was HIV-positive. Read on.

► Nearly 29 million calls to Centrelink got a busy signal in the past year as the welfare agency's performance in answering its phones got even worse.

The agency's parent department told Senate Estimates on Thursday night that another 7 million calls had been "abandoned" with customers not prepared to wait any more to have their calls taken. Read on.

►  New data on petrol prices across has "blown away" the myth that supermarket shopping dockets and big service stations give better value at the bowser. More here.

► Jakarta: The High Court has upheld a decision to throw out a $US125 million lawsuit against a prestigious Jakarta international school by a mother who claims her son was sexually abused. Read on.

► London: Russia's show of naval strength in the English Channel may have backfired, with black smoke belching from the country's recently-refitted aircraft carrier hinting at engine troubles, a military analyst says. More here.

► Riau, Sumatra: This toxic haze, which chokes south-east Asia year after year, is caused by fires on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

Most are deliberately lit because burning is the cheapest and easiest way to clear land for palm oil and other crops. But there will be no fires in Sering if Yunus has anything to do with it. Read on.

1942 During WW II, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt

1977 Paleontologist Elso Barghoorn announces that 34-billion-year-old one-celled fossils, the earliest life forms, had been discovered

1981 US national debt hits $1 trillion

2001 The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks

When a clinician asked Barbara Forbes’ husband, “Tell me about yourself, John”, she prepared to get comfortable.

It was a simple question, but the root of the most empowering experience for the Wahgunyah couple in the lead-up to Mr Forbes’ death.

In the past six months without her soulmate, Mrs Forbes has been writing accounts of the treatment he received for fourth-stage head and neck cancer. Read their story.