A former member of the Japanese cult responsible for the deadly nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 has surrendered to police. Makoto Hirata gave himself up just before midnight on New Year's Eve. He spent 17 years on the run. The sarin gas attack killed 13 people, and injured more than 6,000. 

 

 

Music identity AM Molly Meldrum is recovering from another operation. This one was to repair several fractured vertebrae caused by his fall two weeks ago. Meldrum also suffered a serious head injury, a broken collarbone and broken ribs in that fall. Doctors hope to move out of intensive care by next week. 

 

 

The national holiday road toll has risen to 44 after a man died in the crash in Victoria's Southwest. 17 people have now died on New South Wales roads. 8 in Queensland and Victoria. 6 in Western Australia and 3 in South Australia. One person has died in the Northern Territory and Tasmania, and there've been no death so far in the ACT.

 

 

And Prince Phillip has attended the new year's day church service. It's duke of Edinburgh's first public appearance since he was released from hospital after suffering chest pains. The Prince had a coronary stent fitted in a blocked artery.