Monday's news in 5 minutes.

1. Teenage sweethearts, a baby and two little children among those killed in horror weekend on Australian roads.

Man and woman die in fiery crash, possibly while street racing in Sydney’s east https://t.co/pDBQpL1n6C #7News

— 7News Yahoo7 (@Y7News) March 25, 2017

A pair of teenage lovers have been killed in a fiery crash during what is being described as a “horror weekend” on Australia’s roads.

The Daily Telegraph reports Giovanni ‘John’ Santoro, 18, and his 17-year-old girlfriend Tamara Jordanoski were killed when their car hit a pole near Port Botany at about 10:30pm on Saturday night.

Witnesses tried to rescue the pair from the crash, but the BMW they were travelling in caught fire and they were forced to flee the flames. The couple died at the scene.

Authorities are investigating whether speed was a factor in the accident.

Tamara’s father, Aleksander Jordanoski, said the couple was so in love and “would die for each other”.

Family and friends have begun posting tributes to the couple on social media, with one friend describing them as “the most beautiful people on the planet”.

“Beautiful angels taken so early from this life. I hope you are in a better place now, your love to each other will inspire us forever,” another friend wrote on Facebook.

In New South Wales alone, six people – including John and Tamara – died on roads over the weekend. A three-year-old girl died after she was hit by a truck in South Grafton on Sunday morning.

A 51-year-old man died at the scene of a motorcycle crash 80km west of Port Macquarie on Saturday, and a 27-year-old woman was killed in a single-vehicle accident in Wee Waa, while a 50-year-old woman was killed near Bathurst.

It was also a horror weekend on Queensland roads, with a baby girl dying in hospital early this morning after she was injured in a crash on the Bruce Highway near Gympie.

A 45-year-old male driver and a nine-year-old boy also died at the scene when a car collided with a truck at around 11:20am on Sunday.

The one-year-old girl was flown to hospital in a critical condition, but police confirmed she had passed away in the early hours of Monday morning.

2. Queensland braces for its ‘worst cyclone in six years’, with residents urged to evacuate now.

Tropical Cyclone Debbie: Currently a category 2 cyclone. Expected to become cat 4 as it nears landfall. #7News https://t.co/OZxgENLxUn

— 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) March 26, 2017

Thousands of Queenslanders have been moved to safe areas as they await the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Debbie which is forecast to be the worst since Cyclone Yasi six years ago, AAP reports.

But authorities are still concerned that many people are not taking the warnings to be prepared seriously.

Debbie, which is still a category 2, is moving slowly and was 400km east of Townsville and 285km east northeast of Bowen at 6am Queensland time on Monday.

The Whitsunday Islands are already being buffeted by gales, while abnormally high tides are expected to occur south of Proserpine later on Monday.

The cyclone is expected to cross the coast as a category 4 between Rollingstone and Proserpine on Tuesday morning.

Queensland Emergency and Fire Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the likelihood of a storm surge and major flooding in low-lying areas was concerning authorities.

She said locals, who have been through cyclones before, should not be complacent.

“We know north Queenslanders are very, very resilient, but certainly we do have concerns about the storm surges in those low-lying areas,” she told Nine on Monday.

“We only have a small window of opportunity to act on these evacuations. Please, if you do get the text message to evacuate, do so.”

Many residents, including Jan Bridges, are refusing to leave their homes despite being in the direct path of Cyclone Debbie.

Police and State Emergency Service officers doorknocked homes in the small town of Alva Beach, south of Townsville, on Sunday, informing residents a forced evacuation of the low-lying area had been enacted.

“I’m staying,” Ms Bridges told them.

Warnings are in place for residents from Lucinda to St Lawrence including Townsville, Ayr, Mackay, and the Whitsunday Islands, and inland of Bowen including Collinsville.

The bureau forecasts the “very destructive core” of Debbie will bring with it wind gusts up to 260km/h in the cyclone’s centre.

Areas on the outer reaches of the storm will still receive winds with gusts over 100km/h, forecasters are warning.

Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas have cancelled many flights in and out of Townsville, Hamilton Island and Mackay.

Authorities say once the weather sets in, people need to stay off the roads and not try to cross flooded areas.

More than 1000 emergency services staff as well as Australian Defence Force personnel are being deployed to the region in anticipation of the storm’s arrival.

3. Ten people infected with tuberculosis after doctor misdiagnosed man with ‘asthma, then lung cancer’.

‘I just felt like I had a really bad flu’: Patient with #tuberculosis ‘wrongly diagnosed’ by Sydney doctor https://t.co/I9mMSA6oOE

— Peter Brown (@SydneyEditor) March 26, 2017

Ten people were infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis after a Sydney doctor reportedly misdiagnosed a 23-year-old university student with asthma then lung cancer, leaving him without proper treatment for three months.

The Daily Telegraph reports the man tried to get treatment from his GP, but was only referred for an X-ray after his third visit, three months after he first fell ill.

The Chippendale-based GP told the patent that his symptoms – a persistent cough, shortness of breath and general malaise – was likely lung cancer. Tests done at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital confirmed he was suffering from a slightly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.

The man told News Corp Australia his symptoms felt like “a really bad flu that wouldn’t go away”, and thinks he likely picked up the disease while backpacking in Morocco, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali and Thailand.

Director of Communicable Diseases at NSW Health Vicky Sheppeard told the Daily Telegraph there was no current investigation into the doctor’s misdiagnosis because a “complaint” had not been made.

TB is a nationally notifiable disease, and can be a very serious disease if not diagnosed early and treated. All affected patients are now being treated.

It kills 1.8 million people a year worldwide, with around 1300 cases of TB are diagnosed in Australia each year.

4. A US father is accused of stabbing his two daughters. One was just four days old.

Father accused of fatally stabbing 2 daughters — one only 4 days old — in ‘horrific’ slaying: cops: https://t.co/vLxDPqtReX

— People Magazine (@people) March 25, 2017

A North Carolina man has been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed his four-day-old and two-year-old daughters to death, the Fayetteville Observer reports.

The bodies of newborn Genesis Freeman and her sister Serenity were found inside a parked car in a wooded area, close to the North Carolina city of Raeford.

The girls were reported missing by their mother just one day before the bodies were found. She was recovering in hospital, still recovering from Genesis’ birth, at the time of their disappearance.

Tillman Freeman III, 30, was arrested following the girls’ disappearance on charges of child endangerment and child abuse. After the bodies of Genesis and Serenity were found, his charges were upgraded to first-degree murder.

Authorities believe Freeman was “obsessed” with the idea his wife may be cheating on him, and began to suspect his two daughters were not his.

“It was horrific,” Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said of the moment officers finally discovered the bodies after a long, overnight search.

5. A family is recovering in hospital after a BBQ exploded during a picnic.

A family of five have been injured in a gas explosion at a picnic area at Belanglo State Forest. #Belanglo #7News https://t.co/IERL43Lcxs

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) March 26, 2017

At least two adults are recovering in hospital after a barbecue exploded in the NSW southern highlands during a large family picnic, AAP reports.

The family was trying to light the barbecue at a picnic area in the Belanglo State Forest about 12.30pm on Sunday when the explosion occurred, injuring three adults and two children, police said.

“They put some sort of accelerant on the barbecue and it all went up at once like a big ball of fire,” Inspector John Klepczarek from Bowral Police Station told Fairfax.

“We are not sure yet why they did it, but it appears the family were crowded around the barbecue area when the explosion occurred.”

One adult who sustained serious burns to his face and chest was airlifted to Concord Hospital, where he was in a satisfactory condition on Sunday night, a hospital spokeswoman told AAP.

One other adult, a 65-year-old man, was taken by road to Liverpool Hospital, where he was also reported stable on Sunday night.

Police said up to 20 extended family members were present at the picnic when the incident occurred.

6. Wastewater study reveals Australians are the world’s second biggest users of methylamphetamine.

WA is the methamphetamine capital of Australia, shocking and secret testing of the nation’s raw sewage revealed. https://t.co/qr2sXHgBX9 pic.twitter.com/k5c1pt9aSb

— PerthNow (@perthnow) March 26, 2017

A study of wastewater in Europe and Australia has determined that Aussies are the second biggest users of methylamphetamine in the world behind Slovakia, Perth Now reports.

The analysis of raw sewage – the equivalent to anonymously drug testing 14 million Australians – found that West Australians were the biggest users of “ice” in the country.

In Australia, the national daily meth consumption average is about one hit for every 28 people. In Perth, it’s one in every 17 people, with one undisclosed WA town with an average of one in every 13 people.

Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan is expected to release the full 60-page report from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission later today. He told Perth Now the drug is “destroying our communities”.

“It never ceases to amaze me that people choose to fry their brain with this insidious drug — but they do,” he said.

“The results provide us with the greatest ever insight into what drugs are being consumed and where… and drive home the message that we cannot simply arrest our way out of this problem — we must tackle the demand for illicit drugs in Australia.”

Sydney-siders are the highest users of cocaine in the country.

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