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Letter from American soldier reaches his family after 76 years

Angelina Gonsalves received an unexpected, yet cherished, delivery from the US Postal Service last month — a letter her late husband wrote to his mother while deployed overseas in 1945.

The letter was written by Sergeant John Gonsalves, a 22-year-old Army soldier stationed in Germany. He was writing to check in on his family and let his mum know that he believed he'd be coming home to Massachusetts soon.

The letter, dated December 6, 1945, written several months after World War II ended, would never make it to his mother's house. But 76 years and three days later, it was delivered by the USPS to his widow.

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A letter mailed 76 years ago was just recently delivered.

"I got to read it and it was wonderful," Angelina Gonsalves, of Woburn, Massachusetts, told CNN on Wednesday.

"It is in really good condition. I was amazed by that myself."

Angelina and John didn't know each other when he wrote that letter. The two were married in 1953 and had five sons. In 2015, John died at the age of 92.

In the two-page letter to his mother, also named Angelina, John discusses the "lousy" food options and weather in Bad Orb, where he was stationed, stating the sun hadn't been out but for half a day in a month.

He closes the letter by sending his love to the family. The front of the envelope has a six-cent stamp attached.

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The letter was addressed to John's mum.

"It was a joy to see her face light up reading his words," Brian Gonsalves, Angelina and John's son, told CNN.

"To be able to see her read something he wrote and look back at that history, it's something she'll always have now."

So where was the letter hiding all this time?

That part is unclear, but late last year it was found at the USPS Pittsburgh processing centre, according to a letter from the USPS that was sent to Angelina along with John's letter.

Employees at the centre recognised the importance of the soldier's letter and that it was part of a family's history, so they started trying to track down John's next of kin.

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Angelina and John Gonsalves are pictured on a family vacation to Hawaii in the 1980s.

"We are aware of the passing of your husband in 2015 (our condolences)," reads the letter from the USPS.

"By virtue of some dedicated sleuth work by postal employees at this facility, we were able to determine your address, hence this letter delivery to you, albeit 76 years delayed. Due to the age and significance to your family history, delivering this letter was of utmost importance to us."

Angelina received the letter on December 9, just before the holidays, which her son said was a nice Christmas gift.

"It felt like he came back for the holiday season," he said.

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Should I switch to an N95 mask?

With Omicron spreading rapidly around Australia even with various measures in place, the question is being asked – should we be wearing a more protective mask?

Most Australians are still wearing surgical or cloth masks when they go to the shops or out and about.

But heavier-duty options are available, such as P2 or N95 masks.

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N95 masks are widely seen as more effectively than cloth masks.

Should we be wearing N95 masks?

University of New South Wales epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws took part in a World Health Organisation panel discussing the issue overnight.

"There's no evidence yet that a N95 mask will protect you more than a surgical mask for Omicron," she said.

"None at all."

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A woman wearing a face mask is seen on a very quiet Flinders Street in Melbourne.

Surgical, cloth, N95 and P2 masks all stop the spread of the virus if the user is wearing them correctly.

"For me the recommendation would be wear the best possible mask you can get your hands on," Deakin University Associate Professor of Epidemiology Hassan Vally said.

"N95 is better than surgical which is better than cloth masks."

But while masks do a good job stopping the virus spreading, they are not the only solution.

"There's a really high chance of being exposed to the virus right now," Dr Vally said.

"If you've got an N95 use that, but do all the other things – social distancing, avoiding big crowds."

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Can I reuse a N95 mask?

Many people may have been sticking with cloth masks simply because they can be reused.

But N95 masks are not disposable, and designed to be reused many times.

"The misconception is they only can be worn once," Dr Vally said.

"These N95 masks can actually last an incredibly long time."

N95 masks shouldn't be washed, but the same mask shouldn't be worn every day for long periods of time.

Dr Vally suggests people should have several N95 masks and alternate use between them.

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Do cloth masks still work?

Cloth masks are still effective at preventing the spread of the virus, but only if they are made to WHO standards.

A cloth mask needs three layers to work effectively. Without an inner layer which has been charged with static electricity, it won't do much good.

Once a cloth mask gets wet, anything can get through very easily, Dr McLaws said.

That issue is especially pertinent as Australia sweats through a humid January.

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People should also have a spare mask handy for when the mask they are wearing gets wet.

Cloth masks also need to be cleaned regularly to work well.

"The same principle still holds, whether it's Omicron or Delta. The mask still works in the same way," Dr Vally said.

"But the benefit of wearing a mask is lost if you don't wear them properly or wear them the whole time you are in a situation in which you may be exposed to the virus."

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How to properly wear a face mask?

If a virus is spread between two people wearing masks, it's more likely to be a case of user error than anything else.

All too often people are wearing their mask underneath their nose, so they are breathing unfiltered virus particles in and out.

"If they've got COVID-19 and they've got no symptoms at all, they could be breathing out the virus through their nose," Dr McLaws said.

"If they're not infected, then they could be breathing in Omicron or Delta through their nose and it can go to their brain, go to their lungs, so they're putting themselves at great risk."

Dr McLaws said people who pull their mask down when outdoors should pull it totally under their chin, rather than just under the nose.

Another layer of protection

But Dr McLaws said Australians could be wearing something else to protect themselves.

"We know that eyes have ACE2 receptors, and you can catch flu through your eyes," she said.

Wearing glasses and a mask can greatly reduce your risk of being infected with COVID-19.

"The same sort of thing could happen with Omicron, because we do know that coronaviruses can be spread through the eyes.

"I've been telling people when they go shopping, and they're wearing a surgical mask or a three-layered cloth mask, they could wear sunglasses or glasses indoors."

The glasses won't offer 100 per cent protection, but it improves your chances of not getting COVID-19.

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Giant dying star explodes as scientists watch in real time

The death of a star is one of the most dramatic and violent events in space – and astronomers had an unprecedented front-row seat to the explosive end of a stellar giant.

Ground-based telescopes provided the first real-time look at the death throes of a red supergiant star.

While these aren't the brightest or most massive stars, they are the largest in terms of volume.

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One popular red supergiant star is Betelgeuse, which has captured interest due to its irregular dimming.

While it was predicted that Betelgeuse may go supernova, it's still around.

However, the star at the heart of this new research, located in the NGC 5731 galaxy about 120 million light-years away from Earth, was 10 times more massive than the sun before it exploded.

Before they go out in a blaze of glory, some stars experience violent eruptions or release glowing hot layers of gas.

Until astronomers witnessed this event, they believed that red supergiants were relatively quiet before exploding into a supernova or collapsing into a dense neutron star.

Instead, scientists watched the star self-destruct in dramatic fashion before collapsing in a type II supernova.

This star death is the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive star after it has burned through the hydrogen, helium and other elements in its core.

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All that remains is the star's iron, but iron can't fuse so the star will run out of energy.

When that happens, the iron collapses and causes the supernova.

A study detailing these findings published today in The Astrophysical Journal.

"This is a breakthrough in our understanding of what massive stars do moments before they die," lead study author Wynn Jacobson-Galán, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement.

"Direct detection of pre-supernova activity in a red supergiant star has never been observed before in an ordinary type II supernova.

"For the first time, we watched a red supergiant star explode."

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The final moments of stellar death

Astronomers were first alerted to the star's unusual activity 130 days before it went supernova.

Bright radiation was detected in the summer of 2020 by the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy Pan-STARRS telescope on Maui's Haleakalā.

Then, in the fall of that year, the researchers witnessed a supernova in the same spot. They observed it using the W.M. Keck Observatory's Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer on Maunakea, Hawai'i, and named the supernova 2020 tlf.

Their observations revealed that there was material around the star when it exploded – the bright gas that the star violently kicked away from itself over the summer.

"It's like watching a ticking time bomb," senior study author Raffaella Margutti, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Berkeley, said in a statement.

"We've never confirmed such violent activity in a dying red supergiant star where we see it produce such a luminous emission, then collapse and combust, until now."

Some of these massive stars likely experience consequential internal changes that cause the tumultuous release of gas before they die, the finding has shown.

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The work was conducted while Professor Jacobson-Galán and Professor Margutti were still at Northwestern University.

They had remote access to the Keck Observatory's telescopes in Hawai'i, which was "instrumental in providing direct evidence of a massive star transitioning into a supernova explosion," Professor Margutti said.

"I am most excited by all of the new 'unknowns' that have been unlocked by this discovery," Professor Jacobson-Galán said.

"Detecting more events like SN 2020 tlf will dramatically impact how we define the final months of stellar evolution, uniting observers and theorists in the quest to solve the mystery on how massive stars spend the final moments of their lives."

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Alleged Sydney crime syndicate centre of major cash and drug bust

Police have charged four people and seized more than $8 million in cash in a major bust of a Sydney syndicate allegedly importing drugs and laundering money through a casino.

Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said it was a "fairly sophisticated operation" and added the group has links to Asian organised crime.

"We will allege that four people were part of a syndicate," he said.

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"At least two members of the syndicate are linked to Hong Kong syndicates, at least one member with organised Asian gangs in Sydney."

"This was a fairly sophisticated operation and what we are alleging is that this group was managing the laundering of paper money."

Detectives from the Strike Force Trobriand spoke to a 32-year-old man in Lidcombe about 11pm last Thursday, serving him with a Firearm Prohibition Order and then searching a Campsie address a short later.

Police found a stash of methylamphetamine and MDMA, as well as $260,000 in cash, which were seized for further forensic analysis.

Extensive inquiries were conducted which led to police raiding properties in Burwood, Campsie and Rhodes from 7am yesterday.

A man and a woman, aged 27 and 30, were arrested at separate units on Belmore Street at Burwood.

Police searched both units and found more than $60,000 in cash.

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The pair were taken to Burwood Police Station.

Investigators later found more than $3.1 million in cash while searching a unit at Rhodes a short time later, with a further $4.78 million seized from the boot of a vehicle inside a secure car park below the unit complex.

The cash seized is one of the biggest on record for the strike force.

"In terms of organized crime we have obviously set a new record for a singular seizure of $7.8 million, so the previous one was $4.8 million in 2009," Assistant Commissioner Smith said.

Additional amounts of cash, a prohibited extendable baton and documentation were also seized from a Sixth Avenue address at Campsie.

A 32-year-old man was arrested at the Campsie address and taken to Campsie Police Station and a 48-year-old woman was arrested at the Rhodes unit and taken to Burwood Police Station.

"The investigation itself centred on a 32-year-old man from Campsie who we believe is the controller of the group," Assistant Commissioner Smith said.

"His attendance at the casino although he is banned from the casino, he has been charged with two offences in relation to returning to the casino, obviously a lot of the money is laundered in that method."

The four people have been charged with an array of offences, including knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime.

They were refused bail to appear in court today.

Police will investigate whether the money seized was headed to the casino to be laundered.