US authorities are investigating after confirming a prop firearm discharged by actor Alec Baldwin, while producing and starring in a western movie, killed the cinematographer and wounded the director.

Santa Fe County Sheriff's officials said Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer on the movie Rust, and director Joel Souza were shot today on the rustic film set in the desert on the southern outskirts of Santa Fe.

The prop firearm was discharged by actor and producer Baldwin, 63, according to the Santa Fe County Sherriff's Office.

LIVE UPDATES: Victoria confirms end of quarantine for vaccinated

Hutchins was transported to the hospital via helicopter and pronounced dead by medical personnel at the University of New Mexico Hospital.

The other victim, 48-year-old director Souza, was transported to Christus St Vincent's Hospital by ambulance for care.

Details on his condition were not released.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said there was an accident on the set involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks, though a charge without a metal projectile is unlikely to kill at a moderate distance.

READ MORE: Qantas to restart international flights soon

"According to investigators it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged," a statement from authorities said.

"Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged."

Police said the incident happened today at approximately 1.50pm local time (6.50am AEDT).

READ MORE: $60m Powerball ticket won by mystery Melburnian

Rust, from director Souza, is a western film set in the 1880s that stars Baldwin, Australian actor Travis Fimmel and Jensen Ackles.

Email requests for comment sent to the film's production company and a representative for Baldwin were not immediately returned.

The Sheriff's Office said the investigation "remains open and active" and no charges have been filed.

Baldwin posted a photo from the set just hours before the shooting, dressed in a western costume. It has since been deleted.

"Back to in person at the office, Blimey it's exhausting," he wrote.

According to Hutchins' website, she was originally from Ukraine and lived in Los Angeles.

She was named as one of American Cinematographer's rising stars of 2019 and described herself on Instagram as "Restless Dreamer. Adrenaline junkie."

She posted a video of herself on a horse two days ago, saying: "One of the perks of shooting a western is you get to ride horses on your day off."

She also recently shared photo of the film's cast and crew as well as photos of the film set.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Baldwin was seen outside the sheriff's office in tears, but attempts to get comment from him were unsuccessful.

The International Cinematographers Guild confirmed the woman fatally shot was Hutchins.

"The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event," guild president John Lindley and executive director Rebecca Rhine said in a statement.

Hutchins, 42, was director of photography on the 2020 action film Archenemy, starring Joe Manganiello.

She was a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute.

"I'm so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set," Archenemy director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter.

"She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film."

https://twitter.com/adamegypt/status/1451372384208887813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Manganiello called her "an incredible talent" and "a great person" on his Instagram account.

Baldwin was a producer on Souza's 2019 film, Crown Vic, which starred Thomas Jane as a veteran Los Angeles police officer on a manhunt for two violent bank robbers.

Souza's first credited film, 2010's Hanna's Gold, was a treasure hunt adventure featuring Luke Perry.

Deputies responded about 2pm to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls came in of a person being shot on set, sheriff's spokesman Juan Rios said.

He said detectives were investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.

"This investigation remains open and active," Mr Rios said in a statement.

"No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives."

Rios said detectives were investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.

Filming for Rust was set to continue into early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office.

The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks western News of the World.

The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) website.

The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather, played by Baldwin, after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

In 1993, Brandon Lee, 28, son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died after being hit by a .44-calibre slug while filming a death scene for the movie The Crow.

The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.

A Twitter account run by Lee's sister Shannon said: "Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on 'Rust.' No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period."

https://twitter.com/brandonblee/status/1451401745419030531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series Cover Up.

A young man has died after a bus and a car crash near Smithfield in Sydney's west.

Emergency services were called to the intersection of Warren Road and Liverpool-Parramatta Transitway where the driver of the car was trapped after the collision.

The 20-year-old driver of the car died at the scene.

READ MORE: Melbourne CBD erupts with noise at midnight as lockdown lifts

The 58-year-old bus driver escaped uninjured.

She was taken to Westmead Hospital for mandatory testing.

9News understands there were up to 10 passengers on board the bus at the time and none of them were injured.

Four ambulances and a specialist medical team responded to the crash.

NSW Ambulance said crews did not treat anyone as the man died at the scene.

Police have established a crime scene to determine how the crash occurred.

Anyone with information or dashcam footage is urged to contact police.

A second person has been charged over the alleged murder of a man stabbed to death at a caravan park on the New South Wales South Coast.

David McArthur was allegedly stabbed in the chest in a caravan park in Sanctuary Point on July 21. Paramedics tried to revive the 49-year-old but he died at the scene.

A 41-year-old man was arrested at a home in Nowra this morning as police executed a search warrant and seized clothing and a vehicle.

READ MORE: Parents of missing WA girl Cleo Smith make emotional plea

He was taken to Nowra Police Station where he was charged with murder, police said.

The items seized today will undergo further forensic examination.

Today's arrest is the second in the case.

On Wednesday, detectives went to a correctional facility at Silverwater and a man was arrested and charged with murder.

He was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Nowra Local Court today.

Homicide Squad Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Walpole said he expects more people will be arrested.

"The investigation is ongoing, and we know there are other people involved in the murder of David," he said.

"We believe at least one, if not two, there could be others."

Last week, Mr McArthur's father spoke of the "incredibly tough" three months following his son's death.

"The last three months has been incredibly tough on our family – particularly because we still have no answers on how or why this happened to David," Stuart McArthur said.

"David was a proud Australian who loved life and was a generous man.

"He didn't deserve to die," the grieving father said.

Investigations under Strike Force Frawley continue.

Experts say the Government’s new “traffic light” framework shows vaccination rates are paramount in fighting Delta and keeping the country safe from Covid-19.New Zealand will move to the traffic light system to manage Covid when…

A Melbourne couple is leaving lockdown $60 million richer after winning the Powerball jackpot last night.

The single winning entry in the lottery draw was purchased at an outlet at the South Melbourne Market.

The winning numbers in Powerball draw 1327 last night were 7, 17, 11, 28, 30, 2, 27. The Powerball number was 11.

READ MORE: Victoria set to scrap quarantine for vaccinated overseas travellers

The thrilled pair said they planned to retire early and splash the cash on a new house and car, holidays and helping their children.

Speaking to lottery officials from The Lott, the man said they discovered their mind-blowing win shortly after the draw, but needed time to let it sink in.

"It's fantastic news," the winning man said.

"I found out last night while I was watching TV with my wife.

"We knew straight after the draw that we had won. We were screaming and crying.

"It was just disbelief. It was amazing. We've just been trying to calm down ever since."

The man said the pair had endured a "really horrible" year, but the win had made up for it.

"It has been a very tough year for us – really horrible. But this changes everything," he said.

"It's a dream come true. We've been fantasising about this moment and now it's here and we're multi-millionaires.

"We feel very, very grateful. This feels like a dream."

The couple will first pay off their home loan and other debts they have, before searching for a new house, car and booking holidays.

READ MORE: Neighbours in Western Sydney win over $3m together in the lotto

Market Lotto and News Owners Chris and Ana Haritos said they were ecstatic to have sold a division one winning entry.

"This is the first time in my life I've sold an entry like this," Mr Haritos said.

"We'd love to send our congratulations to the couple.

"We wish our winners all the very best and hope they truly enjoy this life-changing prize."

Newly minted deputy Liberal leader Stuart Ayres has vigorously defended his funding of a Wagga gun club upgrade, under hours of grilling at a corruption inquiry.

ICAC is investigating the allocation of grants to Daryl Maguire's electorate, and whether they were given preferential treatment, because of his secret relationship with former premier Gladys Berejiklian.

It includes $5.5 million in funding handed to the Australian Clay Target Association for a project which Mr Maguire lobbied for.

READ MORE: Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian will front ICAC next week

But Mr Ayres said, as the then-Sports Minister, he also agreed the project should go ahead.

"I thought the project had a lot of merit, they had a world championship event coming up in 2018, they were the national association for clay target shooting," Mr Ayres told the commission.

This week ICAC has heard public servants give evidence that the shooting range grant "didn't stack up", "didn't make sense", and went "against all of the principles of sound economic management".

But Mr Ayres agreed to give the association $40,000 to prepare an initial business case to support its application for funding, and when it came back, he asked his office to prepare an "urgent" submission for the project to be considered by a cabinet sub-committee.

READ MORE: Mike Baird was 'incredulous' at Gladys Berejiklian's secret relationship

It was approved, on the condition of a substantive business case being compiled.

Asked whether he had done a "deal or arrangement" with Ms Berejiklian or Mr Maguire to secure the funding, he replied "no", and called the notion of a possible "sweetheart deal" a "fantasy".

But he "could not recall" if he ever spoke to Ms Berejiklian about the project.

"I never anticipated or thought or considered that Gladys or Daryl were deriving a private benefit from this project," Mr Ayres said.

But when asked if he would have acted differently had he known of the relationship, he said: "I think my most normal course of action would be to say, 'do we need to manage a conflict here?'"

The hearing continues next week, with former Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Mr Maguire and Ms Berejiklian to be in the stand.

Disgraced former Labor minister and convicted criminal Eddie Obeid has been ordered to go to prison to begin his sentence after being jailed over a corrupt mining licence.

Obeid, his former colleague Ian Macdonald and son Moses Obeid were all handed jail sentences yesterday.

But later that afternoon Obeid, 77, was bailed pending an appeal on his conviction, meaning he did not spend last night behind bars.

READ MORE: Eddie and Moses Obeid, Ian Macdonald all jailed over mine conspiracy

Tonight will be his last as a free man after Justice Elizabeth Fullerton ordered him to go directly to jail tomorrow.

He must present himself by 10am.

His legal team had argued because of his age and health he could get very sick or even die from COVID-19 if he caught it in the cells at the Surry Hills Police Centre, where prisoners are processed before being taken to jail.

So Justice Fullerton ruled the 77-year-old could bypass that step and go directly to Silverwater Prison.

READ MORE: Qantas to restart international flights earlier than expected

Yesterday he was sentenced to seven years with a non-parole period of three years and ten months.

His son Moses, 51, was jailed for five years with a non-parole period of three years.

Macdonald was handed the longest sentence and was jailed for nine years and six months with a non-parole period of five years and three months.

The conspiracy related to a coal exploration licence for the Obeid family farm, Cherrydale Park, in the Bylong Valley in NSW.

Macdonald was the state resources minister at the time, and a rigged tender saw the Obeid family pocket $30 million.

The state government is now working to get that money back.

"I don't care if the ATO strip him bare. As far as I'm concerned the crime commissioner can take his socks and jocks," NSW Police Minister David Elliott said today.

Obeid has to be at Silverwater Jail by 10am tomorrow.

He will then do two weeks of quarantine, due to the pandemic, before joining the prison population.

A 71-year old man has crashed his sailboat into a Whitsundays island as a result of a medical episode, prompting a dramatic marine rescue this morning.

The man lost consciousness during the episode, causing his vessel to run aground on Hook Island.

The boat was discovered by a passing boat, whose skipper prompted the mayday signal.

READ MORE: Qantas to restart international flights earlier than expected

What followed was a four-hour rescue mission, as local police deployed their rescue vessels to locate the sailboat.

Paramedics were on board to assist the injured man, who was found unconscious and buried beneath furniture as a result of the crash.

Queensland Police representatives confirmed that a CQ Rescue helicopter arrived on the scene to extract the man, due to the difficult terrain and prevailing weather conditions.

READ MORE: $60m Powerball ticket won by mystery Melburnian

READ MORE: Melbourne CBD erupts with noise at midnight

He was flown to Mackay Base Hospital with minor injuries.

Whitsunday Water Police Senior Constable, Brett Norris said the incident was a reminder of the risks of driving marine vessels alone.

"Sometimes unexpected events happen on the water," he said.

"If operating alone, it's even more important to plan for the unexpected and let someone know of your journey.

"In this case, we are pleased the man is expected to make a full recovery."

Air and land searches are continuing for a 27-year-old man who went missing in remote outback Queensland.

Jeremiah Rivers was last seen around 9.30am on October 18 near Wilsons River, 20km south of Noccundra.

The man had been camping and fishing with friends in the remote location when he disappeared.

READ MORE: Investigator reveals why police believe Cleo Smith was abducted

https://twitter.com/QldPolice/status/1451366707956633606

Friends of Mr Rivers told police that he had gone for a walk and failed to return.

Extensive land and air searches by plane and gyrocopter have taken place over the last week, in efforts to locate the man.

"The coordinated extensive search included police, SES personal in vehicles, motorcycles and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs)," a Queensland Police representative confirmed.

Police divers have also been used during the search, without success.

READ MORE: Melbourne CBD erupts with noise at midnight

Mr Rivers is described as Aboriginal, approximately 185cm tall, with a slim build and a tattoo of a cross under his right arm.

He was last seen wearing a red Chicago Bulls singlet, red Adidas sneakers and black jeans.

Anyone who has seen Mr Rivers or knows his location is urged to contact police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

A drone being flown near a vegetation fire in the hills above Naenae has forced Fire and Emergency to suspend their aerial firefighting operations.Fire and emergency were called to the fire in Naenae near Wilkie Crescent just after…