Police in Invercargill have found the body of an elderly man which they believe belongs to Raymond Horn, who has been missing for more than a month.Detective Alun Griffiths said the body was found this afternoon in a wooded area…

I usually sit quietly and resist any commentary, but I can't sit in silence anymore. I'm a proud Australian and an even prouder West Australian.

To live in such a diverse and culturally rich nation, is the envy of other countries. But then comes the cruel realisation, we do not all live in harmony.

That was tested, sadly, by one young Perth couple. Jay Shin and his pregnant wife were sitting in the waiting room of a medical clinic for a pre-natal scan, when they were taunted by another couple.

They were called gooks and nips.

They were told to go back to where they came from and piss off back to China. Jay Shin's background is Korean and he was born in Australia.

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The last time I was told to back to where I came from would have been in the early '90s.

It was by some uneducated bloke, pissed as can be, as I gathered with my family to watch fireworks along the Swan River. My family and I brushed it off.

In 2008, I was living in Sydney. As most people know, roads are intensely busy there and can easily fire up anyone's tempers. One man, I'd say he was in his late 50s, decided to take out his rage on me. I parked up at a set of traffic lights.

This man came to my window, banged on it erratically and accused me of cutting him off, which I'm pretty sure I didn't. I shook my head and replied in a polite and calm manner. He yelled back:

"This is not f—ing China. We're not living in f—ing China."

This one I did not brush off, so I threw this back at him:

"I'm a bloody Australian!"

He was shocked, stunned and silent as he stared at me. The light went green so I started driving off. But he had one last jibe:

"It's in your slanty eyes!" and I could see in my rear-view mirror, the man squinting at me, to prove that's what I looked like.

Through my career, I have embraced who I am and my heritage. I have never felt out of place.

But in 2013, I started presenting Nine Perth's 6pm news. Social media was most certainly established by then, and you were open slather.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHaR8XQDvmg/

After my first 6pm bulletin was done, a barrage of tweets landed in my feed.

"Get this slanty eyed, flat nosed face off my TV."

"If I wanted chow mien, I would have gone down to the road to my local Chinese restaurant."

"Am I watching oriental news?"

"Asians are so ugly."

I caught up with some friends that evening and I read these comments out.

One mate, who is as Aussie as they come, was so fired up, he told me to stop reading them.

He was so angry for me, but I read them with some humour. I didn't want it to rile me up, because in my mind it is a weak, uneducated person behind a phone typing these words out.

Globally, the hashtag #StopAsianHate is trending.

I was saddened after news of the shootings in Atlanta, leaving eight people dead, six of them Asian women.

Rallies have been held in the United States, as the nation has seen an increase in anti-Asian violence.

Community leaders believe Asian Americans are being blamed for the coronavirus, which as we all know was first reported in China.

In 2021, I thought we'd have moved forward from all that.

Unfortunately, no.

For a couple to come under a racially charged attack, while sitting in a medical practice, waiting for a scan on the unborn baby, is just absolutely disgusting.

Father-to-be Jay Shin says he worries for his child, to enter a world where there are still ignorant people.

We are constantly learning and navigating our way through these situations, and I try to enter that person's mind, to figure out how it works to be able to speak, type, perform these hatred acts without a second thought.

I can forgive, but I'll never forget.

Jay Shin said he is willing to forgive the woman who racially taunted him and his pregnant wife, if that woman is willing to learn.

I hope for my children's sake, people are open enough to learn kindness, compassion and respect. A world where my children won't be seen as any different than anyone else.

Two women who falsified border declaration passes to travel from a COVID-19 hotspot into Queensland without undergoing quarantine have escaped jail time.

Last July, Haja Timbo, 21, and Diana Lasu, 21, lied to health authorities in order to cross the border into Queensland after a trip to Melbourne, which was a declared hotspot at that time.

The court was told the pair self-isolated upon their return to Queensland, limiting their time in the community. Lasu later tested positive to COVID-19, although Timbo did not.

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The pair were facing possible jail time or heavy fines after initially being charged with fraud but today plead guilty in Brisbane Magistrates Court to the lesser charge of failing to comply with a health direction.

The judge sentenced them to 80 hours of community service, noting they had been subjected to vile, racist abuse on social media which had been sufficient punishment.

No conviction was recorded.

Timbo's lawyer said she was "happy to perform the community service, as a sign of how sorry she is for what has happened".

A third woman alleged to have travelled with the pair, 20-year-old Olivia Muranga, is due to face court next month.

Tony Verdon, an accomplished journalist whose career included roles as editor and general manager of the Northern Advocate and senior positions at the New Zealand Herald, has died. Verdon was found in the water at the southern end…

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By RNZ Former Child, Youth and Family carer Earl Opetaia has been found guilty of sexually violating and indecently assaulting young boys in his care.Opetaia had been facing 26 charges, including sexual violation, threatening…

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Two people, including a teenage boy, are expected to be charged after an Extinction Rebellion protest stopped traffic on a Melbourne freeway this morning.

The climate activists put a chokehold on the West Gate Freeway on their fifth day of action, shutting down the road during peak hour.

Images from the scene showed traffic banked up after the protest closed the Kings Way exit.

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Protesters rigged up what appeared to be a six-metre-high metal tripod on the road, hanging a sign from it that read: "We refuse to be the last generation."

One protester sat in a chair slung from the apex of the tripod, before he was taken down by police and fire crews just before 10am.

Police confirmed a 17-year-old boy from Frankston will be charged with two counts of public nuisance and obstructing an emergency service worker, as well as two counts of obstructing a roadway and pedestrian obstruction of an emergency service worker.

He is expected to be bailed to appear at a children's court at a later date.

A 26-year-old woman is also expected to be charged with breach of bail and failing to wear a helmet after attending a bike protest from Carlton Gardens to St Kilda Road this morning.

Traffic was earlier brought to a standstill as protesters caused gridlocked traffic inbound on the freeway, with motorists urged to find an alternate route.

Department of Transport spokesman Chris Miller said the demonstration was the "most impactful" blockage by the protesters this week.

Earlier this week, activists rallied at Victoria's State Parliament, blocking Spring Street and Bourke Street, with some pretending to lie dead on the road with white sheets covering their bodies and wearing toe tags.

Two men were also arrested after locking themselves to a roof of a truck in the middle of a Flinders Street intersection on Friday.

The protesters pledged to wreak havoc every day this week in the city as they call for climate intervention.

A wanted man has been found by armed police patrolling a section of Onekawa in Napier. Police arrived in the area of McLaren Crescent at about 3.40pm as they were looking for a person of interest in relation to an ongoing inquiry….

A New Zealand Navy ship returning from training off the New South Wales coast made a 2200 nautical mile detour to retrieve a drifting tsunami buoy.

The Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) buoy had been drifting since December.

It is believed to have broken free from its mooring due to an intense storm.

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It was located 250 nautical miles southeast of Tonga.

The HMNZS Aotearoa was tasked by the National Maritime Coordination Centre (NMCC) to retrieve the 2.5m by 2m buoy, which weighs just over a tonne, while on its way back to New Zealand following three weeks exercising with the Royal Australian Navy.

The buoy, which is part of a network of tsunami monitoring and detection technology, was located on Wednesday and a rigid hull inflatable boat crew were deployed to secure it in preparation for it coming aboard.

It was lifted aboard with the ship's crane.

The recovery took four hours.

Roger Ball​, the acting director of Civil Defence Emergency Management, said they appreciated the Navy's assistance in retrieving the buoy.

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"We are very grateful for the assistance of the Navy and the professionalism of officers and crew on Aotearoa in diverting the 2200 nautical miles to retrieve the buoy and bring it home," he said.

Aotearoa is designed to undertake a "wide range of tasks", but this was a first, according to the Royal New Zealand Navy Maritime Component Commander Commodore Mat Williams​.

"As the Navy's new maritime sustainment vessel, Aotearoa was designed to undertake a wide range of tasks," he said.

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"These include refuelling ships and helicopters, transporting equipment and supplies, assisting government agency partners in their scientific and research work as well as helping in Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief efforts.

"Now we can add retrieval of tsunami buoys to that ever-growing list."

NMCC director Paul Smith​ applauded the successful retrieval, which is an example of the support the New Zealand Defence Force provides civilian agencies.

The buoy would be returned to New Zealand following the ship's mandatory 14-day quarantine period at sea.

This story originally appeared on Stuff and has been reproduced with permission.