Concerns about water colour and substandard conditions raised by rioting prisoners who destroyed the top jail at Waikere Prison were flagged in an Ombudsman’s report last year.Yesterday, the 16 prisoners who ran rampant on the jail’s…

In an extraordinary rebuke of President Donald Trump, all 10 living former secretaries of defense cautioned Sunday against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the country into “dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”

The 10 men, both Democrats and Republicans, signed on to an opinion article published in The Washington Post that implicitly questioned Trump's willingness to follow his Constitutional duty to peacefully relinquish power on January 20.

Following the November 3 election and subsequent recounts in some states, as well as unsuccessful court challenges, the outcome is clear, they wrote, while not specifying Trump in the article.

READ MORE: Trump pushes Georgia officials to 'find' votes to tilt election in leaked call

“The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived,” they wrote.

The former Pentagon chiefs warned against use of the military in any effort to change the outcome.

“Efforts to involve the US armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory,” they wrote. “Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.”

A number of senior military officers, including General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said publicly in recent weeks that the military has no role in determining the outcome of US elections and that their loyalty is to the Constitution, not to an individual leader or a political party.

The 10 former Pentagon leaders also warned in their Post article of the dangers of impeding a full and smooth transition at Defense Department prior to Inauguration Day as part of a transfer to power to President-elect Joe Biden. Biden has complained of efforts by Trump-appointed Pentagon officials to obstruct the transition.

READ MORE: Nancy Pelosi re-elected as speaker of US House of Representatives, despite narrower majority

Without mentioning a specific example, the former defense secretaries wrote that transfers of power “often occur at times of international uncertainty about U.S. national security policy and posture,” adding, “They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation.”

Tensions with Iran represent just such a moment. Sunday marked one year since the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general; Iran has vowed to avenge the killing, and US officials said in recent days that they are on heightened alert for potential Iranian attack on US forces or interests in the Middle East.

In a further sign of US-Iranian tension, the acting secretary of defense, Christopher Milller, announced Sunday evening that he has changed his mind about sending the Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, home from the Middle East and instead will keep the vessel on duty. Just last week, Miller announced that he was sending the Nimitz home, a decision that had been opposed by senior military officers.

In reversing himself, Miller cited “recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other US government officials.” He did not elaborate, and the Pentagon did not respond to questions.

The opinion article in the Post was signed by Dick Cheney, William Perry, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Ash Carter, James Mattis and Mark Esper. Mattis was Trump's first defense secretary; he resigned in 2018 and was succeeded by Esper, who was fired just days after the Nov. 3 election.

The Post reported that the idea for writing the opinion piece began with a conversation between Cheney and Eric Edelman, a retired ambassador and former senior Pentagon official, about how Trump might seek to use the military in coming days.

Trump, on tape, presses official to 'find' him votes

President Trump pressured Georgia's Republican secretary of state to "find" enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state's presidential election, repeatedly citing disproven claims of fraud and raising the prospect of "criminal offense" if officials did not change the vote count, according to a recording of the conversation.

The phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday was the latest step in an unprecedented effort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. The president, who has refused to accept his loss to Democratic president-elect Biden, repeatedly argued that Raffensperger could change the certified results.

"All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have," Trump said. "Because we won the state."

Georgia counted its votes three times before certifying Biden's win by a 11,779 margin, Raffensperger noted: "President Trump, we've had several lawsuits, and we've had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. We don't agree that you have won."

Audio snippets of the conversation were first posted online by The Washington Post.

A Malaysian coroner ruled the death of a French-Irish teen, whose body was found near a Malaysian jungle resort where she vanished while on holiday, was most likely a misadventure that didn't involve other people.

Coroner Maimoonah Aid ruled out homicide, natural death and suicide and said Nora Anne Quoirin likely got lost after leaving her family's cottage on her own.

The 15-year-old disappeared at the Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state on August 4, 2019, a day after the family arrived for a vacation.

After a massive search, her naked body was found on August 13 beside a stream on a palm oil estate about 2.5 kilometers from the resort.

Police believed she climbed out of the cottage window on her own, with no evidence of any foul play.

But Nora’s parents said she was likely kidnapped because she had mental and physical disabilities and wouldn’t have wandered off on her own.

The coroner described that possibility as a theory and said it would be a breach of her duty to speculate on third-party involvement without any evidence.

A total of 49 witnesses have testified over 24 days since August last year via video-conferencing due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Five people have been taken into custody after a man was seen with a gun in Ōtara this afternoon. Police received multiple reports about a man in possession of a firearm in the Otara Mall area about 2.25pm, a spokeswoman said….

One of the men injured during a double shooting in the North Canterbury town of Kaiapoi this morning is the son of a local Mongrel Mob gang leader. Fairmont Joseph Wiringi is in Christchurch Hospital after being shot about 3.30am…

Fan numbers have been slashed for the upcoming third Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground, after authorities decided on a reduced 25 per cent capacity limit.

Some 24,000 fans – about half the ground's capacity – were due to attend the event on Thursday.

Now, half of them will have to stay home and the entire event will be reticketed.

Cricket Australia this afternoon announced all current ticketholders would receive a full refund, and have first crack at buying the new available seats via Ticketek from 5pm today.

Any unsold tickets will go on sale to the general public at noon tomorrow.

"In response to the public health situation in NSW, we are working closely with Venues NSW and NSW Health to put appropriate biosecurity measures in place for our staff, players, match officials, broadcasters and fans to ensure we play the third Test at the SCG safely," Cricket Australia interim CEO Nick Hockley said.

"Reducing the capacity of the venue is crucial in achieving social distancing requirements, and we sincerely thank ticketholders for their patience, as we process refunds today, reconfigure the SCG seating plan to deliver these social distancing measures and go back on sale."

NSW Acting Premier John Barilaro had earlier said the match would go ahead but in a COVID-safe manner.

LIVE UPDATES: No new locally acquired cases in NSW

"NSW Health, through [Dr] Kerry Chant's team, have been working with the SCG and Cricket [Australia] to find that framework," he said.

"Of course, each day we are confronted with other issues.

"There is now a consideration that if it is wet weather, what does that look like? Will people be leaving their zones, their seats and congregating under the shelter? They're the things we've got to deal with."

NSW's Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said her team has provided its advice to the government regarding the framework.

"We have certainly taken the matter seriously. We are concerned about the Berala cluster in particular and [we're] putting in a range of strategies," she said.

NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday for the first time since December 15.

However, NSW Health identified two new cases connected to the Berala BWS cluster after 8pm.

There were seven new overseas-acquired cases in hotel quarantine.

Test your brains with the Herald’s afternoon quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz for the morning quiz tomorrow. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

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