There will be a 21 per cent jump in the number of millionaires in Australia over the next four years, mirroring a trend in developed and developing nations, new research has found.

The amount of adults worth $US1 million ($1.48 million) or more is expected to grow in 52 out of 56 countries surveyed between 2023 and 2028, according to the latest UBS Global Wealth Report.

It says the number of Australian millionaires will grow from just under 2 million today to about 2.3 million in four years.

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The forecast increase is being driven by soaring property prices, inherited wealth and fat superannuation balances, according to UBS.

The US had the highest number of millionaires, at nearly 22 million people, mainland China was in second place with just over 6 million – roughly double the number of the United Kingdom, which came third.

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The finding may come as a shock for many Aussies who are finding their household budgets buffeted by high interest rates, inflation and low wage growth.

Another taking from the research was the 5 per cent growth in median wealth of adult Australians last year.

That made us the second-wealthiest in the world, with a median wealth of $388,192, behind the $551,967 of adults in Luxembourg.

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Median wealth estimates are regarded as a more precise measure than the average because it is not so easily distorted by the few ultra-rich people.

The report shows wealth is steadily growing throughout the world – albeit at different rates – and despite many people not feeling it.

"The proportion of people in the world in the lowest wealth bracket has shrunk since 2008, while the proportion of people in every other wealth bracket has grown," the report said.

Farmers say they are in fear for their livestock after the Victorian government's decision to declare dingoes a protected species.

In March this year, the Victorian government removed a control order for dingoes in the state's north-west, effectively banning attempts to cull them.

"Dingoes are now protected in north-west Victoria, on both public and private land, and it is an offence to destroy them without an authorisation," the conservation regulator said online.

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"Dingoes remain unprotected on private land in all other areas of Victoria and on public land within 3km of the boundaries of any private land within the east of Victoria."

The change was made due to findings that revealed the "imminent risk" of the native species going extinct in the area.

Farmers in the affected are able to apply for specific permits to manage a dingo problem.

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But Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano has already met with Agriculture Minister Ros Spence to call for the ban's repeal, claiming attacks on livestock are already on the rise.

And across the border, farmers in NSW are wary about what comes next.

Nerriga sheep and cattle producer John Rolfe said the NSW government had to be prepared to prevent the kill ban from affecting farmers in the state.

"Wild dogs and dingoes don't read lines on a map, so the actions of the Victorian government will no doubt ensure wild dogs and dingoes will leak like a sieve across the state and into NSW," he said.

"These animals viciously attack and kill calves, lambs, goat kids and even larger livestock such as ewes – so we simply cannot stand by and watch the population of these predators explode."

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He called on the government to work on coordinating population control measures and increasing funding for methods such as baiting and exclusion fencing.

Victoria is so far the only Australian state to extend some form of protection to dingoes.

As Australia's only native canine and an apex predator, it plays an important role in the national ecosystem.

However, it has long been targeted by farmers and the agriculture industry for its predatory attacks on livestock.

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Astronomers say they have just proven the existence of a new class of massive black hole which measures about 20,000 times the size of our sun – and there's one right here in the Milky Way.

The "thrilling" find validates decades of speculation about the existence of such a black hole at the centre of a neighbouring star cluster, Omega Centauri.

It is believed to be the nearest black hole of its kind to Earth.

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An international team including University of Queensland researchers have published the findings of their study in the journal Nature today.

Astronomers led by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Germany analysed and catalogued 1.4 million stars in the Omega Centauri cluster and then compared these against theoretical models made by UQ's Associate Professor Holger Baumgardt.

Baumgardt said the team was looking for fast-moving stars which were expected to exist near concentrated masses such as black holes.

"Identifying these stars was the smoking gun evidence we needed to prove the black hole's existence – and we did," he said.

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"When I saw the data, I immediately knew we found something special.

"Astronomers have tried to find one of these black holes for over 20 years, and now we have finally succeeded."

The enormous black hole is located about 18,000 light years from our solar system - a mind-blowing distance that in astronomical terms makes it our near neighbour.

The very existence of this size of black hole – classed as an intermediate-mass black hole – has been in question until now.

Although stellar black holes – produced when a star dies and collapses in on itself – have been found as close as 1000 light years from Earth, these measure just a few dozen kilometres wide and could be squeezed between the Sydney Opera House and the airport.

At the other end of the spectrum, supermassive black holes can be up to billions of times the mass of the sun and are typically found at the centre of large galaxies, including our Milky Way.

The international team analysed more than 500 images of the Omega Centauri cluster taken by the Hubble space telescope.

Using Baumgardt's theoretical model, they determined that only an intermediate-mass black hole – smaller than a supermassive but much, much larger than a stellar – could produce the seven fast-moving stars they identified.

"This class of black holes has been a theory for decades but is now fully confirmed to exist," Baumgardt said.

He said he and the team were amazed at the magnitude of their discovery.

"I think this will invigorate the field and lead to a lot of new research in this area.

"We can begin to speculate how this black hole formed, how it's related to other massive black holes astronomers have found, and where other intermediate-mass black holes might exist."

Two men are on the run after robbing a service station in Queensland.

Police have released images of the pair in an attempt to find them after the Deception Bay business on Deception Bay Road was robbed before 9pm on Friday.

One of the men was armed with a knife when he threatened two staff members for cash.

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Police said the other man was waiting outside.

The pair then fled the scene and the employees were unharmed.

Police are urging anyone who recognises the men, who were wearing all black and had face coverings, or has information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Locals on the South Australian coast have been blown out of the water by a breathtaking – although eerie – winter phenomenon: thousands of spider crabs seen scuttling into Kellidie Bay on the state's west coast.

This rare phenomenon saw an army of the native aquatic arachnids creeping into oyster farms, while in the area to moult. 

"Thirty years I've been oyster farming here I've never seen this many," Coffin Bay oyster farmer Lester Marshall said.

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The creatures, which are capable of growing up to 70 centimetres wide, embark on a remarkable journey, travelling hundreds of kilometres from outside the continental shelf into Coffin Bay. 

The deep-sea crabs are typically solitary, but have congregated in shallower waters, piquing the interest of researchers.

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"They're coming into moult and we think they come in and aggregate for protection because when they moult they're quite soft," marine researcher Rachel King said.

Victoria's Port Phillip Bay is the usual hot spot for spider crab displays.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.

Lawyers for Ashlyn Nassif will contest allegations she falsified official documents to trigger a multimillion-dollar development loan, during an upcoming committal hearing.

The 30-year-old daughter of fugitive property developer Jean Nassif appeared at Burwood Local Court today.

She was charged in February with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and publishing false misleading material to obtain advantage after allegedly securing a $150 million loan from Westpac with a falsified pre-sale contract in 2021.

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Mr Nassif left Australia for Lebanon in 2022 and is being pursued by NSW Police following a two-year fraud investigation.

Ms Nassif's lawyer told the court they are prepared to file a section 82 application to examine prosecution witnesses before the matter proceeds to trial.

Prosecutors will have until August 7 to respond to the application.

Ms Nassif allegedly submitted misleading contracts to meet a $10.5 million pre-sales condition for Skyview Apartments at Castle Hill, in Sydney's northwest, to trigger the $150 million bank loan for construction of three towers.

Her father is believed to be overseas after declining to appear at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into property development in the Hills Shire Council.

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In 2022, Fair Trading suspended his licence for 10 years and permanently banned his company Toplace from engaging in construction work.

Ms Nassif handed herself in to police earlier this year after officers simultaneously raided four properties, including her father's multimillion-dollar Chiswick mansion and his Concord-based Toplace development firm.

In December, Premier Chris Minns personally urged Mr Nassif to turn himself in to authorities.

"I would encourage him to make himself available to investigators in NSW so that we can find out exactly what he's done in this state and what his potential liabilities are," Minns said at the time.

The matter is due to return to court on August 28.

‘I ran upstairs and the thing was sparking and in flames on the desk.’

The midwife attributed discrepancies in paperwork to sabotage by her ex-husband.

A religious group accused of killing an eight-year-old girl believed "God would heal" her diabetes after they withheld life-saving insulin, a judge has heard.

The group of six men and eight women, including the girl's parents, refused to enter pleas to either murder or manslaughter in Brisbane Supreme Court today.

Elizabeth Struhs died at the family home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on January 7, 2022 after her parents and 12 others allegedly withheld her diabetes medication for six days.

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Instead, they prayed next to her and did not alert authorities as the girl's health deteriorated, police alleged.

Elizabeth died while lying on a mattress on the tiled floor of the downstairs living area in her family's Rangeville home on January 8.

Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco said Elizabeth had been "suffering for days" due to insulin withdrawal.

"Her parents were well aware of Elizabeth's condition and consequences that would follow having lived through the experience of diabetic ketoacidosis two years earlier when she was first diagnosed and nearly died," Marco said.

She said the religious group had aided or encouraged Elizabeth's parents to lower and then stop her doses of insulin as the treatment came from doctors and was created by man.

"Their extreme beliefs as a small congregation were that God would heal her," Marco said.

The girl's father, Jason Richard Struhs, said "no plea, Your Honour" when formally arraigned on a charge of murder.

Justice Martin Burns entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

The group's leader, Brendan Luke Stevens, said "I enter no plea" when he was next to be arraigned on a murder charge.

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Burns entered a plea of not guilty for Stevens and for the girl's mother, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, who said "no plea" in response to a manslaughter charge.

Marco said Jason Struhs and Brendan Stevens were charged with murder as they acted with reckless indifference towards human life as they specifically knew withholding Elizabeth's medication would probably kill her.

The judge entered not-guilty pleas for the other 11 defendants as they said either "I enter no plea" or "no plea" to their manslaughter charges.

All defendants were clad in jail-issued uniforms, with the men wearing light prison tracksuits and thongs, and the women wearing blue shirts and trousers with socks and sandals.

The prosecution was previously granted a judge-only trial after arguing the "notoriety of the matter" could prejudice members of a jury.

Marco said Elizabeth's mother Kerrie Struhs had just been released from prison before her daughter's death for a conviction of failing to provide her the necessities of life.

Elizabeth's father Jason Struhs in 2019 had carried the girl in his arms into the Toowoomba Base Hospital and she had been evacuated by helicopter to Brisbane due to her extreme diabetic shock.

Marco said Elizabeth's hospital treatment saved her from permanent health consequences in 2019 but two years later her father had relented to the group's views and stopped providing her medication, leading to her death.

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"Elizabeth started vomiting, she was described as lethargic… she fell into a state of altered consciousness and was slurring her words," Marco said.

The defendants, all of whom are representing themselves at trial, were granted a four-hour meeting in a closed courtroom before the trial to discuss their defence.

The courtroom was specially modified, with the dock and one row of public gallery seats removed to allow two rows of tables and chairs for the defendants.

Marco said there were 60 witnesses along with 76 hours of recorded conversations that would take three weeks to play in court.

The other accused are Zachary Alan Struhs, Loretta Mary Stevens, Therese Maria Stevens, Andrea Louise Stevens, Acacia Naree Stevens, Camellia Claire Stevens, Alexander Francis Stevens, Sebastian James Stevens, Keita Courtney Martin, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch and Samantha Emily Schoenfisch.

The youngest was 20 years old when charged while the eldest was 66.

Marco is due to continue her opening address tomorrow with the trial expected to run for 11 weeks.

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