Accused man is due to appear in court today after incident at Ngāruawāhia sports park.

His latest crime involved intimidating someone who wanted to leave the gang.

An Australian aid worker who was shot at in Gaza has told Weekend Today that she is "frustrated" that safety measures put in place by Israel are not keeping them safe.

Tess Ingram was on a coordinated joint aid mission with UNICEF to get critical aid into Gaza, when her vehicle was shot at by the Israeli Defence Force.

Ingram said the Israeli Defence Force told the convoy to stop at a checkpoint right before "gunfire erupted" throughout the area, striking the car in the door, front and side window.

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The aid worker called the incident "unacceptable", two weeks after Australian Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom was killed in an Israeli airstrike, along with six other Central World Kitchen workers.

"Our presence there was well known (by the IDF), I'm frustrated because we saw this with the tragic killing of the seven world Central Kitchen colleagues bravely trying to do their work in Gaza," she told Weekend Today.

"They were meant to be safe and so were we.

"It's clearly not working, this system that's meant to protect us in the Gaza Strip.

"We need to know that when we get these sorts of safety assurances to go ahead on missions, that those safety assurances will be respected."

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Ingram said while the shooting was dangerous and scary for the aid workers, civilians are dealing with worse every day.

More than half of the population in Gaza is on the brink of famine, with children suffering the most from starvation and dehydration, according to UNICEF Australia.

Over 33,600 Gazans have been killed since October 7.

"I've just seen that in all of the hospitals I've been to, the extent of the injuries that children are experiencing in this war…it's just horrific,"

"On top of that of course there's the humanitarian crisis on the ground, not enough food and water.

"So that's really why we're here, to try and bring aid and services and some level of protection to the children of Gaza during this terrible time."

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The convey, which was carrying critical aid, was forced to turn back following the shooting.

They will attempt to deliver it again on Sunday, Ingram said.

Ingram and the UNICEF team have reported the incident to the IDF and are waiting for a response. 

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Every week, a million Australians use pathology services for everything from a simple blood test to cancer screening.

But the industry's peak body is warning that more of the bill for tests could be passed on to patients unless the government restarts increases in funding.

"We don't want to see mums with kids, or cancer patients, have to choose whether they get their pathology test or not," Australian Pathology's chief executive Liesel Wett told 9news.com.au.

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By bulk-billing Medicare for the costs of most tests, pathology services have stayed largely free for patients in Australia when they have a doctor's referral.

But these days, no industry is immune from financial pressures.

Australian Pathology claims that while the cost of performing services has risen, the level of funding pathology companies get from the federal government has remained frozen for the last 24 years.

Between January 2020 and the beginning of 2024, the government's yearly investment in pathology services increased by $333 million, not including COVID-19-related pathology funding.

But labour costs for the tens of thousands of staff employed in the industry are rising.

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Researchers at the Pragmatic Policy Group said that without increased funding, the consequences could be especially dire for regional Australia.

"This immense cost burden threatens the viability of the Australian pathology industry", they wrote in a report commissioned by Healius and shared with 9news.com.au.

"We expect many unprofitable collection centres will close, particularly in remote, rural, regional, and Indigenous communities.

"Critical services will be lost and many workers will lose their jobs." 

They say Australian Pathology's funding figure may not be high enough, estimating the cost to maintain bulk billing at its current level at $890 million.

Some of the largest pathology companies including Healius, Australian Clinical Labs, and Sonic Healthcare have seen their earnings slumping in recent years, especially after the reduction in revenue from the pandemic.

Over the last four years, the federal government's total annual investment in pathology services increased by $333 million in benefits.

The government has indicated it is open to exploring changes to indexation and said it would work with the pathology sector to consider how best to ensure the high bulk-billing rates continue.

"From July 2022 to December 2023, the government invested a total of $5.4 billion in Medicare benefits to subsidise more than 244 million pathology services for patients," a spokesperson from the Department of Health said.

"During this period, almost 100 per cent of pathology tests provided to patients out-of-hospital were bulk-billed.

"Out-of-hospital services accounted for almost 90 per cent of all pathology services.

‌"The government also routinely invests in updating the Pathology Services Table (PST) to ensure that the services available under Medicare align with contemporary clinical best practice in response to recommendations from the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC).

"From 1 January 2020 to 31 January 2024, the government introduced 71 new pathology items on the PST (excluding COVID-19 pathology items), such that Medicare now provides rebates for more than 500 pathology tests.

"Over this period, the government's total annual investment in non-COVID-19 pathology services has increased by approximately $333 million in benefits, totalling $3.4 billion in 2023.

"The government will continue to consider MSAC recommendations for public funding of pathology services and will work with the pathology sector to consider how best to ensure the high bulk-billing rates continue, including by exploring indexation changes."

Both the government and industry are hoping the public-private partnership will continue successfully but the future of pathology bulk-billing likely won't become clearer until after the federal budget in May.

"Mum has a boyfriend."

Kylee Dennis' ears pricked up when her friend revealed her 78-year-old mother had met a man named Donald online and things seemed to be getting serious.

"Being a little nosy, I called her to ask her about her new love," she said.

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Ann was twice-divorced, lived in a retirement village and had been "dating" Donald in secret for about six months.

The 69-year-old Australian businessman had been working on a gas pipeline contract in Turkey and was due to return home, where he intended to retire.

Dennis asked her mother to show her a few photos of her new love interest and the images immediately raised some red flags.

"Ann supplied me with some photos, and at that stage knowing that Ann had a few health issues, I looked at the photos and became very suspicious," she said.

The photos showed an "extremely fit" man who was about 55 years old.

"There were some discrepancies in the photos – two different people used to create this faux profile of 'Donald'," she said.

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Dennis tracked down the owner of the photo – a happily married American real estate agent.

"I then had to inform Ann as to the scam and this was heartbreaking," she said.

"In a blink of an eye, I broke her heart."

Determined to protect those looking for a partner, Dennis started Two Face Investigations, a business which draws on her 14-year career as a NSW Police officer.

"Watching Ann take time to recover, I felt that there were many more victims that need help to navigate through this landscape," she said.

Tall, dark, handsome – and may scam you out of thousands

Through her work, Dennis has noticed several patterns in the way romance scammers approach their victims.

The suitors most commonly claim to be doctors, pilots, engineers, overseas contractors, oil rig workers and professionals.

Romance scams are not a new phenomenon but they continue to con Australians out of their hard-earned cash every year.

According to the National Anti-Scam Centre, scammers have stolen more than $4 million this year, with more than 550 reports made to the watchdog.

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"The biggest red flag is they are currently overseas working or at the very least on their last couple of days and are unable to meet you," she said.

"They will indicate that there are issues as to why they can't return home at this very moment but they will be with you very soon to start this magical life together.

"They will also offer up at a very early stage within the conversation a devastating incident that has occurred (such as their) husband and daughter died in a car accident (or their) wife died of cancer.

"They will remove you from the dating platform onto email and then a messaging service like WhatsApp."

Dennis said romance scammers tend to profess their love for their targets very early on, despite never meeting them in person.

"Love bombing – a tactic that would not be used in a face-to-face meeting but one that is a surefire indication that they are commencing their manipulative behaviours," she said.

"Throughout the email you will be told that you are the most important person in their life and they have no one else in the world but you.

"The profile photo that is depicted is model-like and for them, age is just a number."

Losing a potential love interest or funds from a scam can result in feelings of shame for some people – but Dennis said it doesn't have to be that way.

In fact, she is encouraging people to talk about their experiences to eliminate the stigma.

"A romance scam victim did not venture into this world to be financially ruined and heartbroken at the same time," she said.

Dennis said in the past fortnight alone, she has spoken with five victims who have lost a total of $500,000 who have not reported the crime as they "don't wish to tell people".

"They are ashamed that they will be judged by society and their friends," she said.

"Love is powerful and romance scamming is a crime and should not have a negative tag attached to it.

"This is one of my personal challenges to change that."

Visit the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to report a scam and find out more information about how to keep yourself safe.

A suspect is in custody after a commercial vehicle crashed into a Texas Department of Public Safety office in a rural town west of Houston on Friday, seriously injuring several people, according the agency.

Texas DPS officials said in a social media post on X that the crash happened at the agency's office in Brenham, Texas, located about 120 kilometres west of Houston.

"We believe this was a criminal act," Washington County Sheriff Otto Hanak told CNN affiliate KHOU on Friday.

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The DPS announced the arrest on X and said: "There is no further threat to the community."

The agency said "there are reports of multiple serious injuries," but has not provided more details on what led to the crash.

Officials did not specify how many people were affected or the extent of the injuries.

They also requested people avoid the area to clear the way for responding medical personnel.

The Brenham DPS office is a facility where driver's licenses are issued and the Texas Rangers are investigating the incident.

Multiple news outlets showed images of a large, red tractor-trailer hauling material on a flatbed in the parking lot of the building.

The front end of the 18-wheeler was damaged and covered with debris from the front doors of the office. Debris was also scattered out front near a gaping hole in the entrance.

DPS officials did not immediately respond to requests for additional information.

City of Brenham officials did not immediately respond to calls seeking further information.

Police investigating after incident in Auckland suburb.

Perth's dry spell has ended in spectacular fashion as a major rain event smashed the city's northern suburbs with up to 100 millimetres falling in under an hour.

Cars ended up underwater as flash flooding trapped some drivers.

A spokesperson from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services confirmed several people had been rescued from their cars, with the State Emergency Service responding to more than 45 requests for assistance.

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Paul Jenkyn was among the residents who were at work when the downpour started.

"So I just raced home, raced home to save the dogs really because the dogs were actually half under water," Jenkyn said.

"We've had a metre of water through the front of our house."

The deluge caused the roof of Ocean Keys Shopping Centre in the suburb of Clarkson to collapse in front of shocked on-lookers.

In the suburb of Ridgewood, hail made backyards resemble a winter wonderland.

The Bureau of Meteorology said 104 millimetres fell in Clarkson, Butler and Ridgewood in an hour.