West Auckland teen is settling into Yale University life aiming to grow Pacific culture.

Tasmania's well-known Big Potato tourist attraction has been toppled by today's high winds sweeping the Apple Isle.

Kenny the Kennebec, named after a white potato variety, no longer sits above the Bass Highway, near the small rural community of Sassafras.

The demise of the giant sculpture was reported on social media by Premier Jeremy Rockcliff, whose family constructed it decades ago.

READ MORE: Man, 66, dies after being attacked by his own dog in Tasmania

"Bad news – The Big Spud has fallen," he posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

"Those winds must have been stronger than we thought at Sassafras over the weekend."

The premier said the plan is to repair Kenny and re-erect the tourist attraction.

"It's obviously due for some TLC and then hopefully will be back, better than ever."

The giant spud was mounted on a pole and has a pair of hands, legs, a hat, and an enormous smile on its face.

Large parts of Tasmania are being lashed by strong winds today, with some parts reaching gale force, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

A former MP convicted of child sexual abuse has been sentenced to two years and nine months behind bars.

James Dorrin Hayward, 55, was found guilty of directing an eight-year-old girl to indecently touch him on two occasions.

The former Nationals upper house member abused the child at two locations before he was elected to office.

READ MORE: Opal fare increase hits Sydney commuters

The District Court in Perth heard the offending happened when Hayward was tucking the girl into bed.

In a police interview and pre-recorded evidence, the child confirmed the accusations, saying "James unbuttoned his pants".

She also said Hayward told her to keep the interactions secret.

READ MORE: Australian passengers relieved as repatriation flights leave Israel

Justice Stephen Lemonis said Hayward's actions were a gross abuse of trust committed for his sexual gratification.

"There is also no indication in the material before me that you have an insight into the causes of this behaviour," the judge said.

His trial in August heard the girl's family was aware the former television producer had often read her bedtime stories and her mother said she had not initially been concerned.

An older sibling found the girl watching animated Family Guy pornography on her iPad and video-recorded her stating Hayward had shown her how to search for it and abused her, triggering an investigation.

Hayward emailed a "suicide note" to his wife soon after learning about the allegations, which she passed on to police amid fears for his safety.

In it, he wrote: "In the coming days, I expect to be accused of child sex assault in relation to (a child), which I have done".

He also alluded to the warning his wife had given him before the allegations surfaced about getting into bed with the girl over concerns he could be accused of abuse.

During a police interview, Hayward denied the note was a confession, saying he intended to take his life to spare his and the victim's family from media scrutiny that would follow the situation being made public.

The former pastor also said he didn't want his wife to blame his victim for his death, and the admission was designed to avert this and maintain the two families' close relationship.

READ MORE: Tax return deadline looms: here's what you need to know

Hayward also said he was under a lot of pressure and depressed over a failed former business, which owed $440,000 to the tax office, when he wrote the note.

He was acquitted of two other charges of indecently dealing with a child under 13, including showing her how to search for pornography on the internet.

Hayward resigned from the WA Nationals after the charges were laid in 2021 but continued to sit in the state's upper house as an independent MP.

He was formally disqualified from WA's parliament after his conviction and his seat vacated.

Hayward will be eligible for parole after serving 16 and a half months.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

LIVE UPDATES: The United Nations has warned the lives of thousands of patients will be at risk when hospitals run out of fuel for backup power generators.

We should know the state of the Government within three weeks.

She was previously convicted of a similar but non-fatal incident in Australia.

The woman lunged for the gun that was pointed at her head.

Suzanne Somers, the actress who lit up the small screen on "Three's Company" and one of TV's most iconic fitness pitchwomen, has died, according to a statement provided to CNN from her longtime publicist R. Couri Hay. She was 76.

"Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th. She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years," Hay wrote in a statement shared on behalf of the actress' family.

The statement said Somers "was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family."

READ MORE: Australian passengers relieved as repatriation flights leave Israel

"Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th. Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly," the statement added.

In July, Somers revealed a recurrence of breast cancer.

"Since I have been taking time off from work, many of you have asked for more details about my health. As you know, I had breast cancer two decades ago, and every now and then it pops up again, and I continue to bat it down," she wrote on Instagram.

"This is not new territory for me. I know how to put on my battle gear and I'm a fighter."

First came the darkening skies, then the crescent-shaped shadows on the ground, and finally an eruption of cheers by crowds that gathered along the narrow path of a rare "ring of fire" eclipse of the sun.

It was a spectacular show for millions of people across the Americas as the moon moved into place and blocked out all but a brilliant circle of the sun's outer edge.

Hundreds of people filed into the planetarium in the Caribbean resort city of Cancún to watch the eclipse. Some peered through box projectors, while others looked through telescopes and special glasses.

READ MORE: Water runs out at UN shelters in Gaza, death toll exceeds previous war

Excited children whistled, as some adults raised their arms toward the sky as if to welcome the eclipse.

Vendors selling plants outside observed the dance between the moon and the sun in a more natural way — with the help of trees as the shifting sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting unique shadows on the sidewalk.

"There was silence and like a mist, as if it was dusk, but only a few minutes later the birds were singing again," said Carmen Jardines, 56, one of the vendors.

READ MORE: 'He was warned': Dutton claims Voice vote could have succeeded

Artemia Carreto, was telling passersby about her experience as a child in southern Mexico, when they were told to look instead at the river where it reflected beautifully on the sand beneath the water.

While she wasn't near a river this time, Carreto said she was carried away by the sensations induced by changing temperatures and a feeling of heaviness that she pegged to the rotation of the Earth.

For Pilar Cáceres, there was a sense of energy.

"It is something that nature brings us and that we must watch," said the 77-year-old retired elementary school teacher who watched the eclipse by following its shadow through a piece of cardboard.

Ancient Maya astronomers who tracked the movements of the sun and moon with precision referred to eclipses as "broken sun." They may have used dark volcanic glass to protect their eyes, said archeologist Arturo Montero of Tepeyac University in Mexico City.

Unlike a total solar eclipse, the moon doesn't completely cover the sun during a ring of fire eclipse. When the moon lines up between Earth and the sun, it leaves a bright, blazing border.

The entire eclipse — from the moment the moon starts to obscure the sun until it's back to normal — lasted 2 1/2 to three hours at any given spot. The ring of fire portion was from three to five minutes, depending on the location.

Saturday's US path: Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas in the US, with a sliver of California, Arizona and Colorado. Then: Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Brazil. Much of the rest of the Western Hemisphere got a partial eclipse.

NASA and other groups livestreamed the event.

In the US, some eclipse watchers traveled to remote corners of the country to try to get the best view possible while those in Albuquerque got a double treat as the eclipse coincided with an international balloon fiesta that typically draws tens of thousands of spectators and hundreds of hot air balloon pilots from around the world.

There were hoots, hollers and yelps from the balloon launch field as the moon began to cover the sun. Some pilots used their propane burners to shoot flames upward in unison as the spectacle unfolded.

"It's very exciting to be here and have the convergence of our love of flying with something very natural like an eclipse," said Allan Hahn, a balloon pilot from Aurora, Colorado.

At Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, enthusiasts hit the trails before sunrise to stake out their preferred spots among the red rock hoodoos.

With the ring of fire in full form, cheers echoed through the canyons of the park.

"I just think it's one of those things that unites us all," said John Edwards, a cancer drug developer who traveled alone across the country to watch the eclipse from Bryce Canyon.

Kirby James and Caroline McGuire from Toronto didn't realise they would be in a prime spot when they planned their trip to southern Utah.

"Nothing that you can read could prepare you for how it feels," said Kirby James, 63, a co-founder of a software company. "It's the moment, especially when the ring of fire came on, you realised you were having a lifetime experience."

For the small towns and cities along the path, there was a mix of excitement, worries about the weather and concerns they'd be overwhelmed by visitors flocking to see the annular solar eclipse.

In Eugene, Oregon, oohs and ahs combined with groans of disappointment as the eclipse was intermittently visible, the sun's light poking through the cloud cover only at times.

In southern Colombia, the Tatacoa desert played host to astronomers helping a group of visually impaired people experience the perfect golden ring created by the moon and sun through raised maps and temperature changes.

Colombia Science Minister Yesenia Olaya said moments like this should inspire people to promote science among children, so they see it as "a life project".

Juan Pablo Esguerra, 13, waited months to make the trip to the desert with his father to witness the eclipse.

"I like the astronomy because it's a spectacular experience," he said. "This is the best that I've seen in my life."

In Mexico City, some children came dressed as astronauts as thousands of people gathered at the main esplanade of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the country's main public college. People shared special glasses, and the university set up telescopes.

Saturday's eclipse marked the first for Brazil since 1994. The country's national observatory broadcast the event online while thousands flocked to parks and beaches in the north and northeastern regions to soak in the phenomenon.

Next April, a total solar eclipse will crisscross the US in the opposite direction. That one will begin in Mexico and go from Texas to New England before ending in Canada.

The next ring of fire eclipse is in October next year at the southernmost tip of South America. Antarctica gets one in 2026. It will be 2039 before another ring of fire is visible in the US, and Alaska will be the only state in its direct path.

A massive fire has all but gutted a busy supermarket in South Australia.

Shoppers and staff were forced to flee when a ball of flames erupted in the aisles of Woolworths in the Adelaide Hills town of Stirling.

Almost 100 firefighters tackled the blaze, which broke out at 2pm in Stirling Village Shopping Centre.

READ MORE: Thousands attend 'largely peaceful' pro-Palestinian rallies across Australia

The smoke could be seen by motorists on the South Eastern Freeway.

Investigators are now working to determine if children playing with fire lighters inside the shop were to blame.

David Alerdice said he was told that was what had happened.

READ MORE: More Australian repatriation flights scheduled to leave Israel

"One of the staff members said it looks like there were kids playing with fire lighters in one the aisle which has started the fire," he told 9News.

"All of a sudden a PA assistant comes with 'evacuate, evacuate, this is not a drill' and everyone starts pouring out of the building."

The roof later collapsed and shoppers ran for their cars, he said.

Multiple firefighters attacked the fierce blaze from the ground, from the roof and from above.

No one was hurt.

Some roads in the area are closed and some power has been cut off.