Easter Sunday isn’t a statutory holiday – such surcharges are unjustified, watchdog says.

Eatery’s oyster burger has been on the menu since 2019 and has become its ‘crown jewel’.

James Te Whata was returning from a tangi, wearing a gang tee, when a cop spotted him.

The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet’s brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon.

NASA released the crew’s first downlinked images on Friday, one and a half days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than half a century.

The first photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule’s windows.

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The second shows the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds. A green aurora even glows, according to NASA.

“It’s great to think that with the exception of our four friends, all of us are represented in this image," said NASA's Lakiesha Hawkins, an exploration systems leader. She added the mission was going well.

As of late Friday afternoon, Wiseman and his crew were more than 180,000 kilometres from Earth and were quickly gaining on the moon with another 240,000 kilometres to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.

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The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping.

They fired Orion's main engine on Thursday night that set them on their course.

After Mission Control shifted the position of their capsule, the entire Earth complete with northern lights filled their windows.

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“It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks,” Wiseman said in a TV interview.

They're the first lunar travelers since Apollo 17 in 1972.

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A new strain of COVID-19 is spreading across the US, Europe and is now spiking here in Australia.

But experts say there are no signs the variant BA.3.2, otherwise known as "Cicada", poses a bigger health threat than other variations.

It was first identified in South Africa a few years ago but it's now spreading rapidly in parts of Europe, the US and is gaining traction across the country.

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New South Wales is leading the country in the number of Cicada cases with 10,247, followed by Queensland with 6378 and Victoria has 3635.

South Australia has 1932 cases according to the latest figures, while WA's recorded 773, ACT 225, Tasmania 263 and the Northern Territory has 128.

Genome sequencing shows the Cicada strain creeping up in recent weeks but experts, like World Health Organisation's Professor Patrick Reading, say there's no cause for alarm.

"It was detected in Western Australia in 2025 and more recently its been in other states," he told 9News.

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"There is no evidence that there is increased severity, hospitalisations, or death associated with this subvariant."

The strain is a descendant of Omicron and carries between 70 and 75 genetic changes in its spike protein compared to its predecessors, helping the virus get into cells and evade the immune system.

"It may be possible that the current vaccine we use may not do such a good job against this variant as it does against other circulating variants," Reading said.

It's important to note, it's not the dominant circulating strain.

READ MORE: Trump asks for $220 million to reopen Alcatraz

Experts say vaccination remains critically important, particularly for the elderly and those with chronic health conditions, as well as other measures.

"Masks, testing at home, staying at home if you're unwell, hand hygiene and other ways to limit the spread," Reading said.

It's one of five Omicron subvariants being monitored by the World Health Organisation.

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Emelie and Jon Watson have taken the ethos of "living with less" to an impressive new level.

The Brisbane couple and their two children are radical adopters of the growing sustainability movement in Australia.

They live car-free, dumpster-dive for groceries, aggressively thrift shop for clothes and have avoided buying "brand new" since 2008.

It's not a glamorous lifestyle. But the money they save affords the Watsons a life they always dreamed of having.

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"Living simply and inexpensively has given us the opportunity to give far more and do more good," Jon told Nine.com.au.

"Our overall lifestyle involves quite minimal consumption, but it's not a sacrifice."

"We are very, very lucky in Australia to have so much. And just because we can [consume so much] doesn't mean we should," Emelie added.

Emelie and Jon are mortgage-free and are able to choose when they work.

To fund their family's lifestyle, they take up casual or part-time jobs relief teaching and in engineering, jointly earning about $190,000 per year.

"We've only ever worked a maximum of four days a week for a year," Jon said, adding that the couple is now "trialling retirement".

There's no need for full-time hours when they rarely spend money on groceries.

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Meat, bread, fruit, vegetables and everything in between can be found discarded in a waste trip near the supermarket loading docks.

The family, on average, will spend less than $40 per week on extra food they may need – but say they go weeks without spending a cent.

"A year's worth of dumpster diving for our family of four saves us between $7,000 and $10,000 on groceries," Jon said.

"From Friday night until Sunday or Monday morning, we go twice a day, morning and night, until we find that the bin has been replenished."

Emelie said it is "startling" to see just how much edible food goes straight into the bins of an evening.

Supermarkets habitually throw out food that is either past its "best before" date or are slightly imperfect.

"We've shared some of our spoils with other people who've not been into dumpster diving, and when they see the quality of the food that we get out of the dumpster and the quantity, they're shocked," Emelie said.

"There's no compromise really on our diet or our nutrition," Jon added.

"In fact, we probably eat better eating what we take out of the waste stream than what we would normally."

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Donald Trump is seeking more than $A220 million to turn Alcatraz back into a functioning federal prison.

The White House included its request in a budget proposal released overnight.

The request was made as part of a billion-dollar investment into repairing "crumbling detention facilities" and paying correctional officers more money.

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"Within this level, the Budget also affirms the President's commitment to rebuild Alcatraz as a state-of-the-art secure prison facility, providing $US152 million ($A220 million) to cover the first year of project costs," the proposal states.

Alcatraz closed as a federal prison in 1963 because of its high operating costs.

As an island, everything had to be shipped in to the prison by boat, including fresh water.

Exposure to the salty air had caused tremendous damage to the facilities in the time it was open.

The prison cost more than triple an equivalent facility in Atlanta cost to operate per inmate.

Now it is one of the most popular tourism attractions in San Francisco, with more than a million visitors each year.

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The proposal has drawn the ire of San Francisco locals, including state senator Scott Wiener.

"Trump is once again proposing to destroy Alcatraz — a globally popular tourist attraction — by wasting billions to turn it into some sort of prison gulag," Wiener said. 

"It's an absurd, idiotic idea, a complete waste of taxpayer money, and yet another sign of Trump's dementia."

The president first proposed reopening Alcatraz in a Truth Social post in May last year.

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"When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm," he wrote.

"That's the way it's supposed to be.

"That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders."

The Hollywood Reporter wryly noted his post came two hours after the movie Escape From Alcatraz aired on TV in Palm Beach when Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago country club.

Trump's budget proposal also included a 50 per cent increase in defence spending, taking it to more than $A2.1 trillion.

"Every dollar we spend on Trump's wars is a dollar that could go toward more affordable healthcare, childcare, housing and more," top Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen said.

 "We cannot let this pass."

READ MORE: Crew member missing after US fighter plane crashes over Iran

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A crew member of a US fighter plane shot down over Iran yesterday has been rescued, the Pentagon said.

But the fate of the second person aboard the F-15E is not known.

The New York Times reports one of the crew of the jet was rescued by a US Air Force Black Hawk helicopter.

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The helicopter was struck by ground fire but was able to fly back to safety in Iraq, officials were quoted as saying.

About the same time the F-15E was struck, a second US plane was also shot down.

An A-10 Warthog crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, and the pilot was rescued.

The Warthog is a single-person fighter plane, while F-15Es have a crew of two.

Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded to the planes being shot down with a sarcastic comment on X.

"After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from 'regime change' to 'Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?'"

He added a teary-eyed emoji.

"Wow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses."

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Iranian state television called on civilians to find the other crew member and offered a reward for their capture.

The US has continued their bombing campaign against Iran with more strikes on civilian infrastructure.

"Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn't even started destroying what's left in Iran," US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social. 

"Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!"

Trump threatened to bomb the country "back to the Stone Age" in a national address earlier this week.

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Today Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian specifically referenced Trump's comments.

"Does threatening to send an entire nation back to the Stone Age mean anything other than a massive war crime?" he said.

"History is full of those who paid a heavy price for their silence in the face of criminals."

Overnight Iran has also targeted a desalination plant in Kuwait. Drone and missile attacks were reported over Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

READ MORE: Donald Trump storms out of Supreme Court as he faces loss

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Tom Forrest lives in the very small town of Wyndham in Western Australia's Kimberly region.

It has a population of about 940 people, one family-owned supermarket, a post office, a bottle-o and a local pool. 

"It's a dead-end town. You simply can't drive through it. It's the last town on the road, so it's a very tight-knit community," he said.

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Forrest has to drive an hour to his nearest major supermarket and 10 hours to the closest major city, Darwin.

"Living in the outback of Australia is beautiful, the community is amazing, the landscape is astonishing, but one of the real challenges we do have is how remote we live," he said.

"Regional flights out of [the nearest town] Kununurra have been really expensive.

"The town, over the years, many times have asked for government support to get these regional airfares reduced, because it just makes it really, really challenging for most locals to fly out of Kununurra."

Forrest became inspired by outback pilots who use a small aircraft for their personal use, including his childhood friend's dad who would land his helicopter next to his home after a day of mustering.

To make his life easier, he decided to do the same. 

He travelled 1000km to Darwin every fortnight for 11 months to train for his pilot's license before he was given the green light.

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Now, it takes Forrest only 15 minutes to fly to the next major supermarket in Kununurra.

He said it has made everything more accessible for him.

"Having my own plane, having my plane license as well, just means that I can wake up in the morning, and if I have to, I can hop in my plane and fly to Darwin in an hour and a half, opposed to a 10-hour drive," he said.

"It also means that getting to the remote locations across the Kimberley, like Broome or the Bungle Bungles or even remote communities, has opened up and made everything a whole lot more accessible.

"What would usually take an entire day to get across the Kimberley only takes two hours."

Forrest has shared his pilot journey on social media, where he also famously posts videos with his grandad for storytelling and sharing their outback living.

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That's when someone from the remote Indigenous town of Amanbidji reached out for help.

The small community, near the Northern Territory border, had been cut off due to cyclone-prompted flooding and was forced to go without any fresh produce for weeks.

Forrest did 100kg of shopping for them, loaded up the plane and flew to their town, where he was greeted by community members who received their first fresh food in weeks. 

"Where I can, I like to help out," he said. 

"I've had a lot of people reach out through social media all over Western Australia, people who live in rural, Indigenous communities who were there for work, asking if I could potentially help fly their mum from Broome to the remote communities."

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But with increasing fuel prices, which have sent diesel soaring past $3 a litre, each hour of flying costs him about $200.

For now, he has been forced to limit his plane use to necessary travel only.

"It's gone up significantly. So at the moment, I'm paying around $3.64 per litre, and the plane burns 54 litres an hour," he said.

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Exclusive: A driver has been slugged with back-to-back fines totalling more than $2000 and 24 demerit points by Western Australia's new AI-based cameras.

But she wasn't told about the fines until weeks after the fact, and her husband insists they wouldn't have been issued at all if a human officer had pulled her over.

Tina* was first caught by an AI camera on November 30 last year.

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It snapped her driving with her seatbelt tucked under her arm on the Kwinana Freeway in Perth's southern suburbs.

It's an offence to wear a seatbelt improperly in all Australian states and territories.

Over the next three weeks, the same camera snapped Tina with her seatbelt under her arm three more times.

Tina wasn't notified until more than a month later, when four nearly identical fines hit her mailbox in January.

"All of a sudden we get a flurry, a rampage of tickets generated by an artificially intelligent machine with no human intervention," her husband James told nine.com.au.

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