The small town was plunged into darkness for the celestial event, which saw the sun, moon and earth perfectly align.

It will be mixed bag of weather for much of country this weekend.

Scientists trawling through an immense volume of seawater believe they have found the evolutionary origin of the herpes virus.

Researchers found microbes that spread across the world's oceans that infect plankton.

The microbes have been named "Mirusviruses" – mirus being the Latin word for "strange".

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Mirusviruses are a bizarre hybrid of two different lineages, but belong to the same group of viruses as the type of herpes that infect humans and other animals.

"This means that there is a shared evolutionary history between herpes, that infect only animals, and the mirusviruses that are everywhere in the ocean, where they infect unicellular organisms," French National Centre for Scientific Research's Tom Delmont told Live Science.

"All of this is pointing to a planktonic origin for herpes."

Plankton are tiny water creatures defined by their incapacity to swim against currents. Instead they spend their lives drifting through the water.

But while the mirusviruses pose a serious threat to the health of individual plankters, they are thought to be good for the overall ecosystem.

When plankters die, they release nutrients valuable for other ocean creatures to thrive.

The findings were first published in Nature.

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As the world reached a human population of eight billion last November, more population milestones loom.

Australians are being encouraged to report people they know for illicit drug use to reduce violence and improve health in the community.

Illegal drug related violence effects one in 10 people in the country, prompting calls from the crime prevention organisation for community members to report people they know as part of their National Illicit Drug Campaign.

Crime Stoppers is urging people to look out for illegal activity indicators including unexplained wealth, visible gang related tattoos, strange timing of movements and strange favours being offered.

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"The drug trade is estimated to be worth more than $10 billion per year, profits of which are often used to fund other illegal activity including human trafficking," Crime Stoppers said in a statement.

"Much of the violence in our neighbourhoods can be linked to drug trafficking.

"With drugs remaining the number one crime concern for all Australians Crime Stoppers has launched a new campaign with family and community safety the top priority."

READ MORE: Woman calls cops after what tradie did with kitchen utensils

Crime Stoppers said the initiative aimed to disrupt the drug trade to make communities safer.

NSW Crime Stoppers Peter Price said the Crime Stoppers contact centre operates 24/7 from a location in regional NSW and not at local police stations.

"If you suspect someone or know something, share it with Crime Stoppers before it's too late," Price said.

"It's what you know that's important, not who you are," Price said.

You can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit their website here.

READ MORE: Scientists find the origin of herpes in the world's oceans

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A plumber hired by a Brisbane homeowner to fix her bathroom has been caught on camera using utensils her in the toilet and returning them to the kitchen unwashed.

The tradesman, who can not be named for legal reasons, was recommended to the woman by a friend to do repairs on her toilet and shower.

She felt sick to her stomach when she checked her home cameras and allegedly found him going through drawers in her bedroom before taking items from her kitchen.

"I'm really upset by this… how many other people has he done this to?" she told 9News.

"I'm sickened by him using my utensils on my toilet," she said.

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"That can make you so desperately ill, and I'm really upset by it."

The distressed homeowner alleged she later realised a pair of earrings were missing from her bedside table drawer.

She reported the incident to police.

The tradesman has been charged with entering a dwelling and committing an indictable offence.

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"I'm sickened about the cleanliness issues more than anything else," she said.

The homeowner told Today she said sent the tradie an email after she got home to say she had "caught" him, and asked if he would replace her utensils and front door key.

But, she said, he refused.

"(He) didn't seem to really care and just said let him know if I needed him to come back and fix the toilet," she said.

"He didn't fix the toilet or the shower. I had to get another plumber afterwards."

With the court case having now made headlines, she said she felt a bit sorry for the plumber, but hoped he had realised what he had done.

The plumber appeared before the Magistrates Court in late March and the case was adjourned until May.

He is fighting the charge.

The plumber was contacted for comment but did not respond.

The case has been reported to the building watchdog.

Australia's big four banks aren't doing enough to protect customers from scams and may even be contributing to "further distress for a customer", a new report from Australia's financial watchdog has found.

The research, published today by Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), calls for financial institutions to improve how they handle scams.

The analysis found scam losses for major bank customers exceeded $550 million last financial year, with more than 31,700 customers affected.

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Collectively the big four banks are only stopping 13 per cent of payments going out to scammers.

And only two to five percent of stolen money is being reimbursed.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said "more work needs to be done" to help protect customers from scammers.

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"Australia's big four banks have invested significantly in their anti-scam efforts over the last several years and have implemented a number of innovative and positive initiatives, including some recently implemented following the conclusion of ASIC's review," she said.

"However, the increasing prominence of scams means that there is still more to be done.

"Our review found there were inconsistent experiences and outcomes for customers who were the victim of a scam, and in some cases a bank's response may contribute to further distress for a customer."

Court added that as part of the evolution of banks' scam response they "need to reconsider the ways they respond to and engage with scam victims".

"We'd like to see the banks take steps to evolve their scam management practices, including how they inform and educate customers and help them through what is a distressing time," she said.

It comes just weeks after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Scamwatch said bank impersonation scammers are using "new technology" to swindle Australians.

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It said scammers can now make a call appear to come from a legitimate phone number – or more concerningly – can make a text appear in the same conversation threat as genuine messages from a bank.

"We are incredibly concerned about bank impersonation scams because they can be so convincing, they are very hard to detect," ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.

"What's equally worrying about this particular scam, is that it is emptying every last cent out of victims' savings accounts, with losses averaging $22,000 and more than 90 reports of losses between $40,000 and $800,000.

"This causes both financial and emotional devastation."

ACCC urges customers to be critical of any alleged correspondence from a bank.

"It is critical to remember that no matter how legitimate the call or message seems, a bank won't ask you to urgently transfer funds," Lowe said.

"If you receive an SMS with a telephone number to call, do not use it.

"Instead, call your bank direct on a number you have sourced yourself.

"Likewise, hang up if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from your bank requesting you to transfer money to 'keep it safe'."

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A woman injured while trying to stop an allegedly stolen car with a baby in the back seat in Queensland yesterday said her "blood ran cold" when she realised what was happening.

Phoebe Halson said she and her sister were out for a day at the zoo in Yeppoon, north of Rockhampton, yesterday, when they got caught up in the incident.

"As soon as we got out of the car we heard tyres screeching and a woman screaming, so me and my sister ran over. I had my son in my arms," she told Today.

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"At first we saw the baby's capsule laying on the ground and we were thinking, 'Oh my God, this baby has been hit'."

But she said they saw a woman screaming, "they took my baby".

"We are trying to console this mother still in the loading bay where you get your groceries, and the car did, like, a turnaround," she said.

"It has come flying through the exit-way. Me and another woman were still standing there. We were trying to call out, 'Stop, stop, there is a baby, stop', and she wasn't stopping."

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Halson said that as she turned to protect her son – still in her arms, she was struck by the car.

She said she had suffered fractured ribs and internal bleeding, and faced a two-week recovery period.

As the allegedly stolen car returned, she said, the mother was "absolutely hysterical".

"It was madness. There were people trying to jump in front of the cars. Some succeeded in getting the baby," she said.

"But, yes, some people were just screaming in horror. Other people were crying. There were some chasing after the car. It was absolute madness."

She said it was one of the most terrifying experiences of her life.

But when the mum got her baby back, it was "beautiful".

"You could see the relief on her face as soon as the woman put that baby in her arms," Halson said.

"She just pretty much melted holding that baby."

The baby was unharmed, while the car drove away.

Police said this morning that about 4pm yesterday, they found an allegedly stolen grey Nissan Patrol at Bungundarra, north of Rockhampton, and arrested a 24-year-old woman and a 36-year-old man.

The 24-year-old Cobraball woman has been charged with one count each of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, abduction of a child, and driving without a licence.

The 36-year-old Mount Morgan man has been charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

They have both been denied police bail and are due to appear in court this morning.

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Two teenage cheerleaders have been shot in a Texas supermarket car park after, one of them said, she mistakenly got into a car thinking it was her own.

It's the latest in a string of recent United States shootings apparently sparked by someone showing up at the wrong place.

The shooting in Elgin, east of Austin, happened early on Tuesday (late Tuesday AEST) in a car park that serves as a carpool pickup spot for members of the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company, team owner Lynne Shearer said.

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Heather Roth, one of four team members transferring rides in the car park after practice, said she got out of her friend's car and into a car she thought was hers, but there was a stranger in the passenger seat, KTRK-TV reported.

She said she panicked and got back into her friend's car, but the man got out of his vehicle and approached.

She said she tried to apologise through her friend's car window.

"He just threw his hands up, and then he pulled out a gun and he just started shooting at all of us," Roth said, fighting tears.

Roth was grazed by a bullet and was treated at the scene, police said. Her teammate Payton Washington, 18, was shot in the leg and back.

"Payton opens the door, and she starts throwing up blood," Roth said.

Washington was flown to a hospital in critical condition. Doctors had to remove part of Washington's spleen, KTRK-TV reported.

Someone who witnessed the shooting said the shooter fled the scene after the attack, police said.

Police arrested a suspect, 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, who is charged with engaging in deadly conduct, a third-degree felony. Online court records do not list an attorney for him.

READ MORE: Brisbane plumber caught on camera 'putting utensils in toilets and returning to drawers'

Shearer said Washington, a high school senior from Round Rock, north of Austin, is one of her team's stars and was born with only one lung.

"She's really a huge face in the all-star cheerleading world," Shearer said.

"She's a mentor and role model to so many kids in this industry.

"She's an amazing athlete, amazing kid, so everybody knows her and everybody's praying for her."

Washington has committed to competing for Baylor University's acrobatics and tumbling team next year, and her and her Woodlands teammates were set to compete at the The Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, Florida, this weekend.

Shearer said the team will now be "competing for her".

The attack comes days after two other high-profile shootings that occurred after victims went to mistaken addresses.

In one case, a Black teen was shot and wounded after going to the wrong Kansas City, Missouri, home to pick up his younger brothers.

In the other, a woman looking for a friend's house in upstate New York was shot and killed after the car she was riding in mistakenly went to the wrong address.

READ MORE: Woman filmed driving off in stranger's car with four-month-old baby still inside

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India is set to surpass China as the world's most populous nation, with almost 3 million more people by the middle of this year, data released by the United Nations shows.

Based on the projections, India's population by mid-year will reach 1.4286 billion, compared to China's 1.4257 billion — 2.9 million fewer — according to the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) State of World Population Report for 2023, released on Wednesday.

But the UN has been unable to determine a date this shift will take place, due to "uncertainty" about the data coming from China and India.

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India carries out a census once every 10 years, but the last one — which was due to be held in 2021 — was delayed during the pandemic. The country's most recent official data dates to 2011.

While there are hopes that India's young citizenry could drive the country's economic growth for years to come, it also might just as easily become a demographic liability if they are not adequately employed.

Economists have cautioned that even as India's economy is among the fastest-growing as its population rises, joblessness has also swelled.

While India's 254 million people between ages 15 and 24 is the largest number in the world, China is struggling with an ageing population and stagnant population growth.

That has sparked expectations that the demographic changes could pave the way for India to become an economic and global heavyweight.

Tech giant Apple, among other companies, hopes to turn India into a potential manufacturing hub as it moves some production out of China, where wages are rising as the working age population shrinks.

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Not long ago, India wasn't expected to become the most populous until later this decade. But the timing has been sped up by a drop in China's fertility rate, with families having fewer children.

India, by contrast, has a much younger population, a higher fertility rate, and has seen a decrease in infant mortality over the last three decades. Still, the country's fertility rate has been steadily falling, from over five births per woman in 1960 to just over two in 2020, according to World Bank data.

China has had the world's largest population since at least 1950, the year the UN began issuing population data.

On Wednesday, China responded to news of the U.N. report with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying "a country's demographic dividend depends not only on quantity but also on quality."

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"The population is important, so is talent… China's demographic dividend has not disappeared, the talent dividend is taking place and development momentum remains strong," Wang said at a briefing.

Both China and India have more than 1.4 billion people, and combined they make up more than a third of the world's 8 billion people.

By mid-year, the global population is estimated to hit 8.045 billion, the UN report said.

By 2050, eight countries will account for half the projected growth in global population: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.

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