If you've ever considered moving away from the hustle and bustle of Australia's major cities, this could provide the perfect, private escape.

Migrants fearing deportation have set mattresses ablaze at an immigration detention centre in northern Mexico, starting a fire that left 39 dead, the president says.

It's one of the deadliest incidents ever at an immigration lockup in the country.

Hours after the fire broke out late on Monday, rows of bodies were laid out under shimmery silver sheets outside the facility in Ciudad Juarez, which is across from El Paso, Texas, and a major crossing point for migrants.

READ MORE: 'May the force be with you': Mark Hamill carries Star Wars voice to Ukraine

Ambulances, firefighters and vans from the morgue swarmed the scene.

Thirty-nine people died and 29 were injured and were in "delicate-serious" condition, according to the National Immigration Institute.

There were 68 men from Central and South America held in the facility at the time of the fire, the agency said. A Guatemalan official said many may have been from that Central American country.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the fire was started by migrants inside the facility in protest after learning they would be deported.

"They never imagined that this would cause this terrible misfortune," López Obrador said, adding that the director of country's immigration agency was on the scene.

Tensions between authorities and migrants had apparently been running high in recent weeks in Ciudad Juarez, where shelters are full of people waiting for opportunities to cross into the US or who have requested asylum there and are waiting out the process.

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More than 30 migrant shelters and other advocacy organisations published an open letter on March 9 that complained of a criminalisation of migrants and asylum seekers in the city.

It accused authorities of abuse and using excessive force in rounding up migrants, complaining that municipal police were questioning people in the street about their immigration status without cause.

The high level of frustration in Ciudad Juarez was evident earlier this month when hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants acting on false rumours that the United States would allow them to enter the country tried to force their way across one of the international bridges to El Paso. US authorities blocked their attempts.

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The national immigration agency said on Tuesday that it "energetically rejects the actions that led to this tragedy" without any further explanation of what those actions might have been.

In recent years, as Mexico has stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migration to the US border under pressure from the American government, the agency has struggled with overcrowding in its facilities. And the country's immigration lockups have seen protests and riots from time to time.

Mostly Venezuelan migrants rioted inside an immigration centre in Tijuana in October that had to be controlled by police and National Guard troops.

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In November, dozens of migrants rioted in Mexico's largest detention centre in the southern city of Tapachula near the border with Guatemala. No one died in either incident.

Mexico has emerged as the world's third most popular destination for asylum-seekers, after the United States and Germany, but is still largely a transit country for those on the way to the US.

It holds tens of thousands of migrants in an expansive network of detention centres and attempts to closely monitor movements across the country in cooperation with American authorities.

Karla Samayoa, spokeswoman for Guatemala's Foreign Ministry, said that Mexican authorities had informed them that more than two dozen of the migrants who died appeared to be from the country.

Asylum seekers must stay in the state where they apply in Mexico, resulting in large numbers being holed up near the country's southern border with Guatemala. Tens of thousands are also in border cities with the US, including Ciudad Juarez.

The Strauss Centre for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin has estimated there are more than 2200 people in Ciudad Juarez's shelters and more migrants outside shelters from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and El Salvador.

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"Attention. Air raid alert," the voice says with a Jedi knight's gravitas. "Proceed to the nearest shelter."

It's a surreal moment in an already surreal war: the grave but calming baritone of actor Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker of Star Wars, urging people to take cover whenever Russia unleashes another aerial bombardment on Ukraine.

The intrusion of Hollywood science-fiction fantasy into the grim daily realities of war in Ukraine is a consequence of Hamill's decision to lend his famous voice to "Air Alert" — a downloadable app linked to Ukraine's air defence system.

When air raid sirens start howling, the app also warns Ukrainians that Russian missiles, bombs and deadly exploding drones may be incoming.

"Don't be careless," Hamill's voice advises.

"Your overconfidence is your weakness."

The actor says he's admired — from afar, in California — how Ukraine has "shown such resilience … under such terrible circumstances".

Its fight against the Russian invasion, now in its second year, reminds him of the Star Wars saga, he says — of plucky rebels battling and ultimately defeating a vast, murderous empire. Voicing over the English-language version of the air-raid app and giving it his Star Wars touch was his way of helping out.

"A fairy tale about good versus evil is resonant with what's going on in Ukraine," Hamill said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"The Ukrainian people rallying to the cause and responding so heroically … It's impossible not to be inspired by how they've weathered this storm."

When the dangers from the skies pass, Hamill announces via the app that "the air alert is over". He then signs off with an uplifting: "May the Force be with you".

Hamill is also raising funds to buy reconnaissance drones for Ukrainian forces on the front lines. He autographed Star Wars-themed posters that are being raffled off.

"Here I sit in the comfort of my own home when in Ukraine there are power outages and food shortages and people are really suffering," he said.

"It motivates me to do as much as I can."

Although the app also has a Ukrainian-language setting, voiced by a woman, some Ukrainians prefer to have Hamill breaking the bad news that yet another Russian bombardment might be imminent.

On the worst days, sirens and the app sound every few hours, day and night. Some turn out to be false alarms. But many others are real — and often deadly.

Bohdan Zvonyk, a 24-year-old app user who lives in the repeatedly struck western city of Lviv, says he chose Hamill's voiceover rather than the Ukrainian setting because he is trying to improve his English. He's a Star Wars fan, too.

"Besides," he said, "we could use a little bit of the power that Hamill wishes us."

After one alert, Zvonyk was riding a trolley bus when Hamill's voice rang out from his phone. He said the man in front "turned to me and said, smiling: 'Oh, those damn Sith'",to describe Russian forces. The Sith are the malevolent enemies of the do-gooding Jedi.

Olena Yeremina, a 38-year-old business manager in the capital, Kyiv, said Hamill's "May the Force be with you" signoff at first made her laugh. Now its enduring humour gives her strength.

"It's a very cool phrase for this situation," she said.

"I wouldn't say that I feel like a Ukrainian Jedi, but sometimes this phrase reminds me to straighten my shoulders and keep working."

Sometimes it can be wise to shut Hamill off. Yeremina forgot to do that on a trip outside Ukraine — to Berlin — and paid for the error when the alarm started shrieking at 6am and, again, when she rode the subway in the German capital. She wasn't alone.

Another person in the subway car also had the app and it erupted, too. The two of them first cursed, but then "it made both me and that person smile" Yeremina recalled.

Ajax Systems, a Ukrainian security systems manufacturer that co-developed the app, hopes Hamill's star power will encourage people outside Ukraine to download it — so they get a taste of the angst heaped on Ukrainians by nerve-shredding alarms and airborne death and destruction.

"With Mark's approach, it won't be so terrifying," said Valentine Hrytsenko, the chief marketing officer at Ajax.

"But they will understand somehow the context."

In the invasion's first year, air-raid alarms sounded more than 19,000 times across the country, so "of course people are getting tired", he said. The app has been downloaded more than 14 million times. Hrytsenko is among those who use its English-language setting to hear Hamill's voice.

"For Star Wars fans, it sounds really fantastic," he said.

"It's kind of a Ukrainian mentality to find some humor even in the bad situation or to try to be positive."

Hamill is pleased that the sci-fi saga is again transporting people, even if just temporarily, to its galaxy far, far away.

"It does inspire people," he said.

"Everyone flashes back to being six years old again. And if the movie can help people get through hard times, so much the better."

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The Green Party and the Māori Party both opposed the bill.

Retired Australians are returning to the workforce as the cost of living crisis makes it harder for older people to live off the pension. 

Over 3700 retired teachers returned to New South Wales classrooms in the last 12 months, and thousands more are looking for jobs, with one in five pensioners wanting to work more.

However, older people risk losing their pension if they make over $11,800 of income a year, an amount advocacy groups say isn't enough to live off of. 

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"The vast majority of people who go back to work do so because they need the money," the Chief Advocate at National Seniors Australia, Ian Henschke, said.

"We should take a leaf out of New Zealand's book and simply let people on a pension work and pay income tax."

While most are returning to the workforce out of necessity, some are finding jobs to fill the time.

Margaret Peasley came out of retirement at 69 to help fill the shortage of school crossing supervisors.

"You can get lost as a retiree and it brings you back into the community, we have so many skills to offer," she said.

"I think it's great. I like being called a lollipop lady."

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According to employment website Seek, there are ample jobs available as hundreds of industries go through staff shortages.

"There are hundreds of thousands of jobs out there," Stephen Tuffley from Seek told 9News.

"Employers are looking for skills so your age shouldn't be a disadvantage."

Dozens of companies have already expressed interest in hiring older workers, including Virgin Australia, Bunnings and Australia Post.

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Landlords will only be able to raise rent once a year, under new reforms announced by the Queensland government.

Developers will also be given tax breaks in a bid to bring more properties onto the market and address the escalating housing crisis.

The sweeping changes were announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today at Parliament House.

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Under the changes, the government wants private investors to be part of the solution, by making it more attractive for developers to add to the housing supply.

Land tax will also be slashed by up to 50 per cent for build-to-rent developments that feature at least 10 per cent of rental homes as affordable housing, driving more investment to deliver new rental supply.

"More build-to-rent projects will mean more homes available for long-term rental including more with affordable rents," Treasurer Cameron Dick said.

As of July 1, rent increases will be limited to one per year.

Australian Council of Social Service's Aimee McVeigh said although the overhaul was a "positive step", it does little to increase the immediate supply of social housing.

"We know that 300,000 people have urgent housing needs and based on the outcomes we have seen today, this will need to increase," she said. 

About $28 million was also added to the Immediate Housing Response Package by the state government, which is funding for more than 600 emergency hotel rooms and rental and bond support payments.

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Prince Harry has attended a London court as the lawyer for a group of British tabloids prepares to ask a judge to toss out lawsuits by the prince, Elton John and several other celebrities who allege phone tapping and other invasions of privacy.

Harry's presence at the High Court in London is a sign of the importance he attaches to the case, one of several lawsuits the Duke of Sussex has brought against the media. The hearing is expected to last four days.

The case alleges Associated Newspapers Ltd, which publishes titles including the Daily Mail, commissioned the "breaking and entry into private property", engaging in unlawful acts that included hiring private investigators to bug homes and cars and record private phone conversations.

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"They were the victim of numerous unlawful acts carried out by the defendant, or by those acting on the instructions of its newspapers, the Daily Mail and the Mail On Sunday," attorney David Sherborne said in a court document.

Other plaintiffs include John's husband, David Furnish, and actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, who was also in court.

The Duke of Sussex sat near the rear of the court and took notes as attorneys discussed preliminary matters.

The allegations date back to 1993 and continue beyond 2018, Sherborne said.

The publisher said the claims are too old to be brought now and should also be thrown out because because they rely on information the newspapers turned over in confidentiality for a 2012 probe into media law breaking.

"It would be surprising indeed for any reasonably informed member of the public, let alone a figure in the public eye, to have been unaware of these matters," attorney Adrian Beltrami said in writing.

Britain held a year-long inquiry into press ethics after revelations in 2011 that News of the World tabloid employees eavesdropped on the mobile phone voicemails of celebrities, politicians and a teenage murder victim.

Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the newspaper amid a criminal investigation and public uproar. Several journalists were convicted, and Murdoch's company paid millions in damages to dozens of hacking victims.

In the inquiry's 2012 report, Lord Justice Brian Leveson said "outrageous" behaviour by some in the press had "wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained".

Judge Matthew Nicklin, who is hearing the current eavesdropping case, is also overseeing a separate libel lawsuit Harry brought against Associated Newspapers over an article about his quest for police protection when he and his family visit the UK.

Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, and his wife, the former actress Meghan Markle, stepped down as working royals in 2020 and moved to the US, citing what they described as the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.

Harry has said he wants to make reforming the British media his life's work. He fumes at the UK media throughout his memoir, Spare, published in January.

He blamed an overly aggressive press for the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, and also accused the media of hounding Meghan.

The couple has turned to British courts to combat what they see as media mistreatment. In December 2021, Meghan won an invasion-of-privacy case against Associated Newspapers over the Mail on Sunday's publication of a letter she wrote to her estranged father.

Harry is also suing the publisher of another tabloid, the Mirror, in a separate hacking suit.

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A man who helped a woman cover up her child's murder has been branded a "putrid grub" by his co-offender's former friend after learning he will be released from jail.

Robert Terry Smith, 43, was granted parole on Tuesday after the NSW State Parole Authority formed an initial intention to release him in February.

Smith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to at least 12 years for manslaughter by gross criminal negligence and being an accessory after the fact to murder in 2011.

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Smith's then-partner, Kristi Abrahams, was convicted of murdering her six-year-old daughter Kiesha Weippeart and jailed for at least 16 years.

Outside court, a former friend of Abrahams turned victim's advocate Alison Anderson told reporters Smith was a "putrid grub" who should not be released.

"I just feel like we've failed… but we're going to keep on fighting," Anderson said.

"It's just been one big kick in the gut."

Smith knew the girl had been knocked unconscious but did not seek medical attention.

He disposed of her body, destroyed evidence and gave false accounts to police, media and the Department of Community Services in a "determined and sustained course of conduct" to destroy evidence, Justice Megan Latham noted when sentencing Smith.

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The objective gravity of his actions after Kiesha's death was greater than the manslaughter offence, she said.

Smith will be subject to strict conditions during his four-year parole, including not entering the Penrith or Blacktown local government areas.

"There is nothing to indicate the offender will not comply with those conditions," new State Parole Authority chair Geoffrey Bellew said.

Smith's release was supported by reports from the Serious Offenders Review Council and Community Corrections, which will monitor him.

They noted Smith behaved positively in prison, going from maximum to minimum security while completing education programs and working.

His custodial employment included working in the community in a rural area near Junee.

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"There is not the slightest indication the offender has at any time acted in an antisocial way while working in that community setting," Bellew said.

Sighs of disappointment came from public gallery attendees wearing shirts carrying the slogan "We Say No Parole For Child Killers Never To Be Released" when the decision was handed down.

Smith watched from Junee via video link, responding only "yes" when asked by Bellew if he understood he will be granted parole from April 21.

Reports to the parole authority stated Smith developed an insight into his offending and expressed remorse.

Retired detective chief inspector Russell Oxford told reporters that curiosity carried him to Parramatta's Sydney West Trial Courts.

"I came today to see if there was any remorse on the face of Robert Smith," Oxford said.

"The other reason I wanted to be here today was… (Kiesha) had no one speaking for her in all her life.

"She lived six years of abuse, I just don't want her to just be remembered as a statistic."

Smith was as he remembered him during the investigation, emotionless and expressionless, but hearing he had expressed remorse gave some comfort, Oxford said.

He said the parole authority researched the judgment well and the decision was "very, very fair".

"At least this way we've got a little bit of an opportunity to monitor him to see if he's genuine, and genuine in his remorse, and he can start again," Oxford said.

A progress report on Smith's parole will take place in July.

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A $12 crosstown taxi ride turned into a dangerous stand-off between a driver and his passenger.

The entire ordeal which played out in Sydney was captured on camera.

The cabbie has been suspended while the passenger says he's still in shock.

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Fabian Webb claims he just tried to pay by card but the driver wanted cash.

They argued before the driver took off along Oxford Street in Darlinghurst in the city's east.

"Help! Help! Call the police! Call the police!" Webb can be heard saying in footage.

"Pull over! Pull over!" he also pleads.

Webb told 9News he was "scared".

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"I wasn't sure what was going to happen" he said.

In a failed attempt to make the taxi stop, Webb is seen flinging both back doors wide open – despite the car driving at up to 50km/h.

The cabbie does eventually pull over, but still wanted the $12 cab fare in cash.

"Can you just get the cash, I just want you to get the cash," he says.

"If you give me the machine I'll put my pin in and give you my money," Webb replies.

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A passing police officer eventually stepped in to help.

Police haven't charged or fined the driver but did issue him with a warning.

Nick Abrahim from NSW Taxi Council said: "Drivers shouldn't get involved in what type of method the passenger uses to pay."

The driver's employee, 13cabs, has suspended him.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a delay in his judicial overhaul plan, saying he wants to give time to seek a compromise over the contentious package with his political opponents.

Netanyahu made the announcement after two days of large protests against the plan.

The country's political crisis escalated into uncharted territory on Monday after as its largest trade union announced a "historic" strike shutting down transportation, universities, restaurants and retailers in protest against Netanyahu's plan.planned judicial overhaul.

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All takeoffs from Israel's main airport, Ben Gurion Tel Aviv, were halted for several hours on Monday because of the strike.

Workers at the country's largest port in Haifa stopped working, some universities were shuttered and some of the country's best-known retailers, including McDonald's and the shopping mall chain Azrieli Group, announced closures.

The strikes were announced following Netanyahu's decision on Sunday to fire his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant who became the first member of the cabinet to call for a pause in the reforms.

Massive spontaneous protests took over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv late on Sunday night in response to the Gallant news, with people waving Israeli flags and chanting "democracy".

Protesters lit several fires on the main highway in the city and blocked number of streets and bridges, including the Ayalon Highway.

In earlier comments, Netanyahu urged protesters to "behave responsibly".

"I call on all the demonstrators in Jerusalem, on the right and the left, to behave responsibly and not to act violently. We are brotherly people," he said on Twitter.

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https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1640314145428873217

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been protesting for months against the planned judicial changes which would give the governing parties more control over Israel's judiciary.

Israel's former prime minister Yair Lapid urged Netanyahu to reverse the decision to fire Gallant, calling the move a "new low".

He wrote on Twitter that Netanyahu might be able to fire the minister but "cannot fire the people of Israel who are standing up to the insanity of the coalition".

In a statement issued later, Lapid called the past 24 hours "madness", "loss of control" and "loss of direction".

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"We've never been closer to falling apart," he said.

"Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, we don't know what to say to our children about their future in this country.

"We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries."

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Calls to 'stop and recalculate' reform

Gallant, the then-Defence Minister, argued for a halt to the judicial reforms in a speech on Saturday night, when Netanyahu was out of the country on an official visit to the United Kingdom.

Some military reservists have pledged to pull out of their service in opposition to the plans, which critics say would undermine the independence of the judiciary. Gallant said pressing ahead with the proposals could threaten Israel's security.

His ouster and the mass protests that followed prompted a string of prominent officials to call for a halt to the judicial reform process.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Israel's President Isaac Herzog called on Netanyahu and his government to immediately pause the plans.

"Deep concern hovers over the entire nation. Security, economy, society — everyone is threatened," Herzog said in the statement.

"The eyes of all the people of Israel are on you. The eyes of all the Jewish people are on you. The eyes of the whole world are on you.

"For the sake of the unity of Israelis, for the sake of committed responsibility I call on you to halt the legislative procedure immediately."

Separately, more than two dozen mayors from across Israel declared hunger strikes over judicial overhaul on Monday.

"Starting tomorrow morning, [we] are launching a hunger strike in Jerusalem opposite the prime minister's office, demanding an end to the huge crisis and the disaster that Israel is hurtling towards, to prevent the security of the country being affected and for the sake of togetherness and unity of the country," Moshe Fadlon, the mayor of the coastal city of Herzliya, said in a statement.

The statement was signed by 27 officials, representing a broad spectrum of local authorities across the country.

Amid the protests, Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from his own party.

Economy Minister Nir Barkat, Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar and Diaspora Affairs and Social Equality Minister Amichai Chikli — all members of Netanyahu's Likud party — also suggested that the prime minister should stop the legislation early on Monday morning.

Barkat, a former mayor of Jerusalem, suggested Netanyahu should "stop and recalculate" his overhaul plan, warning it has brought the country to the brink of civil war.

"The reform is necessary and we will do it — but not at the cost of a civil war," he said.

In his speech on Saturday, Gallant said the pause was needed "for the security of Israel", citing the refusal of some Israel Defence Forces reservists to train in protest at the government plans.

Gallant reiterated that sentiment in a tweet on Sunday after his dismissal.

"The security of the State of Israel has always been and will always remain the mission of my life," he said.

A contentious judicial overhaul

Under the proposals, the government would have control over the appointment of judges, and parliament would gain the power to override Supreme Court decisions.

The government argues the changes are essential to rein in the Supreme Court, which they see as insular, elitist, and no longer representative of the Israeli people.

Opponents say the plans threaten the foundations of Israeli democracy.

Part of the plan — which effectively strips the courts of the power to declare a prime minister unfit for office — has already been pushed through.

Critics say Netanyahu is pushing through the changes because of his own ongoing corruption trial; Netanyahu denies this.

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