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COVID-19 cases are declining nationally except for one state

COVID-19 cases have been on the decline over the last seven days with the exception of one outlier state, South Australia, which saw a huge jump in both cases and recorded deaths.

Nationally, there were 16,823 cases of COVID-19 in the last seven days, averaging 2403 a day.

It comes as the Government approves fifth booster shots for most adults from February 20.

Find the state-by-state breakdown below:

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NSW

NSW had a total of 6440 COVID-19 cases this week, averaging 920 cases per day.

Last week, the state had 6567 cases, seeing on average 18 more daily cases compared to this week.

There were 62 deaths recorded, 26 less than the previous week.

Hospitalisations have also dropped from 1032 to 931, with 24 patients in the ICU.

Victoria

Victoria recorded 2941 cases, seeing a small decline compared to the previous week.

The average number of daily cases has slightly decreased from 436 to 420.

There has been an average of seven deaths per day over the last week, totaling 52, a decrease from 70 last week.

Queensland

Queensland reported a drop in daily COVID-19 cases, now averaging 552 over the last week, compared to 585 the week before.

In total, there were 3866 new cases this week, down from 4094.

There are 183 people in hospital, with six in the ICU.

There have been 33 deaths reported.

READ MORE: Australia recession risk linked to one country's collapse

New South Wales health authorities are predicting the latest COVID-19 wave will peak in about three weeks.

South Australia

In contrast, South Australia case numbers have increased, recording 1495 over the last week compared to the previous week's 1286 cases.

However, hospitalisations have decreased from 65 to 52.

There was a huge increase in deaths this week, with 94 recorded: 80 more than last week.

Northern Territory

There were 160 new cases in the Northern Territory this week.

Thirteen people are in the hospital, with no one reported to be in the ICU.

No deaths were reported in the territory during the last seven days.

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Orphaned Syrian baby born under the rubble taken in

A Syrian baby girl whose mother gave birth to her while trapped under the rubble of their home during this week's devastating earthquake now has a name: Aya, Arabic for "a sign from God".

With her parents and all her siblings killed, her great-uncle will take her in.

Aya is one of untold numbers of orphans left by Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake, which killed more than 20,000 people in northern Syria and southeastern Turkey.

READ MORE: Two-year-old boy pulled out alive after 79 hours under rubble in Turkey

The pre-dawn quake brought down thousands of apartment buildings on residents as they were roused from sleep, so entire families often perished.

In most cases, relatives take in orphaned children, doctors and experts say.

But those surviving relatives are also dealing with the wreckage of their own lives and families.

In the continued chaos days after the quake, with the dead and a dwindling number of survivors still being found, doctors say it's impossible to say how many children lost their parents.

At one hospital in northwest Syria, a red-haired seven-year-old girl, Jana al-Abdo, asked repeatedly where her parents were after she was brought in, said Dr Khalil Alsfouk, who was treating her.

"We later found out she was the only one who survived among her entire family," he said Thursday.

READ MORE: Earthquake death toll surges as survivors struggle to stay warm and fed

In the case of the newborn Aya, her father's uncle, Salah al-Badran, will take her in once she is released from the hospital.

But his own house was also destroyed in the northwest Syrian town of Jenderis.

He and his family managed to escape the one-story building, but now he and his household of 11 people are living in a tent, he told The Associated Press.

"After the earthquake, there's no one able to live in his house or building. Only 10 per cent of the buildings here are safe to live in and the rest are unlivable," he said, communicating via voice messages.

Rescue workers in Jenderis discovered Aya on Monday afternoon, more than 10 hours after the quake hit, as they were digging through the wreckage of the five-story apartment building where her parents lived.

Buried under the concrete, the baby still was connected by her umbilical cord to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, who was dead along with her husband and four other children.

The baby was rushed to a hospital in the nearby town of Afrin.

Abu Hadiya probably gave birth to the girl and then died a few hours before they were discovered, said Dr Hani Maarouf at Cihan Hospital in Afrin.

"We named her Aya, so we could stop calling her a newborn baby," said Maarouf.

Her condition is improving by the day and there was no damage to her spine, as initially feared, he said.

The UN children's agency, UNICEF, said it has been monitoring children whose parents are missing or killed, providing food, clothes and medicine and coordinating with hospitals to track down extended family members who might be able to care for them.

In Turkey, the Ministry of Family and Social Services appealed to potential foster families to submit applications.

It said children whose families or relatives could not be found were currently being taken care of in state institutions.

Staff were assessing their needs and placing them with registered foster families, the ministry said.

READ MORE: Victorian father jailed over Christmas Day crash that killed son

Near the opposition-held Syrian town of Azaz, a non-governmental organisation has set up a makeshift orphanage that is now housing about 40 children.

But in many cases, the extended family steps in.

Syrians have experience in facing the tragedy of parentless children: Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Syria's long civil war, which began in 2011, creating unknown numbers of orphans.

Jana, the seven-year-old, was found by rescue workers on Tuesday after 30 hours under the rubble of her family's home in Harem, a Syrian town near the Turkish border, Alsfouk said.

Her mother, father and three siblings were killed.

She was brought to a hospital in the nearby town of Bab al-Hawa, which was already overwhelmed.

"In our children's section, we have 24 beds and five incubators, but we have been receiving dozens of children. We barely had capacity. And we were the only hospital with a section for pediatric surgery in the area," Alsfouk said.

Seen by an AP journalist on Wednesday, Jana cried out in pain and confusion in her bed, waving the IV tubes in her arms. Her face was covered with cuts.

Later, an aunt came, and Jana was released to her, Alsfouk said.

Alsfouk's own home had been destroyed, and his family had moved in with friends.

For days he has been treating the rush of injured children, some of whom didn't survive.

"The whole experience was awful. It's hard to hold back your grief after trying to save a child but not being able to," he said, "because you have to then move on to dozens of other children who needed help."

For now, things are too confusing to determine the number of orphans, said Dr Muheeb Qaddour, deputy chief of the health department in Syria's Idlib province, which is the center of the country's last opposition-held enclave in the northwest and which was hard hit by the quake.

"But now people are beginning to realise there are many children now without families. There is a great embrace of them by society.

Distant relatives take them in before they would go to an orphanage," he said.

"Regrettably it is only after the dust of the earthquake settles that things become clear."

READ MORE: How you can help earthquake survivors as rescuers continue to sift through rubble

Money Matters: Can customers be forced to tip?

Every week we will break down, debunk and demystify your rights as a shopper in Australia. This week we are looking at the practice of tipping, and how the regulations work in Australia.

We all know life is getting more expensive than ever before. It is more important than ever to stretch every dollar you make.

That's why each week we'll answer a question surrounding what shoppers are – and aren't – entitled to when dealing with retailers and manufacturers.

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QR Code Tip Dilemma

Hey Stu,

Long time reader, first time writer.

Eating out recently I've noticed a lot of restaurants are using QR codes for ordering.

Every time I am asked if I want to leave a tip and if it's great service I am happy to give a tip at the end, but in these situations I am getting less and less face time with servers, so I have trouble working out where the value is if they aren't giving me a great wine recommendation or special meal to pick out.

What's the go? It's a cost of living crisis, should I be tipping to help support the hospitality economy? Or is this a money grab of ease?

Hi there – great question.

Tipping in Australia has always been a controversial practice. 

Some say it is a way to reward those who offer good service – others say it encourages hospitality businesses to offer lower wages.

The fact is in Australia tipping is entirely voluntary.

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It doesn't matter how good the service is, you are never obliged to tip. 

A lot of businesses may include a "gratuity" section on a bill to be filled in, or hand you an EFPTOS machine that has a window for a tip. You don't need to fill it in.

There's no requirement that says businesses cannot ask.

So, to answer your question: Should you be tipping because we're currently in a cost of living crisis? No – you should only tip because you want to.

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According to the tax office, any tips received by staff are to be declared as income tax.

There aren't specific rules on how businesses should distribute tips.

Some collect it all and then distribute it evenly to ensure back-of-house staff receive some – others allow staff to pocket what is tipped directly to them.

Do you have a money matters question for Stu to answer? Email him at Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.

The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

Toddler pulled out alive after 79 hours under the rubble

In a ray of hope for rescue workers amid an increasingly grim recovery mission, a two-year-old boy has been pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey 79 hours after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Mert Tatar was alert and smiling as he emerged from a hole in the rubble of a collapsed building in Antakya, prompting cheers from the surrounding rescue team, who quickly wrapped him in a blanket.

READ MORE: Earthquake death toll surges as survivors struggle to stay warm, fed

It is one of a handful of success stories to come from the front lines of an increasingly desperate rescue mission to save survivors battling freezing temperatures and hunger, more than three days after the initial earthquake.

Earlier in the night, a 10-year-old girl was rescued alive in the same district of Turkey's Hatay province.

DHA news agency said after making initial contact with the child, rescuers worked 32 hours at the site to clear a passage to her.

READ MORE: How you can help earthquake survivors as rescuers continue to sift through rubble

Medics had to amputate one of her arms to free the girl from the rubble because removing the block that was crushing her would have endangered her further, the news agency reported.

An hour before that, rescuers pulled a 17-year-old girl out of rubble in Adiyaman province.

READ MORE: Brother of Sydney man found dead after Turkey earthquake speaks

Miners and others brought her out and medics took her to an ambulance on a stretcher with an IV bag hanging.

They briefly clapped before a rescuer asked for quiet.

Also, a 20-year-old was rescued in Kahramanmaras by IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation workers, who shouted "God is Great".

Their medical conditions were unknown.

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Father jailed over Christmas Day crash that killed his son

With his son on his lap and safety controls overridden, Christopher Browne drove an ATV up his driveway and did a burnout in a paddock trying to scare his sister.

But the buggy rolled and his two-year-old son Lincoln was thrown and fatally crushed under its weight.

Browne admitted he was to blame for his son's death on Christmas Day 2020 and pleaded guilty after a Victorian County Court judge indicated he would avoid prison time.

But three judges in the state's Court of Appeal on Friday ruled that was wrong.

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They sentenced him to 15 months behind bars after finding striking similarities between his case and that of another Victorian father jailed for three years after his nine-year-old daughter was killed.

Browne, who must serve at least six months, was given a moment to hug and say goodbye to his pregnant wife before being taken into custody.

The couple learned they were expecting their fifth child after prosecutors filed the appeal. They have one living child and had stillborn twin girls before Lincoln's birth.

The appeal judges found Browne's offending was serious and his moral culpability was high.

He had deliberately driven dangerously by doing the burnouts or doughnuts and had also deliberately flouted built-in safety features on the buggy by sitting on top of a clipped-in seatbelt, overriding a safety lock that would have limited the speed to 25km/h.

Lincoln had been sitting on Browne's lap, and Browne's sister was in the passenger seat of the buggy, which should only have had two people on board.

"(Browne) drove in a manner deliberately calculated to cause the buggy to lose traction and deliberately set out to drive in a manner designed to scare his sister, who was a passenger in the buggy," the appeal judges said.

But they also took into account mitigating features including that he was a man of good character with an impressive work history and who makes valuable contributions to his local community.

READ MORE: Aussie rescuers on the way as quake death toll tops 20,000

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He has family support and will experience anxiety in prison given his wife's pregnancy – all factors warranting a merciful sentence, they said.

Browne had already completed more than 100 hours of the 250 hours of community work that Judge Michael Cahill had originally imposed.

He had also been ordered to undergo treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

His PTSD had factored into Judge Cahill's sentence, but in the appeal Victoria's Chief Crown Prosecutor Brendan Kissane questioned the extent to which this should have mitigated the sentence.

"It's trite to say any parent who is involved in the death of their child would be grief-stricken, would be suffering, or would suffer from stress and anxiety, and the distinction, if there is one, is not such to warrant the distinction in sentence," he said.

Browne's barrister, Jason Gullaci SC, said Browne had admitted to police about trying to scare his sister, doing doughnuts and flouting seatbelt rules.

"He has taken full and direct responsibility for the devastating consequences of his very reckless behaviour," he said.

He'll be eligible for parole in August.

Casino valet driver damages two Lamborghinis owned by billionaire

Video has emerged online appearing to show a valet driver at Crown Perth damaging two Lamborghinis believed to be owned by billionaire Laurence Escalante.

The footage, taken at 9pm on Wednesday night, shows a valet driver in a teal Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae pull up behind a second purple Lamborghini, crashing into the rear.

Stunned onlookers can be seen watching on in horror as the two cars – valued in excess of $900,000 each – make contact.

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"Look at this bloke," a man filming the ordeal is heard saying.

"No way… what are you doing brah?"

Other members of Crown staff can be seen with their hands covering their mouths watching the drama unfold. 

READ MORE: Aussie rescuers on the way as quake death toll tops 20,000

"What are you doing in the car?" the man filming says to the valet driver, to which the driver responds: "I was just trying to park it."

A spokesperson for Crown Resorts said an investigation into the incident has been opened. 

"We can confirm that two vehicles were damaged in the driveway of Crown Towers Perth shortly after 9pm on Wednesday evening," the spokesperson said.

"The safety of Crown's team members and guests remains our priority.

"We are conducting a full assessment of the incident together with those involved."

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No injuries were sustained during the incident.

A spokesperson for Escalante told The West Australian that "Crown is working positively with us to fix the cars and put this behind us all."

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