‘I know this is a late announcement that will cause disruption.’

A garbage truck has been forced to dump a huge pile of rubbish over tram tracks in Sydney's CBD

Waste collectors noticed smoke coming out the back of their garbage truck around 2pm while driving through the inner city today.

They followed the safety protocol to save the truck and put out the fire, which means offloading the rubbish.

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After the rubbish was dumped onto the tram tracks at Haymarket, the blaze reignited.

The City of Sydney Council claims the likely cause of the fire was lithium batteries that were incorrectly disposed of in the general waste.

The council has reminded residents not to throw out lithium batteries in general waste as they can become "quite volatile when compressed".

Fire and Rescue NSW's Sinisa Bobosebic said the team was initially called to a truck fire where the rubbish inside was alight.

"We were greeted with rubbish here on the street which was on fire, a smouldering fire of rubbish," he said.

"We attempted to put the fire out initially, which we thought we had done and left the scene, only to later find out we had to come back because there was a deep smouldering fire.

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"We pulled the pile apart and put out any smouldering embers.

"We then put the rubbish back into a bin and render the scene safe."

He said the cause of the fire was likely something reacting with something else in the rubbish.

"Either someone has been careless or it's just an accident where rubbish is mixed up and caused a chemical reaction," he said.

The incident caused the closure of the L1 Central to Dulwich Hill light rail line between Haymarket and Convention. It is now running again.

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Cleaners were at the scene and have since removed all the rubbish from the tracks.

Hay Street was also closed for a period of time due to the incident but has since reopened, Live Traffic Sydney said.

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A death notice said Prendergast was surrounded by family when he died.

A toddler has been taken to hospital after a suspected snake bite in Queensland's Central Highlands Region.

The two-year-old is believed to have been playing with the family dog when his mum was alerted of the leg injury in Bauhinia at about 10.30am this morning.

The child was taken to Rockhampton hospital via the RACQ CapRescue helicopter.

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It comes just days after a man, in his 60s died after he was bitten by the snake in Kensington Grove, about 50 kilometres from Brisbane.

Fatal snake bites have become relatively rare since the introduction of antivenom programs.

Two people per year die on average.

Hipkins got the initial dividends – and hope of turning them into long-term dividends.

How have voters reacted to Chris Hipkins’ appointment as Labour leader and PM?

Building inspections ramp up in Auckland.

A 63-year-old man with dementia has been found at the bottom of a waterfall after going missing in North Sydney two days ago.

Donald Earle was reported missing at 3pm on Saturday afternoon from a nursing home in St Ives after staff couldn't locate him.

Police began searching the Ku-ring-gai area on Saturday afternoon and had mounting concerns for his wellbeing due to his health condition.

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Today he was found on the Mueller Track in St Ives' Wildflower Garden two days after he was reported missing.

Earle was winched out of the bushland and taken to St Ives Oval where an ambulance was waiting.

"I actually always felt that we would find him but the way that police have handled this from the moment he was reported missing has been unbelievable," his wife Claire Earle said.

"It's just one of those situations that you think is not going to happen to you but it does."

New South Wales ambulance Special Operations Paramedics were involved in his rescue and are treating him for dehydration.

"When we hear of someone who's been missing for almost 48 hours, we always prepare for the worst but hope for the best," NSW Ambulance Inspector Christian Holmes said.

"Considering the very warm weather over the past few days, his physical condition was better than we expected.

"He was suffering from dehydration and had some cuts and grazes," Holmes added.

There have been no arrests since an Adelaide boy was allegedly forced into a car in an "attempted kidnapping", however police have released an image in an appeal to the public for help. 

The 17-year-old was walking along the Esplanade at Somerton Park on Thursday when a white sedan with four men stopped alongside him.

Detective Inspector Kieran Baggoley said the teen was asked repeatedly if he wanted a lift before being "forcibly pushed" into the car.

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He was not physically injured or threatened.

Baggoley said the car drove along the Esplanade for two minutes before arriving at an intersection.

Throughout the car ride the men did not speak to the boy "despite the boy repeatedly asking to get out of the car".

When the car stopped at traffic at an intersection the boy got out of the car and ran away.

"The men did not pursue him and he was able to go home and his parents contacted police," Baggoley said.

The men are described as aged in their 30s to early 40s.

No arrests have been made but investigating police have released a computer-generated image of a man that could assist with their enquiries.

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The man has been described as Caucasian in appearance, possibly in his late 30s to early 40s and about 190cm tall with a large build.

He had a full black beard with a large amount of grey in it and was wearing a dark grey hoodie.

Another man police are looking for has been described as Caucasian in appearance, with a muscular build.

He is believed to be younger than the other man and was wearing a white beanie and an orange t-shirt.

Last week Baggoley urged the men to come forward.

"We don't know why you've done this," he said.

"We've got a 17-year-old boy who has been grabbed on the side of the road, and until we have an explanation as to why, we will report this matter as seriously."

A third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been linked to a 90 per cent reduction in the mortality rate for people with multiple health conditions, a new study has found.

The researchers are based in Hong Kong, which reported the highest death rate in the world when the Omicron wave hit.

Vulnerable people and priority groups were given access to a booster shot in Hong Kong from November 11, 2021, and the doors opened to everybody on January 1, 2022.

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More than three million people – in a city of 7.5 million – got a booster shot in the first four months of last year.

"Our findings suggest that this timely, massive public health measure has plausibly played a pivotal role in lowering the mortality rate amid the epidemic, especially among people living with multimorbidity," first author Francisco Lai, from the University of Hong Kong, said.

Researchers compared data on people aged 18 years or older with two or more chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic kidney disease, who received a third vaccine dose between November 11, 2021, and March 31, 2022, compared to people who received only two doses.

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The study findings "highlight the potential benefit from booster vaccination, specifically in vulnerable populations living with multimorbidity, and support the recent focus on older people and those with chronic conditions for future booster doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines beyond the first booster".

The robust results will contribute to the evidence base that getting boosted provides strong protection against death from COVID-19.

"As the data on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination records used for this study was provided by the sole operator of vaccine roll-out in Hong Kong, with a unified recording system, and with linked clinical records provided by a territory-wide public health care provider, our data should be highly reliable and representative," the authors wrote.

The report is set to be published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

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