Twenty-nine car parks removed seven years ago as part of Rotorua’s “Green Corridor” cycleway are set to return as a stretch of the cycleway is removed.The removal, starting next week, will cost $50,000. The entire cycleway’s construction…

Oscar McCallion described his mum, well-known Kerikeri local Nalinee Giri, as his hero. Giri was known for her business Jaffas Dressing Rooms, a clothing and home decor shop, as well as for the pātaka kai she set up outside…

A woman accused of beating her friend to death with a frying pan gave different accounts to police and journalists about how well she knew him, a Sydney jury has been told.

Narelle Fiona Smith, 46, is accused of murdering Peter McCarthy after his body was found in his South Coogee unit on December 20, 2020, face-up on the lounge room floor surrounded by broken furniture, glasses and a frying pan.

In her first interaction with police, Smith said she "didn't really know him".

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"I really don't, I steer clear of him though because he hangs out with the wrong crowd and because of my parole I can't be with them," she told police.

However on December 24, Smith told Channel 10 journalist Steven Hart a different story, the court heard.

"He went suicidal at one stage, these are things he can't tell his family," she said in an interview.

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When she was arrested on January 11, 2021, body-worn footage showed Smith telling police "I didn't murder him, he was my friend".

In her closing remarks, crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys told the jury it should have no doubt Smith killed McCarthy.

"When you look at all the facts, I suggest you will have no doubt that the inevitable conclusion is that the accused killed the deceased," she said.

"She is inconsistent on how well she knew the deceased, there was no evidence of a break-in, there's no forensic evidence in any relevant locations of an unknown individual."

Jeffreys rejected Smith's assertion that she went to the 77-year-old's house to cook him dinner and help him remove his ex-lover's belongings from his home so he could begin a new relationship with a neighbour.

"A considerable part of her account is that she spent significant time cleaning out (Julia Strafela's) items, does it seem likely to you?" she asked the jury.

"Even if you accept he would have liked Ms Strafela out of his unit, does this really sound like the way the deceased would make that happen."

The plan to remove his ex's belongings was not consistent with how McCarthy treated people, Jeffreys said.

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"It's a provocative thing to do, not the kind of solution of someone who'd spent many years as a lawyer and then a mediator," she said.

Smith has always "categorically and vehemently" denied murdering her friend, pointing the finger at Strafela who had a key to his flat, the jury has been told.

Smith told police her blood might be found in the unit as she cut herself with a screwdriver while fixing McCarthy's deadlock.

"She has put her hand up when it comes to wrongdoings, including one serious wrongdoing," barrister Sharyn Hall SC said at the beginning of the trial.

"But there is one serious wrongdoing she denies – that is having a hand in the death of Mr McCarthy."

The trial continues.

Chardonnay took centre stage at the Hawke’s Bay wine awards this year.Trinity Hill’s 125 Gimblett Single Vineyard Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2021 was champion wine of the show, while Church Road’s Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2020…

Three broadband providers have been fined $33.5 million after failing to ensure some customers could achieve internet speeds they were paying for.

Telstra will pay $15 million after action was taken by consumer watchdog, the ACCC in the Federal Court.

The penalty was agreed between Telstra and the watchdog, and approved by Justice Mark Moshinsky on Friday.

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Optus agreed to pay $13.5 million while TPG will pay $5 million.

Each of the three providers admitted liability for contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law, Justice Moshinsky said.

Three separate cases were brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over representations made to residential customers about broadband internet services using the NBN.

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The judge said each of the representations differed, but broadly involved customers being told their maximum attainable speeds would be tested within a reasonable time.

In a majority of cases that occurred, but some customers did not have speeds tested and ended up subscribing to a plan for speeds they couldn't achieve.

Customers weren't notified or given the option to move to a different plan, Justice Moshinsky said.

Reasons for the orders will be handed down at a later date.

The man accused of killing Kawerau woman Korrey Whyman has appeared in the Rotorua District Court.The man, who has been granted interim name suppression, faces three charges including murder and two counts of discharging a 20 gauge…

A world-first trial of a male contraceptive injection, which acts like a 'temporary vasectomy', is being undertaken with 25 men in Melbourne.

The ADAM study, which is being run at Epworth Freemasons in East Melbourne, involves hydrogel being injected into men's vas deferens (tubes that carry sperm) to block their sperm from leaving their testes.

The hydrogel is expected to dissolve after approximately two years, when the men will then undergo the procedure again.

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Four of the 25 men involved in the trial have already been injected with the hydrogel.

Urologist Professor Nathan Lawrentschuk, who is leading the study, has said it will run for three years, after having previously been carried out on animals.

"If it is successful, it could be a game-changer, ensuring that contraception is a shared responsibility between couples," he said.

The men involved in the study will undergo regular health checks and provide semen samples throughout the study.

Professor Lawrentschuk has told 3AW the researchers had hundreds of people respond to their callout on social media for trial participants.

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"We had too many to take care of," he said.

The professor said no trials designed to physical block sperm travel had been undertaken before.

Back in 2016, scientists in Sydney trialed men undergoing hormone injections as a form of contraceptive.

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Australia's in the grip of a full-blown energy price crisis. Our bills have gone up 20 per cent on average in 2022 and they're predicted to rise another 30 per cent next year.

That would add around $1300 over two years to an average home's electricity and gas bills.

So it's absolutely crucial that households keep an eye on this household cost and try every trick in the book to stop it from skyrocketing.

Here's my rundown of the four things you need to do to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your energy bills.

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PAY LESS

If you're in a state where you can switch energy providers, there are hundreds of dollars difference between the best and the worst plans on the market. So Step One is to make sure you're on one of the cheapest deals.

Your key tool here is the Government Reference Price, which is what the government regulator considers a benchmark 'fair price' for a typical household.

Every plan can be compared to that price, so avoid plans that cost more than the Government Reference Price and look for plans that cost less.

The best plans right now are around five-to-15 per cent below Government Reference Prices.

The worst I've seen are as much as 30 per cent above – so if you're on one of those, switch ASAP!

Before the crisis hit in the winter of 2022, almost all plans were below the government prices, but now as many as one in three plans in Victoria, for example, are not.

Retailers can move you to a plan above the reference price as long as they notify you in writing, but you have a right to demand to pay no more than the government price via what's called a 'standing offer'.

So no matter how bad things get, you should never have to pay more than that government price.

Are you in NSW, SA, SEQLD or Tas? Use the federal government comparison website energymadeeasy.gov.au to find the cheapest plans.

Are you in VIC? Use the Victorian government comparison website compare.energy.vic.gov.au to find the cheapest plans .

Are you in WA? You can only switch gas. Use the federal government comparison website energymadeeasy.gov.au or the commercial website wattever.com.au to find the cheapest plans

Do you have solar? It's a bit trickier for you to find the cheapest plan because it depends how much of your solar power you use versus how much you sell back to the grid, but the commercial comparison website wattever.com.au specialises in solar plans .

USE LESS

Easier said than done, sometimes, but the other obvious way to cut your energy bills is to use less power.

I've made a list here of 101 ways to use less if you think you've tried everything under the sun. But for most of us, it's a matter of targeting the big energy guzzlers: heating, cooling, and pools.

Heating and cooling can make up as much as 40 per cent of your winter and summer power bills, while pools can really blow out a bill.

Try these tricks to reduce your usage.

• Choose energy-efficient appliances when replacing old heaters and coolers; a heat pump reverse-cycle air conditioner is around $5000 cheaper to run over its 12-year lifespan than a gas heater nowadays, plus it cools you down in summer if need be.
• Adjust the thermostat: Men are most comfortable at about 22 degrees and women at about 24 degrees, according to research. So don't cool your home to 18 in the summer or heat it to 25 in the winter. Every degree of temperature on the thermostat can add about $100 over the season. You can also turn down your hot water to 50 degrees and save a buck.
• Avoid bar heaters and fan heaters if you can. They use the most power.
• Insulate! The average Australian home has a two-star energy rating – they've been described as "glorified tents" because we lose so much heating and cooling. So just sealing up the cracks and insulating roofspaces and walls can save you big bucks over time.
• Run the pool or spa pump at night on an off-peak tariff or controlled load meter to minimise the cost; A pool pump can cost anywhere from $600 to $1500 a year to run and a spa costs about $240.
• If you have solar, run it during the day. Because your daytime electricity is free.

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GET SOME HELP

There's around $1.4 billion in state and territory government assistance available to households to help with energy bills.

For some concession card holders and low income homes, or for homes that want to be more energy-efficient, there are hundreds of dollars on offer in some states.

Go to your state/territory government website to search for rebates, or try the federal government site energy.gov.au, where you can search for rebates by state.

In some cases, just making sure your energy retailer has your concession card will ensure you receive any rebates.

But in other cases, you need to apply or you'll miss out. Examples include:

• In NSW, there's a $200 seniors energy rebate if you have a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.
• In Victoria, there's a $250 'power saving bonus' just for visiting the Victorian Energy Compare website.
• In WA, there's a $400 Household Electricity Credit if you apply at this website.
• In SA, the $449 Cost of Living Concession is open to low income households as well as concession card holders.

GO SOLAR

Australians have broken our own record for solar installations in 2020 and 2021, and the energy price crisis could see us break it again.

Those with solar panels are not experiencing price increases anywhere near as big as those without.

If you can't afford to pay upfront, there's now a range of ways to go solar with $0 down, such as:

• State government schemes for low income homes such as this one in NSW and this one in the ACT.
• Low-rate green loans offered by the likes of CBA and Brighte.
• 'Power purchase agreements' where you pay say $120/month for 10 years and get solar panels and a battery with a performance guarantee, which you then own outright at the end. These are offered by the likes of Shinehub and EnergyAustralia (currently only in NSW).

Around one-third of Australians can't go solar because they rent or live in an apartment or don't have the right roof. There are minimal solutions for these people so far, but a new project called the Haystacks Solar Garden is allowing people to buy plots of panels and get an annual rebate on their bill.

The Albanese government has committed to building more of these solar 'gardens' or 'banks'.

Joel Gibson is the author of KILL BILLS! and EASY MONEY (coming January 2023). Catch his money-saving segments on Nine Radio, TODAY and Twitter @joelgibson.

Police say a stolen car found submerged in Napier’s inner harbour is believed to be the same vehicle involved in an earlier ram raid in the city.The white car was spotted in the water about 1pm and resulted in a large emergency…

Scientists in the US got a stinky surprise when they opened up a massive python to discover its last meal.

The Burmese python appeared to have something in its stomach but the researchers were hard put to guess what.

So, while filming, they decided to open the big snake up.

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Incredibly, they found it had at the time of death been digesting a mostly intact – but very dead – alligator measuring about 1.5 metres.

The snake itself was described as "18 feet long" (5.4m) by CNN, which if true would make it a record-holder, with the Florida Museum putting the largest recorded size for a Burmese python in Florida at 16.8 feet (5.12m).

"We actually thought it was pretty gross too, and I'm used to necropsies," scientist Rosie Moore told CNN.

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The team on camera during the procedure struggled to maintain composure, with one heard saying "Can you smell that?"

"We were taking breaks, we were running outside trying to get some fresh air," Moore said.

"I've never smelt anything like it."

EXPLAINED: What you need to know about Australia's fourth COVID-19 wave

Burmese pythons are considered an invasive species in Florida.

As part of the US state's conservation efforts, the Florida Python Challenge is held every year, a 10-day competition in October in which people compete to remove the most pythons from Florida public lands.

This year, 19-year-old Matthew Concepcion was named the winner with a tally of 28.