From terrifying ant faces and kaleidoscope-like snail tongues, Nikon's 2022 Photomicrography competition has revealed the minute details of insects, sea creatures and human cells.

Outgoing UK Prime Minster Liz Truss is set to receive an eye-watering lifelong pension following her resignation, despite only having held the top job for just seven weeks.

Under the Public Duties Cost Allowance (PDCA), Truss, like other former prime ministers, are allowed to claim £115,000 per year ($A205,000) to put toward the cost of "maintaining activities in public life".

The scheme was set up in 1991 following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher and since then, former prime ministers have claimed millions of dollars.

READ MORE: Liz Truss quits as UK PM after less than seven weeks in the job

Following Truss' resignation yesterday, she will become the fifth living former PM to be able to claim from the scheme – meaning the UK taxpayer could fork out £700,000 per year ($A2,250,000) on pension benefits.

Former PMs John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron all claimed more than £100,000 ($A170,000) through the PDCA in 2020/2021, according to official records.

Major and Blair both claimed back the maximum available allowance, while both Brown and Cameron claimed slightly under.

It is not yet known if Boris Johnson has so far claimed any funds. 

READ MORE: Severe storms threaten three states

Truss announced her resignation yesterday less than seven weeks after taking office, setting her up to become the shortest-serving premier in the nation's history.

In a brief statement delivered outside her office at 10 Downing Street, Truss laid out the headwinds facing her leadership, from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to more general economic stability.

Failed leadership contender Rishi Sunak and former prime minister Boris Johnson, whose dramatic removal from office following a series of scandals set the stage for Truss to take power, are reportedly among those fighting to replace her.

READ MORE: Powerball jackpot booms to biggest prize in Aussie history

Truss, who was sworn in on September 6, said she had tried to deliver on the "vision for a low-tax high-growth economy" that saw her triumph over former chancellor Sunak in a summer leadership race.

"Given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party," Truss said.

"I have therefore spoken to his majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party."

The family of a Victorian grandfather fatally bashed on Christmas Day say the world is less colourful without him, and they have been robbed of the best man in their lives.

Anthony Clark, 50, died in hospital three days after he was struck with a baseball bat by a man outside his home in Melbourne's northeast before his head was repeatedly stomped on and kicked by a then 16-year-old.

The teenager, who cannot be legally named, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Victorian Supreme Court over his role in the 2019 brawl that led to Clark's death.

READ MORE: Man jailed for life over 'gruesome' murder after victim's body fed into woodchipper

The fight started after an argument over some illegal fireworks outside Clark's Mooroolbark home.

A group of young men came to his home to confront his relative, leading Clark to retrieve the bat and order them to leave his property.

The man who hit Clark with the bat was found not guilty of manslaughter earlier this month.

Clark's daughter Ellen Moxon reflected her father was excited for what 2020 would bring but he missed it by four days.

His last meal was Christmas lunch, and she and her sister caught it in their hands when he later vomited it up in hospital.

He was a proud man who was deeply sentimental and would tell her he loved her "more than water, because how could you live without water", she said.

"I had to kiss my father on the right side of his unrecognisable face as I whispered goodbye for the last time," Moxon told the court on Friday.

READ MORE: Why Aussie waters have become ideal hunting ground for great whites

"My dad died this way but he didn't live like this. He was amazing and the world is less colourful without him."

Moxon gave birth to her first child nine months after Clark was killed, and had to get staff to turn down the volume of the hospital machines so she didn't have to relive the trauma of her father's death.

When Moxon's daughter took her first steps, she hoped Clark walked with her in spirit, she said.

Emma Moxon, another of Clark's daughters, reflected their father taught them everything they knew, and made them realise what they were capable of.

MONEY MATTERS: Can hairdressers charge twice for the same haircut?

He was the embodiment of good character, she said, opening doors for strangers, barracking for the underdog, reading and remembering people's name tags, and being genuine when he wished others a wonderful day.

Moxon gave her father a wallet at Christmas, not knowing what gravity the words engraved on it would hold days later: "Looking up to you is easy. Filling your shoes is harder. You are the greatest man I know. Love you to the moon and back."

After the attack, Clark was nonsensical when speaking to police officers.

A paramedic asked him if he knew who his daughter Emma Moxon was.

"He said, 'no, but she's beautiful'," Moxon told the court.

The teenager who kicked Clark in the head sent a video on Snapchat days after the assault of a single Nike Triple White shoe stained with blood.

It was captioned "RIP my Triple Whites", the court was told.

He also commented in a message that someone he knew "doesn't find it funny that I killed someone".

Judge Jane Dixon said while the message couldn't carry much weight out of context, it showed the stupidity of a 16-year-old child after a very serious act.

Emma Moxon hoped the teenager, if he ever had children, would understand what he took away from her father and family.

"I don't hate him … (but I) never will forgive him for killing my dad," Moxon said.

Justice Dixon ordered the teenager be assessed on his suitability for youth justice detention over adult jail.

Former Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard is challenging resigned former Labour MP Dr Gaurav Sharma to release the full recording of a prior conversation between the pair which Mallard claims will prove Sharma breached privilege….

Traffic started to build out of some cities by midday ahead of Labour weekend, as several crashes caused congestion along State Highway 1, while police hoped to avoid the road toll of the holiday last year. Congestion has since…

Kiwis should be able to enjoy plenty of sun over Labour weekend, however it could be a chilly start Saturday morning and some holiday hotspots in the South Island and the Far North could see cloud and the odd shower.Calm and dry…

Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitter’s workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report Thursday by The Washington Post.

Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75 per cent of Twitter’s employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report.

The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.

READ MORE: Life sentence for 'gruesome' murder after man's body fed into woodchipper

San Francisco-based Twitter and a representative for Musk attorney Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

While job cuts have been expected regardless of the sale, the magnitude of Musk's planned cuts are far more extreme than anything Twitter had planned.

Musk himself has alluded to the need to cull some of the company's staff in the past, but he hadn't given a specific number — at least not publicly.

"A 75 per cent headcount cut would indicate, at least out of the gates, stronger free cash flow and profitability, which would be attractive to investors looking to get in on the deal," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

“That said, you can’t cut your way to growth."

READ MORE: Why Aussie waters are ideal hunting grounds for sharks

Ives added that such a drastic reduction in Twitter's workforce would likely set the company back years.

Already, experts, nonprofits and even Twitter's own staff have warned that pulling back investments on content moderation and data security could hurt Twitter and its users.

With as drastic a reduction as Musk may be planning, the platform could quickly become overrun with harmful content and spam — the latter of which the Tesla CEO himself has said he'll address if he becomes owner of the company.

After his initial $44 billion bid in April to buy Twitter, Musk backed out of the deal, contending Twitter misrepresented the number of fake “spam bot” accounts on its platform.

Twitter sued, and a Delaware judge has given both sides until October 28 to work out details.

Otherwise, there will be a trial in November.

Jason King was looking for a way to fund his next meth fix when he spotted a woman sitting in her vehicle on the side of road. What followed was a violent carjacking that saw the victim attacked with a tyre iron.King, 33, was fresh…

All that was left of Bruce Saunders when his body was discovered in a woodchipper were his legs.

Five years later Gregory Lee Roser has been found guilty of what the victim's son called the "most gruesome and evil" murder.

Roser, 63, received a life sentence when he was found to have bludgeoned Saunders with a metal bar at a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.

READ MORE: Man accused of woodchipper murder evoked dead mum, court hears

The body was then fed into the chipper with the assistance of another man, Peter Koenig.

"My dad does not deserve to be remembered as the woodchipper victim," Saunders' son Blake said in an impact victim statement read to the court.

"My dad was a kind, happy, hardworking, wonderful man."

At his five-week Brisbane Supreme Court trial, Roser did not deny that Saunders was murdered.

Roser conceded that he had "shamefully" assisted with disposing of the body in the chipper then lied about it, telling police it had been an industrial accident.

READ MORE: Liz Truss quits as UK PM after less than seven weeks in the job

However, Roser accused Koenig of killing Saunders while they were clearing trees at the Goomboorian property near Gympie.

After they began deliberating on Tuesday afternoon, the jury found Roser guilty on Friday morning with Saunders' family and friends in attendance.

Roser showed no emotion.

"He (Saunders) was kind and generous to a fault, that … probably became a fatal fault," Justice Martin Burns told Roser.

The disposal of Saunders' body was beyond the imagination of any decent human being, Justice Burns said.

READ MORE: Severe storms threaten three states

"But you are not a decent human being, far from it," he told Roser.

The Crown alleged Sharon Graham asked her lovers Roser and Koenig to kill her ex-partner Saunders and make it look like an accident in a bid to claim his $750,000 life insurance.

Koenig claimed Roser repeatedly hit Saunders with the bar as they finished work at the property.

He told the court that he helped carry the body to the chipper because Roser had a bad back.

Koenig then fed Saunders into the machine, leaving the legs sticking out to make it look more like an accident.

Roser had pointed the finger at Koenig, who he claimed had Mafia connections and once boasted of pushing a man into a meat grinder.

Saunders was killed after becoming embroiled in a "love quadrangle", the court heard.

Graham was living with Saunders albeit in separate bedrooms and was in a relationship with Roser while also having "intimate relations" with Koenig.

They may have split but Mr Saunders was still "besotted" with Graham, the court heard, and had made out his will and life insurance policy in favour of her.

Roser said Graham had plotted for months to kill Saunders, asking him to carry out up to three different murder plans – at one stage borrowing Koenig's handgun – but he refused.

She eventually hatched an idea to make it look like an accident with a chipper, this time roping in both Koenig and Roser, the court heard.

Roser admitted Graham had procured him and that he lied about the death being an accident, even telling police that he tried to save Saunders who he claimed was "reckless" around the chipper.

Roser moved into Saunders' bedroom with Graham the night after his murder.

Graham, 61, and Roser had pleaded not guilty to murder before the former successfully applied for a separate trial.

Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder earlier this year.

A senior fire investigator is warning that habits around the disposal of used batteries must change, after another waste collection truck caught fire.Hutt City Council says quick thinking from the truck driver and firefighters meant…