Robbie Coltrane, the baby-faced comedian and character actor whose hundreds of roles included a crime-solving psychologist on the TV series Cracker and the gentle half-giant Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, has died. He was 72.

Coltrane’s agent Belinda Wright said he died Friday at a hospital in his native Scotland, and but did not immediately other details.

She called him "forensically intelligent" and “brilliantly witty” in just one of many tributes made to him.

READ MORE: Rain easing but floodwaters set to rise across weekend

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who decades ago had said Coltrane was her first choice to play Hagrid, tweeted Friday that he was “an incredible talent, a complete one off.”

“I was beyond fortunate to know him, work with him and laugh my head off with him,” she wrote.

Born Anthony Robert McMillan in Rutherglen, Scotland, Coltrane was in his early 20s when he began pursuing an acting career and renamed himself in honour of jazz musician John Coltrane.

He already had a notable screen career, with credits including Mona Lisa, Nuns on the Run and Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Henry V when he broke through on his own as a hard-bitten detective in Cracker, the 1990s TV series for which he won best actor at the British Academy Television Awards three years running.

He went on to appear in all eight Harry Potter movies as the young wizard's mentor and had a wide variety of other parts, including a Russian crime boss in the James Bond thrillers GoldenEye and The World is Not Enough and Pip's guardian Mr Jaggers in a 2012 adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations.

More recently, he received rave reviews for playing a beloved TV star who may harbour a dark secret in the 2016 miniseries National Treasure.

READ MORE: Woolworths says 2.2 million customers exposed in MyDeal data breach

On Friday, his Nuns on the Run co-star Eric Idle tweeted that he had been talking about Coltrane, “wondering where he was,” when he learned of his death.

“Such a bright and brilliant man. A consummate actor, an extraordinarily funny comedian and an amazing actor. He was also a very good friend,” Idle wrote.

Wright said Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his ex-wife Rhona Gemmell and his children Spencer and Alice.

Northland’s primary education fraternity is mourning long-serving educator Bruce Crawford.The former principal of Hikurangi School passed away on Thursday morning.Te Tai Tokerau Principals’ Association president and Horahora School…

A Hector’s dolphin seen in Northland was the first confirmed sighting of that species on the region’s east coast in a century.The Department of Conservation confirmed two sightings of the dolphin in Mangonui Harbour last weekend….

Woolworths says the data of 2.2 million customers of a website it owns has been exposed.

MyDeal, which is majority owned by Woolworths, today "identified that a compromised user credential was used to gain unauthorised access to its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system resulting in the exposure of some customer data".

The company is in the process of contacting the estimated 2.2 million impacted people by email, Woolworths said in a statement.

READ MORE: Rain easing in Victoria after thousands of homes inundated

The data that has been accessed includes customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, delivery addresses, and in some instances, the date of birth of the customer for anyone who has had to prove their age when buying alcohol.

For 1.2 million customers, only their email addresses were exposed, the company said.

READ MORE: Man gives evidence at long-awaited inquest into mother's death

"MyDeal does not store payment, drivers licence or passport details and no customer account passwords or payment details have been compromised in this breach," Woolworths said.

It said the Mydeal.com.au website and app had not been impacted.

There has also been "no compromise of any other Woolworths Group platforms or the Woolworths Group customer or Everyday Rewards records".

"We apologise for the considerable concern that this will cause our affected customers," MyDeal CEO Sean Senvirtne said.

"We have acted quickly to identify and mitigate unauthorised access and have increased the monitoring of networks.

"We will continue to work with relevant authorities as we investigate the incident and we will keep our customers fully informed of any further updates impacting them."

Woolworths Group chief security officer Pieter van der Merwe said the company's "cyber security and privacy teams are fully engaged and working closely with MyDeal to support the response".

Customers who are not contacted have not had their details accessed, Woolworths said.

The major data breach comes just weeks after 9.8 million Optus customers had their data hacked.

An estimated 2.1 million of those customers had personal identification details stolen, including 150,000 passport and 50,000 Medicare numbers.

The government watchdog has since launched an investigation into the company's handling of the cyberattack.

Telstra also experienced a "small breach", while Medibank also reported detecting unusual activity but said they haven't been hacked.

Armed police have surrounded a house in the West Auckland suburb of Glendene and are calling for the occupants to “come out with your f***ing hands up”. A witness on the scene said the house was surrounded by about 15 armed officers…

A pilot and his passenger have walked away seemingly unscathed after a crash landing and fire caused by a nose-wheel collapse.

The emergency began in the skies over Adelaide and ended 700 kilometres away.

It was an emergency landing more than two hours in the making, with the pilot apparently aware he had a problem soon after takeoff.

READ MORE: Victorian floods: Thousands of homes inundated or isolated by floodwater

A flight tracker shows how the twin engine Rockwell Commander circled Adelaide's western suburbs and then the coast before the pilot and air traffic control planned a touchdown at Adelaide Airport.

When that was unsuccessful, the pilot lifted off again, opting to head to Essendon Fields Airport in Melbourne's north-west where they prepared for an emergency landing.

The aircraft's nose-wheel crippled as expected on touchdown, causing its nose to scrape along the tarmac.

All seemed safe and then frightening flashes of flames burst out the sides.

Despite the drama, the two on board managed to evacuate safely.

Brittany Higgins has finished giving evidence in the rape trial of her former colleague after directly addressing him in court for the first time.

Bruce Lehrmann is being tried by the ACT Supreme Court, charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

He has pleaded not guilty and denies having any sexual interaction with Higgins.

READ MORE: Bruce Lehrmann rape trial could end early

During an emotional cross-examination after four days of questions, Higgins directly addressed Lehrmann, telling him "nothing was fine" after the alleged assault.

"Nothing was fine after what you did to me, nothing," she said.

Defence lawyer Steven Whybrow put to Higgins that she did not see Lehrmann inside then defence industry minister Linda Reynold's office and she was not sexually assaulted by him.

"He was in there. He was physically violating me. He was in my body. I know," she said.

Whybrow also put to Higgins she fabricated her rape allegation because she was concerned she would lose her job as a Liberal Party staffer.

"I'm not a monster, I would never do something like that," she told the court.

"You are asserting that I did this because I wanted to keep my job. I cared about my job but I would never do something like that."

READ MORE: Key points from the first week of the Bruce Lehrmann trial

Earlier in the week, the court heard Lehrmann told police Higgins indicated she also needed to return to Parliament House that night.

Higgins rejected this suggestion on Friday, saying there was no reason for her to return to parliament in the early hours of Saturday morning in March 2019.

During re-examination by prosecutor Shane Drumgold, Higgins told the court she had reopened her police complaint and spoken to media to address two separate issues.

She said the purpose of reopening her complaint was to go through the justice system with her rape allegation.

But she went to the media to expose the "rife" cultural issues in Parliament House.

"There are a dozen stories like mine," she said.

Higgins has previously told the court she and Lehrmann returned to Parliament House after a night out drinking with colleagues.

The former Liberal Party staffer said she fell asleep on the couch and woke up to Lehrmann having sex with her.

Drumgold asked Higgins to clarify if she was fearful of losing her job because she had returned to Parliament House late at night.

She said she feared reporting the alleged assault to police in case it subsequently leaked to the media ahead of the 2019 federal election.

The trial was initially anticipated to run for between four and six weeks but could now be over in half that time.

Senator Reynolds is due to give evidence in court on Tuesday.

Senator Michaelia Cash is also expected to be in the witness box early next week before the Crown closes its case.

Another former Liberal minister Steven Ciobo is no longer expected to give evidence, with the initial witness list of 52 now reduced to 32.

The trial continues on Monday.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14

By Kate Green of RNZ Warning: This article discusses details of rape and sexual assault. The fourth of six young women to testify in the rape trial of a Wellington man says she felt confused when she awoke to find not the person…

The illegal planting of 27 trees on an Auckland mountain has “significantly and irreversibly” damaged a sacred archaeological site dating back 1000 years.The Tūpuna Maunga Authority (TMA) said the planting was in an area previously…

After ploughing his car into a 5-year-old on a scooter and launching the boy into the air, Ryan Anscombe “panicked” and drove off. Fleeing the scene was an impulsive move that has been attributed to the 29-year-old’s autism by his…