A powerful militia in the Arabian country of Yemen has threatened to cut off one of the world's most important shipping routes in solidarity with Iran, a major Iranian news outlet claims.

Tasnim News Agency, which is connected to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, reports Yemeni Ansarullah, also known as the Houthis, "is on full alert and ready to join the battlefield".

The Houthis floated the possibility of cutting off the Bab al-Mandab Strait which separates the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.

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"If there is a need to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait to further punish the enemy, the heroes of Yemeni Ansarullah are fully prepared to play a key role," Tasnim quoted a source as saying.

The strait is a major chokepoint in global trade, the narrowest point of the journey between Europe and Asia.

If cut off, vessels would need to sail all the way around Africa's Cape of Good Hope rather than taking the Suez Canal, adding about two weeks to a journey.

Going via the Suez through the Bab al-Mandab Strait takes about 8000 kilometres off a trip.

The Houthis began to strike ships going through the strait in 2023, causing a major headache for global trade.

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"For the amount of missiles and drones they fired, their hit rate on ships was not particularly high, and they only sunk a few," Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia Jennifer Parker told nine.com.au.

"Most companies made the decision that it was more appropriate to go around the Cape of Good Hope."

On one side of the strait is a large swathe of territory in Yemen controlled by the Houthis.

During Yemen's long civil war, Iran's government has supplied the Houthis with missiles and drones.

The Houthis have learned from Iran's example and begun to keep their weapons underground to avoid missile and air strikes.

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"It's harder to have a material impact on air campaigns against them," Parker said.

"You'll never disable them unless you send in ground forces, which nobody's about to do."

But Parker suspected Iran was seeking to draw the Houthis into the war to expand the battlefield.

"The fact that Iran has said this doesn't mean the Houthis will actually do it," she said.

"What (the Houthis are) actually trying to achieve is to take over Yemen versus supporting Iran."

Parker said the Houthis relied less on Iran than Hezbollah or Hamas, both of which receive much of their support from the regime.

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"The Houthis will weigh that up based on how influential they think the Iranian regime are going to be moving forward," she said.

"Even though you're not going to have regime change, there's a lot of evidence to say that the Iranian regime is significantly weakened."

Parker served as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy for 20 years and was deployed to the Middle East three times.

At its narrowest point, the strait is 26 kilometres wide.

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Truck drivers are facing dangerous situations as diesel shortages in Australia's remote outback leave them stranded on isolated stretches of highway.

Long-distance driver Robert Cook has been stuck twice on his Melbourne to Perth run, first for over 24 hours on the Nullarbor Plain and again in Keith in South Australia's south-east.

Cook waited hours alongside five other drivers for a fresh supply of diesel to be delivered to a remote fuel station on SA's Limestone Coast yesterday evening.

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He had been driving for around 500 kilometres without seeing a single drop of diesel at any service station.

"Some of the guys I've been speaking to have said, 'Look, we're thinking about hanging our keys up'," Cook, who runs his own heavy haulage company Helco Group, told Nine.com.au.

"I've had to stand down two trucks. It's a struggle."

After filling up late yesterday, Cook said he may only manage to make it to Brisbane before needing to fork out for another tank, if he drives "conservatively".

Diesel fuel costs for Cook's regular Melbourne to Perth drive have now doubled from $5000 to $10,000.

The cost of diesel is now over $3.15 per litre at some petrol stations.

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Although the ballooning price of keeping his trucks on the road is not the biggest problem.

Careful fuel management is crucial even without a global oil crisis – at one point, there is a 192-kilometre gap between fuel stops on the Nullarbor, which is among the longest straight stretches of road in the country.

Cook is now worried for the safety of his drivers.

"I tell our drivers, minimum 20 to 30 litres of water, enough canned food and stuff… because our trucks have microwaves and inverters, so they're completely self-reliant," he said.

"It can go south very quickly, especially out there in the summertime.

"It's very dangerous."

Cook is on the road for a job with freight carrier Loadshift.

Loadshift's Operations Coordinator Alex Randall said drivers like Cook are being left "high and dry", despite trucking companies being the backbone of Australia's supply chain.

"There's no system telling them which servos have fuel and which don't. They're driving blind," Randall said.

"What makes this even worse is that a third of trucks on Australian roads are running empty at any given time. "

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The Transport Workers Union (TWU) and Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation (ARTIO) have also warned surging diesel prices have now reached "deadly" new heights.

The unions have called on the government to pass emergency laws to keep truck drivers in business.

"Businesses are at imminent risk of collapse and workers are under deadly pressure because there are huge retailers and other clients out there refusing to pay their fair share for skyrocketing fuel costs," TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said.

"The federal government must act now to put in place emergency powers to ensure the industry can cope with the current crisis – otherwise we will see more transport workers die on our roads, more businesses go under, and our supply chains at breaking point."

The time spent waiting for diesel to arrive has put Cook almost two days' behind schedule.

He warned the knock-on impact is not "sustainable" and that prices will inevitably rise across the board.

"The problem is that we have to pass that on to somebody, and unfortunately, it's going to be the consumer," he said.

"It's double for us, it's going to be double for them, just to stay afloat. It's going to affect a lot of people, like, without a doubt."

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The estranged wife of a celebrity dentist who was shot dead by police after attacking two women in Sydney's inner city has penned an open letter to him on social media that reveals the "affairs", "secrets" and "abuse" she suffered in the pair's marriage.

Cassandra Lin, who had separated from her husband Steven Lin more than a year before his death, wrote in the letter that she was carrying the "pain of betrayal", but vowed to raise the pair's children in his honour.

She revealed he had fathered a child without her knowledge, which had "shattered the trust" between the pair.

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"The truth is that my world came crashing down when I discovered the life you had been living behind my back," Cassandra wrote.

"The affairs. The secrets. The abuse. The child you fathered that I knew nothing about.

"It shattered the trust I had placed in you and the future I thought we were building together.

"The pain of that betrayal is something I'm still learning how to carry."

Steven, aged 41, broke into a Potts Point apartment complex on March 3 while under the influence of drugs and attacked two women, Chloe Paul and Christine Campeau, as they were at home.

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Police rushed to the building and shot Lin with a Taser, which was ruled "ineffective". He was then shot with one round and declared dead at the scene.

The two injured women were rushed to hospital and underwent surgery for extensive facial injuries.

In her letter, his estranged wife described him as "complicated" and "flawed".

"Standing here today, I'm reminded that people are never just the worst thing they've done, nor only the best," she wrote.

"You were complicated. You were flawed. You made choices that hurt me deeply and changed our lives forever.

"I know you've heard it all before, so I don't say it anymore, I had to stand back and let you fight your secret war. A war which you lost in the end."

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Cassandra ended her letter by pledging to care for the couple's children without him.

"They deserve to know that their father loved them. Your story doesn't end here, because it lives on in them," she wrote.

"And while our path together didn't end the way either of us imagined, I will carry forward the responsibility we began together – raising the beautiful children we brought into this world."

Steven, author of The Dental Diet, had amassed a prominent social media presence with more than 250,000 Instagram followers.The Dental Diet.

He was a former principal of Helix Dentistry on the NSW Central Coast. He separated from his wife Cassandra in early 2024.

His involvement with Helix Dentistry ended around the same time.

It has been previously reported that the 41-year-old had faced court for a raft of offences in recent years, including stalking, assaults, choking and breaching apprehended violence orders.

Cassandra Lin's full open letter

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)

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Police have released CCTV footage of the moment two men stormed into a kebab shop in Sydney's west and opened fire, hitting three people and leaving two with long-term injuries.

The footage shows two men dressed in black getting out of a dark blue Audi and running inside the kebab shop on South Parade in Auburn on June 16 last year.

The two men pulled out guns and fired eight shots, before quickly fleeing in the same Audi.

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Images later show the car being abandoned and set on fire in Harris Park, with two other cars also being found burnt out in various locations in Western Sydney.

Three people were wounded, with a 26-year-old man being hit in the shoulder and arm, a 47-year-old woman was shot four times in the torso, while a 25-year-old man was shot in the face.

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The three victims were taken to hospital and have since been released, but the woman and the 25-year-old man are expected to face long-term complications from their injuries.

Police have released CCTV footage of the Audi Q7 arriving at Main Lane in Merrylands about an hour before the shooting, having travelled from the Guilford area.

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It is seen parking on Auburn Road, with two men leaving the car, the men believed to have carried out the shooting.

The two men have not been identified, with police urging anyone with information to come forward.

Police investigations into the shooting continue.

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Exclusive: The fuel crisis is hitting tradies harder than most and the rest of Australia could soon feel the sting as businesses are forced to raise prices or go bust.

Jac Northam, 26, recently started his joinery company Jac Design and used to spend about $150 a week on fuel.

Now it's nearly double that at $285 a week – and the cost just keeps rising.

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It could have dire consequences for the young tradesman.

"I've had to reduce what I pay myself and avoid tolls as much as possible to make sure I've got extra money in my business to cover it," he told nine.com.au.

"This is going to have a major knock-on effect not just in my life, but within the industry."

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A suspended driver has been jailed for nine years after driving dangerously at double the speed limit before a horror crash that killed two siblings.

Johnson Kokozian, 23, was taking his friends on a joyride in his brand new SUV when he tried to overtake a car at Heckenberg, in south-west Sydney, in 2023.

The suspended driver had crossed the Mercedes-Benz AMG onto the wrong side of the road at double the 50km/h speed limit when he crashed head-on into a car containing two siblings.

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He failed to stop and help Alina Kauffman, 24, and Ernesto Salazar, 15, who were pronounced dead at the scene.

Instead, Kokozian fled the scene and focused on his destruction of the uninsured luxury car, proclaiming that flipping the car meant $300,000 was gone.

"I'm getting locked up for long," he wrote.

Kokozian's conduct during and after the September 1 crash amounted to "an abandonment of moral responsibility", NSW District Court Judge David Arnott said on Wednesday.

He had been more worried about the money he lost by crashing his brand-new car than the well-being of the occupants of the other car, which he walked past as he left the scene.

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"His failure to stop and assist can only be described as serious and callous," Arnott said.

"There is no doubt that self-preservation and self-interest were key factors in his decision to flee the scene."

While Kokozian had shown no remorse in the aftermath of the crash, the judge found he now experienced "overwhelming guilt".

Initially charged with manslaughter, he eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death and two counts of failing to assist after a fatal impact.

He was jailed for nine years, with a minimum of six years and six months.

The victim's mother looked upset as the decision was handed down.

Angelina Kauffman has continuously advocated for justice for her two children in the lengthy legal process.

Kauffman was overcome with emotion when she exited the courthouse, wearing a jumper bearing a photo of her children.

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"There is no justice," she said through sobs.

"My kids' lives mean nothing to the court."

She gathered more than 20,000 signatures on a petition requesting that the NSW Parliament consider increasing the maximum penalties for serious road crimes.

A subsequent Law Reform Commission review, which concluded in February, found penalties for serious road crimes were appropriate and higher maximum penalties were unlikely to do more to deter offending.

A new vehicular manslaughter offence should not be introduced because it's unnecessary and could cause confusion, the review determined.

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A mother in Melbourne's north has been left traumatised after she was assaulted during a frightening armed home invasion in which the intruders targeted the wrong address.

Three young offenders, wearing balaclavas, allegedly invaded her Meadow Heights home at 3am on Sunday, gaining access to the property after shooting a bullet through the back glass door and storming inside.

Shortly after, they dragged the 42-year-old mother from bed by her hair before assaulting her.

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Police say that while it was a targeted attack, the alleged intruders stormed into the wrong house.

The single mother was allegedly kicked, punched and had a gun held to her head.

"They started kicking me on the head and punching me and then dragged me out [of bed] from my hair," the woman told 9News.

"[They pulled] my hair, dragging me all the way out to the lounge room."

"I wish they killed me that night, so I wasn't this traumatised."

The woman said she is too scared to stay in her own home, and insurance will not cover emergency accommodation. 

The intruders also allegedly threatened and assaulted her 27-year-old roommate.

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"He pistol-whipped me on the top of the head, and I split my head," the roommate told 9News.

"Then I slammed my door shut, and then after I came back out, they bolted."

The group remain at large after allegedly fleeing in a dark four-wheel drive when they were noticed by a neighbour.

"It's extremely disturbing," Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Pengelly said. 

"(We are) treating it as a most priority investigation at the moment. Investigations of this nature are brutal."

Police are still determining who was the intended target of the attack.

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Victorians will be offered three hours of free electricity during the day from October under a state government plan to reduce household energy bills.

The scheme aims to save the average family up to $300 per year on electricity by allowing free daytime power, seven days per week, outside of peak evening or morning periods.

Solar panel and battery owners are expected to save more than $1000.

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The government said around 2.6 million households will be eligible for the plan, which requires opt-in via energy providers.

It will mean zero extra costs for running the washing machine or dishwasher during the day.

Retailers will be required to offer a discounted tariff to households during the day.

The daily free power scheme will kick in from October 1, with the times of the free electricity to be announced in May.

The offer forms part of the Victorian government's push for residents to work from home more regularly.

"It's another reason why working from home can save you time and money," Premier Jacinta Allan said.

Energy providers previously called on the state government for more time to prepare for the scheme, which retailers argued could result in higher costs outside of the free period.

The plan has also been criticised for unfairly benefiting households who could afford to install solar panels or batteries.

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Around 850,000 Victorians use solar power for cheap or free power during daytime hours.

More rules are coming into effect on July 1 in Victoria which could put downward pressure on energy bills.

From July, energy retailers must make sure customers who have been on the same plan for more than four years are paying a "reasonable price".

If not, the provider must move them to a cheaper plan.

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Emergency services were called to the crash on Mākara Beach Rd just after 8am.

Time to check your ticket against the winning numbers.