OPINION When our kids were younger, I served a couple of terms on the board at our local primary school and never, during that six years, did it enter my mind that some of my fellow board members might be ex-prisoners.I’m pretty…

A cat which went missing after being handed to the wrong owners by a vet by mistake has been found.

Tara had been missing in Bondi for a month.

As reported by 9News.com.au she was mistaken for a cat called Lara.

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When Lara's owners went to collect her from Bondi Junction Vet Hospital, they were given Tara, who was actually boarding there while her owners were on holiday.

The vet admitted the mistake.

Tara somehow escaped from that person's home, and disappeared.

But now a pet detective has managed to trap her and get her home to her desperate owners.

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Bernardo Matuck, who owns Tara with partner Katie Matthews confirmed to 9News.com.au Tara was home and had been found near where she escaped.

He said apart from losing 1kg she was well.

After the incident locals in Bondi were desperate for news, and even helped look for the cat.

"Awesome news! We found Tara!!! She's well and safe!" Matuck posted on Bondi Local Loop.

"I want to thank you all again for all your help and support.

"I'm sure we wouldn't have found her without you. Thank you very much. You guys are amazing!"

Arthur & Co Pet Detective also confirmed the news, saying they used high tech cameras to track Tara down.

"Tara sure is a sweetie and we are beyond thrilled to have been the ones to bring her home to her gorgeous and devoted owners," they posted on Facebook.

The Ministry of Health has released its latest update on Covid cases and deaths.There are 4811 new community cases of Covid-19 today.A further 21 Covid-related deaths have also been reported.Of the 21 deaths six were from the…

The family of an Adelaide boy diagnosed with asthma as a toddler was left in "complete and utter shock" when an urgent operation revealed the real cause of the boy's suffering.

Marley, now aged eight, developed a bad cough when he was two, dad Jay told Today.

He was diagnosed with asthma and given a puffer, but it did little to help him.

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And in the past couple of years, when Marley began playing football and basketball, he "went downhill pretty quick".

Marley was rarely able to finish a game due to his breathing difficulties, and began vomiting whenever he ate.

"We really wanted an answer. We had a feeling it was not asthma," Jay said.

READ MORE: Shoppers rush for the exits as Shanghai Ikea goes into lockdown

Marley's parents pushed the doctors to investigate further, and Marley was ultimately flown to the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital.

Surgeons there found the cause of Marley's problems – a plastic arts-and-crafts flower that had lodged in his throat for years.

Jay said he had nothing but praise for the doctors, but urged parents to listen to their instincts.

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"We wouldn't have done it without the hospital. but sometimes you've just got to push that little bit more," he said.

Marley himself, a young man of few words, is happy with where things are now.

"Good," he said, when asked how he was travelling currently.

Panicked shoppers rushed for the exits at an Ikea branch in Shanghai on Saturday after city health authorities ordered the store to lock down after a close contact of a Covid-19 case was traced to the location.

Multiple videos on social media showed customers yelling and pushing each other in an attempt to escape the building before the doors closed.

CNN has reached out to Ikea's press office in Shanghai for comment.

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In a press briefing Sunday, Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said the "store and affected area" would be under "closed loop" management for two days.

People inside the loop must undergo two days of quarantine and five days of health surveillance.

On Monday, city health authorities reported six locally transmitted Covid-19 cases in Shanghai, of which five were asymptomatic.

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Shanghai, China's financial capital and home to 25 million people, was locked down for two months earlier this year, leading to widespread public anger as residents reported difficulties in ordering daily essentials including food and medicine.

EXPLAINED: What we know about Langya, the new virus detected in China

The lockdown was imposed under China's rigid zero-COVID policy, which relies on mass testing, extensive quarantines and even confinement of entire cities to stamp out any resurgence of the virus.

Relying on mobile technology and big data, the Chinese government uses a color-based "health code" system to control people's movements and curb the spread of the virus.

People in many Chinese cities must present a green health QR code to ride public transport and enter venues including shopping malls, gyms and restaurants. The system logs their whereabouts and whether they have been in contact with a confirmed Covid-19 case – those whose health codes turn red face almost certain confinement to quarantine facilities.

Snap lockdowns have become common in the country, with the public growing increasingly frustrated with the stringent rules as the economy struggles to adapt to the disruption.

Last week, more than 80,000 tourists were stranded in the popular resort island of Hainan after authorities announced lockdown measures to stem an outbreak of the virus.

READ MORE: China announces new drills as US delegation visits Taiwan

Human remains discovered at a South Auckland home last week had been brought there unwittingly among the contents of a recently acquired storage locker, Stuff understands.

Police launched a homicide investigation after the remains were found at a property in Moncrieff Avenue in Clendon Park about 1.30pm on Thursday.

Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua​ said the discovery was made after the residents "brought unowned property to their address".

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The residents were not thought to be involved, police said.

It is understood the residents went to the storage unit and picked up a trailer-load of goods, taking it home without realising its grim nature.

A trailer could be seen on the front driveway of the property while police investigated on Friday.

READ MORE: Inside 'clandestine laboratory' where $6 million worth of drugs seized

The storage company involved has been approached for comment.

On Monday morning, a family member at the property said they had been told to not talk to media by police but confirmed they had been offered victim support.

READ MORE: China announces new drills, accuses US politicians of 'collusion'

Neighbours of the property commented on the "wicked smell" coming from the home before police arrived.

One neighbour said her son had spotted a suitcase being removed from a trailer at the property by the house's occupants.

She said the bags loaded off the trailer were put in a forensic tent. Detectives and forensic teams had been seen standing back in shock, she said.

A second neighbour said there had been a "wicked smell" in the area just after midday Thursday. As a former worker at Manukau crematorium, he recognised the smell as that of a body.

"I knew straight away and I thought where is that coming from," he said, referring to the property.

Police arrived soon after and a hearse had been at the property, he said.

This story first appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.

Nine children were regularly assaulted, starved as punishment, and deprived of basic necessities including nappies, sanitary products, and schooling at the hands of their parents. That’s the Crown allegation to a jury at the start…

The father of an innocent hairdresser caught up in a brutal execution in Sydney's south-west says she was "beautiful" and an "angel" ready to help anyone in need.

Amy Al-Hazzouri, 39, was in the backseat of a four-wheel drive with 48-year-old Lametta Fadlallah in Panania when a shooter sprayed the car with bullets and killed them both on Saturday night.

Al-Hazzouri's father, Khaled, told 9News his daughter was an angel, friendly and beautiful.

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"Beautiful, beautiful," the grieving father said.

"Anyone who used to be upset, depressed, anything would go to Amy and she would give them the support, the power and energy.

"They would go to Amy, Amy was everything to them, that's the kind of person she was."

Khaled said he wished he had died instead of his daughter and just wants her back.

Al-Hazzouri's brother-in-law, Mounir Sajad, said she was "very loved" and the family is obviously devastated.

"No one can believe what has happened, it is very hard," he said.

"Her father, he doesn't believe he has lost his love."

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Fadlallah is the former partner of drug dealer and standover man Helal Safi and former wife of notorious drug dealer Shadi Derbas.

Police believe she was the intended target.

Al-Hazzouri's family said she was at Fadlallah's home to blow dry her hair before they went out, working overtime and nights as she often did, to support her father and her family in Lebanon.

"She was a hard worker, a good lady, always looking after her sister and brother and sometimes looked after her father," Sajad said.

They said they had begged her not to make house calls.

"She worked with this woman, someone give her advice not to, but she didn't (listen)," Sajad said.

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Homicide detective Danny Doherty called the double murder "unprecedented" and said police are now targeting known underworld families to try and stop what may be an inevitable bloody escalation of gun violence.

Doherty said "some type of retribution" is now the fear.

An Indigenous teenager has told a court he was knocked unconscious when he was kicked to the ground during an arrest in inner Sydney.

Footage of the incident allegedly showed a confrontation between a group of teenagers and police, including officer Ryan Barlow, at Ward Park in Surry Hills in June 2020.

The boys refused to give their names, claiming they were doing nothing wrong before one of them mouthed off to the male constable.

READ MORE: Sydney cops fear bloody wave of gangland revenge

The teenager allegedly said: "I'll crack you in the f—— jaw, bro".

Barlow can be heard telling the teenager to turn around and put his hands behind his back before he appears to kick the young man's legs out from beneath him and handcuffs him face down on the ground.

The person filming can be heard yelling: "You just slammed him on his face."

The teen was treated in hospital for injuries to his knee, shoulder and face, including a chipped tooth.

Today, the teenager told the court his threat to the officer was hollow and said in frustration.

"I can't go to my own park and not be harassed by police," he said.

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The teen said he can't remember much after hitting the ground."I was unconscious," he told the court.

He denies accusations he was trying to kick Barlow's groin during the arrest.

Barlow has pleaded not guilty to an assault charge, with a magistrate to decide whether the use of force was by the book.

He was grilled by his own colleagues and in a recorded interview claimed the teenager was trying to resist.

The prosecution said the phone and body-worn videos will prove otherwise.

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An expert in officer training is expected to give evidence about the take-down technique, which isn't taught to NSW Police but isn't banned.

The case continues.

A swimming coach sexually assaulted and indecently touched nine young girls during classes in northern Sydney in 2018 and 2019, a jury has heard.

Kyle James Henk Daniels faces 21 charges of inappropriate conduct to female students under 10 while working as a part-time instructor at a Mosman swim school during university.

"The crown case is that the accused has a sexual interest in young girls and that he acted on that by touching the vaginas of nine young girls," prosecutor Tony McCarthy told a District Court jury on Monday.

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The 23-year old, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is facing a retrial in Sydney's Downing Centre over the alleged offences including touching girls on the outside of their swimming costumes to penetrating their vaginas on five separate occasion with his fingers.

The alleged offences occurred while the girls were being instructed in or around the pool, the jury heard.

Two complaints were made to the swim school, one in July 2018 and the other in February 2019. A formal complaint to the Department of Family and Community Services was lodged after the second incident and NSW Police were notified.

Police then descended on Daniels' home on March 12, 2019 in a widely publicised arrest.

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The following day, the swim school emailed parents of its students notifying them of the arrest and the charges. The email prompted other parents to come forward with complaints about Daniels.

"It felt like a worm was in her private part. His fingers went inside her private part. It felt a bit sore when he did it," McCarthy told the jury, recounting the evidence one girl gave police.

Another girl said the swim coach had held her in an odd manner while she was practising freestyle in the pool.

"It felt really uncomfortable, weird and she didn't like it," McCarthy said.

When first notified of the complaints, Daniels allegedly denied he did anything wrong, saying any touching could have been by accident. At that time in August 2018, he agreed to use a less hands-on teaching style during his classes, the court heard.

The trial before Judge Kara Shead continues.