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Supermarket giant Woolworths has announced a national change to the trading hours of its in-store deli, meat and seafood sections.

The grocer said the move to standardise operating hours of its counters across Australia is due to a shift in customer shopping behaviour and to "offer a consistent customer experience across our store network".

"We've made a change to the trading hours of our fresh service counters nationwide, due to a shift in customer shopping behaviour," a spokesperson for Woolworths told 9News.com.au.

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"This includes our meat, seafood and deli counters.

"Customers can still purchase similar products, such as chicken breast fillets and salmon, within our packed Fresh Convenience range located in-store.

"Select stores across the country will open one hour later or close one hour earlier to align with other stores and better match customer shopping patterns."

The changes mean Woolworth's Fresh Service Deli will open from 7am to 8pm, seven days a week.

The Seafood and Meat Counters will trade from 9:30am to 7pm on weekdays, and 9am to 7pm at the weekend.

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A handful of stores will operate longer fresh service counter hours due to high customer demand at those specific stores.

Woolworths have placed signage at the Fresh Service areas and at the front of stores for customers to be informed of the altered trading hours.

The changes come following a handful of trials across New South Wales stores in May.

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A former Sydney swimming coach now faces 20 historical sexual abuse charges after having 11 more added.

Dick Caine, 76, is accused of abuse of his young female students whose ages ranged from 10 to 24.

The fresh charges relate to a number of occasions in the 1970s and another in 1992 when he was a successful swimming coach.

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https://twitter.com/tiffgenders/status/1554250043988721664

It follows charges laid in June, after he was arrested at his Condell Park home, for similar alleged abuse carried out in the 1970s.

Caine faced Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday charged with seven counts of carnal knowledge teacher of girl aged 10 to 17 and a further four counts of indecent assault of a female.

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The charges relate to the alleged abuse of three girls aged between 10 and 15 in the 1970s, and a then-24-year-old woman in 1992.

NSW Police received information about the alleged abuse by Caine last year, establishing Strike Force Coco to investigate.

A man who allegedly used a gun to holdup an Aldi supermarket in Melbourne's south-east has been on the run for almost two years.

Police are today calling for the public's help to track him down, having released photos and CCTV footage of him moments before the robbery.

The man loitered around in supermarket on Frankston-Dandenong Road in Carrum Downs before he exited the store about 12.30pm on Tuesday, September 15, 2020.

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He was then outside the store when he approached a staff member while allegedly holding a gun.

The man handed the staff member a bag and demanded the worker fill it with cash.

He then followed the worker to the cash register, where the worker filled the bag with money.

The man when ran from the store with the cash.

No one was injured.

The man was perceived to be Caucasian in appearance, aged in his 20s and was wearing a black face mask and orange high vis top.

Anyone with information or any witnesses are urged to contact police.

Aldi has come out on top as Australia's best-rated supermarket as the retailer battles to keep prices low amid surging inflation.

Cantar Blue surveyed more than 2,500 shoppers about the nation's biggest supermarkets, with Aldi ranking five stars for overall satisfaction, value for money, the freshness of produce, quality of supermarket-owned branded products and its deals and specials.

It is the fifth year in a row Aldi has ranked first.

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All of the major supermarkets in Australia are facing a rise in the cost of everyday items as inflation skyrockets around the globe, and recent weather events in Australia cause shortages of certain products like lettuce.

In the June quarter, the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose two per cent while in the past year prices have climbed 5.9 per cent.

Aldi director of customer interactions Adrian Christie said the franchise is committed to supplying the cheapest products in comparison to the other supermarket giants.

"We remain 100 per cent committed to keeping our prices the most affordable in the market," Christie said.

"That's keeping a gap to the competition between 15 to 25 per cent which for families that is real savings."

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Canstar Blue editor-in-chief Christine Seib said value for money is the number one priority for Australian families right now.

"It is really clear from our survey that the value for money factor is all important right now for shoppers," she said.

"More than half of shoppers follow carefully what specials are available at the supermarket."

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For the other major supermarkets, Woolworths tied with Aldi for layout and presentation with five stars but received the top mark for product variety.

While IGA was strong in customer service with five stars but was marked down in areas including overall satisfaction, value for money, layout and presentation as well as deals and specials.

On overall satisfaction, both Coles and Woolworths failed to crack the five stars.

China blasted a top US Navy official Friday after he criticised Beijing's increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea, saying it's America's military deployments in the disputed waters — which it called "navigation bullying" — that could spark confrontations.