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WARNING: This article contains graphic details.

Fang Sun was driven by losing more than $26 million when he entered the home of his former business partner in the early hours of the morning and stabbed her multiple times, nearly decapitating her.

Now he will spend at least 18 and a half years behind bars after being sentenced by Justice Neil Campbell to life imprisonment.

Sun stood emotionless throughout the sentencing and as he was led out of court on Tuesday morning.

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On Tuesday at the High Court at Auckland, Zhong's daughter, who has name suppression, addressed her mother's killer directly saying her life became a horror story when her mum was killed.

The daughter said Zhong had been nothing but respectful and kind to Sun's family after taking them in and cooking countless meals.

"I believe our family has been nothing but nice to his family…but for him to turn around and brutally murder my mum," she said.

"He showed no mercy when he brutally attacked her countless times and left her no dignity even in death."

Zhong's daughter saw her mum's lifeless body, beaten and damaged a week later which was a stark contrast to her soft, warm and glowing mother.

"I felt like this part of my life is a horror story, and it just kept going and going as more details emerged," she said.

The family continue to fear for their safety after Sun made multiple threats to Zhong and the family.

Explaining murder to Zhong's daughter's young daughter had been hard.

Zhong was her daughter's best friend and gave her strength throughout the trial.

"We are all slowly trying to accept nothing can bring my mum back," she said.

Justice Campbell told Zhong's daughter, her mother would be very proud.

Zhong and Sun met in 2013 before going into business together before things unravelled in 2019.

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"You and your family bought a civil proceeding in this court. It was bitterly fought and that fight bought you nothing," Justice Campbell said.

"She and your family treated your family as part of theirs, which adds to the tragedy to this case."

Justice Campbell said the murder was calculated and callous.

"You left Ms Zhong without any dignity even in death," Justice Campbell said.

The court heard Sun maintained his innocence, despite exhibiting some empathy.

Defence lawyer Sam Wimsett said there was little he could submit to the court given his client still maintains his innocence.

But he said Sun's ex-wife Freda Tang was present in court.

The day of the killing

After months of obsessive surveillance and death threats, at 3.38am on November 28, a lone figure was seen walking towards Zhong's home on Suzetta Pl.

Her phone then went dead nearly an hour later.

Sun inflicted more than 20 stab wounds to Zhong's body, mostly to her head and neck, before washing some of the blood off, stuffing her naked body in a suitcase and dragging it down two flights of stairs into the boot of her Land Rover.

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Zhong was almost decapitated.

Just before 8am, her Land Rover began moving from her home, before being parked outside a property on Fisher Parade for 15 minutes.

The Crown said Sun parked outside his rented house.

At 8.08am another lone figure was captured on CCTV walking and turning out of Roadley Ave.

Sunnyhills resident Andrea Paley said she was driving along just after 8am when she spotted the figure.

"They were in dress shoes and the person was a man with a wig on and was obviously trying to disguise themselves to look like a woman."

Later that morning, Zhong's friend Wendy Wu and her husband Matthew Pickering popped round for breakfast.

Initially they thought Zhong may have gone for a drive, but the pair's daughter noticed some blood-spatter in the bedroom.

Worried Zhong had taken her own life, Wu's daughter rang the police, and it was initially treated as a missing person's case after the businesswoman's recent suicide attempt.

At 11.11am, Zhong's Land Rover was found on Roadley Ave.

The Land Rover was left unattended at 2.45pm after it had been dusted for fingerprints. During that time Sun's private investigator reached under the car and removed a tracking device.

It wasn't until later that night that Zhong's stabbed body was found underneath a suitcase and bloodied blankets.

In that time, Sun had driven to a rented bach in the Waikato before meeting up with the private investigator at a McDonald's.

Sun wasn't arrested and charged with murder until February 2021.

This article first appeared on Stuff. It has been republished with permission.

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US President Joe Biden says "justice had been delivered" after an American drone strike killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan.

Biden confirmed on Monday (Tuesday AEST) that he authorised a precision air strike on Saturday that targeted al-Zawahiri in Kabul.

Biden said Zawahiri was Osama bin Laden's "number two man", that he was "his deputy, at the time of the terrorist attack of 9/11".

READ MORE: US kills al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in drone strike

"Now, justice has been delivered. And this terrorist leader is no more," he said.

"People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer.

"We make it clear again tonight that, no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out."

Biden said US intelligence had ruthlessly chased Zawahiri for years.

"Our intelligence community located Zawahiri earlier this year," he said.

The terrorist leader had moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family.

"After carefully considering clear and convincing evidence of his location, I authorised a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all," Biden said.

"This mission was carefully planned, rigorously minimising the risk of harm to other civilians.

"And one week ago, after being advised that the conditions were optimal, I gave the final approval to go get him. And the mission was a success."

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None of his family members were hurt, and there were no civilian casualties.

Biden said Zawahiri was deeply involved in the planning of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed 2977 people.

"For decades, he was the mastermind behind attacks against Americans, including the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 which killed 17 American sailors and wounded dozens more," he said.

"He played a key role in the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224, and wounding over 4500 others.

"He had a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats, and American interests."

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The US attack involved two Hellfire missiles fired into the balcony of the Kabul safehouse where Zawahiri was hiding.

Multiple streams of intelligence confirmed Zawahiri was killed.

Members of his family, who were in other areas of the home, were unharmed, the official said.

Biden, still isolating in the White House residence with a second COVID-19 infection, was informed when the operation began and when it concluded.

– Reported with CNN

The US killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike, President Joe Biden confirmed on Monday in a speech from the White House.

Zawahiri, who just turned 71, had remained a visible international symbol of the group, 11 years after the US killed Osama bin Laden.

At one point, he acted as bin Laden's personal physician.

READ MORE: Biden says 'justice has been served' by al-Qaeda leader's killing

Zawahiri was sheltering in a safehouse in Kabul, according to the official, and was killed in "a precise tailored airstrike" using two Hellfire missiles.

The drone strike conducted at 9.48pm on Saturday was authorised by Biden following weeks of meetings with his Cabinet and key advisers.

No American personnel were on the ground in Kabul at the time of the strike.

Senior Haqqani Taliban figures were aware of Zawahiri's presence in the area, the official said Monday, in "clear violation of the Doha agreement," and even took steps to conceal his presence after Saturday's successful strike, restricting access to the safe house and rapidly relocating members of his family, including his daughter and her children, who were intentionally not targeted during the strike and remained unharmed.

The US did not alert Taliban officials ahead of Saturday's strike.

Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday as he deals with a rebound case of the virus, spoke outdoors from the Blue Room Balcony at the White House.

"He was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11, one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2977 people on American soil. For decades, he was the mastermind of attacks against Americans," Biden said.

He added, "I authorised a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all."

In a series of tweets, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, "An air strike was carried out on a residential house in Sherpur area of Kabul city on July 31."

He said, "The nature of the incident was not apparent at first" but the security and intelligence services of the Islamic Emirate investigated the incident and "initial findings determined that the strike was carried out by an American drone."

The tweets by Mujahid came out prior to CNN reporting Zawahiri's death.

Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan "strongly condemns this attack on any pretext and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement".

Zawahiri's targeted killing comes a year after the US' military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's takeover of the country.

Around the time of Kabul's fall, Biden indicated that there would be enduring US military capabilities – namely, drones – to target terrorists.

Close ally of bin Laden

Zawahiri comes from a distinguished Egyptian family, according to the New York Times.

His grandfather, Rabia'a al-Zawahiri, was an imam at al-Azhar University in Cairo.

His great-uncle, Abdel Rahman Azzam, was the first secretary of the Arab League.

He eventually helped to mastermind the deadliest terror attack on American soil, when hijackers turned US airliners into missiles.

"Those 19 brothers who went out and gave their souls to Allah almighty, God almighty has granted them this victory we are enjoying now," Zawahiri said in a videotaped message released in April 2002.

It was the first of many taunting messages the terrorist – who became al Qaeda's leader after US forces killed bin Laden in 2011 — would send out over the years, urging militants to continue the fight against America and chiding US leaders.

Zawahiri was constantly on the move once the US-led invasion of Afghanistan began after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

At one point, he narrowly escaped a US onslaught in the rugged, mountainous Tora Bora region of Afghanistan, an attack that left his wife and children dead.

He made his public debut as a Muslim militant when he was in prison for his involvement in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

"We want to speak to the whole world. Who are we? Who are we?" he said in a jailhouse interview.

By that time, Zawahiri, a young doctor, was already a committed terrorist who conspired to overthrow the Egyptian government for years and sought to replace it with fundamentalist Islamic rule.

He proudly endorsed Sadat's assassination after the Egyptian leader made peace with Israel.

He spent three years in prison after Sadat's assassination and claimed he was tortured while in detention.

After his release, he made his way to Pakistan, where he treated wounded mujahedeen fighters who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

That was when he met bin Laden and found a common cause.

"We are working with brother bin Laden," he said in announcing the merger of his terror group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, with al Qaeda in May 1998.

"We know him since more than 10 years now. We fought with him here in Afghanistan."

Together, the two terror leaders signed a fatwa, or declaration: "The judgment to kill and fight Americans and their allies, whether civilians or military, is an obligation for every Muslim."

Mastermind of 9/11

The attacks against the United States and its facilities began weeks later, with the suicide bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200 people and wounded more than 5000 others.

Zawahiri and bin Laden gloated after they escaped a US cruise missile attack in Afghanistan that had been launched in retaliation.

Then, there was the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, when suicide bombers on a dinghy detonated their boat, killing 17 American sailors and wounding 39 others.

The culmination of Zawahiri's terror plotting came on September 11, 2001, when nearly 3000 people were killed in the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.

A fourth hijacked airliner, headed for Washington, crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back.

Since then, al-Zawahiri raised his public profile, appearing on numerous video and audiotapes to urge Muslims to join the jihad against the United States and its allies.

Some of his tapes were followed closely by terrorist attacks.

In May 2003, for instance, almost simultaneous suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed 23 people, including nine Americans, days after a tape thought to contain Zawahiri's voice was released.

The US State Department had offered a reward of up to $US25 million for information leading directly to his capture.

A June 2021 United Nations report suggested he was located somewhere in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that he may have been too frail to be featured in propaganda.

The boss of travel company Flight Centre has predicted more "pain" for domestic travellers, explaining airport chaos will continue for some time yet.

The warning comes days after Qantas passengers were hit by lengthy delays caused by a nationwide computer outage.

Flight Centre's Managing Director Graham Turner said travellers will need to exercise "patience" as airlines navigate inexperienced staff and absenteeism due to the latest COVID-19 wave.

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"It is a tough period," Turner said, adding inexperienced staff are also contributing to the issues being felt.

"I will improve, but it is going to take some time.

"I would suggest six or eight weeks before all of this really settles down and there is going to be pain for domestic travellers in that time.

"Domestically, it will improve and we predict certainly by October/November, assuming the Omicron does settle down, it will be much better off, we think."

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With borders now open, the state of Australia's airports is garnering worldwide attention.

Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport has been ranked among the worst 10 airports for flight delays globally.

CNN used FlightAware data from May 26 to July 19 to determine 34.2 per cent of flights out of the facility were delayed over the survey period.

Sydney Airport's latest Traffic Performance Report revealed the facility saw a total of 2,564,716 passengers over June 2022.

This marked a decline of 24.6 per cent, compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said the number of passengers was creating issues within the facilty.

"The increasing demand for travel is encouraging but it's clearly creating challenges for an industry that is still trying to rebuild operationally.

"With the June long weekend and school holiday peak behind us, we will continue to work on our operational recovery alongside our airline partners and each of the 800 organisations across the airport."

The Reserve Bank is expected to make history today by handing down a fourth consecutive interest rate rise.

The cash rate is predicted to rise by another half a percentage point to 1.85 per cent.

This increase will mean a mortgage holder with a $750,000 loan will face a monthly increase of $211.

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Since May, that hypothetical homeowner has had an extra $708 tacked on to their repayments.

Another increase would see interest rates rise to the highest level in six years.

And there are fears the RBA could lift rates even higher than predicted.

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Experts say the more rate hikes we see and the bigger they are, the more downward pressure it will place on the property market, after national housing prices fell for their third month in a row in July.

RBA governor Philip Lowe, is facing fresh criticism for remarks he made last year when he said it was likely the cash rate would remain at 0.1 per cent until at least 2024, and the rising cost of living is causing a political fight.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says members of the Coalition are kidding themselves if they argue that rates would not have risen under them.

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The disappearance of a New South Wales man who lived a "somewhat reclusive lifestyle" is out of character, police say as they launch a fresh appeal for information this morning.

Allan Bentley, aged 63, was last seen leaving his home on Pindimar Road, in the state's Hunter region more than a year ago on the morning of April 27, 2021.

A close friend reported him missing two days later after he failed to return home and attended pre-arranged appointments.

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An extensive search was launched but police failed to locate Allan.

It's believed he was driving a white coloured Holden combo van with NSW registration plates – UQG 146 – with the word 'catering' written on the side at the time of his disappearance.

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Port Stephens-Hunter Police District Commander, Detective Acting Superintendent Gerard Lawson, said his mysterious disappearance has left his family and friends "longing for answers".

Police hope a fresh appeal for information will help generate new information.

"Mr Bentley has no bank accounts or other assets investigators can utilise aside from his vehicle – which has never been located nor has its registration been renewed," he said.

"We've established that he rarely left the Tea Gardens area where he resided and worked locally for cash-in-hand payments to make ends meet.

"He had very little money, had no known enemies and was well liked, (while) his unit was left in a state which implies to investigators that he had planned on returning home.

"We hope this appeal spurs the flow of new information into where he may be".

Allan is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 180cm tall, of medium build, with a beard and short brown and grey hair.

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The appeal for information comes during Missing Person's Week 2022, an annual national campaign that runs between July 31 and August 6.

NSW Police highlighted the case of missing data scientist Kathleen Riethmuller yesterday. The 28-year-old from Brisbane vanished from Sydney almost a year ago.

Anyone with information about Alan Bentley or Kathleen Riethmuller are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or here.

South Australian police are investigating a second case of alleged serious criminal neglect following the death of a seven-year-old boy in February.

According to police, the "very sick" boy, whose name was Makai, was taken to hospital by his father on February 10. He died later that day.

The post-mortem found Makai died from "several serious" health issues.

The death was not initially deemed suspicious, however that changed following evidence obtained from various child protection agencies as part of a standard coronial investigation, as well as the opinion of a paediatric expert.

"(Investigators) formed the view that sufficient grounds existed to commence a criminal investigation for an offence of criminal neglect causing death," Detective Superintendent Des Bray said on Monday afternoon.

Suspected criminal neglect causing death can carry a sentence of life in prison.

"Essentially this offence occurs when a person who has a duty of care to a child fails to take all reasonable steps to protect the child from harm, and the child dies or is harmed as a result of that neglect and the neglect warrants a criminal sanction," Bray said.

Police will also investigate possible criminal neglect offences relating to five of Makai's siblings, aged between seven and 16.

The investigation is the second case of alleged criminal neglect against a child SA Police is looking into at the moment, following the death of six-year-old girl Charlie last month.

The two cases involve different families and are unrelated.

Premier announces independent review into government agencies

Premier Peter Malinauskas expressed shock about the death of the two children.

"One is shocking, two is desperately heartbreaking for every parent across the state," he said.

"If there are people who fail to do their job and children are paying the price they will e held to account."

Malinauskas announced a government review already investigating the death of Charlie will be expanded, and will now be "wholly independent".

Former police commissioner Mal Hyde will head the review and examine the interaction of every government agency involved with the two children and the families.

"It needs to be led by someone everyone in South Australia has complete confidence to do such a thorough investigation," Malinauskas said.

https://twitter.com/ollie_haig/status/1553986400030425088

It will also examine child protection, including housing authorities, education and the police.

The review will be carried out simultaneously alongside the police investigations.

"What we need to do is make sure there is not a child out there in difficult circumstances vulnerable to losing their life through criminal neglect," Malinauskas said.