Star spotting, art exhibitions and fireworks are just some of the ways Wellington City Council is inviting people to celebrate Matariki this weekend. It’s the first time the holiday has been included as a national public holiday,…

A key mystery surrounding the Earth's deadliest extinction event has been resolved.

The end-Permian mass extinction event, also known as the Great Dying, unfurled across the planet more than 250 million years ago.

The mass extinction was driven by extreme, rapid global warming.

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It saw more than 80 per cent of marine species die out, along with 70 per cent of terrestrial vertebrates, and the vast majority of the world's insect species.

However, scientists have long been baffled by the planet's lengthy recovery from the event.

Global temperatures stayed lethally hot and ecosystems depleted for more than five million years – a much longer timespan than any other mass extinction event.

Now, New Zealand scientists believe they may have the answer.

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Researchers Terry Ission and Sofia Rauzi from the University of Waikito have suggested in a new paper that the decline of a single type of organism amid the Great Dying prolonged the planet's recovery.

The death of silica secreting organisms in the oceans could have kept the world overheated.

Clay minerals form in the oceans and in the process releases carbon dioxide (CO2).

These minerals are fundamentally made up of silica and so cannot form without it.

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Silica secreting organisms compete for this silica, meaning that a healthy siliceous ecosystem that uses large amounts of silica will act to lower the amount of CO2 released from clay mineral formation.

It is well established that there was widespread loss of silica-secreting organisms in the oceans during the end-Permian mass extinction event, and that these organisms did not recover for five million years.

The research, published by the journal Nature Communications, showed using a carbon cycle model and also mineralogical analysis, that this would have led to increased CO2 release into the atmosphere, keeping temperatures on Earth high for a prolonged period of time.

A carpet python bit off more than it could consume when it tried to eat a rainbow lorikeet in Queensland.

The snake was spotted eating the native bird, while hanging upside from a gutter in Buderim last week.

Stuart McKenzie from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 posted photos of the snake to Facebook yesterday.

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While confronting, McKenzie said snakes play an extremely important role in the environment.

Pythons are not venomous but can inflict a "painful bite", the Australian Museum says.

They are ambush attackers and kill by tightly wrapping around prey and suffocating it.

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"Nature can be incredible and brutal at the same time," McKenzie wrote.

"Yes, snakes may eat beautiful birds or soft and cuddly possums from time to time, but remember one of the main food items they eat are rodents.

"Who doesn't like free rodent control around your home?"

Despite the snake's best efforts, McKenzie said the reptile didn't eat the native bird.

"It seemed like the snake gave up," he said.

When the reptile catcher picked the bird up, it was "extremely cold", so he speculated it would've been too hard to digest.

The python was successfully relocated.

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A passenger plane has caught fire after landing at an airport in Florida.

Only three of 126 people aboard were taken to hospital after the landing, all suffering minor injuries.

The plane's landing gear collapsed and caught fire as the Red Air Flight came into Miami International Airport from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

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The plane came to a stop on a patch of grass beside the tarmac where firefighters used chemical foam to extinguish the blaze.

"Fire crews have placed the fire under control and are mitigating fuel spillage," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a statement.

"All souls on board have been assessed for injuries."

WSVN reports a communications tower was "taken out" by the plane during its hard landing.

https://twitter.com/MiamiDadeFire/status/1539383801692016640

A Los Angeles jury has found embattled comedian Bill Cosby guilty in a civil trial filed by Judy Huth, a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her as a teenager in the 1970s.

The jury, comprised of eight women and four men, found that Cosby, 84, is liable for damages and awarded Huth $US500,000 ($717,890) in damages. No punitive compensation was awarded.

Huth first filed the case in 2014, claiming sexual battery and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The original filing claimed that the incident happened in 1974 when Huth was 15 years old, but the timeline was later revised to 1975 when Huth was 16.

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Cosby's attorneys have denied the claim and attempted to get the case dismissed.

In the complaint, Huth told of meeting Cosby at a park where he was filming a movie. After befriending the girls, Cosby allegedly invited them to join him at his tennis club.

From there, Huth alleged the comedian invited them to a house where he served the young women multiple alcoholic drinks, and then took them to the Playboy Mansion.

Huth alleged that though Cosby knew her age and that of her friend, he directed the teens "that if any of the Playboy bunnies asked their age, they should say they were 19."

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Huth further claimed that Cosby took her to a bedroom in the mansion where he sexually molested her.

Through his lawyers, Cosby has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.

CNN has reached out to Cosby's attorneys for comment on the verdict.

Since 2005, more than 50 women have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual assault. After being convicted of assaulting Andrea Constand in Philadelphia, Cosby served just under three years in a Pennsylvania state prison before his conviction was overturned on appeal. He was released from prison in September 2021.

This is the first civil case by any Cosby accuser to make it to trial.

A man was allegedly knocked unconscious and spat on by a stranger as he waited for a train at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne CBD.

The 40-year-old man was left with serious head injuries after the incident occurred about 9.25pm on Saturday, June 11.

Police say the Chirnside Park man was waiting for a train on platform three when two men, who he did not know, walked towards him.

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The Chirnside Park man allegedly then got involved in an argument with one of the other men.

That man then allegedly punched the Chirnside Park man in the head, knocking him unconscious.

The attacker allegedly then spat on the unconscious man and left the scene.

He and his friend were last seen walking towards Elizabeth Street.

The Chirnside Park man was taken to hospital with serious head injuries.

Police are trying to track down the attacker, who is believed to be Pacific Islander in appearance, aged in his mid-20s to mid-30s.

He also had a moustache and an under-cut hair cut with a braided ponytail.

He was wearing a black Nike puffer jacket with a black t-shirt, khaki shorts and black runners.

The man he was with is believed to be Middle Eastern in appearance.

He had a short dark beard and shaved head and was wearing a blue puffer jacket and black tracksuit pants with a white stripe.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information is urged to contact police.

A newlywed has died in a freak golf buggy accident while on her honeymoon on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, after it rolled while making a U-turn.

Marina and Robbie Morgan were married at Doltone House in Sydney just 10 days ago surrounded by loved ones.

The couple then headed north to celebrate and while her husband was driving a golf buggy – the only vehicles allowed on the holiday island – it rolled.

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The accident was witnessed by other people on holidays who rushed to help the 29-year-old woman.

"There's no indication of alcohol or dangerous driving or anything like that, it's just a tragic accident," Inspector Anthony Cowan from Queensland Police said.

"An off-duty dentist, an off-duty fire officer and the doctor from the island performed CPR for 35 minutes with no success.

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Queensland Police are still piecing together exactly how the tragedy unfolded.

"The battery on the buggy went flat, and he's conducted a U-turn to go back and charge it up, and while turning around the buggy has rolled on its side," Cowan added.

The husband was not injured in the accident.

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A man has been found dead in the second level of a house in the NSW Blue Mountains after a fire.

The blaze broke out at the property on Whitton Street in Katoomba about 5am and emergency services found the home well alight.

Fire crews cut their way into the burning home and cleared the ground floor, Fire and Rescue NSW said.

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The man's body was discovered on the second floor. He has been formally identified as Jim Hennessy, originally from Ireland.

The 74-year-old had lived in the area for decades and used to run the local corner shop. Locals described him as "a really nice guy" who "liked a beer".

"He loved his garden, he had a lovely garden," his neighbour Victoria said.

The Fire Investigation Unit is working to determine how the blaze started.

NSW Police have established a crime scene and anyone with information is urged to contact them.