Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ruled out talk of a possible wealth tax, saying “we’ve already said our policy is not to introduce that”.Ardern is appearing in her first post-Cabinet press conference for three weeks. Ardern…

New Zealand’s Asthma and Respiratory Foundation is calling for crucial action to address inequalities in asthma care experienced by Māori, Pacific peoples and those living in poverty this World Asthma Day.Research completed…

Test your brains with the Herald’s afternoon quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz for the morning quiz tomorrow. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

A teacher has been charged over his efforts to get a student back into maths class while she wanted to play with a frisbee outside. Craig Alan Henderson faces two days of hearing before the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal in Christchurch…

Six months before she disappeared, accused fraudster Melissa Caddick sent a lighthearted photo of her pet dog posing in her home office to one of her victims.

In a desperate hunt for clues, the victim only recently thought to take a closer look at the cute, but seemingly ordinary happy snap, the podcast Liar Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions reveals.

Zooming in on the notepad on Caddick's desk, the sum $46,000 was can be seen scrawled on the paper.

That was the eye-watering amount of profit Caddick was making from her alleged crimes every single day.

READ MORE: Qantas reveals plans for new non-stop international flights

In the month of May 2020 alone, the accused Sydney fraudster made a staggering $1.426 million.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age journalist Kate McClymont, who hosts the podcast, told Today the discovery showed how sometimes clues could be 'hiding in plain sight'.

"The person that provided me with that photo is one of, not only Melissa's victims, but she worked one day a week for Melissa," McClymont said.

"So she is sitting there day after day seeing all of these things, but it wasn't until after Melissa disappeared and the 'Herald' broke the story saying she was running a Ponzi scheme, they didn't even realise they were all victims." 

Caddick's case is one that has captivated the nation.

Things came crumbling down for Caddick when  the federal police, on behalf of ASIC, executed a search warrant on her Dover Heights home in Sydney's east in November 2020.

READ MORE: Melissa Caddick's family members sent 15-day sale notices

It was suspected she had fleeced millions of dollars from her victims, mainly family and friends in a Ponzi scheme to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Caddick disappeared the day after the police raid.

Months later, in February 2021, the remains of her foot inside a running show washed up on a South Coast beach. 

An inquest will be held into her death in September.

McClymont told Today the inquest may reveal some of the many mysteries surrounding how Caddick died.

"Already I have heard that some of her victims have been interviewed by the police to provide alibis," she said. 

A forensic pathologists would hopefully be able to shed some light on what happened to Caddick's foot, if it was severed from her body, or had deteriorated while in the ocean, McClymont said.

"Until we hear from a forensic pathologist, that is still one of the big mysteries in this case."

Tens of thousands more cases of COVID-19 have been recorded across the country as another eight people die with the virus.

Five people have died in New South Wales and one person has died in Victoria.

South Australia Health confirmed two more people, women aged in their 70s and 80s have also died after contracting the virus.

READ MORE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's heartfelt plea to Australia

The state recorded 3143 new cases of COVID-19, with 257 people confirmed to be in hospital, 15 of which are in ICU.

Two people are on with two people requiring a ventilator.

NSW recorded 7723 new COVID-19 cases, while Victoria reported 8109 new infections.

Yesterday, NSW and Victoria recorded 9303 and 7654 cases respectively.

Hospitalisations have slightly increased across the two states with NSW reporting 1656 admissions and Victoria 456.

Queensland has recorded 4647 new cases of COVID-19, a slight dip from yesterday's total.

No lives were lost in the latest reporting period however 446 people remain in hospital.

In Western Australia, 5847 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded with 240 people currently in hospital.

The state recorded no new deaths.

The US Marshals Service is offering up to US $10,000 for information about an escaped inmate and a “missing and endangered” correctional officer who disappeared on Friday after the two left a jail in north Alabama.

Casey Cole White, 38, had been jailed on a capital murder charge in the Lauderdale County Detention Centre in Florence, Alabama.

The inmate and assistant director of corrections Vicky White, 56, left the Lauderdale County Detention Centre on Friday morning to go to a nearby courthouse, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

READ MORE: New non-stop flights from Australia to cut hours from journey

Investigators said the two are not related.

“Casey White is believed to be a serious threat to the corrections officer and the public,” the US marshal for northern Alabama, Marty Keely, said in a statement today.

While in state prison for other crimes in 2020, Casey confessed to the 2015 stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway.

Vicky White has been with the department 16 years.

At a news conference on Friday, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said she was armed when she left the jail with the inmate and headed to the courthouse for what she said was a mental health evaluation for Casey White.

READ MORE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's heartfelt plea to Australia

She was alone with the inmate, which the sheriff said violated department policy.

“Our policy is for any inmate with those kinds of charges to have two sworn deputies escort them. And that did not happen,” Sheriff Singleton said.

Sheriff Singleton also said there was no mental health evaluation for the inmate scheduled at the courthouse.

The vehicle the officer and the inmate were in when they left the detention centre was found at a nearby shopping centre parking lot, according to the sheriff’s office.

Vicky White also told co-workers she had a doctor’s appointment scheduled, which was confirmed but the office said the deputy never showed.

Officials said no one realised the two were missing until about six hours after they left the jail.

Deputies tried to contact Vicky White but her phone repeatedly went to voicemail.

Sheriff Singleton said his department was “aggressively investigating” the incident and would be looking into previous interaction between the two to “see if something else was going on.”

Sheriff Singleton told news outlets that Vicky White had turned in her retirement papers the day before she went missing.

READ MORE: In Ukraine, Tom Steinfort reflects on humanity and inhumanity of war

Italy and Greece have relaxed some COVID-19 restrictions, in a sign that life is increasingly returning to normal before Europe's peak summer tourist season.

Greece's civil aviation authority on Sunday announced it was lifting all COVID-19 rules for international and domestic flights except for the wearing of face masks during flights and at airports.

Previously, air travellers were required to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or a recent recovery from the disease.

READ MORE: 'We need more': Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's heartfelt plea to Australia

Under a decree passed by Italy's health ministry, the country did away with the health pass that had been required to enter restaurants, cinemas, gyms and other venues.

The green pass, which showed proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus or a recent negative test, is still required to access hospitals and nursing homes.

Some indoor mask mandates also ended, including inside supermarkets, workplaces and stores.

Masks are still required on public transport, in cinemas and in all health care and eldercare facilities.

"It was needed," said Claudio Civitelli, a Rome resident who was having his morning coffee at a bar near the Trevi Fountain.

Until Sunday, patrons had to wear a mask to enter bars and restaurants, though they could remove them to eat and drink.

"We have waited more than two years," Mr Civitelli said.

At a nearby table, Andrea Bichler, an Italian tourist from Trentino Alto-Adige, sat with similarly maskless friends.

"It's much better," she said.

"Let's say it's a return to life, a free life."

READ MORE: Alabama prison official missing after escorting inmate

Public health officials say masks still remain highly recommended for all indoor activities, and private companies can still require them.

As of Sunday, visitors to Italy also no longer have to fill out the EU passenger locator form, a complicated and user-unfriendly online form required at airport check-in.

Even with the restrictions increasingly going by the wayside, public health officials urged prudence and stressed that the pandemic was still not over.

Italy is reporting 699 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and is recording more than 100 deaths per day, with a total confirmed death toll at 163,500.

But hospital capacity remains stable and under the critical threshold.

"We should keep up the vaccine campaign, including boosters, and keep up behaviour inspired by prudence: wearing masks indoors or in crowded places or wherever there's a risk of contagion," said Dr Giovanni Rezza, in charge of prevention at the health ministry.

Italy was the epicentre of Europe's outbreak when it recorded the first locally transmitted case on February 21, 2020.

The government imposed one of the harshest lockdowns and production shutdowns in the West during the first wave of the virus, and maintained more stringent restrictions than many of its neighbours in subsequent waves.

An Adelaide community is fighting to bring home two children whose parents were killed in a fatal car accident in India last week.

Flagstaff Hill residents Hams and Rama Batoula travelled to India with their two children Bhavagna and Palvith last week to attend a family member's funeral.

The family was in a taxi that collided with a wall, killing the parents and leaving their two children severely injured in an Indian hospital.

READ MORE: Police hunt for Adelaide hoon after chase

Mr Batoula was a leader in the Indian community and his wife worked in child protection and volunteered on weekends to teach children.

Now the family's local Indian community is fighting to have the children, aged nine and six, returned to Adelaide.

Some believe they're not safe in India on their own.

READ MORE: Adelaide man charged after alleged carjacking attack

"A lot of families over here are ready to do the foster caring for them," said family friend Neni Neni.

"No words can really express what the community is feeling right now. Everybody is absolutely distressed."

Already the Flagstaff Hill community has raised nearly $200,000 to support the children and one person is travelling to India to be by their bedside.

Wellington Police investigating a shooting of three people on Dixon St are searching for a 29-year-old man.Detective senior sergeant Tim Leitch said a warrant to arrest Mana Lawson has been issued for being unlawfully in possession…