By Stephen Forbes, RNZ A new round of budget cuts are on the cards as Auckland Council grapples with a $900 million fall in revenue because of Covid-19 and a blowout in transport costs.But where the cuts are going to be made,…

Police have arrested a 26-year-old man after discovering more than 3000 bags of synthetic drugs while conducting a search warrant yesterday.The drugs were “packaged and ready for sale” and a Police spokesperson said a further 115…

Samantha Moala recalls she was taking a shower at her home in Tonga when she heard what sounded like a gunshot so powerful it hurt her ears.

As she and her family scrambled to their car to drive inland, ash blackened the sky.

The world's biggest volcanic eruption in 30 years sent a tsunami around the globe, and the first waves washed across the road as Moala drove to safety at the airport with her terrified husband and two sons.

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A volunteer with the Tonga Red Cross, Moala, 39, was soon attending to the cuts other people had suffered as they escaped and giving them psychological support.

She said about 50 of them stayed for two days at the airport until they got the all-clear to go back home.

“People were all shocked,” she said.

“But I got to mingle with them, help them, get them to be confident. It's a small little island, and we got to know each other in two hours.”

Three months after the eruption, Tonga’s rebuilding is slowly progressing, and the impact of the disaster has come into clearer focus.

Last week, the prime minister handed over the keys to the first rebuilt home of the 468 the government plans to reconstruct across three islands as part of its recovery program.

Some 3,000 people whose homes were destroyed or damaged initially sought shelter in community halls or evacuation centres.

Eighty per cent of Tonga's population was impacted in some way.

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In the first few weeks after the eruption, Moala helped out by putting up tents and tarpaulins, and then by cooking food for other volunteers.

It took five long weeks for Tonga to restore its internet connection to the rest of the world after the tsunami severed a crucial fibre-optic cable.

That delayed some families from abroad from being able to send financial help to their loved ones.

Three people in Tonga died from the tsunami and a fourth from what authorities described as related trauma.

The sonic boom from the eruption was so loud it could be heard in Alaska and a mushroom plume of ash rocketed a record 58 kilometres into the sky.

The World Bank estimates the total bill for the damage is about $121 million.

In the small island nation of 105,000 people, that’s equivalent to more than 18 per cent of gross domestic product.

The bank noted that many coastal tourism businesses – which bring in vital foreign revenue for Tonga – were particularly hard hit, with tourist cabins and wharves destroyed.

The agriculture industry also suffered, with crops lost and reef fisheries damaged.

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The ANZ bank says Tonga's GDP will likely contract by 7.4 per cent this year after it had been expected to grow by 3.7 per cent before the volcano erupted.

The international community has been helping out, with Tonga able to secure $10 million in funding from the World Bank and $13 million from the Asian Development Bank, as well as aid assistance from many places including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union, the US and China.

But progress has been hampered by the nation's first outbreak of COVID-19, which was likely brought in by foreign military crews who raced to drop off supplies as the ash cleared.

The outbreak prompted a series of lockdowns, and the country remains in a state of emergency.

Moala is among the more than 8,500 Tongans who have caught the coronavirus since it began spreading through the islands.

Eleven people so far have died.

Moala said the outbreak had affected many businesses, including her husband's work as a tattoo artist.

But as the outbreak ebbs and the rebuilding progresses, the islands' familiar rhythms are returning for many people.

Among those who remain most affected are the 62 people who lived on Mango Island and about another 100 on Atata Island who may never be able to return home.

The islands are located very close to the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano, and the villages were completed wiped out.

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Residents have now been offered land by Tonga's king to relocate onto one of Tonga's two main islands.

Sione Taumoefolau, the secretary-general of the Tonga Red Cross Society, said there is a lot of work to be done relocating the residents.

It's also been slow-going getting supplies to people on other far-flung islands, he said.

Many of them remain without internet access after a domestic fibre-optic cable was also damaged and will likely not be repaired for months.

“Three months later, people are starting to get back to normal," Taumoefolau said.

“But we can see they still need psychological and social support, those that were really impacted, especially those who have to relocate.”

Western Australian senator Ben Small has resigned after recently discovering he was a dual citizen of both Australia and New Zealand.

In a lengthy statement, Mr Small explained that he was born in Perth in 1988 to an Australian mother and a New Zealand father who was at the time an Australian Permanent Resident.

The 34-year-old Liberal senator had "always understood" that he had no entitlement to dual citizenship "based on the laws that applied at the time" of his birth.

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However, last week while preparing for the upcoming election, Liberal Party officials asked Mr Small if he had any entitlement to New Zealand citizenship.

He wrote to the New Zealand High Commission, which confirmed that he was indeed a dual citizen of both nations.

"Yesterday afternoon, Thursday 14 April, the New Zealand High Commission confirmed that I had been a citizen of New Zealand and, further to my application, granted a renunciation of any New Zealand citizenship rights," Mr Small said.

"While the question of my ineligibility to have been appointed to a Senate casual vacancy would need to be confirmed by the Court of Disputed Returns, I believe that my circumstances are sufficiently clear and it is most appropriate that I promptly resign from the Senate myself.

"As a result, I have today provided my resignation to the President of the Senate."

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Despite the resignation, Mr Small said that given he had renounced his New Zealand citizenship rights he was looking forward to contesting the election as a senate candidate.

"I remain strongly committed to fighting for the issues that matter to Western Australians, especially the small businesses across WA whose interests I have championed," he said.

"Now that any questions around my eligibility have been resolved, I look forward to continuing to campaign across WA as a candidate for the Senate and to ensuring the Morrison Government can continue to implement our plans for an even stronger Australia."

Section 44 of the Australian Constitution sets out restrictions on who can be a candidate for Federal Parliament.

One of those restrictions excludes anybody who "is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power".

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed three police officers involved in yesterday's security vehicle crash have been discharged from hospital.

Two Australian Federal Police officers and two Tasmanian Police officers were sent to hospital for assessment after the Toyota Landcruiser they were travelling in rolled following a car accident in Tasmania.

Both of the Tasmanian officers and one of the AFP officers have now been discharged from hospital, with the remaining officer still receiving further treatment.

READ MORE: Four officers injured after PM's security car crashes in Tasmania

"I was pleased to be able to speak to the Australian Federal Police officers and their partners today and make contact with the two Tasmania Police officers after yesterday's terrible accident," the Prime Minister said on social media.

"While one of the AFP officers has now been discharged, the other is still receiving further treatment.

"I am pleased the two Tasmania Police officers are doing well and have been discharged from hospital.

"Jen and my prayers are with all the officers and their families for their full recovery."

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The unmarked police car carrying the officers was acting as a follow vehicle while the Prime Minister was campaigning in Tasmania when the incident occurred.

Tasmanian Police said while the exact circumstances of the crash are still being investigated, it appears a Mitsubishi Triton collided with the rear of the unmarked police car while attempting to merge.

Images from the scene showed the Landcruiser on its side in a paddock with emergency crews nearby.

All four of the officers were conscious when transferred to hospital and the driver of the Triton was not injured.

The Prime Minister was not involved in the accident and was not injured.

The man charged with opening fire in a Brooklyn subway car full of people was jailed without bail overnight as prosecutors told a judge he terrified all of New York City.

Brought into a Brooklyn federal court without handcuffs, a subdued Frank James, 62, softly answered standard questions about whether he understood the charges and the purpose of the brief hearing. His lawyer later asked the public not to prejudge him.

Mr James was arrested in Manhattan after calling a police tip line to say where he was Wednesday, a day after the nightmarish rush-hour attack left 10 people with gunshot wounds and countless others fearing for their safety on the nation’s busiest subway system.

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Authorities say he unleashed smoke bombs and dozens of bullets in a train full of morning commuters.

He's charged with a federal terrorism offense that applies to attacks on mass transit systems — authorities say there's currently no evidence linking him to terror organisations and are still trying to derive a motive.

“The defendant terrifyingly opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way the city hasn’t seen in more than 20 years,” Assistant US Attorney Sara K. Winik said, apparently referring to the September 11, 2001, attacks.

“The defendant’s attack was premeditated, was carefully planned and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city,” she said.

While Mr James was in court, Hourari Benkada was in a hospital bed with a bullet wound in his leg.

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Mr Benkada said he was just feet away from the gunman on the train and has struggled to sleep since.

Tuesday's horrific scene keeps replaying in his mind.

"I’m still shocked about it,” Mr Benkada said in a video interview, grimacing in pain as he recalled the attack.

He had headphones on, music blaring, as smoke began filling the subway car.

He initially thought it was a small fire.

But the smoke "kept escalating to black, black smoke like 9/11," he said, “and the whole train was pitch-black.”

Then there were gunshots, screams and a scramble for safety.

Mr Benkada said he tried to shield a pregnant woman from getting hit during the mayhem, and as people pushed forward, a gunshot tore into his knee.

The shooting victims, who range in age from 16 to 60, are all expected to survive.

Prosecutors described Mr James in court papers as a calculating shooter who wore a disguise — a construction worker-style hard hat and jacket that were shed right after the attack — and fired “in cold blood at terrified passengers who had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”

But defence attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg cautioned against “a rush to judgment.”

"Initial reports in a case like this are often inaccurate,” she said outside court.

She noted that Mr James alerted police to his whereabouts, 30 hours into a manhunt that included mobile phone alerts to the general public.

Once he knew he was wanted, “he called Crime Stoppers to help," Ms Eisner-Grynberg said.

The manhunt began focusing on downtown Manhattan after police got a tip from a sharp-eyed high school junior on a photography class excursion.

Jack Griffin, 17, said he was looking for subjects for pictures when his eye was drawn to a man sitting on a bench with a duffel bag, resting amid the bustle of a street near Chinatown.

“As soon as I saw him, my first instinct was: 'That’s him,’” Mr Griffin said.

He snapped some photos of the man, who mumbled something and quickly moved on.

Then Mr Griffin sent his photos to police, who dispatched officers to the area.

Eventually, police got 911 reports of other possible sightings — and they got a call from Mr James, saying he was at a McDonald's in the East Village neighbourhood.

He was gone when police got there, but bystanders spotted him and flagged down officers as they searched the neighbourhood.

Mr James was apprehended a few blocks from the McDonald's.

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Two cousins, Zack Dahhan and Mohammad Cheikh, said they glimpsed the man and hastily looked up James' wanted poster on their phones.

“And we say, ‘Oh, my God, this is the guy!’” as a number of people began to follow him, Mr Dahhan said.

The cousins said they pointed officers toward him.

Mr James' lawyers agreed to his being jailed, but said they could seek bail later.

At the request of Mr James’ lawyers, Magistrate Roanne Mann said she would ask for Mr James to get “psychiatric attention,” as well as magnesium tablets for leg cramps, at the federal lockup in Brooklyn where he's being held.

Authorities say a trove of evidence connects Mr James to the attack.

His bank card, his phone and a key to a van he had rented were found at the shooting scene.

Officers also found the handgun they said was used in the shooting; tracing records show Mr James purchased the gun from a licensed gun dealer in Ohio in 2011.

In court papers, prosecutors suggested Mr James had the means to carry out more more attacks, noting that he had ammunition and other gun-related items in a Philadelphia storage unit.

The New York City native had been living in Milwaukee and Philadelphia recently.

Investigators were examining many hours of videos that Mr James posted on social media, as recently as Monday, in which he delivered profanity-laced diatribes about racism, society's treatment of Black people, homelessness and violence.

He also discussed his history of psychiatric treatment and complained about how New York's mayor is dealing with homeless people on subways and with gun violence.

He also talked about shooting people, prosecutors noted in court papers.

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Booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine are less likely to result in serious adverse effects than the initial jabs, a peer-reviewed study has found.

The study from health data science company nference found people who have had three doses of the same vaccine weren't more likely to develop problems like myocarditis or anaphylaxis.

But booster shots were more likely to result in mild reactions like fatigue or nausea.

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The study involved 48,000 Americans who had received Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.

The researchers noted the study may under-represent people who refused to get a booster shot after a bad reaction to the first two jabs.

Meanwhile, a study of 260,000 US veterans found people with mental health diagnoses were more likely to develop a breakthrough COVID-19 infection.

READ MORE: China accuses US of 'weaponising' extended Shanghai lockdown

The study from the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System and the University of California found people suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorders, ADHD and eating disorders were more likely to get sick from COVID-19.

This was despite the participants being double vaccinated. The study was conducted from February 2020 to November 2021, before booster shots were being used.

Though the researchers were careful to note while there was an observable link, there was no clear indication mental illness was linked to breakthrough infections.

The man who spent almost $4 million on the NFT of then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's first tweet has failed to attract little more than $15,000 at auction.

Cryptocurrency Sina Estavi first purchased the NFT (otherwise known as a Non-Fungible Token) in March 2021 for around $US2.9 million ($3.92 million).

The NFT is an image of the world's first ever tweet, which simply reads "just setting up my twttr" in lower case.

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(A full explainer of what an NFT is – and why some people think they are worth millions – can be read here.)

Mr Estavi has now put the NFT up for sale via popular NFT marketplace Opensea.

At the time of publishing the highest bid was just 3.8 Ether, or just over $AUD 15,500.

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https://twitter.com/sinaEstavi/status/1511832413973983239

Mr Estavi himself predicts that the NFT, which he has likened to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, will end up selling for over $50 million.

"I decided to sell this NFT ( the world's first ever tweet ) and donate 50 per cent of the proceeds ( $25 million or more ) to the charity @GiveDirectly," he tweeted.

‌‌‌‌‌‌He has previously said he has fielded offers for as much as $10 million for the NFT.

"Just received a $10M offer for my NFT from an institutional investor," Mr Estavi said.

"I think people still don't understand the value of the #Digital_Mona_Lisa!"

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What is a non-fungible token?

One of the most controversial asset classes derived from blockchain technology, a non-fungible token (or NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data.

Typically, an NFT is associated with a digital file such as a photo, a video or a piece of audio.

What an NFT allows someone to do is to prove ownership of a digital piece of property that may have already been shared hundreds of thousands of times on the internet.

EXPLAINED: What is an NFT?

It has been largely associated with digital art and historic instances of internet culture such as memes.

To use an imperfect analogy, owning the NFT of the first-ever tweet is like The Lourve in Paris owning the Mona Lisa.

Everybody knows what the Mona Lisa looks like – and anybody can have a replica printed to hang on their wall – but only The Louvre in Paris could (theoretically) sell the painting.

An NFT is a similar concept but for digital properties such as Jpegs.