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A new neighbour has moved into a California town, causing concern for hundreds of locals.

For months now, the 225 kilogram black bear who has been nicknamed 'Hank the tank' has been roaming the streets in the Tahoe Keys area of South Lake Tahoe, about 160 kilometres east of Sacramento.

In the span of seven months, the animal caused extensive damage at least 38 properties and forcefully entered 28 homes, according to a February 17 blog post by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

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Luckily, the CDFW said there have been no direct attacks on humans or pets in the area.

Residents have flooded police lines with worrisome calls, and CDFW said more than 100 individual reports of the bear have been reported to South Lake Tahoe police.

CDFW spokesman Peter Tira told CNN the department has been tracking incidents with this black bear since spring of 2021.

"The incidents primarily occurred during the summer and fall of 2021 when the bear was in hyperphagia, adding calories to survive the winter," Mr Tira said.

Hyperphagia, according to the US National Park Service, causes bears to eat and drink nearly nonstop during autumn in preparation for hibernation.

This bear, according to CDFW, has lost its fear of people, and is associating humans with access to food.

His large size helps him break into homes as he can push through front doors and garage doors.

Back in October, a California woman was mauled by a different black bear that broke into her northern Lake Tahoe cabin and rummaged through her kitchen.

The woman suffered scratches and other wounds all over her body.

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There are a few options to keep the community and bear safe: relocation, placing the bear in a facility, or euthanasia.

This last option has local bear advocacy groups like BEAR League concerned.

Ann Bryant, executive director of the group, told CNN affiliate KCRA options are available other than euthanasia.

"The BEAR League reached out to the director of an excellent out-of-state wildlife sanctuary who agreed he has room and would be very willing to give this bear a permanent home," Ms Bryant told KCRA.

However, CDFW said relocation comes with a lot of requirements and can take a toll on the animal's mental health.

According to KCRA, the BEAR League group has offered to pay all relocation expenses.

"While the Lake Tahoe area has a healthy and dense bear population, euthanising an animal is always our last option," Mr Tira said.

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If CDFW does capture the bear, it said it will evaluate the possibility of moving him to the out-of-state facility.

His current location, as of Friday, is unknown, but his last reported sighting was a few days ago when he was seen walking down a street in the Tahoe Keys, CDFW said.

CDFW is advising residents in the area to stay vigilant and responsibly store and dispose of food, as bears are driven by scent.

From a shocked fish, to mating seahorses; these are the winning photos from the Ocean Art Underwater Photography Competition 2021.

Natasha Beth Darcy has been sentenced in a New South Wales court to a maximum of 40 years jail for murdering her partner Mathew Dunbar in 2017.

In June last year a jury found Darcy guilty of sedating and murdering the farmer after she was made the sole beneficiary of his multi-million-dollar merino property at Walcha, near Tamworth, on the state's northern tablelands.

She sedated him with a cocktail of drugs – blended in a NutriBullet – before gassing him.

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At the time of Mr Dunbar's death on August 2, 2017, Darcy told police and friends the 42-year-old had died by suicide using a combination of helium and drugs.

Darcy's murder trial heard how she pressured Mr Dunbar to change his will months after they met on a dating site, and of her extensive web searches on how to kill him undetected.

Between February and August 2017, Darcy Googled hundreds of different ways to murder Mr Dunbar.

https://twitter.com/em_partridge/status/1495552221911871494

On the night of his murder, possibly after she had killed him, she used his phone to search "Does helium show up in an autopsy?" Some of the searches include:

• 11 toxic wild plants that look like food
• How to commit murder
• 99 undetectable poisons
• Plastic bag suffocation
• How long after suicide is there a crime scene?
• Can police see deleted text messages

Mr Dunbar also helped care for Darcy's three children after she went back to jail in 2016 for breaching her parole – having served time for sedating her estranged husband Colin Crossman and burning down their family home while he slept in 2009.

Bizarrely, Mr Crossman was the first paramedic on the scene after Mr Dunbar was murdered.

Darcy is eligible for parole in November 2047.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Energy giant AGL has rejected a surprise $8 billion offer from tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and a Canadian asset management company, who want to shut down the company's coal power plants earlier than planned.

This morning AGL shares jumped 11 per cent, as news of the speculative bid emerged.

It is understood Mr Cannon-Brookes is forking out 20 per cent of the $8 billion, with asset manager Brookfield shouldering the remaining 80 per cent.

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AGL's coal plants are thought to be responsible for eight per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Cannon-Brookes has been a long-time and very vocal critic of Australia's action on lowering carbon emissions.

The bid from Mr Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield would see AGL fast-track the transition away from coal in favour of renewables.

That plan would involve shuttering coal plants much earlier than expected.

The AGL board met to consider the offer on Sunday, and today it was rejected.

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Speaking on the campaign trail in Tasmania, Prime Minister Scott Morrison today appeared in no mood to shut down coal plants at a more rapid pace.

"Let me be clear about something, we need to ensure that our coal-fired generation of electricity runs to its life," he said.

"Because if it doesn't, electricity prices go up. They don't go down."

A northern California family is celebrating their long-lost puppy, Zoey, after 12 years of separation.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office received a call about a stray dog that had been dropped off on a rural property just outside Stockton, California, on February 10.

Zoey had been dumped from a vehicle and was found by someone who called police, saying she seemed old and ill.

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Upon scanning the dog's microchip, it was discovered that she had been missing since 2010.

"I definitely didn't expect this to ever happen so I'm really excited," said Zoey's owner Michelle.

According to animal services, Zoey had been missing for so long that in 2015 the microchip company listed her as "deceased" in their records.

The owners now live in Benicia, but luckily have the same phone number.

"We got her at the pound when she was six-months-old with her twin sister… they were with us for about six months and then we went to the store for about 20 minutes and came back and she was missing," Michelle said in a video shared by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office.

The dog was found about 60 miles from where she had gone missing in 2010, her family home in Lafayette.

A teenager from Sydney's north shore was fishing with friends in Middle Harbour on the weekend when something enormous hooked on his line.

Addison Hodge, 15, found himself reeling in a 2.8m bull shark.

The Year 10 student told local news website the Mosman Collective it took 45 minutes to haul in the shark.

"It only took a few seconds to work out that I'd hooked something pretty big," Addison said, "the thing nearly pulled me into the water."

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Speaking to 2GB, Addison estimated the shark could weigh about 130 kilograms.

He and his friends had been trying to catch a shark with big bait but had never expected such an enormous catch, he said.

After reeling in the shark, Addison and his mates got a few photos with the shark before releasing it back into the harbour.

https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-show/massive-shark-caught-by-north-shore-teenager/embed

Addison was left without his prize catch but with a good story.

"I'll be telling a few mates," he said.

The catch comes a week after diving instructor Simon Nellist was tragically killed by a shark in Sydney's Little Bay.

It was Sydney's first fatal shark attack since 1963 at Sugarloaf Bay in Middle Harbour.

Russian commanders have been given the green light to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine, reports say.

US intelligence has revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already given his generals orders to proceed with an invasion, CBS reports.

"The intelligence says that Russian troops have actually received orders now to proceed with the invasion," CBS News' David Martin told 'Face the Nation'.

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He said intelligence reports indicated Russian commanders were drawing up specific plans for an attack.

"They're doing everything that American commanders would do once they got the order to proceed," Martin said.

Shelling on border

Meanwhile, journalist Bryce Wilson told Today from Ukraine that artillery fire had intensified in the country's east

He said the Ukraine military positions had been targeted, with more casualties.

"The artillery all along the contact line has primarily been used to target Ukrainian positions," Wilson said.

He said Ukrainian officials feared there response could be used by Russia as a pretext for invasion.

"To the best of my knowledge the Ukrainian Armed Forces here have been told to hold fire essentially in all but the most critical situations.

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"There's a genuine fear that even one minor response might be the – could be the bullet that essentially starts world war three."

Russia has extended military drills near Ukraine's northern borders amid increased fears that two days of sustained shelling along the contact line between soldiers and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine could spark an invasion. Ukraine's president appealed for a cease-fire.

The exercises were originally set to end on Sunday and brought a sizable contingent of Russian forces to Belarus. The presence of the Russian troops raised concern that they could be used to sweep down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a city of about three million people less than a three-hour drive away.

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Australian helps counter cyber attacks

The Federal Government says Australia will provide cyber security training for Ukrainian officials. The government has blamed Russia for a cyber attack against the Ukrainian banking sector last week.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne will hold a virtual meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart later today.

Western leaders warned that Russia was poised to attack its neighbour, which is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment. Russia held nuclear drills on Saturday as well as the conventional exercises in Belarus, and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.

The United States and many European countries have charged for months that Russia is trying to create pretexts to invade. They have threatened massive, immediate sanctions if it does.

"We're talking about the potential for war in Europe," US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Sunday at a security conference in Munich, Germany. "It's been over 70 years, and through those 70 years … there has been peace and security."

NATO has estimated there are 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus.

After a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Putin blamed Ukraine for the escalation at the contact line and NATO for "pumping modern weapons and ammunition" into Ukraine. The Kremlin statement mentioned a cease-fire only in passing and made no mention of Zelenskyy's call for a meeting.