Waipā District Mayor Jim Mylchreest is urging residents to get vaccinated following Cabinet’s decision that Waipā will join North Waikato areas at alert level 3 from 11.59pm tonight.At the 1pm stand up, Covid-19 response…

The US Marshals Service is asking for the public's help in identifying a man investigators say strongly resembles one of its most wanted fugitives who has been on the run for 23 years.

John Ruffo was convicted in the late 1990s of a US$350 million ($481 million) bank fraud scheme and sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison. He was given bond but never showed up to prison to serve his sentence.

About US$13 million ($17.8 million) of the money was never recovered.

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In September 2016, a tip came in to investigators that Ruffo, now 66, had been at a Boston Red Sox and LA Dodgers baseball game in Los Angeles a month earlier, on August 5, 2016, and that he was sitting about four rows up from home plate wearing a blue shirt, the Marshals Service said in a news release.

A video clip from the game confirmed a man fitting Ruffo's description was sitting several rows behind home plate.

Before that possible 2016 sighting, Ruffo hadn't been seen since 1998 at an ATM in New York, the Marshals Service said.

Investigators were able to narrow the seat down to Section 1 Dugout Club, Row EE, Seat 10.

But even though they found the seat and identified the person who bought the seats, they haven't been able to identify the man in the blue shirt.

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Ruffo is now the subject of the ABC News podcast "Have You Seen This Man?"

After his conviction for his part in what the Marshals Service says is one of the largest bank fraud scams in US history, Ruffo was given a US$10 million ($13.7 million) bond and ordered to report to a federal prison in New Jersey on November 9, 1998, to begin serving his 210-month sentence. But he never showed.

An arrest warrant was issued the next day. US marshals found that on November 9, Ruffo drove a rental car to the long-term parking lot at John F Kennedy International Airport.

It's believed he rented the car earlier that day in Manhattan and withdrew money from an ATM on the way to the New York airport, the Marshals Service said.

Investigators say if the man in the blue shirt is Ruffo, he will likely be using an alias.

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A 'master manipulator' who enjoys 'fine wine, gambling and nice hotels'

Since Ruffo disappeared, the Marshals Service says it has chased hundreds of leads across the US and worldwide.

While there have been multiple reported sightings of Ruffo, the ATM photograph is the last confirmed sighting.

Ruffo was five feet five inches (1.65m) tall and weighed approximately 170 pounds (77kg) 23 years ago, the Marshals Service said.

"He is known to be computer savvy and enjoys fine wines, gambling, and nice hotels," the news release said.

"He is reportedly lactose-intolerant. Ruffo was known to be a storyteller, someone who liked to stretch the truth, and had a desire to impress others. He has been called a master manipulator."

Because of his time as a businessman in New York, investigators say, Ruffo has a variety of international connections.

He had travelled to Aruba and showed interest in Italy, where he was known to have travelled in the past.

Given those strong international ties and a likelihood that Ruffo could be living overseas, wanted posters have been translated into seven languages, the Marshals Service said.

A reward of up to US$25,000 ($34,347) is being offered for any information leading to Ruffo's arrest.

The Marshals Service says anyone with information should contact the nearest district office or submit a tip via 877-WANTED2 or the agency's app or website.

Queenslanders are being warned to keep an eye out for eastern brown snakes, which have become unwelcome visitors in several homes this month.

With spring mating season underway, snake catcher Stuart McKenzie said calls to his Sunshine Coast business have peaked this week, as warm weather draws more eastern browns into family homes and backyards.

"Going into October, it is breeding season and we do see more snakes on the move, looking for a mate, and so we do get a lot of snake activity at this time of year," Mr McKenzie said.

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This week, Mr McKenzie has seen an increase of sightings of the eastern brown, the second most venomous snake in the world and one of Australia's deadliest reptiles.

"That increase is probably because of the really warm and dry conditions at the moment. It's still very dry here and with the brown snakes, we've caught them in fences, we've caught them in backyards. They're just on the move."

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He tells stories of recently catching a deadly red-bellied black snake hiding in a hollow gate, with only its head peering at a terrified family, and of chasing eastern browns under houses.

"When you're trying to catch a six-foot brown snake in a four-foot gap under a house, that can be difficult," he said.

"You just have to use your experience and let that adrenaline flow."

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Mr McKenzie's advice to residents dealing with unwanted snake visits is to remain still and calm, while keeping family members and pets out of harm's way.

Other ways to protect your home include maintaining your backyard, and reducing access to food, water and shelter.

Eastern browns prefer dry, open spaces and are mostly active by day. They're often found in areas like hollow logs, rock crevices, unused animal burrows, and under rubbish around buildings.

They are identified by their scales which range from pale to dark brown, with a cream or yellow belly.

Although they account for the majority of recorded bites in Australia, Mr McKenzie said brown snakes will not strike unless agitated.

"They are highly venomous but they only become dangerous when people are messing with them," he said.

"They will defend themselves if people get too close but like any snake, they'll try to get away if they have an opportunity, and that's why it's so difficult to catch them."

Eastern brown season typically starts in October and lasts throughout spring, but snakes can be active year-round, particularly during warmer months.

Some US politicians think they've found a silver bullet for the impasse over the debt limit, except the bullet is made of platinum: Mint a $1 trillion coin, token of all tokens, and use it to flood the treasury with cash and drive Republicans crazy.

Even its serious proponents — who are not that many — call it a gimmick. They say it is an oddball way out of an oddball accounting problem that will have severe consequences to average people's pocketbooks and the economy if it is not worked out in coming days.

But despite all the jokes about who should go on the face of the coin — Chuck E. Cheese? Donald Trump, to tempt or taunt the GOP? — there's scholarship behind it, too. However improbable, it is conceivable the government could turn $1 trillion into a coin of the realm without lawmakers having a say.

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How is this possible when the treasury secretary can't simply print money to pay public debts? It's because a quirky law from more than 20 years ago seems to allow the administration to mint coins of any denomination without congressional approval as long as they're platinum.

The intent was to help with the production of commemorative coins for collectors, not to create a nuclear option in a fiscal crisis. Oops.

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Specifically, the law says the treasury secretary “may mint and issue platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time.”

This is that time, in the view of coin advocates. But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the White House and some Democrats slapped down the idea Tuesday, just as past leaders have done when the going got tough and radical quick-fixes emerged.

“The only thing kookier would be a politically inflicted default," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va, said of the coin.

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Said Yellen, “What’s necessary is for Congress to show that the world can count on America paying its debt." A platinum coin, she told CNBC, “is really a gimmick."

Sure it is, said Rohan Grey, a Willamette University law professor and expert on fiscal policy.

“The fact that (the coin) represents an accounting gimmick is a source of its strength, rather than a weakness,” Grey wrote in a 2020-21 study in the Kentucky Law Journal. “The idea of ‘fighting an accounting problem with an accounting solution’ is entirely coherent … the debt ceiling itself can be viewed as one big, poorly designed accounting gimmick."

The United States will hit the ceiling Oct. 18 unless Congress acts in time to suspend it. The two parties are in a stalemate in the Senate — Republicans unwilling to join Democrats in what used to be a routine exercise; Democrats holding back on using only their own votes to fix the problem.

That's what makes a shiny coin with a 1 and 12 zeroes tempting to some, if that untested and audacious path actually would work.

But fraught questions arise for lots of Democrats as well as Republicans: Would they have wanted President Donald Trump to be ordering up mega-coins like Diet Cokes to his desk? Do they want the next president to have that power? Or even this one?

Other extraordinary possibilities have been floated, too, such as invoking the 14th Amendment's guarantee that the “validity of the public debt of the United States, authorised by law … shall not be questioned," which some scholars argue could be used to override the debt limit.

The White House has looked at all such options “and none of those options were viable," press secretary Jen Psaki said. “So, we know that the only path forward here is through Congress acting.”

The debt ceiling was instituted in the World War I era to make it easier for the US to issue war bonds without needing congressional approval each time. Legislators only needed to stay under the approved total.

Raising or suspending the ceiling has been a mostly uncontroversial task until recent times, because the debt comes mostly from spending that has already been approved by Congress or covers payments mandated by law. Now everything is fodder for a fight to the last minute.

The Treasury can’t introduce new currency into circulation, only the Fed can do that. In theory, the coin would be minted and deposited with the Fed and its value would make its way into Treasury’s general account and used to pay a whole lot of bills.

In practice, no one knows precisely how it would work and what problems, like inflation, would result. Democrats do not seem willing to upend a messy process that for generations has nevertheless stood as the gold standard in global credit.

The idea of a $1 trillion coin got attention in 2013 when President Barack Obama struggled to get Republicans on board. Donald Marron, a tax policy expert who had led the Congressional Budget Office during part of the Bush administration, thought it wasn't a great idea — but not a terrible one, either.

“Analysts have considered a range of other options for avoiding default, including prioritising payments, asserting the debt limit is unconstitutional, and temporarily selling the gold in Fort Knox,” Marron said then. “All raise severe practical, legal, and image problems. In this ugly group, the platinum coin looks relatively shiny.”

Still, he said, it sounds like an Austin Powers sequel or a “Simpsons” episode: “It lacks dignity."

China could be capable of mounting a "full-scale" invasion of Taiwan by 2025, the island's defence minister said – days after record numbers of Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan's air defense zone.

"With regards to staging an attack on Taiwan, they currently have the ability. But [China] has to pay the price," Chiu Kuo-cheng, the defence minister, told Taiwanese journalists.

But he said that by 2025, that price will be lower and China will be able to mount a "full-scale" invasion.

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Mr Chiu's comments came after China sent 150 warplanes, including fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers, into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) since October 1.

At a parliament meeting, Mr Chiu described cross-strait military tensions as "the most serious" in more than 40 years since he joined the military, Taiwan's official Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

At the meeting, the Taiwan military submitted a report to lawmakers saying China's anti-intervention and blockade capabilities around the Taiwan Strait will become mature by 2025, according to CNA.

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The politicians also reviewed a US$8.6 billion ($11.8 billion) special defence budget for homemade weapons, including missiles and warships.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Mr Chiu noted that Taiwan has not made any moves to provoke an attack in response to the Chinese air incursions.

"We will make preparations militarily," he said.

"I think our military is like this – if we need to fight, we will be on the front lines."

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Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which the defeated Nationalists fled to Taipei.

However, Beijing views Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory – even though the Chinese Communist Party has never governed the democratic island of about 24 million people.

Beijing has refused to rule out military force to capture Taiwan if necessary, and blames what it calls "collusion" between Taiwan and the US for rising cross-strait tensions.

"The US has been making negative moves by selling arms to Taiwan and strengthening official and military ties with Taiwan, including the launch of a US$750 million ($1.03 billion) arms sale plan to Taiwan, the landing of US military aircraft in Taiwan and frequent sailing of US warships across the Taiwan Strait," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Monday.

China's Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and US national security advisor Jake Sullivan will meet in Zurich to "exchange views on China-US relations and relevant issues."

The ministry did not provide the date of the meeting. China's state-run broadcaster CCTV said the Chinese delegation arrived in Zurich on Tuesday.

A woman's car has been set alight in what is believed to be retribution after her COVID-19 infection sparked restrictions in parts of South Australia.

Police say the fire appears to be a targeted attack, but have not confirmed a motive, and have appealed for tolerance, warning "people shouldn't assume that they know what's going on".

The woman is believed to have contracted the virus in Victoria and then travelled back to her home in Mount Gambier while infectious, resulting in a number of restrictions being implemented in the area.

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Just before 10pm on Tuesday, her car was spotted completely ablaze, with flames almost spreading to her nearby home.

She is currently quarantining at a hotel in Adelaide, some 430km away.

A neighbour told 9News that there had been rumours people wanted "to burn the house down".

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Residents of Mount Gambier City, the District Council of Grant and Wattle Range Council area were placed under level three restrictions on Wednesday.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens asked residents to remain tolerant.

"People shouldn't assume that they know what's going on, it's completely unnecessary, it's unwarranted," he said.

"They've committed a serious crime and if we do detect them we'll deal with them appropriately but I'm just asking people to show tolerance."

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What police and health authorities are now trying to determine is where the mother-of-four contracted COVID-19.

She had initially told authorities that she'd been in Casterton, Victoria, which is within the 70 kilometre border bubble.

But it's now believed she may have travelled as far as Melbourne.

"SA Health contact tracers are currently still working with the family to establish exactly what those movements are and as soon as we have clear information about those movements and we can provide that to the community, we will," Commissioner Stevens said.

No decision has been made about whether the woman had misled authorities, which could result in potential criminal charges.

Powerball has once again not been struck, meaning some lucky Kiwi could be $26 million richer on Saturday.But two lucky Lotto players have each won $500,000 with Lotto First Division in tonight’s Lotto draw. The winning tickets…

A spacecraft that will deliberately crash into an asteroid is preparing to launch.

The DART mission, or NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will lift off at 10.20pm on November 23 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

After launching in November, NASA will test its asteroid deflection technology in September 2022 to see how it impacts the motion of a near-Earth asteroid in space.

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The target of this asteroid deflection technology is Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. This will be the agency's first full-scale demonstration of this type of technology on behalf of planetary defense.

Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets whose orbits place them within 30 million miles of Earth. Detecting the threat of near-Earth objects, or NEOs, that could potentially cause grave harm is a primary focus of NASA and other space organizations around the world.

Didymos and DimorphosTwo decades ago, a binary system involving a near-Earth asteroid was found to have a moon orbiting it, dubbed Didymos. In Greek, Didymos means "twin," which was used to describe how the larger asteroid, which is nearly half a mile across, is orbited by a smaller moon that is 525 feet in diameter. At the time, the moon was known as Didymos b.

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Kleomenis Tsiganis, a planetary scientist at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a member of the DART team, suggested that the moon be named Dimorphos.

"Dimorphos, which means 'two forms,' reflects the status of this object as the first celestial body to have the 'form' of its orbit significantly changed by humanity — in this case, by the DART impact," said Tsiganis. "As such, it will be the first object to be known to humans by two, very different forms, the one seen by DART before impact and the other seen by the European Space Agency's Hera, a few years later."

In September 2022, Didymos and Dimorphos will be relatively close to Earth and within 11 million kilometres of our planet. It's the perfect time for the DART mission to occur.

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DART will deliberately crash into Dimorphos to change the asteroid's motion in space, according to NASA. This collision will be recorded by LICIACube, a companion CubeSat or cube satellite provided by the Italian Space Agency. The CubeSat will travel on DART and then be deployed from it prior to impact so it can record what happens.

"Astronomers will be able to compare observations from Earth-based telescopes before and after DART's kinetic impact to determine how much the orbital period of Dimorphos changed," said Tom Statler, DART program scientist at NASA Headquarters, in a statement. "That's the key measurement that will tell us how the asteroid responded to our deflection effort."

A few years after the impact, the European Space Agency's Hera mission will conduct a follow-up investigation of Didymos and Dimorphos.

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While the DART mission was developed for NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office and managed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the mission's team will work with the Hera mission team under an international collaboration known as the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment, or AIDA.

"DART is a first step in testing methods for hazardous asteroid deflection," said Andrea Riley, DART program executive at NASA Headquarters, in a statement. "Potentially hazardous asteroids are a global concern, and we are excited to be working with our Italian and European colleagues to collect the most accurate data possible from this kinetic impact deflection demonstration."

A mission of firsts, Dimorphos was chosen for this mission because its size is relative to asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth.

DART will crash into Dimorphos moving at 14,763.8 miles per hour. A camera on DART, called DRACO, and autonomous navigation software will help the spacecraft detect and collide with Dimorphos.

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This fast impact will only change Dimorphos' speed as it orbits Didymos by 1%, which doesn't sound like a lot — but it will change the moon's orbital period by several minutes. That change can be observed and measured from ground-based telescopes on Earth. It will also be the first time humans have altered the dynamics of a solar system body in a measurable way, according to the European Space Agency.

Three years after the impact, Hera will arrive to study Dimorphos in detail, measuring physical properties of the moon, studying the DART impact and study its orbit.

This may sound like a long time to wait between the impact and follow-up, but it's based on lessons learned in the past.

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In July 2005, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft launched a 815-pound copper impact into a comet, Tempel 1. But the spacecraft was not able to see the crater that resulted because the impact released tons of dust and ice. However, NASA's Stardust mission in 2011 was able to characterize the impact — a 492-foot gash.

Together, the valuable data collected by DART and Hero will contribute to planetary defense strategies, especially understanding what kind of force is needed to shift the orbit of a near-Earth asteroid that may collide with our planet.

A coroner's inquest into the stabbing deaths of two men at Alva Beach south of Townsville has backed a police decision not to charge the teenager who killed them. 

Handing down her findings today, Coroner Jane Bentley said that then-19-year-old Dean Webber acted in self-defence, clearly fearing for his life at the time of the stabbing.

"Mr Webber was very much in fear for his life," she said.

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Her biggest criticism was to the police response, which she described it as inadequate.

Ms Bentley said if police hadn't delayed their decision to go to Alva Beach, it's likely both men would still be alive today.

Tom Davy and Corey Christensen were fatally stabbed in the early hours of October 1, 2018, by Mr Webber inside his Alva Beach home after he had given refuge to Candice Locke, who told him she had broken her shoulder and was being chased by a group of men.

Mr Webber wasn't required to give evidence today due to suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the ordeal.

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On whether the Mr Webber should have been charged by investigating officer Gavin Neal, Ms Bentley said Mr Neal acted within accordance of protocol.

"A decision was made before a complete brief of evidence had been assembled," she said.

"I find that he exercised his discretion appropriately and in accordance with police procedures and policies."

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The coroner was, however, critical of the police response to the emergency call, saying officers didn't take it seriously enough.

Had they have, she said, they would have arrived before the two men were stabbed.

No charges have ever been laid against Mr Webber.

ANALYSIS: The announcement yesterday that New Zealand will introduce a vaccination certificate by November is welcome news. Whether by “carrot” or “stick”, vaccination rates must keep climbing, as it is now likely case numbers…