A Victoria University of Wellington lecturer is under investigation over allegations of a relationship with his student, which turned violent. The university has confirmed it is investigating a formal complaint over the alleged…

A punter is furious after the TAB refused to pay out on a bet where he claims to have won more than $110,000.In the early hours of May 2, Corbin Nepe placed a $14 live bet on a six-leg English football multi bet at long odds of…

Admirers crane their necks below it, tourists whoosh to its viewing floors by cab and cable.But few climb the Sky Tower’s 1103 steps, and even fewer at speed with 25kg of firefighting equipment on their back.Yesterday,Gareth Dodd…

Test your brains with the Herald’s morning quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz at 3pm for the afternoon quiz. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

The effects of a deep low north off New Zealand will start being felt today, with much of the East Cape in line for heavy rain, while strong winds are expected in Auckland, Northland and eastern parts of the upper North Island.Strong…

The second repatriation flight for Australians stranded in India is now en-route to Darwin.

Flight QF112 took off from New Delhi's international airport on-time at 8.05pm (0.35am Sunday AEST) and is expected to land landed in the Northern Territory today at 9.20am (9.50am AEST).

Passengers will spend two weeks at the Howard Springs quarantine facility, joining approximately 80 Australians who arrived on the first repatriation flight last weekend.

No Aussie have been bumped off this second flight due to a positive COVID-19 test, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

This means this morning's flight will arrive full, with 165 passengers on board.

The first flight, which landed in Darwin last Saturday, arrived half-full after 72 passengers were turned away over test results – there were 48 people who tested positive for the virus and another 24 family members deemed close contacts.

In the end there were 80 Australians on board the flight, having paid $1500 for their seat plus $3000 for quarantine.

There are now 11,000 Australians trying to get out of India, which is still seeing over 4000 deaths a day and over 250,000 new cases daily amid their current COVID-19 crisis.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has added two more government facilitated-flights back to Australia, with South Australia and Western Australia both agreeing to take in one flight each in the next two weeks.

This means a total of eight repatriation flights will arrive into Australia from India.

Darwin is today accepting its second of three flights, while Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are all set to take in one flight each.

Victoria's Department of Health has blamed a receipt for naming the wrong supermarket as a COVID-19 exposure site after a coronavirus scare earlier this month.

Staff at Woolworths Epping were sent home and the supermarket was deep-cleaned after being erroneously identified weeks ago.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley tried to explain the mix up on ABC radio yesterday, saying that contact tracers had been given an electronic transaction receipt from a banking app, which indicated the at-risk individual shopped at the Epping Woolworths.

"Given that Epping Woolworths is right across the road from another established exposure site, the conclusion was drawn by the public health team that it was in fact Epping Woolworths.

On Friday officials revealed the supermarket visited by an infected man was actually the Woolworths in Epping North.

The latter supermarket is on Lyndarum Drive, three kilometres away.

READ MORE: 'The snakes will follow': Ominous sequel to NSW mouse plague

Anybody who was at Woolworths Epping North on May 8 between 5.40pm and 6.40pm needs to get tested and isolate until they return a negative result.

Health officials have contacted Woolworths to ensure all potentially exposed staff get tested and isolate.

Meanwhile, the three household contacts of a positive Wollert case, still in isolation, have been re-tested for COVID-19 and are negative.

It comes as traces of coronavirus have been detected in wastewater in Melbourne's north, Victoria's Chief Health Officer has announced.

The traces of COVID-19 were picked up in testing last night in the Epping and Wollert area.

Authorities are urging anybody with potential COVID-19 symptoms – fever, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, and loss or change in taste and smell – to get tested.

READ MORE: Woolworths staff fitted with body cameras to combat rise in abuse

A pop-up testing site will open at 9.30am tomorrow at Epping Stadium on Harvest Home Road.

There is also a testing site at Epping's Northern Hospital, which is open 9am-5pm seven days a week.

"These types of traces of coronavirus in wastewater are getting detected regularly – with more people leaving Hotel Quarantine – cleared of the virus but still shedding, and moving around our community," a statement from the Department of Health read.

"While the detections may be due to someone who has had COVID-19 that is no longer infectious continuing to 'shed' the virus, it is also possible that it is due to an active but undiagnosed infectious case.

"This detection is of note because there are public exposure sites in the area relating to the Wollert case, who has been isolating in a health hotel outside the catchment."

The infected man who sparked the coronavirus scare earlier this month likely contracted the disease from a neighbouring guest in hotel quarantine.

The NSW Nationals are confident its candidate for the Upper Hunter David Layzell will retain the seat for the state government.

Nationals leader John Barilaro addressed his party and said the early results looked promising but he wouldn't claim victory yet.

"We're not going to claim 100 per cent tonight. As you know there's still the Muswellbrook pre-poll to come in [and] a couple of others," he said.

READ MORE: What the Upper Hunter byelection means for voters

"But on the numbers out of Singleton pre-poll, the numbers of all the booths, there's no doubt we've got a substantial lead. We'd have to go drastically wrong from here.

"So we are confident we've got victory, we are confident we have won this seat, we are confident the nationals will continue… supporting the people of the Upper Hunter."

Despite the Nationals leader not claiming victory for the party, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has tweeted his congratulations.

https://twitter.com/TurnbullMalcolm/status/1396060862058668033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"And congratulations to the National Party on retaining the seat – a tribute to the great work of the Gladys Berejiklian government through the pandemic," he said on Twitter.

"But the problems caused by the unplanned expansion of coal mining have not gone away."

However, the Labor Party has not yet conceded the by-election, as candidate Jeff Drayton said "it's just too close to call"

"After years of our region sending billions down to Sydney and getting nothing in return, I asked the Upper Hunter to give me a chance to fight for our share," candidate Jeff Drayton said on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FJeffDraytonLabor%2Fposts%2F120729226822978&show_text=true&width=500

"But right now, we aren't sure whether this community has given me that chance. It's just too close to call".

Although, Labor leader Jodi McKay already appeared to be looking past this election and onto the next.

"We have to make sure we do better," Ms McKay said.

"We have to make this region know it is a Labor region in the future. We have two years to prove to the Upper Hunter that we are a party that deserves their support."

Heavyweights at the polls

Political heavyweights descended on the NSW Upper Hunter today, with the intention to give their parties a much-needed boost at the polls.

Candidates for the Nationals, Labor, One Nation and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers fought a close four-cornered contest, after the resignation of sitting Nationals MP Michael Johnsen, amid a sexting scandal and a rape allegation, which he denies.

Upper Hunter is a marginal electorate, where the conflicting interests of agriculture, racing and mining intersect.

It was retained by Mr Johnsen in 2019 by just 2.6 per cent. But it's a seat that's been held by the Nationals or Country Party for 90 years.

Coalition candidate Dave Layzell was joined at the polls today by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro.

Responsibility rests on him to shift Gladys Berejiklian's numbers back up to half of the Lower House.

But she wasn't the only recognisable face on the hustings.

Pauline Hanson and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack among the political heavyweights descending on the Upper Hunter, where voters want jobs for young people.

"There are not many jobs for young people here in the Hunter," one voter said.

READ MORE: Farmers dumping tonnes of citrus fruit due to labour shortages

The Nationals pulled out all stops to make sure their 90-year hold on the seat doesn't end with Mr Johnsen.

The Coalition is hoping Ms Berejiklian's popularity among voters will help them to victory in the marginal seat.

She told reporters today a win in the by-election would "break the course of history".

"I mean, the average swing against a government in a by-election in the last decade and a half has been 15 per cent against a government and we only hold this seat by 2-point-something per cent," Ms Berejiklian said.

"I'm always someone who looks at the maths and the evidence and the maths and the evidence says an average swing against the government in a by-election."

READ MORE: Expert warns against COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amid threat of mutant strains

Labor candidate Jeff Drayton was flanked by party leader Jodi McKay as he cast his vote in Muswellbrook today.

"There are so many issues in this electorate, but we have listened to what they've all told us and it is that they want their fair share," Ms McKay told the media.

"They want their fair share of the mining royalties that this region generates. And they want to make sure that, as a party, Labor is protecting jobs and creating jobs."

With a conga line of minor parties and independents on the ballot paper, the results of the by-election may not be known for hours.

The Nationals Party has held the Upper Hunt seat since the 1930s.

Egyptian mediators held talks Saturday to firm up an Israel-Hamas cease-fire as Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip began to assess the damage from 11 days of intense Israeli bombardment. A 130-truck convoy carrying urgently needed aid was headed to Gaza.

Saturday marked the first full day of a truce that ended the fourth Israel-Hamas war in just over a decade. In the fighting, Israel unleashed hundreds of airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza, while Hamas and other militants fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel. More than 250 people were killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians.

Gaza City's busiest commercial area, Omar al-Mukhtar Street, was covered in debris, smashed cars and twisted metal after a 13-floor building in its centre was flattened in an Israeli airstrike. Merchandise was covered in soot and strewn inside smashed stores and on the pavement. Municipal workers removed broken glass and twisted metal from streets and sidewalks.

READ MORE: Netanyahu warns against further 'drizzle of rockets' after cease-fire

"We really didn't expect this amount of damage," said Ashour Subeih, who sells baby clothes. "We thought the strike was a bit further from us. But as you can see not an area of the shop is intact." Having been in business for one year, Subeih estimated his losses were double what he has made so far.

Both Israel and Hamas have claimed victory. There was a widespread expectation that the cease-fire would stick for now, but that another round of fighting at some point seems inevitable. Underlying issues remain unresolved, including an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade, now in its 14th year, that is choking Gaza's more than 2 million residents and a refusal by the Islamic militant Hamas to disarm.

The fighting began May 10, when Hamas militants in Gaza fired long-range rockets toward Jerusalem. The barrage came after days of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Heavy-handed police tactics at the compound and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers had inflamed tensions.

The war has further sidelined Hamas' main political rival, the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, which oversees autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It appeared that Hamas increasingly positioned itself as a defender of Jerusalem in Palestinian public opinion.

On Friday, hours after the cease-fire took effect, thousands of Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa compound chanted against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his self-rule government. "Dogs of the Palestinian Authority, out, out," they shouted, and "The people want the president to leave."

It was an unprecedented display of anger against Abbas. The conflict also brought to the surface deep frustration among Palestinians, whether in the occupied West Bank, Gaza or within Israel, over the status quo, with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process all but abandoned for years.

Despite his weakened status, Abbas will be the point of contact for any renewed US diplomacy, since Israel and the West, including the United States, consider Hamas a terrorist organisation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to meet with Abbas and Israeli leaders when he visits in the coming week. Abbas is expected to raise demands that any Gaza reconstruction plans go through the Palestinian Authority to avoid strengthening Hamas.

Meanwhile, two teams of Egyptian mediators are in Israel and the Palestinian territories to continue talks on firming up a cease-fire deal — and securing a long-term calm, an Egyptian diplomat said Saturday.

The diplomat said discussions include implementing agreed-on measures in Gaza and Jerusalem, including ways to prevent practices that led to the latest fighting. The official did not elaborate. He was apparently referring to violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the planned eviction of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes deliberations.

Separately, Egypt said it would send a 130-truck convoy carrying humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Gaza. The convoy is expected to enter Gaza on Saturday.

The bombardment struck a blow to the already decrepit infrastructure in the small coastal territory, home to more than 2 million Palestinians. It flattened high-rises and houses, tore up roads and wrecked water systems. At least 30 health facilities were damaged, forcing a halt to coronavirus testing in the territory.

The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 243 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children, with 1,910 people wounded. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. Twelve people were killed in Israel, all but one of them civilians, including a 5-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl.

Israel has accused Hamas and the smaller militant group of Islamic Jihad of hiding the actual number of fighters killed in the war. Prime Minister Netanyahu said Friday that more than 200 militants were killed, including 25 senior commanders.

Islamic Jihad on Saturday gave a first account of deaths within its ranks, saying that 19 of its commanders and fighters were killed, including the head of the rocket unit in northern Gaza.

A man in the Philippines has captured a huge waterspout tornado on camera.

The incredible footage of the natural weather phenomenon in the ocean just off the coast of Bacolod City was recorded on Wednesday by local resident Ian Deguit.

"I thought there was a storm and it lasted for almost 15 minutes, it was an incredible sight, but scary," he told Newsflare.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the funnel-shaped clouds look like a slender tornado but only ever occur over water and collapse soon after they move onshore.

They are occasionally seen near the Australian coast in the late summer and autumn.

Check out the video above to see more.