Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) programme director Andrew Body is stepping down from his position after a scathing review found the $6.4 billion transport project was at risk of failing.Last month an internal review found LGWM…

Wellington City Council is on the hunt for whoever is scattering tacks along the Island Bay cycleway.Council spokesperson Victoria Barton-Chapple said they had dealt with this issue back in 2016 and 2018, and had hoped that would…

Brittany Higgins has spoken out following the sacking of an Adelaide radio broadcaster who labelled her a "silly little girl" and questioned her sexual assault allegations.

FiveAA breakfast host David Penberthy today announced that 75-year-old Jeremy Cordeaux's employment had been "terminated".

Ms Higgins alleges she was raped by a fellow staffer inside the office of Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in Parliament House in 2019.

During his weekend breakfast show, Cordeaux said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should have rejected her allegations.

"I just ask myself why the prime minister doesn't call it out for what it is. A silly little girl who got drunk," Cordeaux said.

"If this girl has been raped, why hasn't the guy who raped her been arrested? Apparently everyone knows his name."

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Cordeaux also questioned why security guards at Parliament let Ms Higgins and the man into Senators Reynolds office.

Ms Higgins took to twitter to share her thoughts on Cordeaux's departure.

"I'm grateful to (Nova) and (FiveAA) for standing up for the one in five Australian women who will experience sexual assault in their lifetime," she wrote.

"I politely disagree Mr Cordeaux. No, I do not deserve to have my "bottom smacked".

"This rhetoric isn't helpful especially given the cultural reckoning about consent that is taking place across the country. Instead of seeking to modify the behaviour of victims, let's try to address how we can deter perpetrators of sexual crimes."

In a statement read on air this morning, the station apologised "unreservedly" to Ms Higgins and withdrew the comments "without reservation".

READ MORE: Brittany Higgins welcomes offer to meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison

"We acknowledge that the comments were completely inappropriate and offensive," Penberthy said.

"The views expressed by Jeremy Cordeaux do not reflect those held by FiveAA and Nova Entertainment and we unequivocally withdraw them."

Earlier this month, Senator Reynolds apologised to Ms Higgins for calling her a "lying cow" and made a confidential damages payout that was donated to charity.

They're huge, hungry, and there's more of them than ever.

But saltwater crocodiles are still a protected species, even as deadly attacks on people continue to mount.

Two crocodiles were killed earlier this year after a fisherman disappeared in north Queensland. One had human remains inside.

Another man had to prise a croc's jaws off his head at Lake Placid recreation park in January.

And crocodile catchers say their job is only getting busier, especially after the wet start to the year, which drove the big salties closer to human habitation.

A difficult problem

Saltwater crocodiles were hunted close to extinction before they were declared a protected species in the 1970s.

It's estimated as few as 3000 were left in the Northern Territory when hunting was bad – but in the decades since, numbers have boomed.

Exact populations are unknown but it's estimated the NT waterways are now home to about 100,000 salties. It's thought this approaches pre-European colonisation numbers, but the lack of comparable data makes such speculation difficult.

Though it's often hailed as a triumph of conservation, one of Australia's most high-profile advocates for the modification of protection laws said the population boom is the result of an unbalanced ecosystem.

"The biggest factor of all was the removal of the king predator – homo sapiens," Kennedy MP and Katter's Australian Party head Bob Katter told nine.com.au.

"If you start interfering with nature, you better know what you're doing."

In past centuries, Mr Katter said, a clutch of crocodile eggs provided welcome sustenance to a family, which helped keep numbers down.

READ MORE: Epic crocodile battle caught on camera

And along with the banning of traditional hunting and gathering which had sustained First Australians for thousands of years, he said, there was another, overriding concern.

"I don't think allowing animals to tear us apart is the act of a civilised people," he said.

"It's not just about crocodiles – it's about the sanctity of human life.

"Take that away and we're back to the jungle. That suits me, I'm a barbarian, but it's not where we want to go as a people."

Mr Katter said where human lives were in danger, acts to protect those lives should override other laws and regulations.

"If there's a croc in a creek where my kids swim and fish, sorry, we were here first," he said.

"Lake Placid used to be where kids went to swim, it was a playground for Cairns. But now, you'd only do it if you're mad."

READ MORE: Monster crocodile caught in Darwin harbour

Legislators in the city, far removed from crocodile habitats, he said, did not understand the centrality of the creeks and rivers to north Queensland communities.

"If you go north of Townsville, every 200 metres there's a waterway," he said.

"We don't have fun parks, water parks, all that. Our fun was going down to the creek, and you've taken that from us."

The nippers are getting bigger

Charles Darwin University lecturer Dr Keller Kopf is beginning a study this year on the high density of crocodiles in waterways.

The aim, he said, is to study how much food the increasing population of saltwater crocodiles requires.

"As crocodiles change in size, their diet changes – from insects, to fish, to mammals and larger animals," he said.

And speaking of size, Dr Kopf said, an interesting change was taking place among crocodile populations.

"The data so far shows populations in most waterways continues to increase, but that increase is slowing down," he said.

"But biomass is increasing quite dramatically."

In other words – crocodiles are getting bigger.

"They're long lived animals, they live for more than 50 years, up to 100 years, and they'll keep growing," Dr Kopf said.

READ MORE: Massive croc shocks anglers after surfacing on Queensland beach

But he was adamant growing numbers posed no threat to the ecosystem.

"There's no potential for an overabundance in a crocodile population," he said.

"A higher biomass is good for ecosystems."

He said there was no need to lift protections on crocodiles to curb a threat to humans.

"There are already extensive trapping and removal programs, and that approach appears to work quite well," he said.

In croc country

The federal government's oversight of things crocodilian is essentially limited to the regulated export trade, though in 2014, then-Environment Minister Greg Hunt shot down a proposal to introduce safari hunting licences.

The Northern Territory government admits that balancing crocodile protection and human welfare can be "difficult and contentious".

"Crocodiles are able to blend into their surroundings. They are also able to move over extremely large distances on land and water," the government's Be CrocWise advice states.

"This means that culling or removal will never guarantee that any area within the likely range of the saltwater crocodile is 'crocodile-free'. Removing one crocodile may simply create more space for the other crocodiles that already live there or allow new crocodiles to move into the newly vacated area."

For now, it seems the standing solution for the crocodile issue is for people to accept that when in croc country, they might not be the top of the food chain.

"It is always safer to assume that a crocodile is present and to take precautions by not swimming or wading, and adopting safe fishing and safe boating practices," the NT government says.

A drum containing acid has forced the evacuation of a beach north of Sydney when the mysterious container washed ashore.

Crews from Fire and Rescue NSW were called to Shortland Esplanade, in Newcastle, yesterday afternoon shortly after the container was spotted on the sand.

A label on the barrel led authorities to believe them to contain Hydrochloric Acid (HCl).

As a precautionary measure, crews closed the area just after midday while hazardous materials crews could work to safely contain and remove the contents into several drums.

A photo was shared showing crews dressed in full protective gear working to make the beach safe.

The origin of the container remains a mystery.

Following the delicate operation the beach was declared safe and reopened to the public just after 3.30pm.

For the first time in two months, someone won the US Powerball jackpot, correctly selecting all six numbers to secure the $311 million jackpot.

The ticket was bought in Lutz, Florida, which is just north of Tampa.

The winning numbers were 06-14-38-39-65-06 with a 3x Power Play.

Before Saturday night, the jackpot was last won on January 30, according to CNN affiliate WFLA.

READ MORE: Lottery win puts job seeker on the path to early retirement

Powerball is a lottery game where a player chooses five numbers from a set of 69 white balls and one number from 26 red Powerballs. For an additional cost, players can add Power Play to their ticket, which can multiply non-jackpot prizes.

A person has a 1 in 24.9 chance of winning regardless of the cash prize amount, according to Powerball's website.

READ MORE: Man wins half a million on lottery after finding winning numbers in fortune cookie

Winners can also choose whether they'd like to collect their prize as an annuity or a lump-sum payment.

Powerball is offered in 45 states, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

The record for largest jackpot in US history was just above $1.96 billion.

In January 2016, this Powerball prize of $2.08 billion was split between three winners. Second to that, a South Carolinian anonymously claimed their $2.01 billion prize in October 2018, making them the largest single-winner in the US.

The next drawing is March 31, 2021, with an estimated jackpot of $26 million and a cash value of $18 million.

An elected official in the US state of Ohio, fed up with people questioning his patriotism because he's Asian American, bared his chest during a recent town meeting to reveal scars from injuries he suffered while in the US Army.

Lee Wong, 69, says he came to America when he was 18-years-old and has been a US citizen longer than many of his constituents have been alive.

Mr Wong retired from the Army after 20 years of active-duty service.

READ MORE: Tracy Vo's plea for compassion and respect

https://twitter.com/JimLaPorta/status/1375557530399739906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"There are some ignorant people that will come up to me and say that I don't look American or patriotic enough," Mr Wong said during a meeting of the West Chester Township Board of Trustees on March 23.

"Now that just gets my goat."

"Here is my proof," he said pointing to his scars.

"Now is this patriot enough?"

Mr Wong has lived in West Chester Township, near Cincinnati, for about 20 years.

He is president of the board of trustees and ran for a state Senate seat last year.

He knocked on thousands of doors during his campaigns and said it's a dynamic and diverse community.

But he said anti-Asian sentiment has gotten "worse and worse" in the last few years for him and other members of the community, who he described as hardworking Americans.

Video of his speech has gone viral.

Mr Wong said he was surprised by the supportive comments and that friends in California had seen the video online.

Mr Wong told CNN that he has always been self-conscious about his scars and isn't comfortable taking his shirt off – even at the beach or a pool – and decided to show his scars in the heat of the moment.

The scars are from multiple surgeries he underwent while he was in the Army to treat infected cuts he received during combat training in South Carolina.

Mr Wong said he's ethnically Chinese, but was born in British Borneo, which is now part of Malaysia.

He told CNN that he's dealt with abuse and discrimination in silence – ranging from children making racist facial gestures at him to being beaten up because of his race shortly after he came to America.

That attack derailed his plan to become a pharmacist and is one of the reasons he joined the Army.

He said he's heard from friends and family members across the country, who are afraid because of the recent surge of attacks against Asian Americans and the recent killings of eight people – including six Asian American women – at Atlanta-area spas.

Anti-Asian hate crimes are up 150 per cent during the pandemic, according to the Centre for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The violence is very disturbing and he has felt unsafe, he said.

"It has to stop. It just has to. I just felt that this is really going out of control here," he said.

"A few ignorant people that insult all. Barbaric. Horrible."

Mr Wong said he ran for office to make his community better and he hopes this experience helps restore the American values of compassion, love and kindness.

"That's my basic message, to be kind, and be a good citizen, to be a good role model," he said.

"I mean, it's wrong to go out to hurt somebody just because they look different or they don't look American enough. We are America."

Sydney man Anthony Sampieri, who bound and raped a seven-year-old girl inside a Kogarah dance studio, has died in prison.

Sampieri, an inmate of Long Bay Prison in Sydney, died at 8.30pm yesterday in the secure annex at Prince of Wales Hospital, a Corrective Services NSW spokesman told 9News.com.au. He was 57.

Corrective Services NSW did not confirm how Sampieri died, but he had been diagnosed with liver cancer and last year doctors had given him a 60 per cent chance of surviving more than five years.

Sampieri was sentenced to life in prison last February for an horrific attack on a young girl in public toilets in November 2018.

The 56-year-old pleaded guilty to 10 charges related to the attack including three counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10.

During sentencing, Judge Paul Conlon described the crime as "sexual abuse of the most horrifying and degrading kind".

Judge Conlon detailed how Sampieri – who was on parole at the time of the attack – raped, punched and bound the girl in the toilets after consuming the drug ice.

Sampieri tied a cord around the seven-year-old girl's neck and hands and threatened the victim with a knife during the abuse.

The court heard the attack lasted about 45 to 50 minutes.

Climate change protesters are causing traffic chaos across Sydney's CBD this morning.

Members of the Extinction Rebellion group have chained themselves to barrels in the city.

Earlier, one woman glued herself to the road and was arrested.

https://twitter.com/WesternWilson9/status/1376282223347789834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Traffic had been unable to get through but has now started to move.

The protests are centred around Bathurst and George Streets, with Live Traffic warning of heavy traffic in the area.

A second group of protesters were rallying against a gas pipeline.

https://twitter.com/WesternWilson9/status/1376289338590289926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Last week, Extinction Rebellion protesters also disrupted traffic in Melbourne for five days.

A teenage boy was among those set to be charged over the rallies.

Earlier in the week protesters pretended to be dead in city streets.

A year after becoming a global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, New York and New Jersey are back atop the list of US states with the highest rates of infection.

Even as the vaccination campaign has ramped up, the number of new infections in New Jersey has crept up by 37 in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days.

About 54,600 people in New York tested positive for the virus in the last week, a number that has begun to inch up recently.

The two states now rank No 1 and 2 in new infections per capita among US states.

New Jersey has been reporting about 647 new cases for every 100,000 residents over the past 14 days.

New York has averaged 548.

The situation in New York and New Jersey mirrors a national trend that has seen case numbers inch up in recent days.

The US is averaging nearly 62,000 cases a day, up from 54,000 two weeks ago.

Neither state is experiencing anything like what they saw last spring, when hospitals — and morgues — were overflowing.

And like the rest of the country, both are in a much better place than in January, at the peak of the pandemic's winter spike.

But the lack of improvement or even backsliding in recent weeks has raised concerns that the states are opening too quickly and people are letting down their guard too much, just as potentially more contagious variants of the virus are circulating more widely.

"When we're seeing levelling off of cases or increase, that's when it's a time to rethink policies," said Roy Gulick, chief of the infectious diseases division at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Centre.

In February, New York Gov Andrew Cuomo allowed the state's largest stadiums to host sporting events and concerts again, albeit at only 10 per cent of normal capacity.

New York City movie theatres have been allowed to reopen. Restaurants can now operate at 50 per cent capacity in New York City and 75 per cent capacity elsewhere in the state. Indoor fitness classes have resumed, too.

New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy has led a similar reopening, with the state's restaurants also allowed to operate at half capacity and barbers, salons and other personal care businesses resuming trade.

That's happened in other parts of the country, too.

Utah, Alabama, Arkansas and Indiana will end mask mandates in early April, joining states including Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Montana and Iowa that have eliminated face covering requirements in recent weeks.

Some states are allowing businesses to operate at full capacity.

But in Illinois, the state public health director on Friday emphasised the need to keep wearing masks and socially distancing amid an increase in cases and hospitalisations.

The single-day total of confirmed and probable cases of the illness topped 3000 on Friday for the first time in seven weeks, and hospitalisations have jumped 15 per cent in the past five days.

Mr Murphy said in recent days that he is hitting pause on further loosening of the rules because of New Jersey's resurgence.

The number of people hospitalised with the virus in New York has plateaued around 4600 since mid-March.

New Jersey hospitals are reporting about 2200 virus patients — up by roughly 300 in the past couple of weeks.

"They're spreading more quickly and our vaccination rates are improving every week, but they are certainly not where we want them to be," said Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases and public health and epidemiology for Northwell Health.

Experts cite several potential factors, including the spread of potentially more contagious variants in the densely populated region.

"Is there something different that's happening in this part of the country compared to some other parts of the country?" asked Dr Ed Lifshitz, the medical director of New Jersey's communicable disease service within the state Health Department.

"And the answer is probably yes."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has questioned whether Mr Cuomo is easing restrictions "for political reasons," despite cause for concern.

The governor is facing calls for his resignation over sexual harassment allegations.

But then Mr de Blasio himself announced that 80,000 more city employees would no longer work from home, starting in May.

New York City's Public Advocate Jumaane Williams urged New York to pause reopening plans.

"I ask the governor to stick to the science, trust the experts, and pause the planned reopenings now, before they take effect and more are infected," Mr Williams said.

Experts worry the public is getting the message that increased vaccination means the state is in the clear, even though only a fraction of the public has completed a full course.

Vaccines lessen the risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19, but scientists are still studying how well they prevent the spread of the virus.

"To allow larger groups to gather, to give the message to the public that we're over the worst and that we can go back to normal is a mistake," Mr Farber said.

Stony Brook University professor and neuroepidemiologist Sean Clouston said growth in new cases is concentrated in younger people, who can't get vaccinated in New York unless they have specific health conditions or certain jobs.

He said their infection rates could drop once they're eligible, too.