Hotels across Auckland are at 100% capacity ahead of tomorrow evening’s concert.

A lightning-fast leadership spill in Victoria has opened killing season for the Liberals, with the party finishing a year that had started with so much promise in turmoil in the country's three biggest jurisdictions.

Less than 18 hours after news broke of a looming leadership challenge for Brad Battin, first-term MP Jess Wilson this morning emerged as Victoria's new opposition leader.

The shock move means the state Liberal Party has had more leaders during this stint in opposition than they have years in government this century.

READ MORE: History made after Brad Battin ousted as Victoria's opposition leader

Battin might not finish the week as the only Liberal leader trying to pull a knife out of his back, with rumblings that Mark Speakman's future is also in danger.

The NSW opposition leader avoided a challenge at a party room meeting this morning, but the week is still young, and speculation has been building for months that another first-termer, Kellie Sloane, will take the party to the next state election in early 2027.

Alongside them, Nationals already have a new leader, with Gurmesh Singh elected unopposed following Dugald Saunders' shock resignation yesterday.

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In Australia's most populous state, the opposition's primary vote is languishing at 28 per cent, according to the latest Resolve Political Monitor in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Federally, the polls are even more dire, pointing to a primary vote of 24 per cent after weeks of infighting and division over energy policy.

Little wonder Sussan Ley can barely go a single day without facing questions about whether her leadership is secure.

Having appeased the conservatives in her party by abandoning net zero and ditching the Paris Agreement in all but name, it would be a surprise if Ley doesn't survive until the end of the year, particularly given she was only installed in May.

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But having only defeated Angus Taylor by a handful of votes in that contest – three of whom are no longer in the party room – her grip on the leadership is tenuous.

Last night, Ley said she could "absolutely" guarantee that she'll still be in the top Liberal job come the 2028 election, but a challenge, whether from Taylor or Andrew Hastie, appears more a matter of when, not if.

It's a far cry from the start of the year, when there was genuine optimism that Peter Dutton could win the federal election, and the newly installed Battin would make inroads in Victoria, where the state Labor brand is on the nose after more than a decade in power.

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It appears he actually did just that, with a Herald Sun poll released this morning giving the Coalition a 51-49 lead over the government, and Battin a 45-34 lead over Jacinta Allan as preferred premier.

With just a year and 10 days to convince voters to back her at next year's election, Wilson promised to "focus on Victorians", but faces a tough task in such a short time.

"Wilson has a big job ahead of her, not just to appeal to voters, but of course, to try to repair a fractured party room once more," 9News state political reporter Heidi Murphy said.

Further north, Speakman and Ley will simply be hoping to keep their own party rooms from fracturing – or at least continuing to fracture – in the first place.

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Witnesses say the Takapuna Beach defibrillator box allegedly failed to open.

Richard Chambers said the minister should have been told, not just Coster.

An early tropical cyclone is likely to develop off the coast of northern Australia as soon as tomorrow, with residents in the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory urged to monitor updates.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that cloud and thunderstorm activity is now wrapping around a low-pressure system, which could intensify into a tropical cyclone by tomorrow evening.

It is moving away from Australia but the bureau believes it is likely to turn south and then south-west, toward the NT coast.

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The tropical low-pressure system is forecast to slowly move towards the east for the rest of today and tomorrow, said meteorologist Miriam Bradbury.

Bradbury said the strongest winds and rains are expected to develop away from the NT coast after tomorrow.

Rainfall will be heaviest near the coast, with the highest expected close to the Tiwi Islands and the north-west corner of the Top End, including Darwin.

"For the next few days, we are expecting this system to gradually move east-north-east," Bradbury said.

"At this point in time, we are expecting a possible intensification to tropical cyclone strength by around Thursday morning."

The bureau said there is a 25 per cent chance of it becoming a tropical cyclone by tomorrow evening and a 55 per cent chance by Thursday morning.

Tropical low could turn into cyclone

"Environmental conditions are favourable for development of (tropical low) 02U and the risk the low develops into a tropical cyclone increases as the week progresses," the Bureau's cyclone forecast said this morning.

"Although there remains high variability in model intensity ranges, there is increasing risk that 02U could become a tropical cyclone on Wednesday or Thursday."

The Bureau currently rates the chances of a cyclone developing at 60 per cent between 11 pm Thursday and 11 am Friday.

But the possibility remains over 50 per cent from tomorrow night, through to next Monday, which BoM calculates as a "high" risk level.

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"This system has already caused heavy rain and thunderstorms over the western Top End in the last couple of days, including 228mm in 24 hours at Charles Point near Darwin, which was its heaviest rain in a decade," Weatherzone reported.

"At this early stage in the system's development, it is difficult to predict exactly where it will move and how strong it will get.

"However, there is enough consensus between forecast models for residents in the Top End and Kimberley to pay close attention to the latest tropical cyclone forecasts and advisories for the most up-to-date information over the coming week."

Residents in those regions are urged to stay on top of weather updates and prepare their emergency plan.

While Australia's tropical cyclone season runs from November to April, it's rare to see one develop this early.

Weatherzone said only four cyclones in recorded history had made landfall on the Australian mainland in November, with the most recent being Tropical Cyclone Alessia in 2013.

Last month, the Bureau of Meteorology revealed the first cyclone to develop in the Australian region in the 2025-2026 season would be named Fina.

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August, Hugo and Goldie were killed on Saturday.

A Queensland ecologist who suggested 4WDs should be partially banned on the beach to protect wildlife is refusing to back down after being flooded with death threats.

University of the Sunshine Coast Professor Thomas Schlacher called on the government to consider outlawing all-terrain vehicles on parts of the sand due to the irreversible damage it causes to marine creatures.

He took his family to the United States for a period earlier this year when vitriol from some 4WD drivers became so inflamed that he was even sent a letter that read "we know where you live".

READ MORE: Australia at risk of destructive weather not seen for a decade

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Cambridge Dictionary has named its word of the year for 2025, alighting on "parasocial," used to describe a connection that people feel with someone they don't know or even with an artificial intelligence.

The term was coined in 1956 by sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, who wanted to describe how television viewers formed "para-social" relationships with TV personalities, the dictionary said in a statement.

This phenomenon continues today, as social media users form parasocial relationships with celebrities.

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A key example cited by Cambridge Dictionary is singer Taylor Swift, who announced her engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce this year, with many fans talking of their heartfelt feelings toward a couple that the vast majority had never met.

Another is British singer Lily Allen, whose latest album "West End Girl" tells the story of a breakup and sparked a "parasocial interest in her love life," according to the statement.

And use of the term has surged this year, particularly as concerns over the connections that some people have started to develop with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT have come to the fore.

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Colin McIntosh, a lexicographer at the Cambridge Dictionary, said the word "captures the 2025 zeitgeist" and demonstrates how language changes.

"What was once a specialist academic term has become mainstream," he said in the statement.

"Millions of people are engaged in parasocial relationships; many more are simply intrigued by their rise," McIntosh added.

"The language around parasocial phenomena is evolving fast, as technology, society and culture shift and mutate: from celebrities to chatbots, parasocial trends are fascinating for those who are interested in the development of language," he said.

Simone Schnall, Professor of Experimental Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge, said in the statement that the word "is an inspired choice."

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"The rise of parasocial relationships has redefined fandom, celebrity and, with AI, how ordinary people interact online," she said.

"We've entered an age where many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers," Schnall added.

"This leads to a sense that people 'know' those they form parasocial bonds with, can trust them and even to extreme forms of loyalty. Yet it's completely one sided."

Cambridge Dictionary also highlighted a number of other words that it said have had a "significant impact" this year.

Among their number is "slop," defined as "content on the internet that is of very low quality, especially when it is created by artificial intelligence," as well as "memeify," or "to turn an event, image, person, etc. into a meme."

And the dictionary added 6000 new words this year, with notable newbies including "delulu," "skibidi" and "tradwife."

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Nearly 200 people have been killed or injured in Japan by marauding wild bears over seven months this year.

The figures, released by the country's Environment Ministry, show among the 197 attacks from April to October, 12 people were killed, reports The Japan Times.

The total, calculated over the early part of Japan's financial year, is nearing the record 219 casualties in 2023.

READ MORE: Australia at risk of destructive weather not seen for a decade

Last month recorded an explosion in attacks, when 88 people were mauled by bears, seven of whom died.

Authorities put the spike down to more of the beasts roaming in urban areas amid a shortage of beech nuts, a key food for them.

The inventive Japanese have responded to the spike in maulings by coming up with a bear shelter.

Based on a steel cargo container, the reinforced structure can withstand more than 190 tonnes.

Last month, exasperated officials in the northern region of Akita were successful in a request for military help to deter roaming bears.

READ MORE: Ex-PM sentenced to death for crimes against humanity

Troops from the Japanese Self-Defence Force, equipped with repellent spray. have been deployed to transport local hunters and help dispose of dead bears. Officials say the soldiers will not use firearms to cull the bears.

The growing bear population's encroachment into residential areas is happening in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population, with few people trained to hunt the animals.

The government has estimated the overall bear population at more than 54,000.

– With AP

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The Australian share market is down almost 1.2 per cent in early trade, dragged down by a sharp plunge on Wall Street overnight.

The ASX200 hit a four-month low for the Australian market, opening 0.8 per cent down after shaving 64.8 points to hit 8571.6.

The US stock market sank overnight as Nvidia and other "superstar" stocks created by the frenzy around artificial intelligence technology dimmed some more.

READ MORE: Brad Battin ousted as Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson becomes state's first female Liberal leader

In the US, the S&P 500 fell 0.9 per cent and pulled further from its all-time high set late last month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 557 points, or 1.2 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.8 per cent.

Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the market, as it’s often been in its last couple of tumultuous weeks. The chip company fell 1.8 per cent, while losses for other AI winners included a 6.4 per cent slide for Super Micro Computer.

Other areas of the market that had been high-momentum winners also sank. Bitcoin fell below $US92,000 ($141,000) down from nearly $US125,000 last month, for example.

That helped drag down Coinbase Global by 7.1 per cent and Robinhood Markets by 5.3 per cent.

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Critics have warned US stock market could be primed for a drop because of how high prices have shot since April, leaving them looking too expensive. Critics point in particular to stocks swept up in the AI mania, which have been surging at spectacular speeds for years.

Despite its loss overnight, Nvidia is still up 39 per cent for the year so far after it doubled in price in four of the past five years.

That has Wall Street’s spotlight on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), when Nvidia will report how much profit it made during the summer.

AI stocks have surged as much as they have because of expectations that they’ll produce huge growth in profits. If they fail to top analysts’ expectations, that would undercut one of the big assumptions that’s driven the US stock market to records.

Such high expectations extend beyond tech stocks, even if they are toughest for AI darlings.

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Aramark fell 5.2 per cent after the company reported a profit for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

The company, which offers food and facilities management for schools, national parks and convention centres, also said it expects an underlying measure of profit to grow between 20 per cent and 25 per cent this upcoming year.

While relatively strong, that was less than what analysts had been forecasting.

That helped offset a rise of 3.1 per cent for Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which jumped after Berkshire Hathaway said it built a $US4.34 billion ownership stake.

Berkshire Hathaway, run by famed investor Warren Buffett, is notorious for trying to buy stocks only when they look like good values while avoiding anything that looks too expensive.

Another source of potential disappointment for Wall Street is what the US Federal Reserve does with interest rates.

The expectation had been that the Fed would keep cutting interest rates in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments.

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But questions are rising about whether a third cut for the year would come out of the Fed’s next meeting in December, something that traders had earlier seen as very likely.

The downside of lower interest rates is that they can make inflation worse, and inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2 per cent target.

Fed officials have also pointed to the US government’s shutdown, which delayed the release of updates on the job market and other signals about the economy.

With less information and less certainty about how things are going, some Fed officials have suggested it may be better to wait in December to get more clarity.

Now that the shutdown is over, the government is preparing to release September’s delayed jobs report on Thursday (Friday AEST). That could create further swings for the market.

Data that’s very strong would likely stay the Fed’s hand on rate cuts, while figures that are very weak would raise worries about the economy.

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In 2026, the Fed is likely to cut interest rates only in response to a slowing economy instead of trying to cut ahead of it, according to Barry Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel. That’s not as good an environment for stock prices, and Bannister said the “Fed’s ‘free lunch’ is over".

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.13 per cent from 4.14 per cent late Friday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell modestly across much of Europe and Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1 per cent after the government reported that the Japanese economy contracted at a 1.8 per cent annual pace in the July-September quarter.

South Korea’s Kospi was an outlier and jumped 1.9 per cent as tech-related stocks there did well.