Previous texts revealed the former MP called the Trade Minister “pretty f****** amateur”.

There are now 14 measles cases confirmed across New Zealand.

Croatia will re-introduce compulsory military service for its male nationals from early next year.

Male Australian-Croatian nationals will need to report to the defence authorities of Croatia under the change which will come into effect on January 1 in 2026.

Failure to report to defence authorities is an offence.

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The Australian government's SmartTraveller website has advised dual nationals to check their obligations regarding compulsory military service with the Ministry of Defence in Croatia or the nearest Croatian diplomatic or consular mission in Australia.

Croatia's lawmakers voted to reintroduce mandatory military service this month in response to rising global tensions, including Russia's war in Ukraine.

The country previously abolished conscription in 2008.

Croatian officials have argued the current global situation required the nation to boost its defence forces.

"In the face of any threat, defending the country is crucial," defence minister Ivan Anusic said earlier this month.

In addition to the rule change, Australians should also be aware of the new European entry/exist system has started for all non-EU nationals, including Australians, travelling in or out of the Europe's Schengen Area. 

Travellers will need to register at borders and have their fingerprints and photos taken.

This may result in longer border queues.

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A man was struck by a suspected meteorite while driving on a remote highway in South Australia, leaving experts baffled and excited.

Whyalla vet Dr Andrew Melville-Smith was driving home in his brand new Tesla on the Port August Highway, about 40 kilometres north of Port Germein, on the quiet night of October 19, when he heard a "really violent explosion".

"I was out of it for a little while. I can remember coming to, and I was absolutely covered in glass fragments, and my wife's going, 'the car's blown up, the car's blown up'," he told 9news.com.au.

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"I thought we crashed."

Shattered glass fragments and acrid white smoke that "smelled like the car was on fire" filled the Tesla, but the car kept driving.

Melville-Smith and his wife, Jo, were startled and received minor cuts, but otherwise okay.

"It was really scary at the time. One minute we were fine, the next minute we were in absolute chaos," he said.

Melville-Smith pulled over and noticed the windscreen had been hit by something.

READ MORE: Mystery surrounds Darwin mum's 'bucket list' holiday death in Thailand

Whatever it was had left a mysterious crater-like dent and melted part of the glass, which was warm to the touch.

"There is farmland, no industry. It was a calm night. There's no rain, no lightning," Melville-Smith said.

"We looked at all the camera footage, and we couldn't see a darn thing. It's just black. There's nothing to see. There's no flash, nothing. It was so fast wasn't even captured on the cameras."

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Melville-Smith believes all evidence points to a meteorite collision.

"When you rule everything else out, and impossible is the only thing that is possible. Maybe impossible is the possible," he said.

"The next day, we took it to a windscreen place and they said they've never seen anything like it."

Melville-Smith contacted the South Australia Museum, which oversees all reports of meteorite crashes, to investigate.

SA Museum Minerals and Meteorites Collection Manager Dr Kieran Meaney was initially sceptical, but now believes it may have been a meteorite strike.

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"We get a lot of meteorite inquiries at the museum, and most of the time they turn out to be a rock from Earth that is doing a very good impersonation of a meteorite," he said.

"So, my initial thought was, nah, there's no way this is going to be the real deal.

"And then once I looked at all the details and the glass of his windscreen seems to have melted a little bit, and the acrylic layers in the glass have discolouration, almost like they've been burnt.

"It was certainly hit by something, and it was something hot, and we don't have another good explanation for what else it could have been."

Melville-Smith believes the chances of a meteorite strike on his moving car were one in trillions, while the SA Museum said it was unable to find an instance like this recorded before.

"If it is a meteorite, this is so rare," he said.

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Tesla and SA Museum experts have inspected the still-intact windscreen today and delicately removed it for examination.

SA Museum Director of Collections and Research Adam Moriarty said the team will work with partners to analyse the windscreen and associated debris to establish whether it was a meteorite.

"Other possibilities include road debris kicked up by passing vehicles, and even falling satellite debris," he said.

"It should be remembered that the chances of a meteorite strike on a moving vehicle are extremely remote, but the museum is keen to keep an open mind."

It will take time to analyse the windscreen.

If the results come back positive for a meteorite strike, the museum will organise a field trip to the location to try and find it. 

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South Australia has a long history of meteorite findings dating back to 1875 with the discovery of the Yardea meteorite in the Gawler Ranges.

State legislation dictates that all meteorites found are the property of the Crown and must be held by the SA Museum, due to their significant scientific importance.

The museum has more than 150 meteorites from Australia and overseas in its collection.

It recognises all discoveries with a personalised medallion for the finder. 

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The Justice Department's decision to sideline two US attorneys and remove mentions of Donald Trump and the US Capitol attack from court papers before the sentencing of a pardoned January 6 rioter is being viewed by former and current career prosecutors as an alarming whitewashing of history.

The events around the case of Taylor Taranto, who was convicted of bringing illegal guns near Barack Obama's Washington, DC, residence after talking online about violence toward the federal government, has shocked the network of Justice Department employees and alumni, several sources told CNN.

Taranto was arrested in June 2023 after claiming on an internet livestream that he had a detonator the day before, law enforcement officials told CNN at the time, and was searching for underground tunnels that led inside Obama and others' homes.

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He had also been present at the Capitol riot and charged with related crimes, though he was never convicted because Trump pardoned him before a trial. He has already spent 23 months behind bars and hasn't been detained since he was pardoned.

Judge Carl Nichols, a 2019 Trump appointee, had found him guilty at trial in May of the gun crimes and for making a false threat to use a car bomb against a federal building.

In a sentencing memo for Taranto filed Tuesday, prosecutors Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White wrote that after "then-former President Donald Trump published on a social media platform the purported address of former President Barack Obama," Taranto had re-posted Trump "and thereafter started livestreaming from his van" as he drove through Obama's neighborhood.

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Trump's original post – which included the Obama address – was itself a repost of a blog article.

Politico reporter Kyle Cheney highlighted the filing and mentioned it also included Taranto taking part in the January 6 riot, on the social media platform X late Tuesday night. Within 24 hours, the court filing was no longer available in the court record and the two prosecutors who had signed it were suspended from their jobs.

In the original memo, Valdivia and White wrote that "Taranto was accused of participating in the riot in Washington, DC, by entering the US Capitol Building" and "after the riot, Taranto returned to his home in the State of Washington, where he promoted conspiracy theories about the events of January 6, 2021."

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Two new prosecutors then filed an amended version of the sentencing memo to the court on Wednesday.

That new memo scrubbed all references to Trump and him posting Obama's supposed address – which Taranto had reposted – as well as Taranto's participation and conviction related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.

"It's shocking that prosecutors could be put on leave for accurately stating the court record in a sentencing memo, and it's just as shocking that those truthful statements have been whitewashed in a revised filing," said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department attorney and now executive director and founder of Justice Connection, which works to represent the viewpoints of former federal prosecutors, especially those who have been fired by the Trump administration.

"These prosecutors did their job and upheld their duty of candour by informing the court of clearly established facts relevant to their case," Young added.

Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney in Washington, DC, did not comment on the suspensions and filing changes when asked about it during a news conference Thursday.

"I think the papers speak for themselves, and what goes on in this office is not something that I'm going to comment on. Thank you," Pirro said.

'Orwellian'

On Wednesday, the moves made by the Justice Department had employees reeling within the US Attorney's Office in DC and the FBI, which had investigated and caught Taranto, believing he was a danger to the public in 2023, people familiar with the office told CNN on Thursday.

One source called the sentencing memo change "Orwellian."

Valdivia had no indication he may have employment issues – especially given that on Tuesday, the day before his suspension, he helped to secure a guilty verdict from a jury in a fraud case where he was on the trial team, according to two people familiar with the US Attorney's Office.

Separately, White is a supervisor on Superior Court cases and was a US Marine.

A Justice Department spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday following the suspensions: "While we don't comment on personnel decisions, we want to make very clear that we take violence and threats of violence against law enforcement, current or former government officials extremely seriously. We have and will continue to vigorously pursue justice against those who commit or threaten violence without regard to the political party of the offender or the target."

The spokesperson declined to clarify if the comments were about Taranto's 2023 actions toward Obama, or his participation in the Capitol riot in 2021, in which a mob of Trump supporters injured multiple people, including many police protecting the federal building.

The move by Justice Department officials to place the two attorneys on leave and erase all mention of Trump posting Obama's address or Taranto's participation in the events of January 6 comes at a time when administration officials have already worked to fire scores of federal prosecutors and officers they see as potential roadblocks in their efforts to use the DOJ against political opponents.

Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia were recently pushed out of the Justice Department after failing to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James and many prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases were removed from the DC US Attorney's office earlier this year.

Taranto sentenced to 21 months

When Taranto was initially investigated, one source said, he had been on federal law enforcement radar because he had been at the January 6 riot. But federal authorities focused on him after he livestreamed a video in 2023 where he threatened bombing federal facilities, and law enforcement then arrested him near Obama's Washington address.

Taranto was arrested that day and law enforcement officials found guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his van. He was later found guilty by Nichols of several gun related charges and making false threats that he would drive a car bomb into a federal building.

The DOJ continued to seek the 27-month sentence originally sought by White and Valdivia, who said in court documents that Taranto has also made threats against former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Maryland Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin.

Taranto's attorney asked the court to sentence him to time served in jail already, with no further detention. The defence attorney, Carmen Hernandez, has asked for rehabilitation that the court could order, noting Taranto's past military service and post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis, according to a filing on Thursday.

Typically, a defendant's history and characteristics become part of court arguments for or against leniency when a judge decides a sentence.

At a hearing Thursday, Nichols sentenced Taranto to 21 months in prison, essentially covered by time served.

Nichols found that Taranto "made troubling statements" in his online livestream but noted he had no criminal history and his conduct "was far from egregious."

Taranto spoke briefly during Thursday's hearing, not to apologise for his conduct but to highlight a book on the 1787 constitutional convention and mention that some people questioned the results of the 2020 election.

"I would like to keep people's minds open," he concluded.

The judge also said he thought the two prosecutors placed on leave "upheld the highest standard" throughout the case.

"My view is that they did a commendable and exceptional job," Nichols said of the prosecutors, adding that he felt "they did a truly excellent job in this case."

White and Valdivia attended Taranto's sentencing and declined to comment.

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What to get the man who has everything, including his own Boeing 747 and a set of nuclear launch codes?

The conundrum of the diplomatic gift has preoccupied foreign leaders and their envoys in Washington for decades, never more so than when US President Donald Trump is in office.

Prone to flattery and enamoured by gold, Trump has inspired gifts both outlandish and personal, touching and – in at least one case – slightly macabre.

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Across Asia this week, Trump received presents that had been carefully selected by new leaders eager to solidify their relationships with their most powerful, and often rather temperamental, ally.

Their choices reflected the deliberate calculations leaders make as they work to demonstrate respect and create a surprise while also showing they understand the recipient — who can be highly attuned to how he's treated.

The hope is that their efforts will inspire a degree of goodwill that might translate, eventually, into favourable trade deals or new pledges of security cooperation. At a minimum, it makes for a good photo-op.

US ethics laws mean the gifts are actually the property of the American public, and are usually handed over to the General Services Administration, though a president can purchase them back at market value. Democrats accused Trump of failing to properly account for some gifts received during his first term.

Wherever they end up, the gifts Trump has received during his second term reflect how eager his counterparts are to leave a good impression.

Here are some of them.

A golden pager from Netanyahu

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid his first visit to the White House this year in February, he presented Trump with a gold-plated pager — the same devices Israel had rigged with explosives to maim and kill Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon last year.

Trump privately said he found the gift slightly off-putting, a person familiar with his comments said.

A world boxing title belt from Zelenskyy

For his first visit with Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brought with him the World Boxing Championship belt won by the Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk last year.

The colourful gold belt, which sat propped on one of the end tables as the two men's meeting devolved into a shouting match, went unmentioned during the talks, glinting under the lights.

A luxury Boeing from Qatar

Qatar's donation in May of a $US400 million ($610 million) luxury Boeing 747 to serve as the new Air Force One, which outshines most other gifts, generated enormous controversy.

The plane will eventually be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation, the president has said.

Another Nobel nomination from Milei

A string of world leaders has arrived at the White House with a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, a gift bearing no monetary worth but holding immense value to Trump.

Argentinian President Javier Milei gifted Trump a gold-framed Nobel Peace Prize nomination letter during his visit to the White House in October. Trump, meanwhile, threw his support behind a $20 billion lifeline from the US for Argentina's economy.

A gold crown from Lee

On his visit to South Korea, Trump received a replica of a historic golden crown from President Lee Jae Myung.

For an American leader whose opponents say he's ruling like a king, it was hardly an unsubtle gesture. "I'd like to wear it right now," Trump joked.

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A 47-year-old New Zealand woman found dead in a Phuket hotel room was on a "trip of a lifetime" as her son mourns the loss of his "best friend" – and says there is more to the case than local police say.

Karla Anne Drescher was found in bed at the hotel near Kata Beach in the tourist hot spot of Phuket on Monday.

Local outlet Phuket News reported Drescher had no signs of injury or evidence of a struggle at the time her body was found.

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Police told local media they had questioned a 49-year-old German man who was a friend of Drescher, who told officers he and the woman were drinking together at a bar before returning to a hotel room.

CCTV footage corroborated his account, police said.

Prescription medicines and alcohol were found at the scene, and the German man reportedly told police that Drescher "consumed a large amount of alcohol".

"We had another drink in the room… sex and went to sleep. Around noon I I woke up when cleaning staff knocked on the door.

"When I went to wake her, she wasn't breathing."

A preliminary forensic exam suggested that a combination of prescribed medicine and excessive alcohol may have lead to respiratory failure, Phuket News reported.

Drescher had likely been dead for eight to 10 hours before her body was discovered.

Drescher's distraught son Travis Deveraux, 21, told the NT News he was worried when he didn't get a text message back from her.

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He said he spoke with his mum multiple times every day, especially while she was holidaying solo.

"[I received] no contact from police or anyone … I called her hotel where she was staying and they said, 'Have the police not contacted you? Sadly, she has passed.'"

He said the way he learned of her death was "very wrong" and told the publication he believes there is more to what happened than police are revealing.

"I have no idea who the German is … she sent me photos of her having drinks the night before and never said anything about him," Deveraux said.

He has set up a fundraising page, saying he needed help to cover the cost of getting his mum home, and for a celebration of her life.

Drescher had lived in Darwin, Australia, for 25 years but was originally from Stratford, Taranaki.

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'Bucket list'

The day Drescher left her Darwin home for her Phuket trip, a friend posted to her Facebook page: "Trip of a lifetime! I hope you're ready for an adventure!"

"Enjoy your trip Karla. You certainly deserve it, " another friend wrote.

Drescher chronicled her Thai adventure on the page, showing off her time enjoying spa treatments and a visit to elephant sanctuary.

She shared a series of photos from Maya Bay, on the island of Ko Phi Phi Le, the location used in the hit Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach.

She wrote that the trip has been on her "bucket list" and "it did not disappoint".

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok was providing assistance to the family of a New Zealander who died in Thailand.

The case remains under investigation.

This article originally appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.

An Australian YouTube family with almost 1.8 million followers have moved to the UK to avoid the upcoming social media ban for under-16s.

From December 10, children and teenagers under the age of 16 will not be allowed to have accounts on a number of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snpachat, TikTok, X and YouTube.

Western Australia's Empire Family, made up of mums Beck and Bec Lea, 17-year-old son Prezley and 14-year-old Charli, revealed their decision in a video posted to their main channel.

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The family's main YouTube channel has a collective 1.79 million subscribers, while Prezley's individual YouTube account has gained 2.8 million subscribers.

Charli has just under 550,000 subscribers on YouTube and almost 330,000 followers on a TikTok account managed by her parents.

The 14-year-old's accounts would be impacted by the upcoming ban.

"They haven't defined it exactly, of how it's going to work yet, but at the moment no under 16s are allowed to have social media, it's a protective thing," mum Beck told subscribers.

"We understand that it is protecting young people from harm on the internet, but we use the internet for good.

"When we were looking at it, we were going to go travelling anyway, so we were like 'this is perfect' because we have dual citizenship and British passports.

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"We've been wanting to travel for a while so now we go to the UK, we can still use our social media, Charlotte can still use her social media, Prezley is over 16, but it just kind of covers us while Australia figures out the logistics of that rule.

"I think there's going to be a lot of hiccups and a lot of ups and downs.

"We've got a massive UK audience, we've got our passports, so we thought why not?"

The family said they weren't against the social media ban and understood the proposed benefits.

"We understand that it's very important, that there's young people that are affected negatively from social media," Beck said.

"We're not naive to that, it's just that how it affects us and the way we use social media, where we would get caught up."

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Bunnings and Kmart retail workers are facing more than 1000 physical assaults and threats from customers every month, with weapons involved in some cases.

The shocking figure was revealed yesterday by the retail giants' parent company, Wesfarmers.

Speaking at the group's annual general meeting, chief executive Rob Scott said incidents involving threats of serious harm in Bunnings stores jumped by 66 per cent while those at Kmart rose 29 per cent.

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Shareholders heard there were 13,500 instances of customers threatening workers in the conglomerate's retail stores over 12 months.

From more than 1000 of those incidents, physical assault or a serious threat of harm, often involving a weapon, were recorded.

Scott said the company has beefed up security at high-risk locations, trained workers in de-escalation tactics and introduced body-worn cameras.

In an effort to combat the crisis, information had been shared with peer retailers, governments and police.

"We support sensible reform, including tougher, nationally consistent penalties for violent retail crime and a national conversation to enable controlled, responsible use of technology to exclude known violent offenders from retail environments," Scott said.

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The concerning Wesfarmers' figures coincided with new research showing Victoria was the country's retail crime hotspot, with many residents blasting the state government for a lack of action.

The report by the Australian Retailers Association and National Retail Association found 79 per cent of Victorians were concerned over crime in stores and businesses.

Almost 90 per cent backed tougher penalties against offenders harming or threatening retail workers in the state.

The government of Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen has made bail laws tougher, but has come under fire from not doing more to target repeat offenders who threaten or attack retail workers.

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Showers and storms are forecast for Australia's south-east today, but it's only the beginning of nearly a week of wild weather.

Isolated showers and storms are expected across northern and eastern Queensland today, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with some scattered storms in the south-west as well.

Damaging winds and hail are possible in the state's south-east.

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Brisbane itself faces showers and the risk of a severe storm in the afternoon or evening.

In New South Wales, western storms will move into the state's centre and east through the day, and become more widespread in the south.

"There's a risk of severe thunderstorms throughout the north-east, bringing damaging winds and large hail," Bureau meteorologist Sarah Scully said.

"Daytime temperatures will be near average along the coast but up to eight degrees above average in the far west."

Sydney will see "a shower or two" and a possible storm later in the day.

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Victoria is in for a soaking as western showers expand to cover the state, with potential thunderstorms in the west and central regions.

Weatherzone has reported a "volatile" six-day period is incoming, with "daily rain and severe thunderstorm activity" in Queensland and NSW particularly.

The weekend will see storm activity increase, the weather reporting website warned.

"Saturday's storms will be most active between central eastern Queensland and central NSW, which could include both Brisbane and Sydney," Weatherzone's Ben Domensino wrote.

"Supercell thunderstorms are possible on Saturday, and isolated tornadoes can't be ruled out."

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The blustery, stormy weather is set to expand to include the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory early next week.

"Some areas of eastern Australia have a chance of seeing thunderstorms every day for the next six days, with severe storms possible each day," Domensino wrote.

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