The current vessel, the Southern Tiare, has been plagued with problems.

One flight from Auckland circled twice over Invercargill before turning back.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has penned a long and scathing message to Emma Watson after the actress attempted to publicly make peace, describing her as "ignorant" and "cushioned by wealth and fame".

In a 700-word post on X, Rowling responded to conciliatory remarks Watson recently made on a podcast after being asked about the author's controversial views on the trans community.

Watson, 35, told the Jay Shetty Podcast last week that she still "treasures" Rowling despite not agreeing with her opinions on trans rights.

READ MORE: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban split after 19 years of marriage

"I really don't believe that by having had that experience, and holding the love and support and views that I have, means that I can't and don't treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with," Watson told host Shetty.

Rowling, 60, fired off a lengthy post responding to Watson's comments and addressing her long-standing rift with some of the former child stars of Harry Potter.

"Emma and Dan [Radcliffe] in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right – nay, obligation – to critique me and my views in public," Rowling wrote.

"Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created."

Rowling said Watson "poured petrol on the flames" in 2022 when the actress said she was "here for all of the witches" during a speech at the BAFTAs.

The fantasy author recalled Watson writing her note of apology after her BAFTA speech sparked backlash against Rowling online.

"Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number)," Rowling added.

"This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety."

READ MORE: US, Israel announce Gaza peace deal – but will Hamas accept?

Rowling then took aim at Watson.

She described her as "ignorant" and said the Beauty and the Beast star has never experienced life outside of the celebrity bubble.

"Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is," Rowling continued.

"She'll never need a homeless shelter. She's never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I'd be astounded if she's been in a high street changing room since childhood.

"Her 'public bathroom' is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service?

"To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who's identified into the women's prison?"

Rowling went on to claim Watson could not advocate for trans rights and "cosy up" to the trans community and simultaneously make amends with the woman who wrote the books that "made her famous".

READ MORE: Aussie industry worth billions of dollars under threat

"Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public," she concluded.

"But I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it."

Watson has not responded to Rowling's X post.

Rowling has faced allegations of transphobia over her divisive views on gender.

Her previous remarks, which have included referring to a transgender woman as a "penised individual" and her stance against the phrase "people who menstruate", have resulted in fans boycotting Rowling's books and Harry Potter stars distancing themselves from her views.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Anaru Moana went missing in December 2021. Police say he was murdered.

Despite requests from the cabin crew for the man and woman to stop, they continued.

A man accused of deliberately setting a neighbour on fire after arguing over loud noise has been found not guilty of attempted murder.

Michael Gauci, 46, nodded and looked up at the ceiling as the Victorian Supreme Court jury handed down its verdict today.

Gauci admitted he poured a bucket of liquid on Shari Grey and fired a gunshot during the December 2022 dispute but he denied setting her alight.

READ MORE: Severe weather warning for Victoria as winds of over 100km/h batter state

He faced trial after pleading not guilty to charges of attempted murder and intentionally causing injury in circumstances of gross violence.

Gauci also denied two separate charges of reckless conduct endangering serious injury to Grey's friends during the incident.

Crown prosecutor Angela Moran alleged Gauci poured a bucket of flammable liquid over Grey early on December 28 after his wife confronted the group over loud noise they were making.

Gauci then ignited a blowtorch and set Grey's entire head and upper body on fire, the prosecutor alleged.

As Grey's friends used their bodies to put out the flames, it's alleged Gauci returned inside with his wife before leaving the scene.

Grey suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body, as well as sepsis, acute kidney injury, deep vein thrombosis and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Her friends Steve Pirangi and Stacey Morgan also suffered burns as they tried to put out the flames.

Moran said Gauci was enraged by Grey's earlier interaction with his wife and he deliberately set her on fire.

"We say that his actions that night were carefully planned and that he knew exactly what he was doing," she told the jury.

But defence barrister Dermot Dann KC argued the prosecution's case was weak and his client held no intention to kill.

"It's a case which attempts to paint a false picture of Mr Gauci as this homicidal enraged man intent on murder," he told the jury.

Grey had physically attacked Gauci's wife and Gauci threw a bucket of liquid over the women to break up the fight, Dann said.

Grey then came at Gauci and scratched at his face so he fired a shot from his rifle, the barrister told the jury.

Gauci never used a blow torch and it might have been the muzzle flash from the firearm that caused the ignition, Dann argued.

The jurors began deliberating on September 23 and delivered their not guilty verdicts to all charges this afternoon.

Gauci's supporters broke into sobs and hugged each other after the jury's decision was handed down.

When Donald Trump announced a vast swath of tariffs in April, few Australians were more nervous than cattle farmers.

Beef is Australia's biggest export to the US, and a 10 per cent tariff had the potential to seriously dampen the business.

But Trump's "Liberation Day" has been a boon to Australian beef farmers thanks to another country altogether.

READ MORE: Aussie industry worth billions of dollars under threat

In recent months, Chinese exports of American beef have dropped by 90 per cent.

And Australia is making up nearly all of the shortfall.

China has bought nearly half a billion dollars more in Aussie beef in the past five months alone.

Agricultural market analyst Matt Dalgleish said a series of American abattoirs who previously had access to China have now been blocked.

And while China appears to be closing its wallet to American exporters, they aren't willing to say so.

"They never come out and say that explicitly," Dalgleish said.

"There's always some other reason as to why they're not taking a particular product."

Many exporters know too well what happens when China is miffed at a particular country.

After the Morrison government suggested China hadn't been forthright on the origins of COVID-19, they blocked imports of Australian barley, wine and lobster.

READ MORE: US, Israel announce Gaza peace deal – but will Hamas accept?

Now the relationship between Canberra and Beijing has been largely repaired, and Australian exporters are reaping the benefits.

The other major factor in our surge in beef exports is the price.

American cattle herds are at their lowest level since the 1950s, while a series of wetter seasons in Australia has allowed farmers here to expand.

In even better news for Australian farmers, the US tariffs have not had an impact on exports to America.

The ten per cent tariff on Australian exports doesn't compare to much steeper import taxes placed on other competitors like Brazil.

Most of what Australia exports to the US is lean beef mince.

"They then blend it with their local beef to make the famous American burger patties," Dalgleish said.

"If you looked at a 10 per cent tariff applied to that ground beef, it equates to about a five-cent increase to the price of the burger.

"They're not going to notice an extra five cents on their burger."

Americans put off by high beef prices are also spending in a way that benefits Australia.

There's been a large surge in other Australian red meat to the United States, including lamb and goat.

Australia's goat meat industry is rapidly growing, and the US has become our largest customer.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The federal government will be breathing a sigh of relief after a report that the Pentagon has given the green light for the $368 billion AUKUS deal to go ahead.

Australia is set to acquire nuclear-powered (but conventionally armed) submarines under the defence agreement with the United States and United Kingdom – three to five Virginia-class subs from the US before eight newly designed and built SSN-AUKUS vessels.

There had been concerns, though, that the Pentagon would torpedo the pact when a review headed by known AUKUS sceptic Elbridge Colby, Donald Trump's undersecretary for war policy, was launched in June.

READ MORE: PM invites global retail giant to Australia to challenge Coles and Woolies

However, according to a report in Nikkei Asia this morning, the review has cleared the way for the arrangement to go ahead.

"AUKUS is safe," the publication quoted an official from one of the member countries as saying.

The Nikkei report added that there were to be no changes to the submarine delivery schedule.

This is despite concerns over whether the US can afford to give Australia any of its Virginia-class subs given it is currently lagging behind the schedule required to meet its own requirements, let alone Canberra's.

READ MORE: The millions of Australians at risk of retiring into poverty

Colby had also raised concerns about the delivery of the second-class Virginia subs given Australia would not pledge to deploy them in the event of war with China breaking out.

However, according to Nikkei Asia, the Pentagon has committed to providing Australia with those vessels, although industrial delays could push back the timeframe.

Without confirming the Nikkei report, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he was confident AUKUS would go ahead.

"The review is still ongoing, obviously, and we're not going to get ahead of ourselves," he told ABC radio. 

"I'm aware of the reports that you're referring to, but we've been engaging very well in the review. 

"The US has been very good in terms of giving us an indication of the process and allowing us to participate in it. 

"But from the outset, we've been really clear about welcoming this review. AUKUS is happening – that's not in question."

According to Nikkei Asia, Colby's review will be completed before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits the White House in late October.

READ MORE: Kerry Stokes to step down under proposed Seven, radio giant merger

The reported backing for AUKUS comes a week after King Charles told Donald Trump of its importance during the US president's state visit to the UK.

"Our countries have the closest defence, security and intelligence relationship ever known. In two world wars, we fought together to defeat the forces of tyranny," Charles said in a welcome speech during a banquet with Trump.

"Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace.

"And our AUKUS submarine partnership, with Australia, sets the benchmark for innovative and vital collaboration."

The defence deal is set to cost Australia $368 billion over 30 years.

Canberra has already invested $1.5 billion in the US submarine industry, with another $1.5 billion to follow before the end of this year.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The founder of the exclusive Lune chain of bakeries has emotionally described her battle with anorexia, how it tore through her "like a bushfire" and will stay with her for life.

WARNING: This article discusses sensitive topics about anorexia and mental health.

Kate Reid also explained how paradoxically her illness drove her to work in the food industry and has urged greater understanding for people suffering an eating disorder.

NEIL MITCHELL: Brett Sutton on why some pandemic measures were a 'waste of time'

https://omny.fm/shows/neil-mitchell-asks-why/kate-reid/embed?style=cover

In an interview in the podcast Neil Mitchell Asks Why? and in a heartfelt epilogue in her just-released memoir Destination Moon, Reid says she at times had suicidal thoughts and went through life like "a space cadet".

At one stage, her weight dropped to 40 kilograms, and although far healthier now, she is still obsessively conscious of her food and exercise.

"Anorexia tore through me like a bushfire," she writes.

"Indiscriminately taking with it everything in me that represented health, happiness and vitality, rendering my life an apparent wasteland.

"But fires don't actually destroy bushland. They promote life."

But although comparatively healthy, the battle continues.

"Even to this day, most things I eat I have subconsciously given myself prior 'permission' for.

"On the occasion I eat thoughtlessly, in a moment of greed or distraction, which is rare, I go into a spiral of guilt and self-loathing which can only be rectified by modifying my intake the following day.

"I will live with it for the rest of my life."

Reid is a self-taught baker, specialising in croissants.

Her product was once declared the "world's best croissant" by the New York Times.

She started Lune in a small shop in Elwood in Melbourne in 2012 and soon people were queuing from 3am to buy her product.

She now has three outlets in Melbourne, two in Sydney and two in Brisbane.

She also holds a degree in aerospace engineering and worked for some years as a designer with the Williams Formula 1 team.

READ MORE: Ex-SAS soldier calls for national service for every student

As she battled with anorexia, she worked in Melbourne cafes and had brief work experience in Paris.

But she was never formally trained.

She says many anorexics want to work around food.

"If I got through a full day shift and resisted eating anything, I felt so successful and self- righteous, like I'd won," she told the podcast.

"I put myself in that job because I wanted to be around food all the time because I was hungry, but I was not letting myself eat it."

"I've received countless messages from parents saying, 'My daughter,' nine times out of ten, it's, 'My daughter, my daughter is suffering from anorexia. And she's obsessed with cooking. She's obsessed with baking. She's obsessed with going to cafes.'

"It is so common."

Reid was working in the UK when anorexia developed, and says when her parents brought her back to Australia, doctors said she had six weeks to live without treatment.

She also says she had suicidal thoughts.

"It's very little known that anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

"You starve your body for long enough and your organs just start to shut down.

"So that's one way. The other is suicide.

"When I was incredibly ill, and especially when it was going untreated, the intrusive thoughts were quite severe.

"Driving down the motorway in the UK with my boyfriend, and I was driving and I just had a moment where I imagined that if I flicked the wheel into the concrete barrier in the centre, I could just end it all.

"But having that thought terrified me. So I think a true, like a true suicidal thought, is probably someone playing out that and maybe not being terrified by it.

"It's not a healthy thought regardless."

Reid, who says she still suffers debilitating panic attacks, says she has been brutally honest in the book to create a better understanding of anorexia.

"The best thing a family can do is just be there for them, go to the appointments.

"Support them.

"A parent who is actively arguing and fighting with someone is not providing that safe environment.

"I think my mum said it beautifully. She said, 'The eating isn't the problem, the eating is just a symptom of the bigger problem.'

"And it's really about finding what that problem is and then and then providing the treatment for that.

"Mum and dad weren't putting me in a position where we were fighting each other.

"They actively just nurtured.

"They provided me with a beautiful environment with which I could then reach out to the professionals who did the hard work.

"Mum and dad were the good guys and the doctors were the bad guys."

About one million Australians have some form of eating disorder, including anorexia, and despite increased attention, latest reports say the figures are increasing rapidly.

Reid describes frustrating experiences with doctors, and urges deeper understanding.

Although more than 50 per cent of anorexics make some manner of recovery, she says it has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

"A lot of people think that anorexia comes from negative body image, but one of the main drivers for it is control.

"And when someone feels like so many of their elements of their life are out of control, it's very easy to control what you put in your mouth and how much exercise you do. And both of those things have very linear results attached to them.

"So you finally feel like you're in control of something that's very visceral and obvious."

Neil Mitchell Asks Why is posted every Tuesday at 6am.

Kate Reid's book Destination Moon is available now.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

A family were left shocked after a 1.6-metre red-bellied black snake got cosy in their children's playroom in Sydney's south.

The snake slithered in through the back door into the playroom at the Kurnell home yesterday afternoon. 

It nestled itself behind a dollhouse and several toys.

READ MORE: PM invites global retail giant to Australia to challenge Coles and Woolies

"I did not want that loose in the house," the homeowner said in a social media video. 

Tyler Gibbons of Shire Snake Wranglers was called in to remove the snake and was startled to see just how big it was.

"This was one of the biggest black snakes we've seen this season," he said.

"Well over 1.6 metres and weighing more than 1.25kg." 

The snake was safely relocated. 

READ MORE: The millions of Australians at risk of retiring into poverty

The red-bellied black snake is a venomous snake indigenous to Australia and is mostly found in eastern states.

Australians are likely to be seeing more snakes around this time of year as the breeding season kicked off this month and will continue until April. 

"A good reminder to keep doors closed when possible, especially with the warmer weather bringing snakes out and about," Gibbons said. 

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.