A man has been charged with murder as police search for the body of a man who was last seen near Toowoomba in Queensland more than two weeks ago.

Detectives charged 45-year-old Crows Nest man Shaun Smoothy with the murder of 48-year-old Paul Woods yesterday.

Woods' disappearance was first reported to police on Tuesday, October 14.

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However, Detective Inspector Ryan Harmer said he may have come into trouble a week earlier.

"We've been unable to establish any proof of life from Paul on the fifth," Harmer said.

"We've spoken to witnesses who have led us to believe that this is obviously a homicide investigation."

Police have since established crime scenes at Woods' home in Hampton, as well as Smoothy's property in Cressbrook Creek.

The dog squad, police divers and the SES were called in to assist with the search of the large rural property today where police allege Woods was killed and his body dismembered.

"At the end of the day, the forensic examination is in its early stages, so we still have a number of days yet to be able to search that property thoroughly," Harmer said.

Smoothy is understood to be a house re-stumper and avid hunter.

Police say they believe the two men knew each other.

"We believe that they know each other, we are still trying to investigate the relationship," Harmer said.

Police say Woods was last seen more than two weeks ago, riding an unregistered blue and white Yamaha 450 motorbike on Saturday afternoon, October 5, between the Hampton and Cressbrook Creek area.

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The motorbike remains missing.

Anyone with information or CCTV or dashcam of the motorbike in the Hampton, Crows Nest and Cressbrook Creek areas between October 5 and 6 is urged to contact police.

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A glitch at an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centre in the US left millions around the world unable to access half the internet, but how exactly did it cause the widespread disruption?

AWS recorded "increased error rates" yesterday evening that continued for more than 15 hours, affecting some of the most popular social media platforms, websites and online services.

It has been described as the largest disruption since the CrowdStrike outage of 2024.

As services return to normal, here is everything we know about what caused yesterday's mammoth shutdown.

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What is Amazon Web Services?

Let's start at basics.

AWS is a subsidiary of billionaire Jeff Bezos' Amazon and the world's most broadly adopted cloud service — a way of storing files and applications over the internet rather than on physical devices.

It provides power, storage and databases to companies, universities and governments.

"We offer the greatest choice of innovative cloud capabilities and expertise, on the most extensive global infrastructure with industry-leading security, reliability, and performance," AWS says on its website. 

AWS controls more than 41 per cent of the global market, with Microsoft and Google as the next biggest competitiors.

With some of the world's largest companies relying on the service, it's no surprise that a glitch would cripple half the internet. 

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What is the current status of the AWS outage? 

Amazon said it first began seeing errors to AWS services about 5.50pm AEDT yesterday.

Three hours later, the underlying issue was located and crews saw "significant signs of recovery".

Amazon later said it was still experiencing "significant API errors and connectivity issues across multiple services" and began investigating the "root cause".

About 9am today, all AWS services returned to normal and the operation issue has been marked as resolved.

What caused the AWS outage?

AWS' DynamoDB is a database that hosts information for companies, including customer data.

This was failing to work because of an error to the domain name system (DNS) at its data centre in northern Virginia — one of the most important cloud hubs in the world.

DNS is the service that translates internet addresses into machine-readable IP addresses that connects browsers and apps with websites and online services.

Essentially, it acts as a phonebook, connecting devices to servers.

Any errors can disrupt the translation process and, therefore, interrupt the connection.

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What websites and apps were down because of the outage?

DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, recorded more than 11 million reports to hundreds of services.

Social media and chat platforms Snapchat, Reddit, Signal and Whatsapp were affected.

Users reported outages to Disney+, 9Now, Hinge, Tinder, Coinbase, Robinhood, Life360, Tidal, EA Games, Roblox, Fortnite, Venmo, Xero Canva, Slack, Zoom, and Duolingo.

Starbucks, DoorDash and Lyft confirmed briefly seeing issues.

Amazon's own website, PrimeVideo and Alexa also faced problems.

In the United Kingdom, Lloyds Bank, the Bank of Scotland, Vodafone and BT were impacted.

Yesterday's outage is a prime example of the warnings experts have been raising for years about the potentially dire consequences of allowing a handful of companies to dominate major internet operations. 

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Has this happened in the past?

The last time there was a disruption of this magnitude was in 2024.

A faulty software update by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike impacted devices running Microsoft's Windows, which caused issues to airports, hospitals, banks and other services across the world.

This is also not the first time there has been an outage related to Amazon’s key services.

Many popular internet services and publishers were down after a brief outage in 2023.

AWS’s longest outage in recent history affected companies, from airline reservations and auto dealerships to payment apps and video streaming services, for more than five hours in late 2021.

Other major outages happened in 2017 and 2020.

— With Associated Press 

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An Australian birthing influencer has been banned from promoting her views and providing advice online following an order by Victoria's health complaints watchdog.

Emily Lal, known as "The Authentic Birthkeeper" online, is accused of breaching the health code of conduct in an Interim Prohibition Order issued by the Health Complaints Commissioner.

Lal is alleged to have "facilitated and/or participated in home births which may put both mothers and babies at risk", Health Complaints Commissioner Professor Bernice Redley said in a public warning.

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"Members of the public are encouraged not to engage with Ms Lal in relation to the provision of general health services," the warning reads.

An investigation into Lal began on October 8.

The Interim Prohibition Order was issued today and will remain in force until January 12, 2026 while an investigation is conducted unless it is revoked before that date.

"I take any alleged breach of the Code of Conduct for General Health Services extremely seriously. Where I believe there is a serious risk to the public, I do not hesitate to take action," Bernice Redley said.

"This warning and interim prohibition order have been issued to protect the health and safety of the Victorian community.

"I want to remind all Victorians that anyone providing health services must do so safely, ethically and within the limits of their training and qualifications."

Lal's social media profiles including Facebook and Instagram appear to have been taken down.

She has been described online as a supporter of "women to birth in full sovereignty and autonomy".

"She is passionate about bringing women back to themselves and bringing birth back to its roots – in the home – rejecting the current medical birth paradigm and its mistrust in women's bodies," a 2023 podcast episode featuring Lal reads.

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Officials are tracing locations visited while the cases were infectious.

Her parents say the nearly 2-year-old was bright, curious and full of love.

‘Initial reports were of ignition of grass in a carpark by a vehicle’s exhaust.’

UK prosecutors found there was evidence to charge but chose not to pursue the matter.

Warning: This story contains the name and images of a deceased Indigenous person.

A mother and two boys who died in a Gladstone house fire have been remembered as "beautiful souls".

The trio were found dead in the charred remains of a Gladstone house last Wednesday after it was destroyed by fire.

Their families released a statement today that was shared by Glenn Butcher, the member for Gladstone in Queensland's state parliament, paying tribute to Johnson, 36, and the two 12-year-old boys.

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"Three beautiful souls who were tragically taken from us on Wednesday 15th October, in Yallarm (Gladstone)," the statement began. "Jordana Johnson, Jordan Norris and Chazz Mather are our nutchum, our whanau, our family."

Johnson was remembered as a devoted mother to Jordan whose loving presence touched her friends and family.

"Jordana was a devoted mother with a big heart, her children were her world," the statement said.

"Her love extended to her family and friends and she always willing to help anyone in need."

The two boys were said "to be more than friends, they were brothers", and are remembered for their outgoing personality and fun-loving nature.

"Jordan was fun, playful and cheeky, protective of his Mum, his sisters, and his friends," the statement said.

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"Chazz was an outgoing and loving soul with a cheeky attitude who always looked out for the people he loved."

The families thanked Butcher and Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett, as well as first responders from Queensland Police and Queensland Fire Service.

They have also requested no distressing images or footage from the house fire.

A community gathering will be held at Barney Point Beach on Saturday from 9,30am AEST, where "family, friends and members of the community" will be invited to pay their respects and remember the lives of Johnson, Norris and Mather.

A GoFundMe page has also been created that has raised over $23,000 at the time of writing.

"The donations received will go directly to Jordana's two daughters to start over who lost everything of their mother's home and Chazz's mother and seven siblings as both families navigate and rebuild after such a devastating loss," the page said.

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China has accused Australia of "severely infringing" on its sovereignty, hitting back at claims of "unsafe and unprofessional" behaviour during an encounter between the two countries' air forces.

Yesterday, Defence Minister Richard Marles said a Chinese aircraft had released flares dangerously close to an Australian surveillance plane over the South China Sea.

While no one was injured in the incident, the ADF said the manoeuvre "posed a risk to the aircraft and its personnel".

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However, Beijing has since hit back at the criticism of its behaviour, claiming instead that the RAAF surveillance aircraft had "illegally" entered Chinese airspace over the Paracel, or Xisha, Islands without permission.

"Australia's actions seriously infringe upon China's sovereignty and are highly likely to lead to maritime and air incidents," Chinese Senior Colonel Li Jianjian said in a statement. 

"We urge Australia to immediately cease its infringing and provocative actions."

Beijing claims the entire South China Sea as its own territory despite an international tribunal in 2016 ruling against any legal basis to its claim of the region.

The Paracel Islands, while controlled by China, are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

Asked about the incident this afternoon, Marles reiterated that the Australian plane had been legally patrolling international airspace.

"[It] was a routine maritime surveillance patrol that happened in international airspace above international waters," he said.

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"Every moment, our crew was adhering to international law, let me be really clear about that…

"What occurred on two occasions with the release of those flares being as close as they were, were unsafe and unprofessional."

While tensions between the two countries flared earlier this year over a similar incident when a Chinese aircraft dropped flares within 30 metres of an Australian plane, also in the South China Sea, Marles said most encounters in the region occurred without issue.

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"There are a lot of interactions between the military of Australia and of China in places like the South China Sea, and the vast majority of those are safe and professional," he said.

"But where there are occurrences which are unsafe and unprofessional, we walk through a process and a procedure and we absolutely stick to that."

The timing of the encounter is unlikely to have been a coincidence, coming shortly before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's meeting with US President Donald Trump, where a critical minerals deal was signed and the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact given further backing.

Both developments came with China firmly in mind – the former looking to help the US get around Beijing's dominance of the crucial rare earths market (and the restrictions it has recently introduced), and the latter improving Australia and the US's defence presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

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Thousands of ANZ customers were unable to access their accounts for hours this afternoon due to an outage which hit several of the bank's services.

Customers first reported issues on outage website Down Detector and ANZ's social media accounts from about 12.30pm (AEST).

An ANZ spokesperson said in a statement at 2.30pm (AEST) the issue had since been resolved.

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"For a short period this afternoon customers may have experienced issues with some services including ANZ App and Internet Banking," a spokesperson said.

"We apologise for any inconvenience."

Customers who logged into internet banking were met with an error message.

"We are working to resolve this as soon as possible and apologise for the inconvenience this is causing," the error message said during the outage.

"ANZ ATMs and EFTPOS facilities continue to be available during this time."

During the outage, customers took to social media to detail their difficulties with accessing services.

"I can't pay after my grocery shopping, I can't get into my ANZ app," one customer said.

"App isn't working, lucky I have cash," another customer said.

It is unknown the outage is linked to a technical issue with Amazon Web Services.

Last night some of the world's biggest websites and apps were impacted by the widespread outage including Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite and Duolingo.

Reports of problems with the hugely popular services began to surge between 6pm and 7pm yesterday and remained high for more than an hour in many cases.

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