Police were called to Matua, Tauranga, after the package was reported just before midday.

Paul Goldsmith voices concerns over New Zealand developing a ‘bespoke’ legal system.

More than 1000 people have packed into a church in Melbourne's north-west to farewell a 15-year-old boy who was allegedly murdered earlier this month.

Mourners wore all white, shed tears and shared memories of Dau Akueng at the memorial service held at Resurrection Catholic Church at Kings Park this morning.

The promising basketball player was returning home from training with his 12-year-old friend Chol Achiek in Cobblebank on September 6 when they were allegedly killed in a machete attack streets away from their homes.

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Dau's uncle Akolda Bil described the 15-year-old as someone who "brought joy to everyone around him".

"It is beyond devastating that his life has been cut from us so short," he said.

Dau's cousin Bakhita Chol described the positive impact the teenager had on everyone around him.

"He had a light inside him that drew people in and made them feel special," Chol said.

Dau's funeral comes one day after the memorial service of his 12-year-old friend.

The community was left reeling in the wake of the boys' deaths and tributes remain at the spots where both of the boys died.

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Police allege the pair are innocent victims who were caught up in Victoria's youth crime crisis.

Five teenagers have been charged with the murder of Dau, including a 19-year-old Thornhill man, two 16-year-old boys and two 15-year-old boys.

Three teenagers have been charged with the murder of Chol, including a 19-year-old Caroline Springs man, an 18-year-old Wollert man and a 16-year-old boy.

Police have also increased patrols in the Cobblebank area following the alleged murders.

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South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley says the community feels closure is a ‘done deal’.

The decision puts New Zealand out of step with Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump says he sees recognition of a Palestinian state as a ‘reward’ for Hamas.

Simon Wilson talks transport, housing, floods and the city’s future with Auckland Mayor.

A 17-year-old boy has been charged following a crash that left a 51-year-old pedestrian with serious injuries before the teen allegedly attempted to flee the scene in Brisbane's south-east.

At around 8.30pm, officers were alerted to a Holden Commodore that had allegedly hit two parked cars and a 51-year-old pedestrian on James Street in Beenleigh.

The 17-year-old driver from Yarrabilba was alleged to have attempted to flee on foot before being found a short distance away from the scene.

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The 51-year-old pedestrian from Rathdowney sustained serious leg conditions and was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition.

The teen was charged with one count of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing grievous bodily harm.

He will face Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Monday.

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US Congressional Democrats have released daily schedules belonging to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 2014 to 2019, which show Epstein had plans to meet with Republican donors Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and conservative commentator Steve Bannon.

The documents, which Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said came from Epstein's estate in response to a congressional subpoena, also showed Britain's Prince Andrew flew on Epstein's private jet in 2000.

There were no accusations of any wrongdoing by Musk, Thiel, Bannon or Andrew in the documents released on Friday. The daily calendars do not indicate whether Epstein's meetings with Musk, Thiel and Bannon in fact took place.

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In an X post on Friday referencing a news story about the documents' release, Musk wrote: "This is false."

A spokesperson for Thiel and lawyers who have represented Bannon and Andrew did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

President Donald Trump has been facing criticism in recent months from his conservative base and congressional Democrats over his administration's handling of the Epstein case.

The Justice Department in early July said it would not make public files from its sex trafficking investigation into Epstein, reneging on earlier promises from Trump and his allies to do so.

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The Democrats said the documents showed Epstein was friends with "some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world," and called on the Justice Department to release all the documents from its probe.

"Oversight Democrats will not stop until we identify everyone complicit in Epstein's heinous crimes," Sara Guerrero, a spokesperson for the committee, said in a press release accompanying the documents.

FBI Director Kash Patel said in congressional testimony earlier this month that there was no credible information that Epstein trafficked women and underage girls to anyone but himself.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, to which he had pleaded not guilty.

The calendar entries for Epstein's meetings with Musk, Thiel and Bannon referenced periods that came after he pleaded guilty to state-level prostitution charges in 2008 but before he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019.

One calendar entry dated December 6, 2014, reads: "Reminder: Elon Musk to island December 6 (is this still happening?)." Epstein at the time owned a private island in the US Virgin Islands, where many women say Epstein abused them.

The documents released on Friday included a passenger list showing Britain's Prince Andrew flew on Epstein's private jet from the New York area to Palm Beach, Florida, on May 12, 2000, with Epstein and his longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell.

Flight logs presented as evidence during Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking trial showed Andrew had flown on Epstein's plane on other occasions.

Andrew in 2022 settled a US lawsuit brought by the late Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent accusers. In the lawsuit, Giuffre accused Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager. Andrew has denied wrongdoing and said he regrets his past association with Epstein.

Maxwell was convicted of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse, and is serving a 20-year sentence. She had pleaded not guilty and is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.

READ MORE: Netanyahu says Israel 'must finish the job' against Hamas in Gaza

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken aim at Anthony Albanese's decision to recognise Palestine, warning that a two-state solution will never happen.

Speaking in front of the United Nations, Netanyahu lambasted countries, including Australia, for the recent decision.

"I have a message for these leaders," he said.

"When the most savage terrorists on earth are irrefutably praising your decision, you didn't do something right, you did something wrong."

The Israeli Prime Minister's speech was broadcast live across Gaza after IDF soldiers set up speakers across the strip.

Israel's Prime Minister was defiant as he recounted the events of October 7 and listed off the nation's military achievements in the nearly two years since.

Encircled by critics and protesters at the United Nations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders that his nation "must finish the job" against Hamas in Gaza, giving a defiant speech despite growing international isolation over his refusal to end the devastating war.

"Western leaders may have buckled under the pressure," he said.

"And I guarantee you one thing: Israel won't."

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He spoke after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the UN General Assembly hall en masseon Friday as he began.

Responding to countries' recent decisions to recognise Palestinian statehood, Netanyahu said: "Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere."

"It will be a mark of shame against all of you."

As the Israeli leader spoke, unintelligible shouts echoed around the hall. Applause rang out in other quarters as he spoke.

The US delegation, which has backed Netanyahu in his campaign against Hamas, stayed put.

The few world powers in attendance, the United States and the United Kingdom, did not send their most senior officials or even their UN ambassador to their section. Instead, it was filled out with more junior, low-level diplomats.

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"Anti-semitism dies hard. In fact, it doesn't die at all," Netanyahu said. Netanyahu routinely accuses his critics of antisemitism.

Netanyahu faces international isolation, accusations of war crimes and growing pressure to end a conflict he has continued to escalate. Friday's speech was his chance to push back on the international community's biggest platform.

As he has often in the past at the United Nations, Netanyahu held up a visual aid — a map of the region titled "THE CURSE."

He marked it up with a large marker.

He ascended the podium wearing a special hostages pin with a QR code that leads to a site about Oct. 7 that was established specially for international public diplomacy needs.

The members of the prime minister's delegation, ministers and those accompanying him also wore identical pins.

Netanyahu also frequently praised President Donald Trump, his chief ally in his political and military approach in the region.

Netanyahu said the changes across the Mideast have created new opportunities.

He said Israel has begun negotiations with Syria aimed at reaching security arrangements with the country's new government.

Back in the Mideast, the Israeli government was taking steps to ensure that those in Gaza and others heard what he had to say.

The military set up loudspeakers at the Israel-Gaza border to blast his words into the territory.

And in an "unprecedented operation," the prime minister's office said the Israeli army would take over the mobile phones of Gaza residents and Hamas operatives and his speech would be broadcast live through the mobile devices.

It was not immediately clear if that happened, or to what extent.

AP journalists inside Gaza saw no immediate evidence of Netanyahu's speech being broadcast on phones there.

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A closely watched speech

Netanyahu's annual speech to the UN General Assembly is always closely watched, often protested, reliably emphatic and sometimes a venue for dramatic allegations.

But this time, the stakes are higher than ever for the Israeli leader.

In recent days, Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and others announced their recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

The European Union is considering tariffs and sanctions on Israel.

The assembly this month passed a nonbinding resolution urging Israel to commit to an independent Palestinian nation, which Netanyahu has said is a non-starter.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant accusing Netanyahu of crimes against humanity, which he denies.

And the UN's highest court is weighing South Africa's allegation that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, which it vehemently refutes.

Against that backdrop, Netanyahu sounded resolute on Thursday as he boarded a plane in Israel to head for the UN's annual meeting of top-level leaders in New York.

"I will tell our truth," Netanyahu said. "I will condemn those leaders who, instead of condemning the murderers, rapists and burners of children, want to give them a state in the heart of Israel."

Opposition to Netanyahu's approach is growing

At a special session of the assembly this week, nation after nation expressed horror at the 2023 attack by Hamas militants that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, saw 251 taken hostage and triggered the war.

Many of the representatives went on to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and influx of aid.

Israel's sweeping offensive has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza and displaced 90 per cent of its population, with an increasing number now starving.

While more than 150 countries now recognise a Palestinian state, the United States has not, providing Israel with vociferous support.

But President Donald Trump pointedly signalled on Thursday there are limits, telling reporters in Washington that he wouldn't let Israel annex the occupied West Bank.

Israel hasn't announced such a move, but several leading members in Netanyahu's government have advocated doing so.

And officials recently approved a controversial settlement project that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, a move that critics say could doom chances for a Palestinian state.

Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet during his visit.

Back in the Mideast, in addition to the phone takeover, Israel said on Friday it would broadcast Netanyahu's speech from southern Israel into Gaza, carrying his remarks across the border to Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

His office "instructed civilian groups in cooperation with the army to place loudspeakers on trucks on the Israeli side of the border," it said in a statement, noting that the broadcasts would be arranged so they would not endanger soldiers.

Palestinians had their UN say the day before

Netanyahu was preceded on Thursday by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who addressed the General Assembly via video, since the US denied him a visa.

He welcomed the announcements of recognition but said the world needs to do more to make statehood happen.

"The time has come for the international community to do right by the Palestinian people" and help them realize "their legitimate rights to be rid of the occupation and to not remain a hostage to the temperament of Israeli politics," he said.

Abbas leads the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, which administers portions of the West Bank.

Hamas won legislative elections in Gaza in 2006 before seizing control from Abbas' forces the following year.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, then withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

The Palestinians want all three territories to form their envisioned state, part of a "two-state solution" that the international community has embraced for decades.

Netanyahu opposes it robustly, maintaining that creating a Palestinian state would reward Hamas.

"This will not happen," he said at the airport on Thursday.