The happiest residents in Australia have been revealed – and they don't live in Sydney or Melbourne.

A woman who admitted to drinking and who was driving well over twice the speed limit when she smashed into a golf cart, killing a bride who had just got married at a South Carolina beach, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Jamie Lee Komoroski pleaded guilty at the Charleston County courthouse to reckless homicide, felony DUI causing death and two counts of felony DUI causing great bodily injury before her sentencing.

Also hurt in the 2023 crash was the groom, Aric Hutchinson, who cried in court as he recalled the last moments he spent with Samantha Miller – some of their only moments as husband and wife.

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"On the golf cart, she told me she didn't want the night to end and I kissed her on the forehead and then the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital," Hutchinson said.

Komoroski, 27, was sentenced to the maximum of 25 years in prison for felony DUI causing death by Judge Deadra Jefferson at the Charleston County courthouse.

She also was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each count of felony DUI causing great bodily injury and 10 years for reckless homicide.

The sentences will all run at the same time.

Police said Komoroski drank at several bars on April 28, 2023, and was driving at 105kph on a narrow Folly Beach road with a speed limit of 40kph when she slammed into the golf cart leaving a wedding.

Her blood-alcohol level was 0.26 per cent, which is more than three times the legal limit to drive.

The 34-year-old bride died still wearing her wedding dress.

The groom suffered a brain injury and numerous broken bones.

The cart was thrown 91 metres by the crash.

After pleading guilty, Komoroski said she realised now she was addicted to alcohol and selfishly didn't care how her actions affected others.

She promised to spend the rest of her life helping addicts and warning of the dangers of drinking and driving.

She said she was "devastated, deeply ashamed and sorry" for what she did.

"I wish I could go back and undo this terrible tragedy. But I cannot. I will live the rest of my life with intense regret for what happened that night," she said.

She said all her work will be dedicated to Miller's memory.

"I pray God stands by the side of my victims and their families and loved ones for the rest of their lives," Komoroski said.

A number of friends and family of both Miller and Komoroski spoke at the hearing, which lasted nearly three hours.

Komoroski's supporters asked the judge to be lenient because she is young, remorseful and can still do good.

Many of Miller's family asked for a harsh sentence, saying they can never get her back and that the decisions Komoroski made that night were selfish and permanently scarred many lives.

Komoroski looked at most of Miller's family, including Hutchinson, as they spoke, occasionally wiping away tears.

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Hutchinson said he sees more doctors and therapists than he can count because of his physical injuries and the mental anguish of the crash, and that he thinks about it every single day.

"I wish I had died that night. I wish I had seen it coming. I'd have jumped off the golf cart so you would only have run me over," Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson won $863,000 in legal settlements from three bars that served Komoroski as well as her insurance firm and the company she rented her car from.

Before the sentencing, Miller's father told Komoroski he was disgusted that she appeared to never take responsibility.

He told her she could apologise, but he wouldn't listen to a word.

"The rest of my life I'm going to hate you and when I arrive in hell and you come there, I will open the door for you," Brad Warner said.

"You have ruined so many people's lives."

Telcos will soon be required to verify messages sent from brands under a new initiative launched by the Australian government to crack down on scammers.

Under the initiative, a national SMS sender ID register will be established, requiring text messages sent from trusted brands like CommBank, Linkt, or MyGov to be verified.

If the sender ID is not on the register, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will either block the SMS or include a warning.

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Communications Minister Michelle Rowland emphasised the tool was crucial in protecting Australians from "increasingly sophisticated and organised scammers".

"We've all received scam messages on our phones purporting to be from reputable sources – and it's costing Australians millions of dollars every year," Rowland said.

"This mandatory register will enable these messages to be blocked or flagged as a scam – better protecting consumers from being cheated.

"In this way, the register will also help restore trust in communications received from legitimate organisations and make Australia an even harder place for scammers to operate."

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The federal government provided $10 million for the tool in the 2023-24 Federal Budget.

The government anticipates the register will be open for registration of sender IDs from late 2025, following close consultation with telcos and the companies being impersonated.

More than $11 million has been lost due to text message scams this year, according to Scamwatch.

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The prime suspect in Melbourne's unsolved Easey Street double murders in 1977 has touched down in Doha, Qatar, as he returns to Australia.

Perry Kouroumblis, 65, was approved for extradition from Italy in late October.

Overnight, he was transferred from a maximum security prison in Rome into the custody of Victoria Police detectives.

READ MORE: Man jailed for stabbing police officer who put gun away

Kouroumblis is due to land in Melbourne this evening.

Police are set to formally question him over the murders of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett on Easey Street, Collingwood, 47 years ago.

Kouroumblis left Melbourne in 2017, after previously consenting to provide a DNA sample during a re-investigation of the case.

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He was considered a person of interest, but has never been charged.

He gave his own consent to the extradition to Australia in September, and his lawyer at the time said he maintained his innocence of the murders.

Armstrong and Bartlett, 27 and 28, were found dead in their home on January 13, 1977.

They had both suffered stab wounds and Armstrong had been raped.

Her infant son was found unharmed in his cot.

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The top United Nations court has taken up the largest case in its history, hearing the plight of several small island nations helpless in combating the devastating impact of climate change that they feel endangers their very survival. They demand that major polluting nations be held to account.

After years of lobbying by island nations who fear they could simply disappear under rising sea waters, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice last year for an opinion on "the obligations of States in respect of climate change".

Vanuatu Attorney-General Arnold Kiel Loughman said the stakes "could not be higher" as the "survival of my people and so many others is on the line".

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"As the principal legal officer of my country, I have come before this court because domestic legal remedies are unable to address a crisis of the scope and magnitude," he said on Monday during the opening session of two weeks of hearings.

"States have obligations … to act with due diligence, to prevent significant harm to the environment, to prevent, to reduce the emissions and provide support to countries like mine to protect the human rights of present and future generations," he said.

Any decision by the court would be non-binding advice and couldn't directly force wealthy nations into action to help struggling countries. Yet it would be more than just a powerful symbol since it could be the basis for other legal actions, including domestic lawsuits.

In the decade up to 2023, sea levels have risen by a global average of around 4.3 centimetres, with parts of the Pacific rising higher still. The world has also warmed 1.3 degrees since preindustrial times because of the burning of fossil fuels.

Vanuatu is one of a group of small states pushing for international legal intervention in the climate crisis but it affects many more island nations in the South Pacific.

Cynthia Houniuhi, the head of the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change that initiated the case, said climate change was undermining "the sacred contract" between generations.

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"Without our land, our bodies and memories are severed from the fundamental relationship that define who we are. Those who stand to lose are the future generations. Their future is uncertain, reliant upon the decision making of a handful of large emitting states," she told the court, referring to China, India and the United States.

Joie Chowdhury, senior attorney at the Centre for International Environmental Law, said that the conduct of major polluters responsible for the climate crisis and its catastrophic consequences is unlawful under multiple sources of international law.

Vanuatu's climate change envoy Ralph Regenvanu told the court that since 1990, emissions have increased by more than 50 per cent, reaching an all time high in 2023.

"A handful of readily identifiable states have produced the vast majority of historic and current greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

"Yet other countries, including my own, are suffering the brunt of the consequences."

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The Hague-based court will hear from 99 countries and more than a dozen intergovernmental organisations over two weeks. It's the largest lineup in the institution's nearly 80-year history.

Last month at the United Nations' annual climate meeting, countries cobbled together an agreement on how rich countries can support poor countries in the face of climate disasters. Wealthy countries have agreed to pool together at least $US300 billion ($510 billion) a year by 2035 but the total is short of the $US1.3 trillion ($2 trillion) that experts and threatened nations say isneeded.

"For our generation and for the Pacific Islands, the climate crisis is an existential threat. It is a matter of survival, and the world's biggest economies are not taking this crisis seriously. We need the ICJ to protect the rights of people at the front lines," said Vishal Prasad, of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change.

Fifteen judges from around the world will seek to answer two questions: What are countries obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions? And what are the legal consequences for governments where their acts, or lack of action, have significantly harmed the climate and environment?

The second question makes particular reference to "small island developing states" likely to be hardest hit by climate change and to "members of "the present and future generations affected by the adverse effects of climate change".

The judges were even briefed on the science behind rising global temperatures by the UN's climate change body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ahead of the hearings.

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Fifty-six people have been killed and several injured in a stampede at a football stadium in southern Guinea, following clashes between fans, the government says.

Authorities in the West African country are conducting an investigation to establish those responsible for the stampede on Sunday, Communications Minister Fana Soumah said in a statement read on national television on Monday.

Children were among those who died as security forces tried to quell clashes during a football match at a crowded stadium in southern Guinea's largest city, according to local media and a coalition of political parties.

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The stampede broke out on Sunday afternoon at the Nzerekore city during the final of a local tournament between the Labe and Nzerekore teams in honour of Guinea's military leader, Mamadi Doumbouya, Guinea's Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah said on the X platform.

The regional authorities are working to restore calm in the area, he added.

Local media reported security forces tried to use teargas to restore calm after the chaos that followed a disputed penalty.

"This (the disputed penalty) angered supporters who threw stones. This is how the security services used tear gas," the local Media Guinee reported.

It said several of those killed were children while some of the injured being treated at a regional hospital were in a critical condition.

Videos that appeared to be from the scene showed a section of the stadium shouting and protesting the refereeing before the clashes broke out as fans poured onto the field.

People were running as they tried to escape from the stadium, many of them jumping the high fence.

Videos also showed many people lying on the floor in what looked like a hospital as a crowd gathered nearby, some assisting the wounded.

The National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy coalition called for an investigation. It said the tournament was organised to drum up support for the "illegal and inappropriate" political ambition of the military leader.

Guinea has been led by the military since soldiers ousted President Alpha Conde in 2021. It is one of a growing number of West African countries, including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military has taken power and delayed a return to civilian rule.

Doumbouya overran the president three years ago, saying he was preventing the country from slipping into chaos and chastised the previous government for broken promises. He has, however, been criticised for not meeting the expectations that he raised.

Insurers are counting the cost after heavy thunderstorms smashed parts of Queensland yesterday, leaving streets and cars inundated with water.

The impact on low-lying areas caught many off-guard, including a wedding on the Gold Coast that came to an abrupt halt as a metre of water flooded through the venue.

The RACQ received 89 home insurance claims and more than 40 motor vehicle claims in the past 24 hours.

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The deluge drowned cars in Coorparoo, Woolloongabba and Stones Corner as Rosalie copped 70 millimetres in just an hour, and Holland Park recorded 33 millimetres in the same period.

Chris Chambers had just sat down for his birthday at the Norman Hotel in Woollongabba when the severe weather alert was issued.

He and others inside looked on in shock when staff attempted to save cars and bins from floating away in the car park.

"The water was just torrentially coming into the carpark from the side street and it all happened very quickly," he said.

"(Staff) were trying to push cars away from the other vehicles so they weren't bumping into each other."

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Some parts of the south-east had their wettest December day for 20 years and the Lockyer Valley further west was also drenched.

"To have that amount of rainfall falling in just that short amount of time – half an hour to an hour – definitely caused a lot of flash flooding in the area," Meteorologist Shane Kennedy said.

Security footage at an East Brisbane garage captured how quickly the water rose from trickle to torrent in less than 20 minutes.

"All of the driveways have been built up but still it affects us on the streets, the roads, the clean-up," Absolute Car Care's Steve Georgas said.

At Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast, wedding celebrations came to a grinding halt when water came flooding through the luxury venue at The Acre Boomerang Farms.

"We've lost most of our wedding venue," venue owner Stevie Filipovic said.

"If you see inside, most of the kitchen at the wedding venue is completely upside down, all of the furniture was completely swept away."

Neighbours star Ian Smith has revealed he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

"I found out a few months back that I have cancer," he told 10 News First.

"That I have a very aggressive non-fixable cancer and they expect me to, they expect me to die."

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The 86-year-old played the beloved Harold Bishop on the decades-long running soap.

He first appeared as an old partner of Neighbours character Madge Mitchell, played by Anne Charleston, in 1987.

He then left the show in 1991 before returning five years later to become one of the steadfast characters on Ramsay Street.

Smith appeared on the show recently, after it was confirmed he would return to the screen in May. 

"After 15 years of living away, the legendary Harold Bishop is returning to Erinsborough," Neighbours announced.

Just a little over a week ago, he had an emotional farewell as he departed from the show.

He was surrounded by his co-stars. 

Smith was on his last day filming on the set of Prisoner when he was offered the role of Harold on Neighbours, according to IMDB.

He was nominated for a silver and gold Logie for his work on Neighbours in 2009.

He has also appeared on Underbelly, Bellbird, Prisoner and Matlock Police. 

Researchers say violent dreams could indicate signalling issues in the brain and be a warning sign of Parkinson's disease.

John Clowes experiences random bursts of dream-enacting behaviour while he is asleep and when his muscles should be relaxing.

"I was starting to thrash around with my arms and legs in bed," he told 9News.

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"I'd wake up and could almost relive the dream. It was like a cheap Hollywood movie."

Another test uncovered that Clowes has an impaired sense of smell which can be an early predictor of Parkinson's disease.

But the biggest red flag is REM sleep behaviour disorder, which does not include sleepwalking.

"If we can't explain why somebody starts acting out their dreams after the age of 50, their chances of going on and get Parkinson's disease, or disease like Parkinson's is 140 times greater than the average person in the population," Macquarie University Professor of Cognitive Neurology Simon Lewis said.

In a world-first trial, researchers are looking at whether a pill can combat inflammation in the brain, which is a key driver of early disease.

"We want to identify a pathway to a cure so we're using a short exposure to a drug that we think will reduce the neuroinflammation," Lewis said.

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The aim of targeting this pathway is to save the cells in the brain years before motor symptoms, such as tremors and walking issues, develop.

By that stage, half of the brain's dopamine-producing cells have already been lost.

Clowes, who has a family history of Parkinson's, qualified for the trial.

"If I've got it, or if I'm going to develop it over time, better they know more about it," he said.

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A four-wheel drive has gone off the road and smashed into a bakery, narrowly missing a barista north of Sydney.

A man had bought a coffee from the Sunrise Cafe in Warriewood today and hopped back into his car.

But moments later, he suddenly went about 15 metres off the road.

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"Obviously sent everybody running," a witness told 9News.

"We've come from out here, we've seen that the car has threaded through a parked car and mounted the kerb."

The car then flew backwards through the glass window of the bakery on Narrabeen Park Parade just before 10am.

It narrowly missed a barista, who jumped out of the way. 

No one was injured. The driver, cafe staff and locals were all left surprised but safe. 

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The business and car bore the brunt of the damage. 

"There's been a lot of damage to the furniture and windows, it was with some force that he actually hit it," the witness said.

Police said the driver was comforted by witnesses and paramedics and won't be charged.

"He was quite shaken," the witness said.

"It's really with the insurance company now to hopefully have us up and running again soon."