Major Madeleine McCann claim in court, Qantas warning ahead of strike: Australia news live

Well this is a crossover we weren't expecting. Hailey Welch and Bob Hawke combining, who would have thought.

She's the American nobody who gained international fame from simply answering a vox pop question with 'Hawk Tuah'... you can probably see where this is going.

Yep, the Bob Hawke College in Perth, named after the late and popular former PM, has been renamed the Bob Hawk Tuah College on Google Maps... not officially, of course. It's likely thanks to a cheeky tech-savvy hacker with the school yet to address the change.

It's going to be a damp few days for millions across Australia's east coast, with NSW's northern coastline in for a particularly wet ride.

An upper-level trough interacting with a feed of tropical moisture is to blame, Weatherzone says, with Friday and Saturday predicted to bring plenty of rain and strong winds along the coast.

"A brisk southerly change has also been making its way up the NSW coast on Thursday morning, whipping up huge waves and causing temperatures to plummet," it said.

Coastal towns from Port Macquarie up to Byron could cop more than 100mm by Saturday.

Two plane passengers on a flight have been injured after a pilot was forced to take action after receiving a warning about a potential collision with a nearby aircraft.

United Airlines says as flight 2428 from Newark, New Jersey, was descending into San Francisco International Airport last Thursday, it “slowed its descent to account for another aircraft at a lower altitude.”

The passengers were taken to hospital, one in a serious condition. The pilot had received an onboard midair collision warning.

Read more here.

Women living in NSW will now have better access to the contraceptive pill without having to visit their doctor to refill their script.

From Saturday, trained NSW pharmacists will be able to offer women who have used oral contraception for the last two years the pill.

It comes after a 12-month trial in which more than 500 pharmacies delivered more than 2000 consultations to women in NSW.

Women who have used oral contraception for the past two years and require a script refill will be able to get a supply for up to 12 months from a trained pharmacist without having to visit their doctor for a prescription.

The NSW government will also expand the age eligibility criteria of the service from 18-35 years old to 18-49 years old so women aged between 40 and 49 years will be able to access supply for up to three months.

Minister for Women Jodie Harrison called the move a "real win for women" and helped alleviate workloads of GPs.

Read more here.

Thousands of Australian homes are at risk from coastal erosion but I can't remember seeing anything quite like this footage from the US.

Take a look at this video from Rodanthe in North Carolina where a home on stilts collapses into the ocean. It was the third in the area to go in the last week alone.

It wasn't long ago those houses were protected by sand dunes but coastal erosion has eaten away at those bringing the coastline inland, with experts fearing the issue will only worsen as a result of climate change.

It's a pretty big get for the AFL landing Katy Perry for the grand final – but she doesn't come cheap.

The A-lister is reportedly set to earn $5 million from the appearance, $1 million per song performed, the Herald Sun reports.

So is she worth it? Have your say below.

It's probably no surprise to anyone that Aldi has once again topped the list as cheapest supermarket.

The findings came from the second government-funded quarterly supermarket report by consumer group CHOICE and they were found to be a "clear leader".

In terms of the big two, Coles came out on top, with a standard basket of everyday staples coming in $2.15 more expensive at Woolworths.

This is how the supermarkets stacked up for a besket of 14 everyday grocery items.

Aldi: $50.79

Coles: $66.22

Woolworths: $68.37

Read more from Yahoo Finance here.

Water not far from Sydney's iconic Harbour Bridge has turned bright green but Fire and Rescue NSW insists the discolouration isn't toxic.

Firies say it's hard to tell what has caused the colour change in the water at Milson Park in Kirribilli but one theory is a Year 12 muck-up day stunt is to blame, Nine reported.

Whatever it is, the following picture is certainly striking.

A notorious murderer who battered a teenage boy to death after raping him has been killed while serving a long jail stint for the "brutal and horrific" attack.

Aymen Terkmani has died in the maximum-security Lithgow Correctional Centre after an assault on Wednesday that left the 31-year-old critically injured.

The inmate was given medical help, but paramedics declared him dead, Corrective Services NSW said in a statement on Thursday.

Prison authorities and NSW Police are investigating the incident.

Terkmani was serving a minimum 33-year sentence for the 2015 murder and sexual assault of 16-year-old Mahmoud Hrouk.

The teenager's brother spotted his bloodied, half-naked body through the window of an abandoned home in Sydney's Fairfield East the day after Mahmoud told his mother in a cut-off call that he was with his "friend Aymen".

Terkmani's sentencing judge, NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum, said the then-21-year-old subjected the youth to "unspeakable violence" before he died.

"The offender subjected the victim to the most brutal and horrific attack, inflicting injuries too numerous to list and too gruesome to describe," Justice McCallum said as she sentenced him to a maximum term of 45 years.

Prosecutors had called for Terkmani to receive a life sentence.

- AAP

Donald Trump has told American women "I will be your protector" – and as you can imagine, it hasn't gone down too well.

“You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer be in danger. You’re not gonna be in danger any longer,” Trump said while campaigning in Pennsylvania.

Women and politics expert Debbie Walsh from Rutgers University said Trump's words and delivery were "patronising" and he clearly "doesn't understand" the lives of many American women.

Co-host of Morning Joe on MSNBC Mika Brzezinski offered a less-than-charitable reading.

"No, thank you. We don’t need that. Women like their rights, and they like their access to healthcare, and they like someone who tells the truth and doesn't lie constantly," she said on Tuesday’s program.

And in a biting and sarcastic piece for the Washington Post, columnist Alexandra Petri mused about Trump’s promises to women should he be reelected.

“Now, Donald Trump is back and you are not thinking about anything. All your anxieties are gone, now that men are handling all the country’s problems,” she wrote. “It would have been a mistake to put a woman in charge! Fortunately, that did not happen. Fortunately, Donald Trump is guarding you. You are guarded! You are not worrying your pretty little head.”

Read more from Yahoo US here.

A renewed search for the body of missing mum Samantha Murphy continues today as police shared more details about the difficult conditions search crews were facing.

Victoria Missing Person Squad detectives were joined by NSW specialist officers and Australian Federal Police at the Grenville Recreation Reserve on Wednesday.

About 45 officers set out on a large-scale search for Ms Murphy with horses, dogs and motorbikes to explore a “super dangerous” area with lots of unidentified mines.

Inspector Dave Dunstan said police had been combing different areas within a 3km radius of rugged terrain on and off for the past six weeks.

He said search crews faced dangerous conditions and had been hindered by bad weather.

“The danger is there are a lot of mines here as well and that’s one of the reasons we’ve brought out search and rescue,” he told reporters.

Inspector Dunstan said authorities were searching a “number of different areas”. Members of the public have turned out at various police-led searches for Ms Murphy, but this week police are saying civilians should steer clear.

Film star Michael Douglas has turned 80 and his wife, fellow Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones, has shared with fans just exactly what her present for him is.

Sharing a photo of herself completely nude while standing at a bathroom mirror on Instagram, the 55-year-old claimed it was her "birthday suit" on a day the pair both celebrated their birthdays.

"After over 25 years of sharing my birthday day with my husband, I am running out of gift ideas! This is gift option two, golf balls being option one… of course," she wrote.

Plenty of fans were in awe of her appearance while some questioned whether the revealing post was a step too far.

Travellers across Australia are being warned Qantas strike action beginning today could have huge implications in the coming weeks.

Qantas union workers will walk off the job at Melbourne Airport, in what is the first step in a larger nationwide strike against the airline giant.

The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance, a union made up of the Australian Workers Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and Electrical Trades Union, said the industrial action would begin in Melbourne and then spread to all major airports across the country over the next two weeks.

“It is highly likely to affect Qantas flights in all major capitals,” the union said on Wednesday evening.

AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy said the airline’s engineers were “undervalued, underpaid and under-appreciated”.

“If you’ve had a bad Qantas experience, well that’s nothing compared to how Qantas makes their workers feel every day,” he said.

Read more here.