Live updates: Australian economist jailed in Myanmar; Hurricane Ian batters Florida: Rapper Coolio dies

We'll wrap up the 9News.com.au live blog for Thursday, September 29, 2022 now.

Here's what happened today.

Coolio, the rapper best known for the 1990s hit Gangsta's Paradise, has died aged 59.

Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the US, is battering Florida.

An Australian economist has been jailed for three years in Myanmar.

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones has met the ACCC, banks and regulators to discuss how they can keep consumers hit by the Optus breach safe.

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children under five years has been provisionally approved.

And the NSW premier will try and convince state and territory leaders to drop the mandatory COVID-19 isolation period at a national cabinet meeting on Friday.

We'll be back tomorrow to take you through the day's breaking news.

Until then visit nine.com.au and 9news.com.au or download the 9news app.

The New South Wales premier will try and convince state and territory leaders to drop the mandatory COVID-19 isolation period at a national cabinet meeting on Friday.

Dominic Perrottet flagged his wish on Thursday, saying "It's always a balance between the public health, broader health issues like mental health, social wellbeing and economic and financial issues facing people across our state."

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Residents of a small South Australian town have been told they can return home after a dam threatened to inundate homes.

About 40 properties were in the firing line.

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Small planes have been flipped over, traffic lights flattened, businesses wrecked and house inundated with water as Hurricane Ian hits Florida.

See the latest pictures of the devastation here.



From this Saturday no one under 16 in Western Australia will be allowed to buy nitrous oxide canisters - known colloquially as "nangs".

While they have "legitimate medical purposes" such as being used as anaesthetic, people are known to inhale them which has a range of health risks.

The WA government is also consulting with key groups on whether further restrictions on their purchase can be imposed.

These include looking at limits on the number of canisters that can be bought, restricting time of purchase and putting in place a delay of 24 hour from purchase to dispatch if they're bought online.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the state has an issue with young people misusing them and hopes this will stop them being so readily available.

Food outlets will still be able to sell them as they are often used in cooking.

A court in military-ruled Myanmar has convicted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in another criminal case on Thursday and sentenced Australian economist Sean Turnell to three years in prison for violating an official secrets law.

Suu Kyi received a three-year sentence after being tried and convicted with Turnell under the secrets act, an official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to release information about the case.

Three members of Suu Kyi's Cabinet were also found guilty, each also receiving sentences of three years in prison.

Turnell, an associate professor in economics at Sydney's Macquarie University, had served as an adviser to Suu Kyi, who was detained when her elected government was ousted by the army in 2021.

He was arrested five days later while waiting for a car to take him to the airport.

The exact details of the offence have not been made public, though state television said last year that Turnell had access to "secret state financial information" and had tried to flee the country.

Turnell and Suu Kyi both denied the allegations in the case when they testified in their defence in August.