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As many as a dozen candidates are eyeing up replacing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is quitting after his Conservative Party turned on him.

Johnson said he would step down as Conservative leader and prime minister following resignations by more than 50 government ministers, and many of his MPs telling him they wanted him out of office.

The jostling to choose his successor - a process that could take weeks or even months - is underway, with senior figures and some lesser known MPs expected to throw their hat in the ring.

In the meantime, Johnson, brought down by a series scandals and a loss of trust in his integrity, remains in the job, a situation that opponents, and many in his own party, say is untenable.

"I think Conservative MPs have got to get rid of him today," Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats told BBC TV.

"It's just ludicrous that he's the caretaker prime minister. He's never cared and looked after anything in his life."

The main opposition Labour Party has also called for Johnson to go straightaway, promising to hold a confidence vote in parliament if he is not ousted immediately.

However the new education minister said Johnson would stay on until a replacement was found.

"(Johnson) remains prime minister until a new prime minister is found, that's how our system works," Education Secretary James Cleverly told Sky News.

Johnson, who less than three years ago won an election with a large majority, was brought down by scandals that included breaches of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown rules, a luxury renovation of his official residence and the appointment of a minister who had been accused of sexual misconduct.

Johnson told his cabinet of top ministers - some of whom were appointed after the announcement he would be resigning - that he would not be making any big changes of direction that would tie the hands of his successor.

But in his speech to the country announcing his exit, he did not use the word "resign" or "resignation", and described his forced departure as "eccentric".

Such is the lingering distrust in his behaviour that former Conservative prime minister John Major said Johnson should leave now.

Meanwhile, many Conservatives are turning their attention to replacing him full-time, with no shortage of ambitious candidates.

So far just Attorney General Suella Braverman and Tom Tugendhat, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee, have officially confirmed their desire to be the next leader, but about a dozen others have been tipped to consider running for the job.

Among those who are considered to be front runners are former finance minister Rishi Sunak, foreign minister Liz Truss and defence minister Ben Wallace, although none of them have as yet declared their intention to stand.

Although the exact rules and timetable for the contest have yet to be set out, Conservative MPs will whittle down the hopefuls to a final two candidates, and then the party's members - numbering fewer than 200,000 people - will decide which one will be leader, and the next prime minister.

© RAW 2022

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Queensland's Cameron Munster and Murray Taulagi are in doubt for the State of Origin decider after returning positive rapid antigen tests.

Munster and Taulagi are isolating from their Maroons teammates as they await the results of PCR tests, which if positive, will rule them out of the match at Suncorp Stadium.

Brisbane winger Corey Oates will join the Maroons' squad as a possible replacement for Taulagi.

Munster has not played at club level for Melbourne since before State of Origin II in Perth, where he suffered a shoulder injury.

But he had been expected to return to fitness in time for the Origin decider.

If Munster is ruled out, Ben Hunt appears the likeliest option as a replacement in the Queensland halves alongside Daly Cherry-Evans, pushing Harry Grant into the starting side at hooker.

NSW Blues utility Nicho Hynes tested positive earlier in the week and was replaced in the extended squad by North Queensland's Chad Townsend.

Meanwhile, Steve Renouf expects Dane Gagai to flick Origin switch and rediscover his typical Queensland form for the decider.

The Maroons centre is under pressure ahead of Origin III after missing 18 tackles in the series.

Outplayed by NSW opposites Jack Wighton and then Matt Burton in Sydney and Perth respectively, Billy Slater has shown faith in the 21-game veteran to deliver with the series on the line.

Former Queensland centre Renouf can't see Gagai letting him down.

"That's Origin and that's the pressure of that arena but we've seen with Dane, he's been amazing at Origin level nearly all of his games," Renouf said.

"That was a hiccup and we won't see that again. He'll bounce back, he's too good a player and mentally he just loves that arena.

"They (NSW) went on that try-scoring spree in the second half, you won't see that from another Queensland team, especially up here at home."

A caveat to that guarantee could be that Billy Slater's forwards can't be beaten to the punch again, 13-game Origin great Renouf admitting his hands were sometimes tied as a centre outside a beaten pack.

"You can feel that as an outside back, the domination in the middle," he said.

"Unfortunately that has an effect on you; you go 'oh s***' ... get in there, try too hard do something because it gets to desperation stakes and the game's so quick. That happens.

"And that happens a lot at Origin level. In the 90s NSW had a fair forward pack and they dominated us in a lot of those games."

Despite NSW's forward pack dominance, Renouf said Slater was right to retain the side that lost in Perth, Tom Gilbert replacing Felise Kaufusi in the only change due to personal reasons.

"He's got to stick because that's what we pride ourselves on here, that's what we've built and why we've got to where we are," he said.

© AAP 2022

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US actor James Caan, who starred as gangster Sonny Corleone in epic mafia film The Godfather, has died at age 82, his family says in a statement.

The statement, posted on Caan's official Twitter account, said the actor died on Wednesday evening.

No cause of death or location were provided.

"The family appreciates the outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time," the statement said.

Caan was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the hot-tempered Corleone in 1972's The Godfather.

He reprised the role in flashback scenes in The Godfather: Part II in 1974.

Other nominations included four Golden Globes and an Emmy.

His career spanned six decades and included a broad range of other roles in movies from psychological thriller Misery to comedy Elf.

Last year, he starred in romantic comedy Queen Bees opposite Ellen Burstyn.

James Edmund Caan was born in the Bronx borough of New York City on March 26, 1940 to German Jewish immigrants.

One of three siblings, Caan began acting on television in 1961.

He gained widespread acclaim for his role in the 1971 TV movie Brian's Song, in which he played real-life Chicago Bears American football player Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer at age 26.

The role earned Caan an Emmy nomination.

Billy Dee Williams, who starred with Caan in Brian's Song, shared an undated photo of the two together in recent years on his Twitter account.

"Team Mates and friends till the end. RIP Jimmy," Williams tweeted with a broken heart emoji.

Actor Adam Sandler, who co-starred with Caan in 1996 comedy Bulletproof, said he "always wanted to be like him".

"Never ever stopped laughing when I was around that man. His movies were best of the best," Sandler said on Twitter.

© PAA 2022

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Ghislaine Maxwell has formally appealed her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls over more than a decade.

The British socialite's notice of appeal was filed nine days after she was sentenced by US Circuit Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan.

Nathan said the punishment reflected Maxwell's "instrumental" role in the abuse and the "incalculable" damage it caused to victims.

Lawyers for Maxwell had argued that she was being scapegoated for Epstein's crimes.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December after a month-long trial on sex trafficking and four other counts for recruiting and grooming four girls to have sexual encounters with Epstein, who was then her boyfriend, between 1994 and 2004.

The daughter of the late British media magnate Robert Maxwell could be imprisoned until her late 70s, with possible credit for good behaviour plus credit for the two years she has been jailed at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Maxwell's appeal was expected and Thursday's notice did not say what issues she will raise.

Her lawyers have said the conviction was tainted because of a lack of evidence Maxwell was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, that prosecutors waited too long to indict her and that one juror failed to disclose he had been sexually abused as a child.

Nathan rejected these arguments in April.

The lawyers have also said jail officials would not let Maxwell prepare adequately for trial, and that Nathan should have used different guidelines when calculating a sentence.

Bobbi Sternheim, the Maxwell lawyer who filed the notice of appeal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The appeals process will likely last several months or longer.

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

© RAW 2022