A journey that began with a little boy finding what he thought was a rock on his family's outback property has ended in a major scientific breakthrough.

The "Southern Titan" is as long as a basketball court and as high as a two-storey building, and has been officially recognised as Australia's largest known dinosaur.

The mammoth creature's discovery in outback Queensland marks the first time an Australian dinosaur can be ranked among the world's true giants, a rare space previously occupied exclusively by the giant titanosaurs of South America.

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"The discovery of Australia's largest dinosaur was totally unexpected and, as it has turned out, was just the tip of the iceberg of numerous significant dinosaur discoveries that has come since and continue to be made," Eromanga Natural History Museum and field palaeontologist Robyn Mackenzie said.

"These dinosaur discoveries have opened a whole new world, not just to our family, but to people throughout Australia. It has been the most enriching journey."

The remains of the giant titanosaurian sauropod, known as "Cooper" for short, were found in 2007 east of Cooper Creek in south-west Queensland, near what's now known as the Eromanga Natural History Museum.

On Monday, the museum and the Queensland Museum formally named Australotitan cooperensis, formalising years of research and giving it official recognition as Australia's largest dinosaur and one of the largest in the world.

The museum said the journey to the breakthrough began when Ms Mackenzie's son, Sandy, discovered a memorable "rock" in 2004, confirming her and husband Stuart's lifelong belief their property was home to dinosaur bones.

READ MORE: Researchers say they know how many T-rex roamed the planet

The Outback Gondwana Foundation Limited and later the Eromanga Natural History Museum grew from there.

"This new titanosaurian is the largest dinosaur from Australia represented by osteological remains," Ms Mackenzie said.

"It is the first Australian dinosaur to be able to join the elite group of dinosaur giants that until now have mostly been found in South America.

"These are the largest dinosaurs that ever walked on earth and based on the preserved limb size comparisons, this new titanosaur is estimated to be in the top five largest in the world."

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Paleontologist Paul Barrett, from London's Natural History Museum, told 9News the find ranked alongside some of the world's biggest dinosaurs in terms of overall size and weight.

"This is actually a really nice find in the sense that it's just building on this kind of wave of new discoveries that are coming out of Australia at the moment," he said.

For years, Australia was kind of a little kind of footnote in dinosaur evolutionary history, because we knew so little about the dinosaurs from Australia. 

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"But now thanks to this kind of work, we're getting a much better picture of how the dinosaurs from Australia fit together with the dinosaurs from elsewhere," Professor Barrett said.

He said it was likely to put paid to speculation there might be something special about Argentina's Patagonia region that allowed such enormous creatures to evolve there.

"Cooper" is unlikely to be the last piece of history uncovered at the property, roughly 1000 kilometres west of Brisbane. Many other finds have been unearthed over the years, including dozens of bones uncovered just last month, kicking off a lengthy research period.

Professor Barrett said fossil gatherers had "barely scratched the surface" of the enormous layer of rock in which "Cooper" was found.

According to the museum, the long-necked herbivore weighing roughly 67 tonnes was closely related to three other Australian sauropods — Diamantinasaurus, Wintonotitan and Savannasaurus — and lived during the Cretaceous Period, about 92–96 million years ago.

That's long after Australia split from the rest of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland but Professor Barrett believes the Australian dinosaur's ancestors likely made the journey while the continents were still attached.

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Queensland Museum palaeontologist Dr Scott Hocknull said the process of comparing the Australotitan bones to other global finds to ensure they were unique was a "long and painstaking task", made significantly easier by new 3D scanning technology. 

"Discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg," he said, in a statement.

"Our ultimate goal is to find the evidence that tells the changing story of Queensland, hundreds of millions of years in the making. A grand story all scientists, museums and tourists can get behind."

Queensland Museum Network chief executive officer Dr Jim Thompson said the study, published on Monday in journal PeerJ, the first dinosaur discovery in the state's far south-west corner, capping 20 years of a sort of "dinosaur rush" in Australia.

"Australia is one of the last frontiers for dinosaur discovery and Queensland is quickly cementing itself as the palaeo-capital of the nation – there is still plenty more to discover," he said.

To some it may just be a software update, but for around 50 per cent of smartphone users the changes Apple makes to its core operating system mean new features and often big changes to how they use their iPhone.

Today Apple announced the key changes coming later this year to every iPhone with iOS 15.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held online again this week for the second year running due to COVID-19, and kicking the event off as always were Apple's executive team speaking to developers around the world about what's new, what's changing, and what to expect from the next operating system for all Apple devices.

READ MORE: Three million NSW drivers using a Digital Driver Licence

For iPhone users specifically though, iOS 15 will launch in line with the next iPhone, expected in late September.

So – what can you expect?

Here's our top features coming to iOS 15 in 2021.

Facetime takes on Zoom

Apple's own video-calling software Facetime will get an all new "Facetime Link", allowing you to invite anyone to a Facetime call.

Currently, you need the phone number, or Apple email address of a Facetime user on their Apple device to invite them to a call.

With the updates coming later this year, you'll be able to email or share a link to anyone.

Non-Apple devices will join in a web browser, while Apple Devices will launch the Facetime app.

READ MORE: The most expensive TV in Australia is now available for custom order

Watch or Listen with FriendsWhile you're chatting with mates, you can share a music playlist, TV show or movie, and everyone in the chat can watch or listen in real-time.

You can all watch a show while having a text chat, or watch and talk together.

No matter what you choose to do, it's a real-time sharing of content that brings us together – while strangely still keeping us apart – a very Covid way of sharing.

Focus your time

Notifications on your iPhone can be overwhelming, so with iOS 15, Apple is introducing Focus – a new app that allows you to create types of Focus, like Work, Home, or Weekend – which will learn what you need during those times, and ensure you only get what you need.

No more constant notifications from that family group chat while you're in a work meeting.

Likewise, no more work emails popping up while you're watching TV with your family.

This Focus concept takes "do not disturb" to a new level, and continues Apple's look into how we use our screen time across the week.

Text Recognition in Photos and Camera

A new "Live text" feature allows you to take a photo of text, such as the handwriting on a whiteboard, and select it like it's typed text.

Copy that text and paste it into an email or message as if you typed it all out.

This also works in your photos, allowing you to find text within your photos via search, and even highlight and copy that text.

Open Doors with your phone

The Apple Wallet app is great for your credit or debit cards, allowing a tap and pay process at the shops.

Apple announced that new companies will take advantage of Apple Wallet, including home door lock companies and even swipe card companies for your corporate office access.

Your Phone is your ID

Within Apple Wallet, Apple is keen to include your ID or drivers licence.

The company demonstrated a photo scanning of a licence, which they say is compatible with several US states.

In Australia, several states already have a digital Drivers Licence, so we're hoping they allow the quick sharing of ID from within an authorised app into the Apple Wallet.

Apple also showed these IDs being used to share with services like the TSA which will be used when passing though US airports. And much more.

READ MORE: The latest Apple TV 4K helps you getting the perfect colour

Additionally, there are updates to Apple Maps coming to Australia later this year, a new-look Weather app, Voice search and a simplified look for Safari and for those with hearing difficulties, the use of computational audio and the special microphones in Apple AirPods for a new feature called "Conversation Boost".

When is iOS 15 launching?

iOS 15 will launch later this year, in line with the next iPhone which will likely come in late September or early October.

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Sanaa Shalaby says she had no idea what her estranged husband was up to until Israeli soldiers raided her home in the occupied West Bank last month.

Now she's waging a legal battle to prevent Israel from demolishing the two-storey villa where she lives with her three youngest children.

It's drawing attention to Israel's policy of punitive home demolitions, which rights groups view as collective punishment.

READ MORE: Israel arrests Jerusalem activist in contested neighbourhood

Israeli security forces arrested her husband, Muntasser Shalaby, and accuse him of carrying out a May 2 drive-by shooting that killed an Israeli and wounded two others in the occupied West Bank.

Israel says demolishing family homes is one of the only ways to deter attackers, who expect to be arrested or killed and who are often glorified by Palestinian factions.

The US State Department has criticised such demolitions, and an internal Israeli military review in the 2000s raised questions about their effectiveness.

The case of the Shalabys — who all have US citizenship — could reignite the debate. Israel's Supreme Court is expected to issue a final ruling on the demolition next week.

Sanaa and her husband had been estranged for nearly a decade. He lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he ran a profitable smoke shop and married three other women in private Muslim ceremonies not recognized by US authorities.

"It's allowed in our religion," Sanaa said.

"I didn't agree to it."

He came back to the West Bank in April for what she said was one of his yearly visits to see the children.

He had also sought treatment for paranoia after having been institutionalised in the US in recent years, according to a deposition he gave to her lawyer.

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Sanaa said she knew nothing about the attack and had no indication he was planning anything.

"People commit crimes far worse than this in America and they don't demolish their homes," she said.

"Whoever committed the crime should be punished, but it's not the family's fault."

When the soldiers showed up after the attack they ransacked the home and briefly detained her 17-year-old son.

She said they had a large dog that terrified her and her two younger children, a 12-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl.

The soldiers came back weeks later to map out the house for demolition.

Now Sanaa says her children spend all day in bed and refuse to go to school.

"I know my children and they were never like this," she said.

"My son, Ahmed, has to take his final exams and he can't study. He opens his book, reads a couple pages and then he walks off."

An Israeli official said the security agencies believe home demolitions are an effective deterrent.

The official declined to comment on the Shalaby case but said everyone was notified in advance and given the right to contest demolitions in court.

Someone in Sanaa's situation would have a "good legal case" if her account was independently verified, the official said.

"There are clear checks and balances," the official said.

"We are using it only when we feel that it is necessary, and only because we understand that this is an effective deterrent."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security procedures.

READ MORE: The frustration of young Palestinians is stronger than ever

HaMoked, an Israeli rights group that has represented dozens of families seeking to halt punitive demolitions and is currently representing Sanaa, says such petitions rarely succeed.

Of 83 cases brought since 2014, only 10 demolitions were prevented, it said. In the remaining cases, homes were partially or completely demolished, or apartments in multi-storey buildings were permanently sealed off.

Jessica Montell, the group's executive director, said from a legal perspective the question of whether it served as a deterrent was irrelevant.

"You don't collectively punish innocent people just because they're related to a criminal in the hope that that will deter future criminals. It's an illegal and immoral policy regardless of the effectiveness," she said.

The Israeli military prepared a report on punitive home demolitions in 2004 that led to a moratorium on the practice the following year, according to HaMoked, which received a PowerPoint presentation of the classified report in 2008 through a court petition.

The presentation raises concerns about the legality of such demolitions and international criticism of them. It also questions their effectiveness, saying the demolitions might even motivate more attacks.

Such demolitions were mostly halted until 2014, when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed in the occupied West Bank.

A campaign by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem was one of the main causes of last month's 11-day Gaza war, in which Israeli airstrikes demolished hundreds of homes in the militant-ruled territory.

READ MORE: US to reopen Jerusalem consulate, upgrading Palestinian ties

Both forms of displacement summon bitter memories of what the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or "catastrophe," when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

Shalaby said she has been in continual contact with the US Embassy but was told it couldn't do anything about the demolition.

The State Department declined to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns. But it said it was opposed to the punitive demolition of Palestinian homes.

"The home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual," it said in a statement.

The Israeli Supreme Court will hear Sanaa's case on June 17.

She hopes she will be able to remain in the house that she and her husband built in 2006.

She said she had sold her bridal jewellery to help finance the construction.

She raised her youngest children in the house, and an older daughter had her wedding there last year during a pandemic lockdown.

"My daughter got married here during the time of the coronavirus," she said, pointing to the front courtyard and smiling at the memory.

"It was better than any wedding hall."

A London Metropolitan Police officer has pleaded guilty to the kidnap and rape of Sarah Everard, a 33-year old woman who disappeared while walking in south London in March.

Wayne Couzens, 48, made the guilty plea at the Old Bailey — the central criminal court — in London on Tuesday, an Old Bailey clerk told CNN.

Couzens also "accepts responsibility" for killing Ms Everard but has not yet been asked to enter a plea on the charge of murder, the Crown Prosecution Service said on Tuesday.

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The defendant is due to next appear in court on July 9, it added.

Ms Everard disappeared on March 3 while walking in Clapham, south London, prompting an extensive police search in the area.

Her remains were eventually found more than 50 miles from where she was last seen.

Couzens, a police constable whose primary role at the time was uniformed patrol duties of diplomatic premises, was arrested in Kent, England and charged with her kidnap and murder.

Ms Everard's disappearance prompted thousands of women in the United Kingdom and around the world to share their own experiences of intimidation or harassment while walking alone at night.

Many also exchanged notes on the habitual precautions they take to try to stay safe when they walk alone — like clutching keys between their knuckles, pretending to talk to someone on the phone, or not wearing headphones at night — and voiced their anger and frustration that it feels like a necessary step.