A skier in Alaska was airlifted from the side of a mountain after he was attacked and mauled by a brown bear at the weekend.

The victim was part of a group ascending a mountain during a backcountry ski outing near Haines, Alaska, on Saturday, according to the US Coast Guard.

The man suffered injuries to his head and hands when he was attacked.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said the victim inadvertently awoke the brown bear in a den, a mother that was likely protecting her cub.

READ MORE: Bear filmed in hot pursuit of skier at Romanian resort

"The skier who was attacked at some point realised he should play dead, which is probably a good idea in this type of circumstance," state wildlife biologist Carl Koch told CNN.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Sitka located the man and two other skiers about 16km northwest of Haines at an elevation of 487 metres, according to the Coast Guard.

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer was lowered to evaluate the man's condition and then used a litter to hoist the man to the helicopter. He was flown to Juneau for treatment.

The man was alert at the time of the rescue, but the Coast Guard did not have any further information about his condition.

The other two skiers were able to give him first aid and contact the Coast Guard.

"Their satellite communication device provided the precise GPS coordinates and elevation of their location," co-pilot Lieutenant Commander Will Sirokman said.

"Equally important, they had brightly colored fabric to signal the helicopter as we approached. This was absolutely crucial to us finding them in a timely manner."

The other two skiers did not need assistance and continued down the mountain on their own, according to the Coast Guard.

An Australian scientist involved in the inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 says he believes the virus started in China and had been circulating in the community as early as mid-November.

His view is disputed by the Chinese scientists in the World Health Organisation joint investigation who say the disease might have been brought into China on frozen food packets.

Professor Dominic Dwyer, a microbiologist and infectious diseases expert with NSW Health Pathology, said the evidence for an origin outside China was "very limited" in an exclusive interview with 9News on the day he returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

READ MORE: WHO teams visits Wuhan food market in search of coronavirus clues

Professor Dwyer was the only Australian in a 14-strong team, working for WHO.

WHO experts last night said COVID-19 most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal, dismissing as unlikely the claim that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab.

The team also found no evidence that the disease was spreading widely any earlier than the initial outbreak that flared in the second half of December 2019.

"I think it started in China, I think the evidence for it starting elsewhere in the world is actually very limited," Professor Dwyer told 9News from hotel quarantine in Sydney.

https://twitter.com/Fi_Willan/status/1359419870979391494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"There is some evidence but it's not really very good.

"I think it's most likely that it came from a bat. We know that other viruses that are closely related to (COVID-19) are present in bats.

"We know that other viruses like MERS and SARS back in 2003 also came from bats. Now these bats don't respect borders of course so they are present not just in China but in other parts on South East Asia and indeed elsewhere around the world."

Professor Dwyer said what surprised him most about his time in Wuhan was the degree of attention given to the politics of the meeting.

"It's one thing discussing the science and all of us are used to doing that, it's another thing, talking about the politics around this and see responses change around the politics," he said.

Despite China making it clear it was not happy about Australia calling for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, Professor Dwyer said he felt no hostility.

"The Chinese were very hospitable hosts, everyone worked together very well, it was a joint mission after all," he said.

"There were some clear differences of opinion and there were some quite firm and heated exchanges over things but in general everyone was trying to do the right thing and certainly WHO got more data than they've ever had before, and that's some real progress."

Professor Dwyer said one of the key differences was trying to get an agreement about what was happening just prior to the virus outbreak in the market in Wuhan.

"Some of the other evidence for example – genetic analysis of the virus and so on – would show the virus has probably been circulating maybe from mid-November, early December," he said.

"We also know the Chinese were reporting the people who went to hospital were really sick, but we now know – and to be fair they didn't know at the time. But we now know there's a lot of ordinary transmission going on between otherwise healthy people, so there must've been many, many more cases in December than were identified."

Asked whether he believed there would be a definitive conclusion on how the virus started, Professor Dwyer said he hoped it would.

"Many of these outbreaks actually take years to sort out, so part of the WHO work was advising what sort of studies need to be done to try and sort this out over the next year or so," he said.

"Remember with SARS it took well over a year before the bat virus was identified, I would expect it will be similar here. There's clearly a lot of work that needs to be done, not just in China but in the region and elsewhere around the world."

Professor Dwyer said he believes the explosion of COVID-19 in the market in Wuhan was really an amplifying event.

"The virus had probably circulating some good few weeks beforehand amongst people in the community," he said.

Watch the full interview in the video above.

A NSW Central Coast mother has shared her terrifying ordeal, after her young son suffered an adverse reaction to a popular teething gel.

Skye Elliott, from Toukley, had been giving one-year-old Zander Howe the over-the-counter gel for pain relief for about six months at the recommended dose, when he suddenly fell ill.

"I noticed Zander's lips were starting to turn blue and I couldn't get a response out of him," she told 9News.  

READ MORE: Babies get COVID-19 antibodies while in the womb

Suffering seizures and hypoglycaemia, Zander was taken to Wyong Hospital before being airlifted to The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

He was diagnosed with chronic salicylate poisoning, a rare but dangerous side-effect.

"I felt so guilty, I felt horrible because I was the one who had given it to him," Ms Elliott said.

Choline salicylate is the active ingredient in some best-selling teething gels. An overdose can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness and ringing in the ears.

"Severe salicylate poisoning affects the pH of the body and that can cause a number of significant complications including seizures, coma, kidney damage and even death," Genevieve Adamo from the NSW Poisons Information Centre said.

READ MORE: Toddler's eye 'burnt off' by common household item

"In 2020, there was about 280 calls regarding teething products and of those, 240 calls were relating to choline salicylate products."

She says parents need to consider the risk and benefits before administering the medication.

"Teething gels are not recommended because there is little evidence to show they are significant in reducing pain, and there are risks associated with them."

The Database of Adverse Event Notifications includes 15 adverse event reports for products which contain choline salicylate. There was one report which was received in 2020.

A spokesperson for the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) says teething gels which contain choline salicylate are required to display a warning on the product label.

 Zander spent two months in hospital but now he is home with his family.

READ MORE: Young boy hailed as hero after saving grandmother's life

Ms Elliott wants other parents to know that they shouldn't believe a product is safe, just because it's widely available in supermarkets and pharmacies.  

"Just make sure you do your research because it's so scary," she said. Bonjela Australia issued a statement.

"The health and safety of all Australians is our top priority. For over 40 years, Bonjela has been trusted by Australian families to manage their baby's teething pain," a spokesperson for Bonjela Australia said.  

"Bonjela meets Australian guidelines and standards, including registration with the Therapeutic Goods Administration."

He terrorised dozens of women across Sydney's Northern Beaches for close to two years, but today Lindsay Moody, 42, sobbed in the dock as he was sentenced to 2.5 years jail.

The labourer from Frenchs Forest stalked 28 women, including a 16-year-old schoolgirl, on secluded running tracks and suburban streets in Narrabeen, Belrose, Davidson, Dee Why, North Curl Curl, Allambie Heights, Fairlight, and Northbridge.

Police pounced after CCTV captured Moody harassing a woman in Cammeray, detectives tracing his blacked-out car, and linking it to a string of attacks over a period of 21 months.

The court heard in each instance, the women had been followed, and in some cases flashed, before the 42-year-old would make vulgar comments about their physical appearance.

After his arrest in September, Moody pleaded guilty to 28 charges of stalking and intimidation with intent to cause fear and physical harm.

Upon sentencing, Magistrate Bruce Williams said although Moody acted on impulse, there had been some degree of planning.

"There is no doubt there has been a significant effect on all of the victims," Magistrate Williams said.

"It must have been very confronting. You can almost feel the hairs stand-up on the back of your neck."

In a letter to the court, Moody wrote: "I would like to express my sincere apologies. I'm fully aware I've impacted people's lives, and I feel disgusted in myself."

The tradesman cried as his sentence was handed down, while outside Manly Local Court, his brave victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, spoke out.

One admitted to a diagnosis of symptoms of PTSD, while others experienced victim blaming.

"I thought it was my own fault, I had a bit of my bikini showing."

"The people who were targeted were all women going about their daily life," said another victim.

"Women doing ordinary, boring things; exercising, walking around their local neighborhoods.

"Women of the Northern Beaches need to know we deserve to be free to do ordinary things, in daily life safe and that we are protected as citizens."

Collectively they thanked the lead investigators who brought an end to Moody's reign of terror.

"I'm sending a message to women that if something like this happens, come forward, people do believe you."

Moody's pregnant wife did not support him in court. With time served he could be released from behind bars as early as April 2021.

Green MP Ricardo Menendez March has revealed the reason for his trip to Mexico – he went to visit his sick father and terminally ill step-mother.March, who is currently in managed isolation with his partner in Christchurch, says…

A husband and wife are on trial for allegedly using a Tamil woman as their unpaid domestic servant, who also cared for their three children in Melbourne.

Known only by their pseudonyms "KK and KK", prosecutors allege the married couple hid a slave inside their home in Melbourne's south-east for eight years.

In July 2007 the complainant travelled from India to Australia to stay with KK + KK at their family property in Mount Waverley.

READ MORE: Two more cases added Melbourne's Holiday Inn coronavirus outbreak

But the woman's tourist visa expired the next month, making her an illegal non-citizen.

She was unable to speak English, which allowed the couple – who she knew from their native country – to allegedly hold her captive.

Prosecutor Richard Maidment told the jury, "the accused deprived the complainant of her rights and freedoms", including her capacity to move away from their home, and ability to communicate with others.

She also had great difficulty getting medical and dental services.

The alleged slave claims they only ever paid her with the odd $5 or $ 10 on her birthday.

READ MORE: South Australia set to close borders to Melburnians as two new coronavirus cases confirmed

The woman was discovered by authorities in 2015 when she had to be taken to hospital.

By that time she was emaciated, weighing just 40 kilograms.

She had hypothermia and diabetes, and ended up being put in intensive care because she was also suffering from sepsis.

KK and KK spent today writing notes in the dock.

Their trial will last for at least six weeks.

By: RNZ The Green Party co-leaders are defending their fledgling MP Ricardo Menéndez March after revelations he visited Mexico in December against official advice.The list MP – who grew up in Tijuana – returned to New Zealand…