The council has been divided over the proposal to sell its shares in Wellington Airport.

An Australian Olympic rowing silver medallist and two-time world champion has pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman by slapping her in the head several times.

Simon Peter Burgess, 56, had previously denied the charge and was expected to face a hearing in Hobart Magistrates Court on Thursday.

However, he changed his plea to guilty over the assault at Franklin, a township in southern Tasmania, on December 2, 2023.

READ MORE: Sydney woman was told she had won a 'MrBeast car'

Burgess slapped a woman to the head multiple times and punched a hole in a bedroom plaster wall, according to court documents.

He had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching a family violence order and a charge of injuring property at the same location on the same day.

According to the documents, he breached conditions of the order which stated he must not directly or indirectly threaten, abuse or assault the woman.

He also breached conditions stipulating he not enter the home or damage property.

Burgess, whose bail was continued, is expected to return to court for sentencing on August 13.

He represented Australia at three Olympic Games, winning silver medals in 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens in lightweight rowing categories.

He competed in 10 world rowing championships between 1990 and 2003, winning gold on two occasions and was also a national champion.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

About 100 homes were flooded and 400 properties and homes were impacted.

Neil Quigley to remain Reserve Bank board chairman for another two years.

Corrections staff and court security were assaulted in the melee.

An unexploded bomb from World War II discovered near the Darwin waterfront has been safely detonated.

Emergency services moved people away from Stokes Hill Road and closed other streets in the Northern Territory city when the device was found at the nearby wharf area yesterday.

The 50kg bomb was safely removed from the area and later detonated by explosives experts from the Australian Defence Force.

READ MORE: Aussie teachers are quitting to homeschool their own kids. Here is why

In February 1942, Darwin came under heavy attack by a force of Japanese military planes dropping bombs on targets including the harbour and industrial sites.

The raids left at least 252 troops and civilians dead and large parts of the city reduced to rubble.

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, celebrity and sport via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.

Paris Hilton is opening up about her experience with past abuse as she continues to advocate for legislation that better protects children from suffering institutional abuse.

On Wednesday, the actor, singer, DJ and model said that she will "be the voice for the children whose voices can't be heard" and will "not stop until America's youth is safe" as she urged congressional action to protect child welfare while testifying at a House committee hearing on Wednesday.

Appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee for a hearing focused on foster care and the reauthorization of Title IV-B of the Social Security Act – which provides resources to states to promote child welfare – Hilton said that "families need resources and support so they don't need to come into the child welfare system in the first place."

READ MORE: Qatar Airways aiming to buy 20 per cent stake in Virgin Australia

Hilton has been an outspoken advocate on child welfare issues and has previously said that she experienced physical and emotional abuse at a boarding school for troubled teens in her 2020 documentary "This is Paris" and her 2023 memoir "Paris: The Memoir."

She has said that she still suffers from PTSD from her time at the institution.

She testified about her experience on Wednesday, telling the committee that when she was 16 years old, "I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported across state lines to the first of four youth residential treatment facilities."

READ MORE: Victorian man steals $62,000 bottle of whisky

"I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff. I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked, and thrown into solitary confinement. My parents were completely deceived – lied to and manipulated by this for-profit industry about the inhumane treatment I was experiencing," she said.

"So can you only imagine the experience for youth who are placed by the state and don't have people regularly checking in on them?"

"As a mom, these stories break my heart," Hilton, now a mother of two, also said at the hearing.

READ MORE: How much this eye-catching Aussie coin is really worth

Hilton has visited Washington DC to advocate for child safety in the past, including a 2022 visit where, according to a White House official, she met with White House policy staff and other survivors to discuss "issues pertinent to the protection of institutionalized youth in America."

"What I experienced at these places, I will never forget," Hilton told CNN's Brianna Keiler during a 2022 interview.

"It has affected me and will affect me for the rest of my life and that's why I am fighting for change so no child ever has to suffer in the name of treatment."

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

An Australian woman says she is devastated after she was told she won a car in a giveaway competition run by YouTube star MrBeast, but was then disqualified because of a Woolworths receipt "deemed as fraudulent".

Thousands of fans turned out to watch MrBeast, whose real name is James Donaldson, give away 10 cars – including a Lamborghini – to lucky competition winners at the Sydney Opera House forecourt yesterday afternoon.

Sydneysider Isabella Wilson told 9news.com.au she was notified on Sunday evening that she had won a car in the competition.

READ MORE: Aussie wins Lambo in YouTube star's huge Opera House giveaway

Australian fans were given a chance to enter the competition by buying a chocolate bar from MrBeast's Feastables chocolate bar range.

Each chocolate bar purchased qualified the buyer for one competition entry.

A big MrBeast fan, Wilson said she rushed to Woolworths to buy 10 of the chocolate bars as soon as she heard of his Australian competition.

After buying the bars, Wilson followed the competition directions, scanning a QR code which then took her to a website where she uploaded her Woolworths receipt.

"For every chocolate bar you bought, you got a spin on the wheel," Wilson said. 

"On the last spin, I got three Lamborghinis in a row and that means you have won."

Wilson said after spinning the wheel for the final time, a message popped up saying she had won a car in the competition and she would soon receive a call. 

Wilson said she was then taken to a video showing MrBeast. 

"Mr Beast was saying in the video, if you're seeing this, then you have won a car," Wilson said.

The video also told Wilson to go to the Opera House immediately.

Wilson said she was confused by the instruction, as it was around 11.30pm on a Sunday evening, but she did as was told.

"I got out of bed and went to the Opera House, because that is what he was telling me in the video to do," Wilson said.

When she arrived at the Opera House, security staff were also bemused, telling her the MrBeast giveaway event was on Wednesday.

Baffled as to whether she had actually won, Wilson went home.

Needing answers, Wilson said she emailed the Feastable's team on Monday to ask if she had indeed won a car.

On Monday evening, Wilson got the call she was waiting for.

"The man was calling from an American number and he said, 'Is this Isabella?'," Wilson said.

"I said, 'Yeah', and he said, 'I'm calling on behalf of Mr. Beast to congratulate you. You're a winner.'"

The man then asked Wilson if she was available to come to the Opera House on Wednesday, to which she said she was.

Wilson said she was elated with the news.

"I was phoning my mum, saying 'Oh my God. I've at least won a car that is worth $20 grand and possibly even $440 grand if it's the Lamborghini'," she said.

"It was a life-changing opportunity and I almost couldn't believe it. But I thought that that phone call confirmed it."

However, Wilson then woke up on Tuesday morning to find a devastating email in her inbox from the Feastables team.

They were saying unfortunately we deemed your receipt uploads as fraudulent and you have been disqualified.

Wilson said she had both physical and digital copies of her Woolworths receipt and she was bewildered and baffled about why it was considered to be fraudulent.

"I said, 'Can someone please explain this? I can literally come in and give you the receipt in person'," she said.

However, in an email exchange seen by 9news.com.au, a Feastables staff member continued to tell her her entry had been deemed invalid.

"In a review of your receipt upload, it was deemed as breaking our rules," one email message says.

The Feastables staff member then appeared to question whether the person who called  Wilson to let her know she had won had really been a member of the Feastables team, saying the call "shouldn't have come from an American number".

A spokesperson MrBeast's Feastables told 9news.com.au the promoter stood by its decision, which was within the competition's terms and conditions.

"The Promoter conducted this promotion in accordance with the Terms and Conditions and the promoter's decision is final," the spokesperson said.

"The team undertook verification of the entries and disqualified any entrants that were determined to be fraudulent, in accordance with the Promoter's rights under the Terms and Conditions."

Wilson said she was still genuinely confused about why she had been disqualified.

"It's absolutely not a fraudulent receipt," she said.

"That's what's upset me is they're trying to tell me that I've scammed them, when I just bought $25 of chocolate bars and uploaded them as instructed."

After posting about her experience on social media, Wilson claimed she had been contacted by other competition entrants who also had been told that they had won, only to be later denied. 

However, those "winners" had not received the phone call she had, Wilson said.

'We deserve an explanation" she said.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au

Armoured vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia's government palace this morning in an apparent coup attempt against President Luis Arce, but he vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down.

The soldiers later pulled back as supporters of Arce waved Bolivian flags and cheered in a central square.

In a video of Arce surrounded by ministers in the palace, the Bolivian leader said: "Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organise."

READ MORE: US journalist faces court on spying charges in Russia

Arce confronted the general commander of the army — Juan José Zúñiga, who appeared to be leading the rebellion — in the palace hallway, as shown on video on Bolivian television. "I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination," Arce said.

Before entering the government building, Zúñiga told journalists in the plaza: "Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this." But, he said, "for now" he recognizes Arce as commander in chief.

Zúñiga did not explicitly say he's leading a coup, but in the palace, with bangs echoing behind him, he said the army was trying to "restore democracy and free our political prisoners."

READ MORE: Kenyan president pulls controversial bill after violent protests

In a message on his X account, Arce called for "democracy to be respected." It came as Bolivian television showed two tanks and a number of men in military uniform in front of the government palace.

"We cannot allow, once again, coup attempts to take the lives of Bolivians," he said from inside the palace, surrounded by government officials, in a video message sent to news outlets.

An hour later, Arce announced new heads of the army, navy and air force amid the roar of supporters. Video showed troops setting up blockades outside the government palace.

"I order all that are mobilised to return to their units," said the newly named army chief José Wilson Sánchez. "No one wants the images we're seeing in the streets."

Soon after troops and armoured vehicles start pulling back from Bolivia's presidential palace.

The leadership of Bolivia's largest labor union condemned the action and declared an indefinite strike of social and labour organisations in La Paz in defense of the government.

READ MORE: Russia guilty of human rights violations, European court finds

The incident was met with a wave of outrage by other regional leaders, including the Organisation of American States; Gabriel Boric, the president of neighbouring Chile; the leader of Honduras, and former Bolivian leaders.

Bolivia, a country of 12 million people, has seen intensifying protests in recent months over the economy's steep decline from one of the continent's fastest-growing two decades ago to one of its most crisis-stricken.

The country also has seen a high-profile rift at the highest levels of the governing party.

Arce and his one-time ally, leftist icon and former President Evo Morales, have been battling for the future of Bolivia's splintering Movement for Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym MAS, ahead of elections in 2025.

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, celebrity and sport via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.

Mark Thomas felt completely alone when he experienced a "complete mental breakdown" more than a decade ago.

After 21 years of policing, his resilience was simply worn away after he attended a heavily traumatic call-out on April 8, 2003.

"I remember that exact day," Thomas told 9news.com.au.

Looking back at that day, and the years following the incident, the 52-year-old said there were "so many red flags" regarding his mental state.

"Something was markedly different to any other deceased persons or trauma scene. I hadn't been to that type of (suicide) before," he said.

"When I looked at the deceased, I felt a physical reaction in my chest."

Thomas lives with PTSD, depression and anxiety, and now understands exactly what he was feeling.

But it wasn't always that way.

"I was in my early thirties and mental health literacy wasn't really big then," he said.

"I had no knowledge and was very naive, I didn't do anything about it.

"There was something about that scene where it was completely (different) compared to other scenes I've been to regarding trauma."

He continued to work as a uniform officer in the decade following the incident, before moving to a detective and back to sergeant.

But something deeper was bubbling away within the 52-year-old, and it all came to a head in February 2013.

"My symptoms just skyrocketed and that was due to my resilience being completely worn away," he said.

"So that culminated in me having what my first treating psychiatrist said, 'a catastrophic loss of self'.

"That looks like a mental breakdown… It was a massive anxiety attack.

"I was (having) flashbacks. I would be asleep on the couch and then I'd go to bed and put my head down and bang, transported back to the scene and no-one's sleeping with that bouncing around in the head."

Thomas admitted himself to hospital that month, after completely disassociating himself with his friends and family.

"When I had that catastrophic loss of self, my normal human brain shut down, but my policing brain kicked in. I spoke to my wife and I said ring welfare," he said.

"I know what it's like to grow up without a parent. So I couldn't let my two little ones grow up without a parent.

"I (was) trapped in this little weird space of not wanting to leave but (I couldn't) take my life."

He was soon diagnosed with PTSD, depression, and anxiety.

'I thought not one could understand. But that was rubbish'

There are more than 370,000 emergency services workers in Australia and it is estimated at least one in 10 will develop PTSD, according to the Black Dog Institute.

Emergency services workers are also twice as likely to experience a mental health condition than the general population, in large part due to the high risk of trauma exposure at work.

Despite PTSD being so prevalent among emergency services workers, Thomas said he felt "intensely alone" in the days, weeks, and months following his diagnosis.

"I was sitting in there thinking no one else could know what I'm going through here, which is complete rubbish," he said.

That's when he thought about creating a peer support group for local police officers on Facebook.

"I thought once I get back to work full time, I'm gonna start a little support group for coppers that if they're struggling or newly diagnosed," he said.

"So they don't feel alone."

'Glimmer of hope' for thousands

After completing his return-to-work program, the Code 9 Foundation was officially established in 2015.

The group started with 30 members and has since expanded to a membership of over 3200 professional first responders across Victoria.

"We can do anything," Thomas said.

"We're police professionals, fire paramedics and triple zero operators. 

"We do anything to ease the load and put a smile on their faces. If we can put a smile on someone's face while they're in the darkness, that's brilliant because I know what it's like to be in complete black, which is an entirely bizarre feeling.

"Then to have a glimmer of hope that's as powerful as anything can be."

The foundation supplies meal packages to members, they send families on respite breaks and also fund and provide trained and accredited assistance dogs.

Just last week, two new sponsored assistance dogs joined Code 9, thanks to the team at Integra Service Dogs Australia.

Today marks National PTSD Awareness Day, and by sharing his story, Thomas hopes many other police officers and emergency service workers can see a life beyond the diagnosis. 

"I'm a copper for eight hours a day. I'm a husband, father, and a cricket coach. I also run a charity," he said.

"PTSD, depression and anxiety don't define who I am. That's just something that sits in my back pocket and I've got to manage it."

Readers seeking support can contact beyond blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.