Police and protesters are adopting fresh approaches as protest movement digs in.

An orangutan appeared to treat a wound with medicine from a tropical plant— the latest example of how some animals attempt to soothe their own ills with remedies found in the wild, scientists have reported.

Scientists observed Rakus pluck and chew up leaves of a medicinal plant used by people throughout Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation.

The adult male orangutan then used his fingers to apply the plant juices to an injury on the right cheek. Afterward, he pressed the chewed plant to cover the open wound like a makeshift bandage, according to a new study in Scientific Reports.

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Previous research has documented several species of great apes foraging for medicines in forests to heal themselves, but scientists hadn't yet seen an animal treat itself in this way.

“This is the first time that we have observed a wild animal applying a quite potent medicinal plant directly to a wound,” said co-author Isabelle Laumer, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany.

The orangutan's intriguing behavior was recorded in 2022 by Ulil Azhari, a co-author and field researcher at the Suaq Project in Medan, Indonesia.

Photographs show the animal’s wound closed within a month without any problems.

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Scientists have been observing orangutans in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park since 1994, but they hadn’t previously seen this behavior.

“It’s a single observation," said Emory University biologist Jacobus de Roode, who was not involved in the study.

“But often we learn about new behaviors by starting with a single observation.”

"Very likely it’s self-medication,” said de Roode, adding that the orangutan applied the plant only to the wound and no other body part.

It’s possible Rakus learned the technique from other orangutans living outside the park and away from scientists' daily scrutiny, said co-author Caroline Schuppli at Max Planck.

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Rakus was born and lived as a juvenile outside the study area. Researchers believe the orangutan got hurt in a fight with another animal. It's not known whether Rakus earlier treated other injuries.

Scientists have previously recorded other primates using plants to treat themselves.

Bornean orangutans rubbed themselves with juices from a medicinal plant, possibly to reduce body pains or chase away parasites.

Chimpanzees in multiple locations have been observed chewing on the shoots of bitter-tasting plants to soothe their stomachs.

Gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos swallow certain rough leaves whole to get rid of stomach parasites.

“If this behavior exists in some of our closest living relatives, what could that tell us about how medicine first evolved?” said Tara Stoinski, president and chief scientific officer of the nonprofit Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, who had no role in the study.

The ex-policeman died this week aged 65 after early onset dementia.

At least eight police cars and helicopter chased car around inner suburbs on Saturday.

The NZTA said SH2 was closed near the intersection with Collins St, Waipawa.

They're lounging, biting each other and generally making a ruckus in numbers not seen in more than a decade.

Millions of Australians living along the east coast have been told to brace for a soaking, with up to 100mm of rain predicted to hit parts of New South Wales this weekend.

Senior meteorologist Angus Hines told Weekend Today it would be a "very wet weekend" ahead of most of the state.

It comes as parts of Western Australia experienced its highest May rainfall total in more than 82 years.

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The Bureau of Meteorology's seven-day forecast for NSW is showing a chance of showers until Thursday next week, with the biggest impact set for the next few days.

"At the moment, the heaviest rain is falling over western parts of the state, those inland areas, the spots like Hillston are having over 50mm of rain yesterday and overnight," Hines said.

"As we get a little bit later on into the weekend, particularly Sunday, the heavier rain (will) move to that much more highly populated coastal part of the state."

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The Bureau forecasts the biggest rainfall totals will be seen in the Illawarra district and potentially parts of Sydney.

"(The rain is due) to a combination of things going on in the atmosphere, but we've got a big high-pressure area, south of Tasmania, which has just been feeding showers onto the east coast of the country all up that NSW coast all week," Hines said.

"That's why we've had that spotty off and on again rainfall all through the week so far.

"That's going to get amplified and enhanced by a disturbance in the upper atmosphere, which (will) turn that spotty, showery weather into more widespread and persistent rainy weather (tonight) and Sunday."

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Next week drier weather will return to the rest of the state, though rain will likely continue along the coast.

Meanwhile, similar conditions were recorded in Western Australia yesterday, after the state recorded large rainfall totals. 

Bunbury recorded a two-day total of 55 mm to 9am yesterday, the most rain the town has seen since August 2023.

Cowaramup also saw its largest rainfall totals in two and a half years, with 60 mm recorded during the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday.

Showers will clear in Perth and Adelaide today, both expected to reach a high of 22.

Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart will climb to a top of 17, while Brisbane will see a shower or two and a top of 24 degrees.

It will be sunny skies and warm weather in Darwin, with the city reaching a 35 degrees.

A zebra that escaped from a trailer east of Seattle last weekend remained on the run on Friday, as authorities closed off trailheads at a nature area in hopes of keeping people away and easing her capture.

The zebra was one of four that escaped as they were being transported from Washington to Montana last Sunday.

The driver had taken the Interstate 90 exit for North Bend, in the Cascade mountain foothills about 48 kilometres east of Seattle, to secure the trailer, when the zebras got loose, surprising residents and drivers as they galloped into a rural neighborhood.

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Three were quickly captured after being corralled in a pasture.

But the fourth — a mare called "Z" — hopped a fence and has proved more elusive, spawning popular social media memes that have placed the animal everywhere from riding a ferry across Puget Sound to rounding the bases at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners.

There have been several more realistic sightings, most recently on Thursday, according to Regional Animal Services of King County.

On Friday, King County officials closed off trail access points along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail in the Boxley Creek Natural Area, where the zebra seems to be frequenting.

People trying to come out to see the zebra may be spooking it and making it harder to recapture the animal, they said.

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"We're hoping that by closing the trail and getting people out of that area, maybe that will help us do a successful capture," said animal services spokesman Cameron Satterfield.

The zebra has been seen grazing and has been spotted on residents' trail cameras. There are dangers: The cameras have also recently captured cougars in the area.

On her Facebook page, King County Council Member Sarah Perry urged people to keep their distance.

"She is in an area where there are feeding zones to coax her out for a rescue, but every time a well-intended walker, bicycle or unleashed 'search dog' comes near her it makes rescuing her so much more difficult," Perry wrote Thursday.

"She is in good hands, and a rescue seems imminent, as long as we work together to give them room to achieve our goal."

China launched a lunar probe to land on the far side of the moon and return with samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.

It is the latest advance in China’s increasingly sophisticated space exploration program, which is now competing with the US, still the leader in space.

China already landed a rover on the moon’s far side in 2019, the first country to do so.

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And it returned samples from the near side of the moon in 2020, the first time anyone has done so since the 1970s.

Analysis of the samples found they contained water in tiny beads embedded in lunar dirt.

China also has a three-member crew on its own orbiting space station and aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2030.

Three Chinese lunar probe missions are planned over the next four years.

The rocket carrying the Chang’e-6 lunar probe lifted off on Friday from the Wenchang launch centre on the island province of Hainan.

After orbiting the moon to reduce speed, the lander will separate from the returner.

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Free from exposure to Earth and other interference, the moon's somewhat mysterious far side is ideal for radio astronomy and other scientific work.

Because the far side never faces Earth, a relay satellite is needed to maintain communications.

The Chang’e lunar exploration probe is named after the Chinese mythical moon goddess.

Huge numbers of people crowded Hainan's beaches to view the launch, which comes in the middle of China’s five-day May Day holiday.

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After orbiting the moon to reduce speed, the lander will separate from the spacecraft and begin scooping up samples almost as soon as it sets down.

It will then reconnect with the returner for the trip back to Earth.

The entire mission is set to last 53 days.

China built its own space station after being excluded from the International Space Station (ISS), largely because of US concerns over the Chinese military’s total control of the space program amid a sharpening competition in technology between the two geopolitical rivals.

US law bars almost all cooperation between the US and Chinese space programs without explicit congressional approval.

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China’s ambitious space program aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2030, as well as bring back samples from Mars around the same year and launch three lunar probe missions over the next four years.

The next is schedule for 2027.

Longer-term plans call for a permanent crewed base on the lunar surface, although those appear to remain in the conceptual phase.

China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, becoming the third country after the former Soviet Union and the US to put a person into space using its own resources.

The three-module Tiangong, much smaller than the ISS, was launched in 2021 and completed 18 months later.

It can accommodate up to six astronauts at a time and is mainly dedicated to scientific research.

The crew will also install space debris protection equipment, carry out payload experiments, and beam science classes to students on Earth.

China has also said that it eventually plans to offer access to its space station to foreign astronauts and space tourists.

With the ISS nearing the end of its useful life, China could eventually be the only country or corporation to maintain a crewed station in orbit.

The US space program is believed to still hold a significant edge over China’s due to its spending, supply chains and capabilities.

The US aims to put a crew back on the lunar surface by the end of 2025 as part of a renewed commitment to crewed missions, aided by private sector players such as SpaceX and Blue Origin.

They plan to land on the moon's south pole where permanently shadowed craters are believed to be packed with frozen water.

A father from Adelaide's northern suburbs fears someone will be killed after yet another out-of-control car went crashing into his property. 

Peter Virgin's front fence has been wiped out five times but he says authorities have refused to acknowledge the risk. 

"Someone is going to get killed," he said.

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The latest crash involved a 29-year-old allegedly disqualified driver who was attempting to evade police when he crashed into the homemade concrete barricade Virgin erected to protect his property.

He says if it wasn't there last night, the car would have ploughed into his daughter's bedroom.

Virgin's neighbour, Mustafa Ipekdal, criticised the lack of action from the City of Salisbury, highlighting the absence of proper curbing and the potential danger to children in the area. 

"He's doing it himself, he's preparing the place himself," he said.

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"The council has never done anything. There's no curbing here. It's not safe for the kids."

The council however, claims the road falls under the responsibility of the state government's Department of Transport.

In response to the recent crashes, it acknowledged the safety concerns and said it is willing to discuss potential safety measures.

The driver involved in the latest crash has now been arrested.

Meanwhile, Virgin says he'll keep the concrete blocks up to protect him and his family. 

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.