Dust clouds blown from the Sahara Desert crossed the Mediterranean to blot out the city's iconic landmarks.

Neighbour says he was evacuated from his home after “device” was found.

‘Someone just had to push a button once and we would still have our baby girl’

A rescue mission has been launched off the Queensland coast to save an American man rowing from the US to Australia in an attempt to break a world record.

The Queensland Ambulance Service received a phone call at 1pm today to prepare for an ill endurance athlete.

Tez Steinberg is currently attempting to row the 8000 kilometres from Hawaii to Queensland.

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He has been at sea for 120 days and is being followed by a film crew.

The crew is towing him into Port Douglas where paramedics will meet him.

He is expected to reach shore between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

The mother of a woman killed in the Bondi Junction attack said her family's lives "have been fractured" forever during a heartbreaking tribute at her funeral today.

Hundreds of loved ones gathered to farewell Jade Young, who was murdered in the Bondi Junction attack on April 13.

Young's mother, Elizabeth, told family and friends gathered at the Sydney Botanic Gardens that her "glorious, loving, soft-hearted, hard-working daughter" was killed while shopping for a child's birthday present.

READ MORE: Aussies are about to get $1500 – and more relief could be on the way

"My granddaughter aged nine would have been skipping alongside her… and then at 3.20-ish, Jade Young was attacked and killed out right in front of her daughter," she said.

"Our lives have been fractured there will be no back to normal."

She also called for change in the wake of the attack.

"Never again do I want to read the word tragic or tragedy associated with the perpetrator of the murder of my daughter," she said.

"He came prepared, he had an intention, he was a killer who slipped past Westfield security making a shopping centre the most dangerous place on earth for Jade."

Elizabeth later called for "politicians both federal and state to address the gaps in mental health care to make it a safer world for our girls and all Australians".

READ MORE: Ten wants costs for 'deliberately wicked' Lehrmann case

Young's family said in a statement earlier today her loss had shattered their world.

"While we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from friends and the community, Jade's death has left a gaping hole in our lives.

"Her children were her life, and we do not want their future to be shaped by her death.

"Today's memorial at the Calyx is a celebration of Jade's life and we know many in our community loved her."

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Young's workplace, Georgina Wilson Associates (GWA), paid tribute to their "beautiful" colleague on social media in the aftermath of the attack.

"Jade was a part of our GWA team for over 12 years – she was family," the Double Bay-based architecture studio posted on Instagram.

"Anyone who knew Jade knew what a beautiful, kind and warm soul she was.

"We are completely devastated. All our love goes out to her family. We love you Jade."

Yixuan Cheng, Pikria Darchia, Faraz Tahir, Dawn Singleton and Ashlee Good were also killed at the popular shopping centre.

The incident also left a dozen people injured, five of whom remain in hospital in a stable condition.

A paddle out was held at Bondi Beach this morning to pay tribute to the victims.

A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign has also been set up to financially support Young's family as they grieve.

A man accused of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend allegedly sexually assaulted, stalked and intimidated her in the months before the killing, prompting a review into why he was free on bail.

Daniel Billings is charged with the domestic violence-related murder of childcare worker Molly Ticehurst, 28, whose body was found in a home at Forbes, in central-western NSW, early on Monday morning.

The 29-year-old, from Dalby in Queensland, did not appear when his case was briefly mentioned in Orange Local Court today.

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Court documents show Billings was on bail at the time of the killing, facing three counts of sexual intercourse without consent and four charges of stalking and intimidating Ticehurst in recent months.

He is also accused of recklessly destroying her car window and a pedestal fan at her home in January, along with aggravated animal cruelty against her 12-week-old dachshund puppy in 2023.

In addition to the murder charge, he faces fresh counts of failing to comply with his bail conditions and breaching an apprehended violence order.

Ticehurst's father Tony said Billings should have been behind bars and someone must be held responsible for her death.

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"If they'd have kept him in jail as the police wanted, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Ticehurst told 9News.

The case has prompted wider concern about why Billings was freed on bail and the strength of apprehended violence orders.

Premier Chris Minns said those were "legitimate questions" and the government would review what happened in the lead-up to the alleged murder.

"A family has lost their daughter and the circumstances are horrifying for that community and that family," he told reporters today.

"Listening to her dad… your heart breaks for him, he's justifiably angry, he's completely heartbroken, he wants answers as to what happened."

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Public Service Association of NSW president Stewart Little said courts were not adequately protecting women, making police and corrections officers' work more difficult.

"It's a kick in the guts for frontline police and for our members that work in the criminal justice system," he said.

Detective Inspector Jason Darcy earlier said Billings and Ticehurst had been in a relationship and the "brutal" killing had her family devastated.

"Naturally they're just distraught," he said yesterday.

Billings did not apply for bail today and it was refused by Magistrate David Day.

Day also formally revoked bail on the earlier charges – which were dealt with by a different court – adding Billings had not yet entered pleas that were due.

"That's not good enough," he said.

Billings is due to appear in Parkes Local Court on June 20.

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

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service on 1800 211 028

Bruce Lehrmann should foot the multimillion-dollar legal bill from his failed defamation case for improperly trying to hide his misdeeds, Network Ten says.

The 28-year-old spectacularly lost his Federal Court defamation case against Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson earlier in April.

In a move claimed by Ten to have been "deliberately wicked and calculated", Lehrmann alleged a February 2021 report on The Project ruined his reputation by falsely claiming he raped Brittany Higgins in a Parliament House office almost two years earlier.

READ MORE: Aussies are about to get $1500 – and more relief could be on the way

Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, Lehrmann had raped Higgins because she had been too intoxicated to consent.

In submissions made public today, the ex-Liberal staffer's barrister David Helvadjian said the court should decide how legal costs were split among the parties.

But Helvadjian contended that Lehrmann still acted reasonably in bringing the lawsuit to vindicate his reputation, despite the loss.

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"(The) allegation was of serious criminal conduct, the allegation had not been established in any criminal proceedings, the respondents bore the onus of proof, and (Lehrmann) disputed the truth of the allegation," he wrote.

Ten and Wilkinson had also not proven they had acted reasonably in producing the report after failing to investigate a number of shortcomings in claims put forward by Higgins, Helvadjian said.

Her allegations that were rejected by Lee included claims of a government cover-up of the rape.

Despite the warning signs, Wilkinson and Ten producer Angus Llewellyn proceeded with an "active ignorance" in running the full story, Helvadjian said.

This meant Ten and Wilkinson should be on the hook for at least part of Lehrmann's costs, the barrister added.

Ten has rejected this, arguing its defence was not "doomed to fail".

The network's barrister Matt Collins KC wrote that Lehrmann's conduct was so bad in bringing the lawsuit that he should be hit with indemnity costs.

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"Lehrmann brought this proceeding on a deliberately wicked and calculated basis," he wrote.

"He put Network Ten to the cost of defending this proceeding, which can be, with the benefit of hindsight, described as a clear abuse of process aimed at concealing the truth that Lehrmann raped Higgins."

The 28-year-old brought the lawsuit on a false basis to rehabilitate his reputation, the barrister added.

"Lehrmann engaged in an abuse of the court's processes, ran a case based on positive falsities, and put Network Ten to the cost of defending a baseless proceeding."

Lehrmann also unreasonably rejected a "walk away" settlement offer made by Ten in August 2023 despite a very real prospect his case would fail, Collins wrote.

"It must have been apparent to Lehrmann, as at the date of the offer, that the chickens were coming home to roost."

Under the offer, Ten proposed that each party would consent to dismiss the case and bear their own legal costs.

Wilkinson's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC argued Lehrmann should also foot the legal bill for her client given his "highly disreputable conduct".

"Wilkinson has obtained judgment in her favour, and the applicant has wholly failed," she wrote.

The costs hearing will be heard before Justice Lee on May 1.

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

Lifeline on 13 11 14.

The growth of Australia's renewable energy market is driving down electricity prices across much of the country despite severe weather conditions driving up demand for energy.

The Australian Energy Market Operator's (AEMO) latest report for the March 2024 quarter found renewables accounted for 39 per cent of the east coast's power grid, up almost 2 per cent for the same period in 2023.

While heatwave conditions and extreme weather events increased the strain on the grid wholesale spot prices were down by 8 per cent, to $76 per megawatt hour (MWh).

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AEMO's Executive general manager of reform delivery Violette Mouchaileh said the growth of solar and wind energy in Australia could bring down electricity prices to record lows.

"The move to renewables over traditional coal-fired power generation is well and truly underway and is happening at record pace," she said.

"We are increasingly seeing renewable energy records being set which is a good thing for Australian consumers as it is key in driving prices down and NEM emissions intensity to new record lows."

The AEMO noted solar energy generation was the fastest growing renewable in NSW and Queensland with output lifting by 18 per cent in the last 12 months.

States that followed in record high solar outputs include Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. 

"Wind generation had the next largest increase, up 5 per cent with output from grid-scale batteries up a massive 134 per cent year-on-year," Mouchaileh said.

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The Waitangi Tribunal turns 50 – happy birthday to you.

Police believe the dentist was plundered between April 8 and 10, and are asking for info.