Chopper on a rescue mission came down ‘partially under control’, boss says.

Sydney will narrowly miss breaking a heat record as the city finally cools down on the last day of a five-day heatwave.

If Observatory Hill hit 34 degrees today, it would have broken the record for the hottest three consecutive days in September on record, but temperatures peaked at 33.8 degrees at 2pm.

Areas in the west experienced the worst heat today, with temperatures in Penrith and Bankstown hitting 34 degrees.

READ MORE: Fugitive shot dead to end manhunt

Bushfires continued to rage across the state.

One fire on Foggy Forest Drive in Anembo, in the Snowy Monaro region, was upgraded to a watch and act level at 4.10pm.

More than 700 firefighters fought upwards of 70 fires throughout the day, with 20 still uncontained.

"We are expecting conditions to ease in the Sydney areas and down south overnight, and the fire danger will move to the north-west of the state tomorrow," Rural Fire Service commissioner Rob Rogers said.

"We're not quite out of it yet."

Homeowners in Wallacia prepared to defend their homes as bushfires closed in this morning.

Crews blocked off Silverdale Road as waterbombing aircraft came to the rescue, containing the fire.

READ MORE: Two men arrested over Bondi slaying

Sydney has never recorded two days of 34 degrees or more in a row in September.

Records dating back to 1859 in fact show that before this week, Sydney had only reached 34 degrees in September three times, according to Weatherzone's Ben Domensino.

A total fire ban was in place for Greater Sydney, the Hunter, and the Upper Central West regions today and national parks around the Sydney region were also closed.

Temperatures are set to drop after today, with a forecast maximum of 22 degrees for Sydney on Thursday, followed by a top of 19 degrees on Friday.

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El Niño signals scorching summer

The BoM yesterday finally declared an El Niño event was here, months after the United Nations made the same pronouncement.

"This summer will be hotter than average and certainly hotter than the last three years," the bureau's Dr Karl Braganza said.

READ MORE: El Niño has officially been declared. But what does that mean?

Australia's last El Niño event occurred during the summer of 2015-16.

Climate model outlooks suggest the El Niño period is likely to continue until at least the end of the southern hemisphere summer at the end of February.

Australia is likely to experience hotter and drier weather than in recent years, along with an elevated bushfire risk.

Google data from the year to August shows the most-searched-for pronunciations.

The victim was mistakenly believed to be a member of a rival gang, the Mongrel Mob.

Petrol giant Ampol will have to fork over hundreds of thousands to the New South Wales government after a diesel spill in Sydney last year.

An Ampol fuel transfer terminal spilled more than 9,000 litres of diesel, which mixed with floodwaters, in the Kurnell area in April 2022.

The company today entered into a legally binding agreement with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) that will see it pay $700,000 towards four community projects.

READ MORE: Young girl dead after attempted ocean rescue south of Geelong

The oil mixed with pre-existing floodwaters, which came from an onsite water treatment plant in the area, flooding residents' homes and local wetlands with contaminated flood waters.

Locals reported symptoms of headaches, nausea and eye and throat irritation after the spill infiltrated their yards, while two Dusky Morrhenbirds died after being covered in oil.

The funds will be donated to four community projects. A total of $180,000 will go to Landcare to deliver a Streamwatch program to schools in the area.

Another $150,000 will go to the National Parks and Wildlife Service to help remove invasive weeds in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

A further $370,000 will go to the Sutherland Shire Council to build a new playground and and outdoor gym at Marton Park.

READ MORE: Young girl dead after attempted ocean rescue south of Geelong

EPA Director of Operations Adam Gilligan said Ampol has been "held to account" over the incident.

"This spill had a significant impact not only on the sensitive local environment, but on private properties and key community assets as well," Gilligan said.

"Ampol should have had better processes in place to make sure that wastewater from its treatment plant could not escape, even in extreme weather.

"Extreme weather events already significantly impact communities, without the added impacts of land and water pollution.

"We required Ampol to conduct clean-up measures, and now these funds will make sure the local community and environment is enhanced as well."

Ampol allegedly breached the 1997 Protection of the Environment Operations Act three times during the incident, including failing to inform the authorities immediately after the spill, according to the Environment Protection Authority

The company has also agreed to pay the legal and investigative costs of the EPA, totalling $86,667.51.

"Ampol has entered into an enforceable undertaking with the EPA after a wastewater treatment plant at its fuel transfer terminal in Kurnell was inundated by floodwaters and overflowed, causing hydrocarbon-impacted floodwaters to enter into the surrounding environment at Kurnell on 7 April 2022," the company said in a statement to 9News.com.au

"Ampol accepts full responsibility for all contributing factors to the incident that were within our control, and deeply regret the impact the incident has had on the Kurnell community and the environment."

"In response to the incident, Ampol undertook clean-up works to remediate the impacted lands and waterways."

Comedian and self-styled spiritual guru Russell Brand has been dropped from star billing at an Australian wellness festival in the wake of sexual assault allegations.

Brand, 48, was signed up as the headline act at the Wanderlust Festival in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, three dates scheduled for February next year, but those plans are now off.

"Due to circumstances that have recently come to light, Wanderlust and Russell Brand have agreed that Mr Brand will not be appearing at the Wanderlust Festival," Charlotte Hill, the chief executive of Wanderlust Australia, told 9news.com.au.

READ MORE: Bushfires flare up amid record-breaking heatwave

In cutting Brand loose, Wanderlust joins a growing list of organisations distancing themselves from the performer, who denies all of the sexual assault allegations and has not been charged with any criminal offences.

"Take the comedic path to wellness with Russell Brand," a now-defunct promotional poster for the 2024 festival read.

One of Brand's alleged rape victims has condemned Brand's celebrated wellness persona, saying she knows "the demon underneath".

"He wants to help with meditation, he's all in this wellness world … it just makes me so mad that he has a platform for that," the woman, who was given the pseudonym Nadia, told British newspaper The Times.

The Wanderlust festival has links to Light Warrior, an investment group co-founded by rich lister Radek Sali and former Goldman Sachs investment banker Adam Gregory.

Targeting the highly lucrative health and wellbeing space, the festival is typically comprised of yoga and meditation sessions, talks from speakers and nutritional experts, and music.

Wanderlust also sells vitamins and supplements, a sector where Sali made his $250 million fortune after selling his company Swisse, a vitamin business, to Hong Kong's Biostime in 2015.

In recent years Brand has reinvented himself as a wellbeing and spiritual guru, as well as espousing conspiracy theories, and has amassed a huge, revenue-generating online following.

YouTube yesterday said Brand will no longer be able to make money from the video streaming site while the allegations of sexual assault are being investigated. 

READ MORE: Fugitive shot dead to end manhunt

All marketing promotions of Brand and the 2024 Wanderlust Festival appear to have been swiftly removed from the website, but the company is still hosting a biography page for Brand, where it pitches him as "a recognised spokesperson on the subject of addiction and recovery".

Brand denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers.

The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with him when she was 16.

Another woman alleges Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.

Brand was in the middle of a comedy tour when the allegations were published, but that has now been suspended.

– Reported with Associated Press

After 15 months and more than 14,000 destroyed bee hives, Australia has abandoned its efforts to eradicate the varroa mite and will instead transition towards managing the deadly parasite.

Since varroa mites were detected in New South Wales, near Newcastle, in June last year, $101 million was spent on trying to eradicate the pest.

But on Tuesday, the National Management Group (NMG) unanimously decided to end those efforts, with the NSW government conceding eradication is no longer possible and that focus now needed to shift to managing the impact of the pest.

READ MORE: New Qantas CEO ordered to sit down with union leader for mediation

The NMG said the illegal movement of bees and non-compliance with eradication measures from some beekeepers contributed to the program's failure.

"The priority now is for the NSW Department of Primary Industries to communicate with all the stakeholders of the beekeeper and pollination sectors and advise them what the change in program means for their industry," NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said.

"I've directed the Department of Primary Industries to immediately engage industry stakeholders and beekeepers to provide guidance and assistance so that they can quickly respond to the transition of the Varroa mite management program."

READ MORE: Victoria to tax Airbnbs in wide-ranging plan to fix housing crisis

Dr Amy-Marie Gilpin, a lecturer for invertebrate ecology in the School of Science at Western Sydney University, said the decision will have far-reaching effects, and that Australia will now need to follow the footsteps of other countries that manage the mite.

"Elsewhere around the world, apiarists have employed management practices that allow them to live with the mite and suppress the associated diseases that the mite can spread," she said.

"Our only option now is to try to suppress the spread and to make regular checks of managed hives to ensure hive health and manage potential disease."

However, she said there could be an unexpected positive impact.

"The spread of varroa may, however, help to reduce feral honeybee numbers which may ultimately reduce the chance of disease transmission from feral unmanaged colonies which in turn may have significant implications for native plant-pollinator systems."

A man has been charged with murder after a father was found dead after he went to walk his dog in Geelong in Victoria.

Paul Grapsas, 40, left to walk his dog near his home on Western Beach Road in Geelong at about 11pm on Thursday, September 14.

His wife woke about 4am on Friday and found the dog at home but her husband hadn't returned.

READ MORE: One dead, three in hospital after incident in Victorian holiday town

She went outside to have a look around and found her husband dead, suffering head injuries, next to his car on nearby Malone Street.

An 18-year-old Belmont man was arrested in Ocean Grove yesterday.

He was charged with murder to face court this afternoon.

READ MORE: City on verge of record-breaking heatwave

Grapsas' family told 9News last week he was "a man of integrity who was happiest when surrounded by his family, friends and church community".

He was a devoted father of two and was expecting a third child.

"Paul will be dearly and desperately missed by all those he loved and who loved him," his family said.

Fast food giant Pizza Hut Australia has claimed it has been hit by a cyber security incident, where "an unauthorised third party accessed some of the company's data".

Chief executive officer Phil Reed said in an email to customers today the company became aware of the incident "in early September", with the data impacted including customer record details and online order transactions held on the Australian customer database.

"This includes information such as a customer's name, delivery address and instructions, email address, and contact number," Reed said.

READ MORE: One dead, three in hospital after incident in Victorian holiday town

"If you have a Pizza Hut Australia user account, it also includes unusable masked credit card details and secured one-way encrypted passwords.

"The credit card details we hold cannot be used to make fraudulent payments and all credit card payments are processed securely by an approved payment platform.

"Our day-to-day operations are not impacted and we are continuing to securely process orders online or over the phone for our customers."

READ MORE: City on verge of record-breaking heatwave

The fast food company said it took "immediate action to protect our customers" when it became aware of the incident, which it said impacted "a small proportion of customers".

"We secured our systems, engaged forensic and cyber security specialists and initiated an ongoing investigation to help us understand what occurred, and identify the data that was impacted," the email said.

The company has formally notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner of the data breach and contacted other current customers in their database "as a precaution" to inform them of the incident and provide information to protect their personal details.

"It is important to note that there is no evidence that your personal information has been misused, and the data we hold cannot by itself by used to commit identity theft or fraud," the email said.

Customers are being asked to remain alert to any suspicious texts, emails or phone calls that are "disguised to look like they come from someone you know or trust".

"Verify communications by confirming the identity of the sender," the email said.

"This includes checking email names and domains, by hovering your mouse over the sender's email address.

"Do not open links that look suspicious.

"If you are unsure about a link sent to you by a company, you should go to the company's website and look for the product or service that was offered."

The company also told customers to be alert to phishing scams and consider updating their passwords to their Pizza Hut accounts.

READ MORE: What to do if your data is compromised in a company hack?

The silly season is the busy season for posties, which is why Australia Post is looking to recruit thousands of casual workers in the lead-up to Christmas.

About 3000 seasonal casuals are sought, with a heavy focus on some particular skills.

At the top of Australia Post's Christmas wishlist are applicants with a valid forklift or truck licence.

READ MORE: One dead, three in hospital after incident in Victorian holiday town

Freight handlers and parcel processers are also sought across the delivery network.

Roles are available across all states and territories, with the highest demand in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland.

A bumper pre-Christmas cyber-sales period is expected to lead to a frenzy of work in the coming months.

READ MORE: City on verge of record-breaking heatwave

"Working at Australia Post offers team members the opportunity to be a part of a great, supportive team and help to spread the Merry this Christmas," Australia Post executive general manager people and culture Susan Davies said.

"Working in a seasonal casual role can also create opportunities to work with Australia Post beyond the end of the year."

Interested parties can apply online here.