The car slammed into a downstairs bedroom left empty only moments before.

An elderly Ukrainian woman has been rescued from a war zone by a robot after struggling to escape her war-torn town on foot.

Antonina, 77, had been hiding in a basement in the Donetsk region for four months before she and her family took advantage of a pause in attacks and decided to flee.

While Antonina's family managed to escape, she struggled to keep up, with footage showing her using two walking sticks to pull herself along an isolated village road.

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Antonina said she was about to turn back to the bunker when she was approached by a futuristic robot

"Who knows what it was – how would I know?" she told Reuters.

But the strange machine would prove to be her salvation.

Unmanned military robots are regularly used by the Ukrainian military to evacuate wounded fighters but it's the first time it's been used to rescue a civilian.

A Ukrainian soldier says he sent the vehicle after Ukrainian drones spotted Antonia struggling.

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"There was another question; would she even understand our intentions?" he asked.

"We found some car mats there and used a spray can of paint to write, 'Grandma, get in'."

The evacuation spanned four hours along roads pockmarked by shelling, made dangerous because Russia has targeted the unmanned vehicles in the past.

Antonina is now safe, grateful for her survival and holding hope for the future.

"My dream is for the war to end, for there to be peace, and for people not to die the way they are dying now," Antonina said.

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The 52-year-old was last seen on April 14 in the Herring Stream Rd area.

Victims suffered broken bones, a brain injury and damage to internal organs.

Jade Hlucshniow was on the brink of selling her home to afford treatment for her daughter, whose debilitating skin condition had stolen much of her childhood.

Ruby, age seven, suffered from eczema so painful that it consumed her family's life.

"Watching her suffer was unbearable. She would tear her skin apart, and there was nothing we could do to stop it," her mum, Jade, told nine.com.au.

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"Nights were the worst. For the rest of my life, I will never forget her screams – crying out, begging us to help her – and the overwhelming feeling of helplessness as we stood there, unable to take her pain away."

Jade said that before Ruby had access to proper treatment, life was a living "nightmare."

Missing school, she also stopped eating properly and became too self-conscious to go out in public.

"She was so worried about people staring at her," Jade said.

When the family heard about Dupixent, a treatment Jade describes as a "miracle" injection, the hope came with a brutal price tag: about $1600 a month.

"We found ourselves going over everything – what we could cut from our expenses, how we could earn more money, what we could sell – just to try and make this treatment an option," explained.

"I can honestly say we would have gone as far as selling our house."

Ruby gained compassionate access to the drug a year and a half ago, and according to her mum, has become "a different child."

"I can't put into words the overwhelming relief we felt in that moment…for the first time in so long, we could finally breathe again."

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Now, families who cannot afford the same treatment want the Federal Government to take immediate action by subsidising Dupixent through the PBS for children under 12.

The drug is already available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for Australians aged 12 and over, but younger children are excluded without special access.

National charity Eczema Support Australia is spearheading the SOS for Kids with Eczema campaign to advocate for PBS funding of Dupixent for children aged six months to 11 years.

Managing director Melanie Funk is urging for improved access to treatments, saying the current lack of funding leaves thousands of families suffering unnecessarily.

"Families of young Australian children with severe eczema are at a breaking point, unable to afford a medicine that can change lives," she said.

If listed on the PBS, the cost would be slashed from $1600 to about $25 a month.

Eczema affects approximately three million Australians, including one-in-three children aged six years or younger.

Dr Li-Chuen Wong, from the Australasian College of Dermatologists, said severe cases could be debilitating for young children, causing relentless itching, skin infections and sleep disruption.

"In the worst cases, children are in constant discomfort and unable to function normally, and the impact on families is profound," she said.

That was the harrowing reality for the Hlucshniow family – a stark contrast to Ruby's life today, where she can finally enjoy the same experiences as other seven-year-olds.

"She joins in sports, participates in all school activities, and no longer has to sit on the sidelines. She goes to birthday parties – something she used to avoid – and has become such a social butterfly. It's been incredible to watch."

"These might seem like small things, but for Ruby, they mean everything," Jade said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing told nine.com.au that the pharmaceutical company responsible for dupilumab in Australia has not provided the required documentation for the PBS listing to progress. 

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee will consider an updated proposal at its July 2026 meeting.

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A behind‑the‑scenes glimpse at the work that keeps everything ticking in wild weather.

More than $3.5m is earmarked for wastewater upgrades across the district.

A rescue team released a humpback whale that had been stranded in shallow waters near Germany since March from a barge in the North Sea witnesses said.

Nicknamed Timmy by German media, the whale was spotted swimming near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 3, far from its natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean.

The mammal’s health deteriorated as it became repeatedly stranded in shallow waters near the coastal city of Wismar, and unsuccessful efforts to coax it toward deeper seas were livestreamed across the globe.

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The environment minister for Germany’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state gave the green light for the attempt to save the whale, proposed by a private initiative, despite some warnings from the scientific community that it may be too much for the animal.

Jens Schwarck, a member of the private initiative who was on site, said the whale was released about 9am local time on Saturday, according to the German news agency dpa.

The agency reported that the whale was released 70 kilometres from the coast of Skagen, Denmark.

Drone footage showed a whale swimming and spouting water near the barge, though it was not immediately confirmed that the animal was indeed Timmy.

A debate emerged about whether to let the whale die in peace or try to assist its return to the Atlantic Ocean.

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Activists staged protests on the beach in Wismar calling for its liberation, while others have supported new ideas about how the whale could be transported.

Some scientists believe the whale had searched for shallow waters because it was weak and needed rest.

The veterinarians of the private initiative, however, considered the animal fit for transport.

Before the release, a GPS transmitter was reportedly attached to track the whale’s future location, according to dpa.

It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, far from its natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.

Since then, the mammal became repeatedly stranded in shallow waters.

It was in clear distress, breathing irregularly and often barely moving for days.

Timmy also suffered from a bad skin condition, related to the Baltic Sea’s low salt content, and rescuers applied kilos of zinc ointment.

Local media produced days long livestreams to feed the outsized public attention over the fate of the whale.

Online newspapers blasted push alerts with the smallest developments about Timmy’s health.

President Donald Trump said he was reviewing a new Iranian proposal to end the war.

"I'll let you know about it later," he said before boarding Air Force One, adding that "they're going to give me the exact wording now".

However, moments later, he elaborated on Truth Social, claiming "[I] can't imagine that it would be acceptable."

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"They have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years," Trump said in the post.

Two semi-official Iranian outlets, Tasnim and Fars, believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said Iran has sent a 14-point proposal via Pakistan in response to a nine-point US proposal.

Trump rejected a previous Iranian proposal this week. However, conversations have continued, and the three-week ceasefire appears to be holding.

The president has also floated a new plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where about a fifth of the world's trade in oil and natural gas typically passes.

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The president also pushed back on remarks he made yesterday, when he said, "Frankly, maybe we're better off not making a deal at all. Do you want to know the truth? Because we can't let this thing go on."

"I didn't say that," Trump said today.

"I said that if we left right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild. But we're not leaving right now," he told reporters before departing from Palm Beach to Miami.

At the same impromptu press gathering, Trump also said troop withdrawals from Germany would exceed the 5000 predicted by the Pentagon yesterday.

"We're going to cut way down. And we're cutting a lot further than 5000," he said, refusing to elaborate on why the call had been made.

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The moves after German Chancellor Freiderich Merz claimed the US was being "humiliated" in the Iran war.

The proposal has been met with bipartisan condemnation, with some Republicans joining Democrats in voicing their disapproval.

Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama said the decision risked "undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin."

Wicker and Rogers said any significant change to the US force posture in Europe warrants review and coordination with Congress.

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"We expect the Department to engage with its oversight committees in the days and weeks ahead on this decision and its implications for US deterrence and trans-Atlantic security," they said in a joint statement.

However, Germany seemed to take the move somewhat in their stride, with Boris Pistorius, defence minister, saying it was "expected."

"The presence of American soldiers in Europe, and especially in Germany, is in our interest and in the interest of the US," Pistorius told the German news agency dpa, while also saying it was a sign Europe needed to take more responsibility for their own defence.

Congress bypassed as billions in arms sales approved

While Trump reviews the proposal, he has also allowed the State Department to bypass congressional approval to sell billions in arms to several Middle Eastern allies, including Israel.

In several announcements made yesterday, the State Department said it had approved military sales to Israel, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait totalling US$8.6 billion ($12 billion).

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"The Secretary of State [Marco Rubio] has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale… of the above defence articles and defence services is in the national security interests of the United States," the statements read, adding that this meant the need for congressional approval was waived.

Israel received the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System and "other related equipment", which will net the US about $1.4 billion.

The UAE and Qatar also received this system, while the latter will have its Patriot air and missile defence stocks replenished.

This will cost around $5.6 billion alone.

"There will be no adverse impact on US defence readiness as a result of this proposed sale," the State Department claims.

Reported with Associated Press and CNN.

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Scores of passengers are stranded and thousands of workers have been stood down after American low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines shut down.

The budget airline announced it would start an "orderly wind-down of operations, effective immediately" on May 2 after 34 years in the business.

"All Spirit flights have been cancelled and Spirit guests should not go to the airport," the airline said in a statement.

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Passengers arrived at airports across the US this morning to empty check-in desks and signs informing them all flights had been cancelled and customer service was no longer available.

Spirit cited the rising cost of jet fuel, which has more than doubled since the war in the Middle East broke out in February, alongside "other pressures on the business" for the closure, which will leave 17,000 employees without a job.

"In March 2026, we reached an agreement with our bondholders on a restructuring plan that would have allowed us to emerge as a go-forward business," Spirit President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Davis said.

"However, the sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company."

Sustaining the business would have required hundreds of millions of dollars the airline "simply does not have and could not procure," Davis said.

"This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted," he said.

Spirit's bankruptcy has sparked concerns other low-cost carriers could be next.

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But the airline faced significant challenges before the conflict broke out, including large debt, two bankruptcies within a year and a failed government bailout bid just weeks ago.

After failing to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline filed for bankruptcy in November 2024, having haemorrhaged more than US$2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) since the start of 2020.

Spirit sought bankruptcy protection for the second time in August 2025, reporting $11.2 billion in debts and $11.9 billion in assets.

A major restructure followed, which sought to cut flights and operational costs by furloughing and downgrading pilots and flight attendants.

Spirit told creditors the restructure would allow them to post a net $304 million profit by 2027.

But just six months later, on April 18, the airline asked the US government for an emergency bailout.

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Bail-out negotiations with the Trump Administration, reported to be worth $500 million, collapsed in recent days, sparking the airline's collapse today.

The airline serviced destinations across the US, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.

Around 9000 flights were scheduled until the end of May, according to Cirium analytics, potentially impacting millions of passengers across the month.

Refunds will be processed for impacted customers who booked directly with the airline, Spirit said, while passengers with third-party bookings should contact their travel agent.

"Compensation for Guests who booked flights using any other methods, including a voucher, credit or Free Spirit points, will be determined at a later date," Spirit said.

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