The father of two of the four Indigenous children who survived a plane crash that killed their mother and two other adults, then survived 40 days on their own in the Amazon jungle, was arrested on Friday, Colombian authorities said.

The Colombian Prosecutor's Office confirmed in a message to Associated Press journalists that officials arrested Manuel Ranoque, who is the father of the 1-year-old and 4-year-old boys in the crash and the stepfather of the two girls, aged 9 and 13.

The statement gave no details on the reason, but media reports said the case involved allegations of abuse.

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Astrid Eliana Cáceres, director of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, said the state agency had been working with the authorities.

"We learned of the capture of the father of two Mucutuy minor children and we believe that the prosecutor's office has operated within the full framework of the law," she said.

Ranoque has been embroiled in a fight for custody of the children with their maternal grandparents. Their mother died four days after the crash, according to the oldest child, Lesly.

The four siblings have remained in the custody of Colombia's child protection agency since leaving the hospital after recovering from malnutrition and other ailments.

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Their maternal grandfather, Narciso Mucutuy, has accused Ranoque of beating their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy.

Before authorities confirmed his arrest, Ranoque acknowledged to reporters that there had been problems at home, but he said he considered it a private family matter and not "gossip" for the rest of the world.

When asked if he had assaulted his wife, Ranoque replied: "Verbally all of a sudden, yes. Physically, very little, because we did more fight of words."

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Hundreds of thousands of Aussie homeowners have been preparing for months to move from their low fixed rate to a budget-breaking high variable rate but the question remains, have we reached the cliff yet?

CoreLogic said an estimated 1.3 million mortgage holders were on the precipice of a fixed rate cliff – where a homeowner moves from a low fixed rate to a high variable rate – with those people expected to fall onto higher repayments this year as their term ends.

A larger than average number of fixed term loans were taken out between 2020 and 2022 before interest rates started their upward trajectory but those loans have an expiration date.

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Now many Aussies are getting close to that expiration date before falling off a cliff onto significantly higher variable rates, but are we there yet?

Head of Research Eliza Owen said we're now in the three-month peak transition period before the loans expire. 

So a three-year fixed-rate loan taken out in May 2021 was about 1.95 per cent while a variable rate now is about 5.66 per cent.

On a $500,000 30-year loan term, repayments would increase about 60 per cent from $2017 to $3175 a month.

Owen said some borrowers will struggle to service their loans on these new, higher variable rates but the cliff isn't looking as big as previously forecast.

There are a few contributing factors that show borrowers may be able to handle the move to variable rates.

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows the number of defaults and arrears remains "extremely low" despite the cash rate surging to 4.1 per cent.

This means a small number of borrowers are paying their mortgage late or are unable to pay it at all.

"It seems official data on mortgage stress has not seen a blow out in arrears amid the expiry of low fixed-term loans," Owen said.

"As home values rise, the risk of default also remains low."

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The Reserve Bank of Australia has also seen a change in consumer spending where borrowers are prioritising their mortgage repayments as fewer people are putting money into offset and redraw facilities.

Owens said the data shows a reduction in the savings for households, which was accumulated during the COVID-19 period, which reveals again a prioritisation of mortgage repayments.

The number of new listings has also risen in July, particularly in Sydney, which Owens said isn't a common trend at this time of year.

"The rise in new listings could be at least partially attributed to more motivated selling if homeowners are struggling to keep up with rising mortgage repayments," she said.

"It could even be indicative of some homeowners selling based on foreseen issues with mortgage serviceability."

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After looking at all of this, Corelogic forecasts the fixed-rate cliff won't be as terrible as previously forecast with households able to bear the brunt of rising rates due in part to changes in spending and the possibility the central bank is at the end of its course in rate rises.

"The good news for mortgage holders is that this period of economic slowdown will also take the RBA close to its long term inflation target which could be the impetus for a reduction in the cash rate in the second half of 2024," Owens said.

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The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan set the tone for how she would preside over the election subversion against Donald Trump in a hearing Friday focused on what limits would be placed on how the former president can handle the evidence prosecutors will be turning over to him.

Chutkan kicked off the hearing – the first in the case before her and one that took place in her courtroom at DC federal court house – noting that while Trump's rights as a criminal defendant would be protected, his First Amendment right to free speech was "not absolute."

"In a criminal case such as this one, the defendant's free speech is subject to the rules," she said.

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The judge closed the hearing with a promise that the case would advance like any normal proceeding in the criminal justice system, but warned that the more "inflammatory" statements were made by a party, the quicker she would need to move toward a trial to preserve a fair jury.

"It is a bedrock principle of the judicial process in this country," she said, while quoting precedent, "that legal trials are not like elections, to be won through the use of the meeting hall, the radio and the newspaper."

"This case is no exception," she said.

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Over the course of the proceedings, she expressed some skepticism to the arguments made by the office of special counsel Jack Smith, siding with Trump on at least a few matters related to the protective order over evidence that was the subject of Friday's hearing.

Addressing a submission from the government that she refused to let be filed under seal, she also emphasized a need for public transparency into the docket.

The hearing, roughly an hour and 40 minutes long, was the first in the case before Chutkan.

She has already shown a habit of responding quickly and tersely on the docket to debates between the parties over scheduling.

An Obama appointee and former public defender who has overseen several cases regarding the events of January 6, 2021, Chutkan has been outspoken about the harm the US Capitol attack caused to American democracy.

Chutkan later issued a protective order barring Trump from publicly disclosing sensitive information in the case.

Trump pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election last week, and the judge cautioned lawyers for Trump, who did not attend the hearing, about any public statements by their client that could possibly intimidate of witnesses.

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Whether or not Trump's public statements are covered by the protective order that's issued, she said, if they result in the intimidation of a witness or the obstruction of justice, "I will be scrutinising them very carefully".

Trump's lawyer John Lauro said: "President Trump will scrupulously abide by his conditions of release".

Later on, Chutkan said that "even ambiguous statement from either party or counsel … can threaten the process."

Details of protective order

Chutkan adopted restrictions proposed by prosecutors that would bar Trump from publicly disclosing "sensitive information" – including witness interviews – that are turned over to his legal team by special counsel investigators in the case.

She also rejected Trump demands for broader language in the order that would allow people not directly employed on the defence team – including volunteers – to access discovery.

While Chutkan declined a broader protective order sought by prosecutors who wanted to lock down all evidence turned over in discovery, she did restrict how Trump and his legal team can handle and publicly share sensitive information.

Her order defines sensitive information as grand jury secrets, including subpoenaed information and witness testimony; transcripts and recordings of witness interviews done by investigators outside of the grand jury; evidence obtained through court-approved searches; and sealed orders related to the investigation.

The evidence Trump cannot share publicly also includes material from other government agencies, such as the Secret Service.

Prosecutors said the sensitive information represents a large amount of the evidence they've collected.

The order also specifies that while Trump can review the evidence unaccompanied by a lawyer and take notes about it, he cannot put in those notes any especially personal identifying information and cannot make photos, copies or recordings of the evidence.

How Chutkan handles the case is likely to serve as a contrast to US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee in Florida who has been in less of a rush to move proceedings along in the classified documents case against the former president.

Cannon has already been heavily scrutinised for what critics say is a favourable treatment of the former president in a previous lawsuit Trump brought last year challenging aspects of the Justice Department's investigation

Politics and criminal defence

Chutkan and Lauro had several pointed exchanges about what the 2024 presidential contender should be allowed to say about the evidence that is turned over to him in the case.

"No one disagrees that any speech that intimidates a witness would be prohibited, what we are talking about is fair use of information," Lauro said at one point, putting forward a hypothetical that Trump is publicly remarking on something from his personal memory that is also evidence in the case.

"The fact that he is running a political campaign currently has to yield to the administration of justice," the judge said.

"And if that means he can't say exactly what he wants to say in a political speech, that is just how it's going to have to be."

Lauro put forward a hypothetical of Trump making a statement while debating his former Vice President Mike Pence – who is also running for the White House now and is a key witness in the criminal case – that overlapped with what's in discovery.

The judge wasn't sold.

"He is a criminal defendant. He is going to have constraints the same as any defendant. This case is going to proceed in a normal order," Chutkan said.

"You are conflating what your client needs to do to defend himself and what he wants to do politically," she told him.

"And what your client does to defend himself has to happen in this courtroom, not on the internet."

The special counsel said in Thursday court filings it wants the trial to begin on January 2, 2024, a date that Trump rejected in a social media post.

Healthcare workers are being offered a $20,000 retention payment each year to work in remote NSW and fill the critical skills shortage by the government.

The Rural Health Workforce Incentive scheme also includes a range of additional benefits including a salary boost, sign-on bonuses relocation assistance and housing, additional leave, and access to training and education.

The retention payment is double the previous offer as regional health districts struggle to fill nurse shortages.

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The NSW government is making to offer as skill shortages are contributing to inequitable health outcomes in regional, rural and remote areas.

"No matter where you live in NSW you should have access to vital services but that isn't possible without our essential health workers," Premier Chris Minns said in a statement.

"I'm confident that by doubling the incentives on offer, we can attract more health staff to our regions," he said.

The packages are scaled and increase in value in more remote locations.

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The death toll from the Maui fires in Hawaii has risen to 67, making it the state's deadliest natural disaster in more than 60 years, but an expert is predicting the toll to rise into triple digits.

The updated death toll comes from the local Maui County government as a local resident says she was "caught off guard" due to a lack of emergency alerts before bushfires wiped out a historic town.

Hawaiian Governor Josh Green said all responsibility was "on all of us".

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"And that is, we do what we can with the resources we have here far away from the mainland," Green said.

"But this is the first time we've ever experienced this."

Rescue operation

The director of Project Dynamo, a veteran-led international rescue organisation, Bryan Stern told Weekend Today he expects the death toll to rise to triple digits.

He said some of the roads were opening up but it was "really terrible".

"They are running out of food, running out of supplies… there's lots of people that are homeless."

"The communication on the ground is very, very, very poor.

"We have done a number of air evacuations and a number of supply drops and we continue to do that."

Stern said they needed financial help as the helicopters "don't run themselves".

Emergency response

Andrea Padilla lives just outside of Lahaina, where flames tore through the town on Tuesday in the state's deadliest natural disaster since 1960.

Padilla, who is a manager of a local art gallery, said most people who lived near the gallery lost their homes.

"Their experience has been that they weren't given any alerts," Padilla told Today.

"There was no warning.

"Even as I was already on the other side of the island and was receiving texts from them saying they were seeing flames… yet there was nothing on the news.

"There were no emergency alerts on our phones. So I think that everybody was caught off guard."

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She said Hawaiians in general stuck together.

"We help each other out… it's very much aloha spirit here to help people out."

Fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, at least three wildfires erupted on Maui this week, racing through parched brush covering the island.

The most serious one left Lahaina a grid of grey, ashen rubble, wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes.

Skeletal remains of buildings bowed under roofs that pancaked in the blaze.

Palm trees were torched, boats in the harbour were scorched and the stench of burning lingered.

Previously, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Adam Weintraub told The Associated Press that the department's records don't show that Maui's warning sirens were triggered on Tuesday, when the Lahaina fire began.

Instead, the county used emergency alerts sent to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, Weintraub said.

It's not clear if those alerts were sent before outages cut off most communication to Lahaina.