A powerful storm sweeping across the Pacific Ocean in the direction of the Philippines has intensified into a super typhoon, with forecasters warning it could hit the northern part of the country before hitting mainland China later this week.

Super typhoon Doksuri is packing winds of around 240 kph and is the equivalent of a category four Atlantic Hurricane.

The storm is moving north-northwest at 15 kph and is expected to pass over, or close to the Philippines' Babuyan Islands within the next 24 hours, according to the country's weather bureau.

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Australian authorities have warned travellers heading overseas to "know how to stay safe" amid the fires and other natural disasters.Smart Traveller warned "severe weather events are currently impacting much of the northern hemisphere".

Along with the heavy winds, significant rainfall is also expected, especially across the Babuyan Islands and northern Luzon, the Philippines' largest and most populous island.

"Under these conditions, flooding and rain-induced landslides are highly likely," the bureau warned.

The threat of a high storm surge is also expected, with maximum surge heights potentially exceeding three metres, the bureau added.

Doksuri, also known as Egay in the Philippines, is projected to continue northwest, passing close to the eastern side of Taiwan, where heavy rainfall is expected, and Hong Kong, before making landfall in southern China later this week.

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China's National Meteorological Center projects Doksuri will hit coastal regions in the eastern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong on Friday morning.

Fujian province has upgraded its typhoon emergency warning to the third-highest level on Tuesday, and has asked fishing boats to return to port as soon as possible.

But the typhoon's exact path is still uncertain, with the Hong Kong Observatory saying over the weekend there were several possible routes it could go.

The observatory said the typhoon's final trajectory will be guided by a variety of factors, such as subtropical ridges that bring high atmospheric pressure, or monsoon troughs that bring low pressure.

Communities in the typhoon's path are now bracing for impact, with Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. suspending all public school classes and closing government offices in the capital region on Monday, except for those performing critical services. The suspension was also in part due to a three-day strike by transport workers.

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The Philippines also urged people living in "highly susceptible" areas to follow evacuation orders and other instructions from local officials.

The Hong Kong Observatory has asked the public to monitor weather announcements, warning the typhoon will bring high heat and thunderstorms ahead of its arrival. The city has just experienced another storm, Typhoon Talim, a week ago, which prompted authorities to close schools and the stock market.

Strong wind advisories have been issued for the southern portion of Taiwan, specifically the coastlines of Taitung and Pingtung counties. These will be strengthened as Doksuri continues to approach the island, with the main threats being heavy rainfall, landslides, high winds and storm surge.

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A man is lucky to be alive after a car crashed into his bedroom while he was sleeping.

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An award-winning Victorian construction company has become one of the latest casualties of the construction industry crisis, collapsing with $3.3 million in debts.

Melbourne-based residential builder Kleev Homes Pty Ltd has been "wound up" this month, with liquidators appointed to dissolve the company.

The decision to end the company was made at a general meeting of its members on July 5, according to a notice published by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

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Kleev Homes' website has since disappeared, as have its profiles on social media.

Liquidator Travis Pullen has told 9News that the company had $3.3 million in debts as of July 7.

Pullen said he was working to determine what assets may be available to pay off creditors, including outstanding employee entitlements.

"I am yet to complete my investigations regarding the reasons for the company's failure, but as many will be aware the residential construction industry has struggled with the pressures of dealing with rising costs and labour shortages, resulting in fixed price contracts becoming unprofitable," he told 9news.com.au.

The company, which had been running since 2006, was based in Beaconsfield Upper in Melbourne's south-east and advertised itself as specialising in "complex, architecturally-designed new residences and renovations/additions" throughout Victoria.

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Kleev Homes received a number of awards for its work, including Young Master Builder of the Year, MBAV Best Custom Home $800,000–$1,000,000 and HIA South East Victoria Best Custom Home $500,000–$1,000,000 in 2011.

Kleev Homes has followed the path of dozens of other builders to have collapsed in 2023, including Porter Davis, Probuild and A1A Homes.

A total of 2023 Australian building companies have gone into liquidation since mid-2021, according to data from the Australian Security and Investments Commission.

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After two-and-a-half years, living hundreds of kilometres away from their home, Kelly Zhang's parents have finally seen her killer jailed.

Joon Tan, a 38-year-old carpenter from Malaysia, is now serving his sentence of 28 years for murdering the young mum in Melbourne's north.

In February 2021, Tan stabbed Zhang six times in her Epping bedroom, her eight-year-old son was in the next room.

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But Tan told the boy and police that the 33-year-old had simply walked out. He took the boy out searching the streets for his beloved mother. And he dropped him at school knowing she wasn't coming to get him.

Tan had tried to make sure Zhang's body would never be found. First he tried to enlist his housemate to help hide his crime; telling him to come to her home immediately and inviting him to view her body.

When asked to go and find a bin, the housemate took his chance to escape. Instead of going back to the Doncaster home he shared with Zhang, he spent the night at Crown Casino.

In Zhang's home, Tan went about systematically cleaning. With her son nearby, he wrapped her body in a blanket, placing her inside her own wheelie bin. Then he drove to Heidelberg West where he dropped it on the curb.

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In the hours after her murder, Zhang's body was collected along with the rest of the suburb's rubbish.

It would be four-and-a-half months before homicide detectives found her, in hundreds of tonnes of garbage at the Wollert tip.

It took a four-day search where they waded through knee-deep mud, assisted by a team of dedicated workers at the plant.

Finally they pinpointed an area and a forklift driver uncovered Zhang's body. Still wrapped in the blanket and wearing her pink dressing gown, it was the first step in laying her to rest.

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Finding Zhang was the first step

Months before police found Kelly, Tan had been arrested and charged with her murder.

Despite reporting her as a missing person, officers never believed she'd abandoned her home and her son. On Tan's phone they found recent internet searches for how garbage is disposed of. He'd also googled the question: "How many years for killing a person in Australia?"

Tan did what he could to evade detectives. When they set up a meeting with him he failed to attend, going to stay with a friend, changing his number and turning off his phone.

But while officers were driving to his share house, they spotted him walking on a nearby street. He was carrying $3500 in cash and his passport.

When Tan was arrested, he was at Melbourne Airport trying to fly to Adelaide with a connection on to Perth. The court told he was likely trying to flee the country, even though his passport had been taken.

Through every interview and at his trial he stuck by the same story, he was a man who's girlfriend had up and left.

After a few days of deliberations the jury convicted him of murder. Then at his plea hearing, the story he'd stuck by suddenly changed.

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In front of Justice Amanda Fox victim impact statements were read to convey the magnitude of losing Zhang and the impact of Tan's crime.

The tip workers who'd organised the search and worked tirelessly alongside police spoke of their ongoing torment.

The hardest part for them was knowing a little boy no longer had a mother. They were determined to uncover Zhang's body in the most difficult circumstances.

From her son a statement tried to convey his fear – to explain how he still wants his mother to come home, how he still hopes to see her and cries in his sleep.

Zhang's parents told the court how they had rushed to Melbourne from China, forced to quarantine on the way, fearing their daughter had been kidnapped.

They had checked the letterbox everyday, willing to pay any ransom. From the moment they arrived they cared full time for her son, trying to explain the unexplainable.

The were stuck in a state of panic in a country where they didn't speak the language and couldn't work because of their visas.

They were separated from their own elderly parents as their health deteriorated, and have survived the charity of strangers.

Their two-and-half-year long wait to see justice in Australia drained them of their savings and cost their businesses.

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Zhang was deeply loved, an only child who supported her parents across the globe and was cherished by her extended family.

Her parent's grief was exasperated by waiting months bury her because they had to wait for money to arrive from victims of crime.

Through an interpreter Zhang's mother urged Justice Fox to give Tan the most severe punishment so they could find closure.

As she walked from the bar table she turned and looked the killer, yelled he was a bastard, and collapsed in despair.

When the court recommenced from an extended break, Tan's lawyer took the stand to argue for the best outcome for his client.

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There he delivered the news that the murderer 'accepts' the jury verdict – admitting for the first time he killed Zhang. A complete back flip from the lies he had told police and let run for years through the justice system, culminating in nearly a month long trial.

The version Tan's lawyer gave on his behalf in the courtroom was not believed by Justice Fox.

Tan tried to say Zhang had played a part in an altercation – in sentencing Justice Fox told Tan what he had done was an act of family violence.

That he had killed his girlfriend of only one month because he was jealous she'd lost interest in him and was seeing someone else.

She noted she was free to see whoever she liked, and as little or none of him. Instead he had stalked her going through her phone, and loitering outside her house to look for another man's car.

Ultimately Tan killed Zhang in a jealous rage fuelled by rejection.

Delivering his sentence Justice Fox told Tan he had treated Zhang literally like garbage. For that he was handed a term of 28 years jail.

It will be an isolated, lonely experience for a man who has made no real friends inside prison and struggles to find inmates who he can speak with in Mandarin and Cantonese.

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Tan's family are all still in Malaysia. His wife is trying to divorce him.

They had separated when he moved to Australia in 2017 but she is struggled to contact him, nor has she been receiving support for their three children.

None of them know he's a killer. According to his defence only his sister and father realise he is in jail in Australia.

Tan will remain behind bars for at least 23 years, whenever he is released he's likely to be deported.

For Zhang's parents, they are now raising a young boy who still asks for his mother.

They are separated from their friends, parents and extended family in China and throughout their time in Melbourne have been supported by donations.

A fundraising set up to support Zhang's son has raised more than $20,000.

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

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A court has rejected a former deputy principal's claims his ad seeking "sexy play" with teens was put online to inflame his ex-partner with jealousy.

Damian Scott Wanstall, 49, is seeking to avoid a full-time jail sentence after pleading guilty to one charge of using a carriage service to procure a child under 16 for sexual activity.

He was sprung by undercover police on December 7, 2020 after posting an online classified advertisement under the heading: "Any legal Indian or Filo teens want fun."

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The ad read: "40yo Aussie daddy seeking sexy play this weekend. Will reward. Can host discreetly Rouse Hill."

At a sentence hearing on Tuesday, defence barrister Nicholas Baltinos argued that Wanstall posted the ad in an "irrational" attempt to get his ex-girlfriend back.

"In these courts we've seen it. Very smart people, highly intelligent people with high IQs, pillars of society, do ridiculous things," he told the Parramatta District Court.

Judge Andrew Colefax wasn't convinced, calling Wanstall's explanation "preposterous" and lamenting that in his 14 years' experience, individuals charged with child sex offences seldom admitted they were attracted to children.

"A recurring theme … is these men are unable to face the truth in that they often come up with bizarre explanations to themselves as to why they've done what they've done," he said.

Wanstall did more than just place the ad, the judge pointed out, saying that he also engaged in highly sexualised chats with someone he thought was 14 years old, arranged the meet-up and then drove there with $200 in his pocket.

"How does any of that sit with his explanation that he placed the ad to inflame the jealousy of the former partner?" he asked.

According to agreed facts seen by AAP, Wanstall chatted with the "teen" about sexual activity, asked about her breast and bra sizes, and offered $300 for a "few hours of fun".

"It will be fine. Better to explore with an experience (sic) guy," he wrote.

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Calling himself "Mick" and describing himself as Richard Gere and Mark Harmon with a "dad bod", the former Kellyville High School deputy principal suggested they meet in a quiet street in his 4WD which had tinted windows.

He also chatted about Disney Princesses and asked for "raunchy" bathroom pictures of the purported teen.

"Think you should be in dress not (school) uniform," he wrote.

"So it looks less suss. Maybe spare pair nickers (sic) too."

Wanstall is aiming for a reduced sentence served outside of prison, saying extensive media coverage of the case served to embarrass him and denied him the presumption of innocence.

Baltinos also pointed to his client's age, unblemished record and work ethic, saying that the chats were just an out-of-character "one off" done at a time when the 49-year-old was drinking excessively.

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Police had not found child abuse photos or videos on the ex-teacher's phone or computer and there was no evidence he was associated with criminal gangs who distributed this type of material.

Wanstall's mother, who sat in court for the hearing, would suffer hardship if her son was sent to prison, Baltinos told the court.

"She was very proud of her son achieving what he had achieved in the span of about 20 years and he threw it all away," he said.

The hearing continues.

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A car belonging to the man accused of kidnapping New Zealand woman Yanfei Bao was seen parked in a street near a house the missing real estate agent was due to show a potential buyer through last week, a resident says.

The property in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby was cordoned off on Tuesday and a police tent and spotlights set up, as it underwent a scene examination.

Forensic investigators in blue and white boiler suits could be seen inside, dusting walls and taking photographs.

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Around midday, a man showed up at the property and was surprised by the police presence. He said he was due to be shown through the property as a prospective buyer on Tuesday afternoon.

Nearby resident Julie Charnley said she was adamant she saw the silver Mitsubishi police had appealed for sightings of parked on the side of the road about 100 metres from the Trevor St property for two days last week, but she couldn't be sure what days.

She remembered the distinctive dent in the boot, and the fact it was parked on a slight angle.

No-one was inside.

She drove past it on her way to work and had supplied police with her dashcam video footage in the hope it showed the vehicle.

Police have paid close attention to CCTV cameras on the front of a neighbouring house, and appeared to be photographing an area of footpath where footage may have captured someone walking past.

Charnley said she had not seen Bao.

Prospective buyers were coming and going from the property at the weekend, Charnley said.

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The owners of the home say they're "shocked and stunned" to learn the home they lived in for 37 years before recently relocating to Australia to be closer to family is under significant scrutiny from detectives investigating her alleged kidnapping.

It was due to go to auction this Wednesday, but that has been delayed as a result of the investigation.

Speaking from Australia on Monday night, the couple, who asked not to be named, said Bao, acting as a buyer's agent, was due to show someone through their home on Wednesday morning last week – the day she disappeared.

Since then, there has been at least one open home there.

The couple learned police were at their property with a search warrant late on Sunday.

No one from the investigation, dubbed Operation Helo, had contacted them.

While the scrutiny of their house was frustrating, they said they just hoped Bao – a 44-year-old mother to a nine-year-old girl – was found safe and well.

"We just hope everything turns out alright."

Another neighbour said she was shocked the property was now at the centre of the police investigation into Bao's disappearance.

She didn't see anything suspicious at the home last Wednesday, the day the missing real estate agent was due to show a potential buyer through.

"This is a quiet neighbourhood. We haven't seen anything unusual."

The woman said she'd seen a number prospective buyers shown through the modern three bedroom property, including families, since it was listed for sale.

On Monday evening, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said the Trevor St property was of "significant interest" to police investigating the Harcourts real estate agent's alleged kidnapping.

She wouldn't say why.

A 52-year-old man accused of kidnapping Bao was arrested on Saturday in the public area of Christchurch International Airport, with no bags and a one-way ticket to China.

The man appeared in Christchurch District Court on Monday charged with unlawfully taking the real estate agent away without her consent, with intent to cause her to be confined.

He was granted interim name suppression and remanded in custody.

Bao was last seen out door knocking as part of her job in Vickerys Rd in Wigram, a five-minute drive from the Trevor St property, about 10.30am on Wednesday.

About 45 minutes later she rang her friend Jin Tian and had a four-minute conversation with her.

During the conversation, Bao asked Tian how someone she was working with could transfer $600,000 (more than 2.6 million RMB) from China to pay cash for a house.

She was reported missing after she didn't collect her daughter from after school care later that day.

Her car was found parked in Iroqouis Pl, less than one kilometre from where she was last seen in Vickerys Rd.

Two days later, police located her mobile phone on the Southern Motorway, near Blakes Rd.

As fears for Bao's safety continued to mount on Monday, Reeves reiterated police were still investigating the case as a kidnapping – not a homicide.

"We're keeping an open mind. We still have a huge focus on trying to locate her and bring her home safe and well."

Reeves said police had had a huge response to appeals for information related to the case, with more than 120 tips received since news of Bao's disappearance was first reported by media on Thursday.

"We do get a real sense the Christchurch public is very invested in this and everybody wants to help in any way they can."

She said residents near the Trevor St property could expect to see a significant police presence in the coming days.

Police are focused on the movements of the accused man's vehicle, which had a distinctive yellow diamond sticker with a black kiwi on its boot, on Wednesday, June 19, and the two days after that, particularly in areas southwest of the city like Prebbleton and Tai Tapu.

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Police have appealed for sightings of the accused man's silver Mitsubishi sedan, registration DPH101, in connection with her disappearance. It was found parked near Christchurch Airport on Saturday.

Anyone who saw the car or might have CCTV that captured it should contact police.

The alleged kidnapper had rented a room at a property in Bryndwr for about a month.

On Monday, a neighbour said the same silver car the police wanted information on was always at the property, but was not there on Wednesday or Thursday. However, it was parked across the driveway on Friday with the boot and doors open for several hours. It was gone the following day, she said.

The owner of the property said he bought it recently with Bao's help.

He told Stuff the accused man worked with him at a factory, and asked if he had a room for rent.

On Thursday, after learning Bao was missing, the property owner said he shared a post on social media appealing for information about her whereabouts.

He worked late on Friday night, and did not see the accused.

The man said he was exhausted, and would not say if he had spoken to police. He said he had no idea the accused had booked tickets to China.

Reeves said police had not ruled out laying further charges against the accused, or the involvement of other people.

At the accused's first court appearance, Bao's husband, Paul Gooch, and friends were in court along with Reeves.

Gooch was pale and looked solemn as the accused entered court, and some friends quietly wept.The man was dressed in a striped rugby shirt and did not speak English. A Mandarin interpreter spoke on his behalf.

This article originally appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.