The man was ‘disgusted’ by his actions and has shown genuine remorse, the court heard.

Banned NRL player Michael Jennings has lost his bid to reduce the damages awarded to his ex-wife who successfully sued him, and will have to also pay her court costs.

The 34-year-old former rugby league international appealed against a NSW District Court decision that ordered him to pay his ex-wife almost $500,000 in December 2021.

Kirra Wilden sued her former husband in February 2020, alleging multiple instances of rape during their relationship in 2014 and 2015.

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The damages awarded included $100,000 for her projected future economic loss due to the post-traumatic stress disorder she suffered from the alleged assaults.

The civil case did not require the alleged assaults to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt as a criminal trial would.

Jennings' appeal against the decision, arguing the future damages were excessive and alleging the onus of proof had been reversed during the civil trial, has been dismissed by the NSW Court of Appeal.

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Acting Justice John Basten said Wilden was not given undue favour, but her evidence was considered more reliable by Judge David Wilson.

"(She) was a careful and reliable historian who gave evidence with clarity," Basten wrote in his judgment published on Tuesday.

"There was no reversal of the onus of proof, but a careful assessment of the plaintiff's evidence against a range of tests."

In contrast, Wilson found Jennings' evidence raised "concerns regarding his honesty generally".

He was also an unimpressive witness, reluctant to accept propositions put to him in court until they were demonstrated to be correct, Wilson said.

The amount awarded for future economic loss was also not excessive, despite Wilden currently being able to work, because a finding of post-traumatic stress disorder increased the risk she would earn less or be unable to work in the future.

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"The PTSD developed as a result of the assaults," Basten wrote.

Jennings denied the assault allegations and has not been criminally charged.

His 13-year NRL career effectively ended in 2021, when he accepted a three-year ban for doping.

However, Jennings has indicated he wants to return to playing when the ban expires at the end of the current season.

He failed a drug test and was suspended on the day of a 2020 elimination final, which his former Parramatta Eels team lost.

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Te Pāti Māori and the Greens have also laid out some policy requests.

A victim says justice has finally been served but called for review of suppression rules.

Registered child sex offender’s online purchases alerts bank.

A motorcyclist is in a critical condition after hitting an emu in a Western Australian national park.

The rider, believed to be in his 30s, crashed into an emu at Kalbarri National Park at 7.50am today.

The man was seriously injured in the crash and was taken to Kalbarri Hospital by paramedics before he was airlifted to the Royal Perth Hospital.

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Kalbarri National Park, 570 kilometres north of Perth, sprawls over 186,000 hectares and is home to many native animals, including emus.

The emu's condition is not yet known.

La Niña, the weather phenomenon that brought wet conditions and devastating floods to Australia, has been declared over after nearly four months, but it could soon be replaced by its hotter, dryer counterpart.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said on Tuesday that the third consecutive La Niña has officially ended, but immediately issued an El Niño watch, saying there is a 50 per cent chance the latter weather phenomenon will occur later this year.

"La Niña has ended in the tropical Pacific Ocean," the BoM said in its latest climate driver update.

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"The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is now neutral (neither La Niña nor El Niño) with oceanic and atmospheric indicators having returned to neutral ENSO levels.

"International climate models suggest neutral ENSO conditions are likely to persist through the southern autumn.

"However, there are some signs that El Niño could form later in the year.

"Hence the Bureau has issued an El Niño Watch.

"This means there is a 50 per cent chance of an El Niño in 2023."

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El Niño typically brings hot, dry conditions to Australia, often leading to drought and bushfires.

"Long-range forecasts show there's an increased chance of below average rainfall for most of Australia during autumn 2023," Dr Andrew Watkins from the BoM said.

"But the northern wet season, including the tropical cyclone season, for northern Australia continues during March and April, so there remains the chance of tropical weather systems bringing heavy rain at times to the north."

The last time an El Niño was in effect was in 2019-20, when the Black Summer fires devastated the east coast.

According to the BoM, the average of international model forecasts suggests an El Niño could be declared in August.

The weather bureau's announcement brings to an end the third-consecutive La Niña event, only the third time a "triple dip" had been recorded.

Australia set a number of rainfall records in 2022, which was the ninth-wettest year on record.

However, despite La Niña being in effect, temperatures were still above average by half a degree, making it Australia's equal-22nd-warmest year ever recorded.

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Another breastfeeding mother has been ejected from Victoria's County Court after being told her presence was distracting.

Judge Mark Gamble told Peta Brunel today she would have to leave his courtroom, soon after her five-month-old baby started crying.

Brunel attended court with a handful of other women this morning for a "peaceful" protest after a woman was ejected from court by the same judge for breastfeeding last week.

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"I really felt for her. It's difficult when you have a young baby to find places to feed and go about normal life," Brunel said outside court.

"If that had been me in the first few weeks, I would have been heartbroken.

"I felt for her and felt it was important to make a stand.

"It's a broader issue about breastfeeding spaces.

"For example, in court, they have a baby room which doesn't even have a chair.

"If you want to feed a baby, where do you go?"

Brunel was asked to leave the courtroom after Gamble and two lawyers agreed her child would be a distraction.

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She had already taken her baby outside after she started crying earlier.

"I was in court after seeing what happened last week and she became unsettled so I took her out and calmed her down. Once she was settled, I took her back in and put her on my breast to feed," Brunel said.

"Once we got back into the courtroom, she was making little noises but obviously quietened down once I popped her on my breast.

"The judge sought submissions from both sides of the court and both lawyers felt the presence of the baby in the courtroom and the breastfeeding was a distraction and on that basis, the judge ejected me from the courtroom."

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Protest organiser Stacey Harley said mothers should not be shamed for breastfeeding. 

"Hopefully the power of social media helps spread (the message that) breastfeeding is protected by law under the Equal Opportunity Act of 2010. Wherever mum and baby are together, they can feed together," she said.

"So many mothers every day are shamed for doing this. It has to stop."

https://twitter.com/SamCucchiara9/status/1635431533183107074

The County Court has been contacted for comment.

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The dramatic moment a Kiwi soldier in Ukraine saved a Ukrainian comrade he thought had been killed has been caught on video.

Kane Te Tai is a former New Zealand Defence Force soldier currently fighting in a secretive Ukrainian military intelligence unit in Ukraine's east.

He fought on the same failed attack on a Russian trench in August that saw fellow New Zealander Dominic Abelen die. Abelen is the only Kiwi soldier known to have died in the conflict so far.

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The dramatic 45-second video shows Te Tai entering a basement of a building covered in rubble.

"We hit a Russian position a few days ago and after a quick battle and breach we started clearing the bunker and basement," Te Tai said on social media.

The video shows Te Tai and several other soldiers entering the basement, with Te Tai telling a person to put their hands up.

But as Te Tai put the man on the ground and began to search him, the pair locked eyes.

The Ukrainian man started to shout "New Zealand, New Zealand".

"Oh, my brother," Te Tai exclaims.

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"I recognised him, it was my friend who I thought was killed by the Russians when they invaded his house," he said on social media.

Te Tai described the feeling of saving him as awesome.

"I had been running around this place causing trouble for the last two months thinking of him and our friends in those houses daily. Thinking they were gone.

"I'm glad he survived. It was serendipitous," he said.

Te Tai said during the man's two-month capture, he was heavily starved and forced to drink anti-freeze for entertainment by his Russian captors.

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"It was the best thing to happen to me in this godforsaken war," Te Tai said.

"To be able to save your friends is something that almost never happens but I'm thankful and blessed that it was us that could pull him from that hell hole."

The pair had bonded months earlier because of the man's knowledge of the Lord of the Rings films and his desire to visit New Zealand.

The man was originally living away from the war in Montenegro, but had joined the Ukrainian army out of passion for his country, Te Tai said.

This article was originally published on Stuff and has been reproduced with permission.

A witness to the aftermath of a "vicious" crash in which a car veered across the road and was pierced by a road barrier can't believe the people inside survived.

The single-vehicle crash happened in Te Kūiti, on New Zealand's North Island, about 4pm on Monday, and left a car with a section of road barrier smashed through the front window.

Two people went to Te Kūiti Hospital with minor injuries after the Lawrence St crash, police said.

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Segments of debris from the car were scattered over the tar-seal road and those at the scene told Stuff there were two occupants.

The driver "was not too bad" but the passenger had a "few bruises and cuts".

"It was a wee Mazda hatchback, I'm surprised there wasn't any fatalities," they said.

"That steel bar would have taken off someone's head, it's gone straight through … it's pretty vicious."

After the crash, a bridge was cordoned off by people who appeared to be locals in high-vis gear, but police were yet to confirm this.

The witness said it was quite odd that the car had ended up on the wrong side of the road.

They noticed water on the road which they thought may have contributed to the crash.

"The car must have been coming into Te Kūiti on the left-hand side and somehow veered across the road," a witness said.

"The car has just rammed straight into a safety barrier, and it's just gone right through and out the other side."

Police said they "spoke to the people involved at the hospital and enquiries are ongoing".

Police have been approached for further comment.

This story originally appeared on Stuff and has been reproduced with permission.