A state of emergency has been declared in New Zealand's North Island after storms and floods triggered by the nearby Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle.

Australia's military forces are set for an overhaul after the federal government was handed an extensive defence review.

The report, compiled over six months by former Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston and ex-defence minister Stephen Smith, was handed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday.

Houston and Smith examined the location of Australia's military assets and the type of equipment required by the ADF to meet today's military threats.

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The government response to the document's findings is expected in the coming weeks.

The review will be used by the government to help overhaul the ADF to counter the build-up of China's armed forces and its increased assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

"The Defence Strategic Review will help prepare Australia to effectively respond to the changing regional and global strategic environment and ensure Defence's capability and structure is fit for purpose and delivers the greatest return on investment," Albanese said.

The document is expected to urge an expansion of the Australian Defence Force's long-range strike weapons through increased spending on missiles and drones.

There is speculation that funding for the Army will be cut to pay for increased spending on the navy and air force.

READ MORE: RBA chief Philip Lowe to be grilled over shock rate hikes

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the review was "the single most important re-evaluation of Australia's strategic posture in the last 35 years".

Next month the federal government is set to announce the type of nuclear-powered submarine Australia will acquire under the AUKUS defence agreement with the US and Britain.

A concussion expert has urged combat sport officials to ban brutal power slapping events in Australia, but she fears teen boys may already be copying the potentially-deadly slaps in schools around the country.

Footage of the Power Slap League, the heavily-criticised brainchild of UFC mogul Dana White, has gone viral in recent weeks with graphic videos showcasing vicious knockouts and confronting strikes to the head.

Dr Kerry Peek, a head trauma researcher at the University of Sydney, said any attempt to legitimise power slapping was "ludicrous".

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"There is absolutely every real possibility that someone could die," Peek told 9news.com.au, while analysing the unique dangers of power slapping.

White's latest venture features two opponents who face each other exchanging open-handed hits to the face one after another, until one wins the match.

There is a 30-second timer to deliver the slap, and another 30 seconds for recovery. Victory is determined by knockout, TKO or points.

Violent slap videos have shown men and women crumbling to the floor, with some fighters left twitching on the ground in an apparent state of severe concussion.

Peek said she will use those videos in her university concussion lectures this year because it so clearly illustrates to students "in real time what can happen if you get hit around the head".

The risk of brain trauma, and subsequent long-term damage or death, is higher in power slapping events, compared to other combat sports, she said.

There was no way, she said, events should ever be held in Australia.

"The issue with power slap is they're told to stand still, so there's nothing that the person being slapped can do to protect themselves," Peek said.

"If it was martial arts there are defensive moves, and in boxing there's defensive moves so you can lessen the risk of taking that full force.

"You can't in power slap."

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After the first episode of the show aired in January, White revealed his organisation is working on improving the league's safety.

"Everyone is in a learning process right now," White posted on Instagram, in an exchange with a fan who was asking him about safety protocols.

During launch, White claimed that moving the league from the fringes to under his stewardship would immediately make contests safer.

But at a time when experts are understanding the effects on the brain of repeatedly heading a football and other forms of contact sports, Peek said the rise of White's power slapping events was nothing short of bizarre.

"It seems crazy to exploit people's potential long-term risk and brain health for entertainment, and it really is only to smack people around the head," she said.

"You could argue the same about rugby or American football … but the sole aim of rugby and football is not to knock someone out."

If there's one thing trans activist Ymania Brown wants people to take away from the upcoming WorldPride human rights conference next month, it's that LGBTIQ people "do not have the same rights" as other citizens.

The Brisbane-based humanitarian and proud Faa'fafine woman – who has spearheaded Pacific trans activism for some 20 years – says now is the time when the 70-plus countries that still criminalise same-sex relationships to "sit up and listen".

Brown, who will also speak at the conference, says it's of "global importance" that countries around the world "are on the same page" when it comes to gay rights, especially the 13 who still imprison and inflict corporal punishment on queer people.

READ MORE: Sydney WorldPride 2023: Key events, tickets, performers and everything else you need to know

'The cornerstone of pride' 

Brown tells 9news.com.au what the human rights conference hopes to achieve, why it's so important that events like such as this are held on global scale and what exactly she wants people – queer or otherwise – to take away from the experience.

"It's the cornerstone of Pride festival," Brown said.

"Every WorldPride festival that's been hosted in different cities in the past has had one… it will bring together, community leaders to politicians to human rights experts from around the globe.

"We've been very careful to make sure that this is a global conference, and not just focusing on Australia, but the issues that are of global importance to us."

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An outbreak of an incurable, killer disease has left health authorities on edge after nine people died suddenly in Equatorial Guinea in Africa.

An "emergency response" has now been activated across the country, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, amid concerns hundreds more people may have been infected with the deadly Marburg virus, which has a mortality rate of 88 per cent.

So far, all known cases have been detected in the Kie-Ntem province, where authorities are now desperately working to stop the spread and treat infected before the virus leaks further across the continent.

READ MORE: Millions of Aussies set to sweat through heatwave as week of weather extremes continues

"Marburg is highly infectious," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said.

"Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly so that we save lives and halt the virus as soon as possible."

The outbreak marks the first time the virus, which is closely related to ebola, has been recorded in the African nation.

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WHO has confirmed 16 people have thus far contracted Marburg, but that number is expected to grow.

The virus is a "highly virulent disease" that causes haemorrhagic fever, with symptoms appearing abruptly.

High fever, severe headaches and extreme malaise are common in patients, with many developing "severe haemorrhagic symptoms" within seven days, WHO said.

Blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea is also common.

The virus is transmitted to humans via fruit bats and spreads among people through direct contact, bodily fluids of infected people, on surfaces and through materials.

There are no vaccines to treat the virus. 

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that 35,418 people have died as a result of last week's quakes, making the deadliest such disaster since the country's founding 100 years ago.

The massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939 resulted in the deaths of around 33,000 people.

Erdogan said there had been 105,505 people injured as a result of the February 6 quakes centered around Kahramanmaras.

READ MORE: Gunmen storm hospital of newborn saved from quake in Syria

Erdogan was speaking in Ankara following a five-hour Cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of disaster agency AFAD.

It comes as aid agencies and governments stepped up efforts on Tuesday to get help to earthquake-devastated parts of Turkey and Syria.

READ MORE: Woman dies after home collapses as Cyclone Gabrielle turns deadly

A week after the disaster many of those left homeless are still struggling to meet basic needs, like finding shelter from the bitter cold.

The toll is nearly certain to rise as search teams turn up more bodies — and the window for finding survivors was closing.

Nevertheless, more than 200 hours after the quake struck, teacher Emine Akgul was pulled from an apartment building in Antakya by a mining search and rescue team, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

In Adiyaman province, rescuers reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin, and medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working.

Medics fitted him with a neck brace and he was carted away on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, Turkish TV showed.

The quake affected 10 provinces in Turkey that are home to some 13.5 million people, as well as a large area in northwest Syria that is home to millions.

Much of the water system in the quake-hit region was not working, and Turkey's health minister said samples from dozens of points of the system showed the water was unsuitable to drink.

In the Turkish port city of Iskenderun, displaced families have sheltered in train carriages since last week.

While many have left in recent days for nearby camps or other parts of Turkey, dozens of people were still living in the trains on Tuesday.

"The wagons have become our home," 50-year-old Nida Karahan told Anadolu Agency.

Many in Turkey have blamed faulty construction for the vast devastation, and authorities continued targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed.

Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced.

READ MORE: How you can help earthquake survivors as rescuers continue to sift through rubble

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‘What’s really caused the issue here has been the storm surge.’

A chatbot called ChatGPT is raising new questions about the role of artificial intelligence in our education, work and relationships.

Since it was made available in late November, ChatGPT has triggered a wave of headlines and stories, many about how students could use the AI chatbot to cheat and outflank unsuspecting teachers.

Software developer Lambros Photios has been using the tool to work faster.

READ MORE: Can ChatGTP pass two HSC English essays?

"It's gone ahead and written code for me on my behalf," Photios said.

"This is something that historically would have taken 30 to 40 minutes and it's written it in just a few seconds."

Photios said ChatGPT was an industrial revolution for the information age.

"The industrial revolution took the hardest jobs and replaced it with machines… instead of taking the hardest jobs, ChatGPT is taking the easiest jobs.

"Things like internships, grad roles and junior roles within organisations can now be replaced with an algorithm."

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He said we needed to adapt or people would get left behind.

"There'll be super senior people left in organisations and the junior roles will be filled by technology."

Many universities and schools have already banned the chatbot, fearing students will use it to get the answers for assignments and write whole essays.

Researchers in the US recently discovered ChatGPT was able to pass the notoriously difficult medical licensing exam.

University of New South Wales media researcher Michael Richardson said users needed to be really careful about the quality of work it produces.

READ MORE: The jobs under threat from AI, robots and big data

"It's not just whether it's right or wrong but whether it's good or whether it is sort of like the lowest common denominator," Richardson said.

The technology still has some way to go, though.

9News.com.au recently put it to the test and found it couldn't pass a year 12 English exam.

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The workers were seen huddled on a roof clutching blankets and chilly bins.

An Adelaide woman has won a David and Goliath battle with her insurance company after her home was smashed by a tree.

Eileen Moody's Aldgate home was left a shattered mess when large branches crashed through the roof during a storm in June 2021.

The 84-year-old's property remained damaged for 18 months.

Moody's insurer, RAA, insisted the home could be repaired despite the extent of the damage.

The company initially only offered half of the home's value as a payout.

Moody's family, who came to 9News with their story earlier this month, said she'd since been given the full payout.

This will pave the way for the wreck of the home to be demolished and rebuilt.

RAA told 9News in a statement it recognised the matter caused prolonged inconvenience and wanted to settle on Moody's terms.