Rescuers rushed to Whangārei Heads to find a freediver missing in the water and a tramper lost along the same rugged coastline. Police LandSar, Northland Land Search and Rescue (LandSar) , Coastguard Whangārei, and Ruakākā…

A Dutch court has convicted two Russians and a pro-Moscow Ukrainian separatist of the murders of 298 people who died in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine and sentenced them to life imprisonment. One Russian was acquitted because of a lack of evidence.

Against the geopolitical upheaval caused by Russia's full-blown invasion of Ukraine, the court also held that Moscow had overall control of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine, from where it said the attack was launched.

Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said evidence presented by prosecutors at a trial that lasted more than two years proved that the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was brought down by a Buk missile fired by pro-Moscow Ukrainian fighters on July 17, 2014. The crash scattered wreckage and bodies over farmland and fields of sunflowers.

Among the victims were 38 Australians.

READ MORE: Children of MH17 victims say murder convictions a 'step in the right direction'

In the courtroom, some families of victims blinked away tears as Steenhuis highlighted how their lives were changed forever on that day.

Steenhuis described the torment of family members who had to wait for the remains of their relatives.

"A piece of bone from a hand. A piece of leg or a foot. In two cases, no parts of a loved one returned," he said

The three men, who can appeal, did not attend their trial at a tightly guarded courtroom on the edge of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, from where the doomed plane left. Prosecutors had sought life sentences for all four. Prosecutors and the suspects have two weeks to file an appeal.

Hundreds of family members of people killed on the plane travelled to the court to hear the verdict, bringing them back to the airport their loved ones left on the fateful day that MH17 was shot down. Outside the court, planes could be heard taking off and landing nearby on a cold, grey day.

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The court ruled that the three men — Russians Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinskiy, and Ukrainian separatist Leonid Kharchenko — worked together to bring the Buk missile system from a Russian military base into Ukraine and bring it into position for its launch.

And even if the shooting down of MH17 might have amounted to a military miscalculation, Steenhuis said "such an error did not change the intent".

Relatives said the ruling showed who was responsible for all the deaths on the plane.

"The truth on the table — that is the most important thing," said Anton Kotte, who lost his son, daughter-in-law and his 6-year-old grandson when MH17 was shot down.

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He said the hearing was a "D-Day" for relatives.

Robbert van Heijningen, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew, called the downing "an act of barbarism" that he could never put behind him, regardless of the verdict.

"I call it a stone in my heart, and stones … don't disappear," he said.

The most senior official convicted was Girkin, a 51-year-old former colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB.

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At the time of the downing, he was defence minister and commander of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic — the region in Ukraine where the plane was shot down. Girkin reportedly is currently involved in Russia's war on Ukraine.

Girkin's subordinates, Dubinskiy and Kharchenko — a Ukrainian who prosecutors say was commander of a pro-Russia rebel combat unit and took orders directly from Dubinskiy — were also convicted and given life sentences.

Russian Oleg Pulatov, the only suspect represented by defence lawyers at the trial, was acquitted.

In a video recording played in court, Pulatov insisted he was innocent.

"What matters to me is that the truth is revealed. It's important for me that my country is not blamed for this tragedy," he told judges.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the MH17 court decision was a vital first step in assigning responsibility for the crime but he added that more prosecutions and convictions were needed.

"It is an important decision in the court in The Hague," he said, on Twitter.

"It is necessary that those who ordered it also find themselves in the dock, because impunity leads to new crimes. First sentences for the perpetrators of MH17 downing," he said on Twitter.

"Holding to account masterminds is crucial too, as the feeling of impunity leads to new crimes. We must dispel this illusion. Punishment for all RF's [Russian Federation] atrocities then and now is inevitable."

READ MORE: Woman who was high on cannabis jailed over crash that killed partner

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1593259390458626049?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

A Russian spokesman said Russia was not yet ready to comment on the MH17 convictions.

"We will study this decision. On all of these questions, every nuance has meaning, therefore after studying this judicial document, we will be ready to comment on it," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechaev said.

A mother was "terrified" when she became trapped in a roof cavity with her six-day-old baby in a Eugowra home, as the town was hit by "a wall of water" on Tuesday morning.

Kirralee South and her baby daughter, Sage, were rescued from the roof as water ripped through her parents' home – the second time they have had to be rescued in two weeks.

South was due to have a scheduled c-section at Forbes hospital on Tuesday, November 8, but had to be trucked through floodwaters by the SES to make it, where Sage was born later that day.

READ MORE: Third person feared missing in floodwaters in Eugowra

On Tuesday, South, her newborn, mother and aunty became trapped in their home as floodwaters "started coming in really fast".

"I was on the kitchen bench… the water was over the bench and it was really slippery," South said.

In a panic, South's mum helped her and Sage into the roof cavity above the bathroom where they were later freed by rescuers.

READ MORE: Evacuation orders for Condobolin as Forbes reaches flood peak in NSW

"(I was) terrified from watching the water rise, as it was still coming up the bathroom, I still had my mum down lower, I couldn't get her into the roof it was just really, really scary," South said.

"It was just waves of it rolling in, there were boats going past the window, you could see the choppers rescuing people."

South said she saw a silo float past the window.

"You could just hear people screaming for help... it was a traumatic experience but we got there."

Meanwhile, South's partner, Dylan Wykamp, tried to save her and his baby first by car, then by boat, but the floodwaters rose too fast.

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"I got a phone call from Kirralee saying 'we are going underwater, we need help, we need help'," Wykamp said.

"I looked down towards the football field from the sawmill where our yard was and I could only see a black dot on the posts."

Wykamp swam down to the end of the driveaway but the water "was too powerful" for him to make it to his baby and partner.

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South and Sage were flown to Orange, where the whole family was eventually reunited.

"Everyone has just been so great, in Orange the donations and the gifts for myself and the baby has just been beautiful, it really is," South said.

And as for Sage, the family described her as a "perfect baby", not making a fuss despite her stressful start to life.

If scientists from Europe's top space agency are to believed, this could be the largest snake in the solar system.

Video released by the European Space Agency (ESA) this week shows a disturbance racing across the surface of the sun at speeds of around 170 kilometres per second.

They've nicknamed it the "solar snake" – for its distinct "snaking" motion across the blazing star.

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The video comes from the ESA's Solar Orbiter.

The small spacecraft was loaded up with sensors and sent on a close orbit of the sun to capture pictures of its surface.

On its trip around the sun on October 12, it spotted a "tube of cool plasma" snaking its way through the star's magnetic field. 

This plasma is suspended by magnetic fields in the hotter surrounding atmosphere.

The plasma in the snake is following a particularly long filament of the sun's magnetic field that is reaching from one side to another.

READ MORE: 'Cosmic chaos' captured as new star forms

'Zoo of features'

The "solar snake" isn't the first celestial animal this solar orbiter has spotted. 

In March 2022, the ESA released footage of another plasma formation, this time capturing a so-called "solar hedgehog".

According to the ESA, these images are particularly intriguing because they began from a solar active region that later erupted, ejecting billions of tonnes of plasma into space.

This raises the possibility that the snake was a sort of precursor to this event – and the Solar Orbiter caught it all in numerous instruments.

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READ MORE: Australia records 50C temperature swing in just hours

The mission's head scientist explained the snaking motion.

"You're getting plasma flowing from one side to the other but the magnetic field is really twisted," David Long, from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (UCL), said.

Long is heading up the investigation into the phenomenon.

He hopes the mission "will allow a better understanding to be developed of solar activity and the way it creates 'space weather', which can disrupt satellites and other technology on Earth".

The Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, operated by ESA.

It launched on February 10, 2020, and earlier this month celebrated its 1000th day in space.

A woman has died and a man has been injured after a tree fell on a car north-west of Melbourne.

The car was travelling along South Rock Road in Woodend just after 2.30pm when a tree fell onto it.

A woman, who was a passenger in the car, died at the scene.

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The man who was driving has been taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police are investigating the incident.

Anyone who witnessed the crash, has dashcam footage or other information has been urged to contact authorities.

Guy Sebastian's former manager has been jailed for a maximum of four years and ordered to repay over $624,000 fraudulently taken from the Australian Idol winner over eight years.

On Thursday, Judge Tim Gartelmann sealed Titus Emanuel Day's fate, putting him behind bars for at least two years and six months when he will be eligible for parole.

Day's conviction comes after a NSW District Court jury found him guilty of 34 fraud charges in June.

READ MORE: Poland, NATO say missile landing wasn't Russian attack

"All (charges) were committed for financial gain though this is inherent in offences of this kind. The offender used the money other than for Mr Sebastian's benefit," Judge Gartelmann said.

Day spent several minutes after being sentenced hugging friends and family members in court before being handcuffed and escorted away by police officers.

The 49-year-old's non-parole period will expire on May 16, 2025.

The funds owed to the pop star encompassed royalties, performance and ambassador fees, including for a wedding in Venice, singing at a Taylor Swift tour, and playing at a New Year's Day Big Bash Cricket event.

READ MORE: Sri Lankan cricketer granted bail while awaiting trial on rape charges

In June, Day was found not guilty of a further 13 charges.

He managed the Australian Idol winner via his company 6 Degrees between 2009 and 2017 before the pair's relationship ended acrimoniously.

The entertainer said he was promised a stake in the company as his "foundational client" and a 10 per cent ownership of Solar D, a sunscreen brand Day created.

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But Sebastian said this never eventuated before the breakdown in their relationship in 2017.

After trying to recover lost monies, Sebastian filed a civil lawsuit in the Federal Court in July 2018. This case has been put on hold while the criminal proceedings against Day continue.

A missile strike in Polish farmland that killed two people and raised the risk of widening the Russia-Ukraine war has triggered investigations by the US and its NATO allies into who launched it.

The Ukrainian government initially claimed it was a Russian rocket that exploded in the village of Przewodow, in NATO member Poland, about 6km from the border of Ukraine.

But later, Polish President Andrzej Duda said the missile was probably launched by air defences in neighbouring Ukraine on Tuesday. Russia had been bombarding Ukraine at the time in an attack that savaged its power grid.

READ MORE: Poland, NATO say missile landing wasn't Russian attack

"Ukraine's defence was launching their missiles in various directions, and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory," Duda said.

"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland."

The Polish president said the missile was probably a Russian-made S-300 ground-to-air missile dating from the Soviet era.

Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union, fields Soviet- and Russian-made weaponry and has also seized many more Russian weapons while beating back the Kremlin's invasion forces.

How can a missile go off course?

Defence expert Marcus Hellyer, of the Australia Strategic Policy Institute, says a missile can veer off course, or 'go rogue', through a malfunction, being unstable, or striking another missile during its flight.

Usually, the end result is the rocket crashes close to its launch site.

It was an exceptional case when one continues flying for a long distance before hitting the ground.

READ MORE: Poland, NATO say missile landing wasn't Russian attack

"And with a missile fired at another missile, if it misses, it will continue flying for a long distance.

"In the end, missiles are just another machine … and machines can malfunction."

Hellyer said Ukraine has deployed many S-300 missiles to shoot down Iranian-supplied military drones launched by Russia against Kyiv and other cities.

But he says the costs of deploying an expensive air defence weapon against a lower-cost target was putting a strain on Ukraine's war effort.

"You're basically using a $1 million missile to shoot down a drone that costs about $20,000."

The US earlier this year committed to sending eight advanced NASAMS – National Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems – to Ukraine.

Unsuccessful missile launches have happened before.

Earlier this year, the Indian military accidentally fired a missile into Pakistan, an incident that the two nuclear-armed rivals handled calmly as there were no casualties.

The BrahMos missile – a nuclear-capable, land-attack cruise missile jointly developed by Russia and India – was fired on March 9, prompting Pakistan to seek answers from New Delhi on the safety mechanisms in place to prevent accidental launches.

Following a government investigation, three Indian Air Force officers were sacked over the incident.

– Reported with Associated Press, CNN

Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been banned from using Tinder and his social media accounts after being granted bail while awaiting trial on rape charges.

Gunathilaka, 31, was arrested in the early hours of October 6 at Sydney's Hyatt Regency Hotel, where he was staying while the Sri Lankan cricket team were in Australia for the T20 World Cup.

He is facing four counts of sexual intercourse without consent and has not yet given a plea.

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Magistrate Janet Wahlquist granted Gunathilaka bail on Thursday in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court, where he appeared via audiovisual link from Parklea jail.

Police prosecutor Kerry-Ann McKinnon opposed bail on the grounds Gunathilaka is a flight risk and that he could endanger the safety of the complainant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Wahlquist said she would take into account how bail would be approached if Gunathilaka was an Australian citizen facing the same charges.

Murugan Thangaraj SC, for Gunathilaka, agreed that would result in him being released.

"Of course he would be on bail in these circumstances," Thangaraj said.

A police facts sheet filed with the court said: "The complainant tried to remove the accused's hand by grabbing his wrist but the accused squeezed tighter around her neck."

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"The complainant was fearing for her life and could not get away from the accused."

In a police interview after his arrest, Gunathilaka corroborated some of the alleged victim's story but denied he had been violent or consent was not given.

Prosecutors allege the victim did not consent to sex without a condom or any of the other sexual acts performed.

Thangaraj said Gunathilaka has complied with authorities investigating and surrendered his passport.

"There is no capacity demonstrated for him to be able to flee," Thangaraj said.

Bail was granted with a $150,000 surety and various conditions, including Gunathilaka not using Tinder or any other dating apps.

He's also prevented from accessing his existing social media accounts unless in the company of his legal team.

McKinnon argued the alleged victim could be at risk.

"This man was in her home, they walked to the address together," she said.

Thangaraj agreed the pair walked to her home together, but said it was night time, he had never been to the area before and they had walked for up to 15 minutes.

"How will he remember where she lived, in those circumstances, even if he wanted to?" Thangaraj said.

The unidentified complainant was being harassed via social media, and has had to close her accounts, McKinnon said.

The harassment was coming from accounts with "Sri Lankan names", she said.

Thangaraj said that was irrelevant.

"He has not encouraged a single person to do a single thing," he said.

"She's off social media, so that's all stopped," he added.

Gunathilaka will be required to live at a specific address and report to police daily.

After matching on Tinder, meeting up for a date and heading back to her Rose Bay home, the victim claimed the cricketer refused to wear a condom and choked her three times.

Gunathilaka travelled to Australia with Sri Lanka's T20 World Cup team but only played in their first game before being ruled out of the competition with a hamstring tear.

Sri Lanka bowed out of the T20 tournament on November 5 after losing their final match. Gunathilaka was due to board a flight back to Sri Lanka the following day.

The case will return to court on January 12.

Myanmar's state media has reported the country’s military-controlled government was releasing and deporting Australian academic Sean Turnell, as well as a Japanese filmmaker and an ex-British diplomat as part of a prisoner amnesty to mark the country’s National Victory Day.

Government spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun told the Voice of Myanmar and Yangon Media Group on Thursday that Turnell, Toru Kubota and Vicky Bowman, as well as an unidentified American, were being released and deported.

Myanmar's state-run MRTV later confirmed the reports, but there was no immediate independent confirmation they had been released.

READ MORE: Evacuation orders for another NSW town as floodwaters peak

Turnell, 58, an associate professor in economics at Sydney’s Macquarie University, was arrested by security forces at a hotel in Yangon in February 2021.

He was sentenced in September to three years in prison for violating the country’s official secrets law and immigration law.

Kubota, a 26-year-old Tokyo-based documentary filmmaker, was arrested on July 30 by plainclothes police in Yangon after taking images and videos of a small flash protest against the military takeover last year.

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He was convicted last month by the prison court of incitement for participating in the protest and other charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Bowman, 56, a former British ambassador to Myanmar was arrested with her husband, a Myanmar national, in Yangon in August.

She was given a one-year prison term in September by the prison count for failing to register her residence.

More to come.

A third person is feared missing in Eugowra after a woman saw a body in floodwaters while she was being rescued.

On Monday morning a police officer was helping an elderly woman who was trapped at the intersection of Loftus and Parkes Streets.

She saw the body of a man in floodwaters, but the officer couldn't leave the woman and she lost sight of the body, NSW Police said.

READ MORE: Evacuation orders for Condobolin as Forbes reaches flood peak in NSW

There have been no more reports of people missing in the area so police are asking the public to help identify the person as they continue to search.

The man seen in floodwaters is described as being Caucasian, aged in his 20s, with a slim build and fair hair.

Yesterday the body of a 60-year-old woman, believed to be Dianne Smith was recovered in the area.

The search continues for Ljubisa 'Les' Vugec, aged 85, who was last seen at a home in Evelyn Street, Eugowra, about 9am Monday.