Karapan Sapi is a traditional Indonesian bull racing festival held on Madura Island, Indonesia. Bulls are decorated with flowers, gold, and fabrics and accompanied by traditional gamelan music, food, and wagers on the outcome of the race.

Eighty years ago, thousands of Australian troops fought in a fearsome desert battle in North Africa that helped turn the tide of World War II.

Britain's great wartime leader Winston Churchill summed up the significance of the Battle of El Alamein fought on Egypt's northern coast from October 23, 1942.

"Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat," he said of the battle.

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Craig Tibbitts, senior historian at the Australian War Memorial, says El Alamein, which pitted the British-led Eighth Army against the Afrika Corps, was an event that changed the course of history.

"It was the turning point in the North Africa campaign and is up there with the battles of Stalingrad in Russia and Midway in the Pacific theatre as a defining battle of the entire war," he told 9News.

Here is a look at how the Battle of El Alamein unfolded and its impact.

Why was it important?

German general Erwin Rommel – known as "the Desert Fox" – had led his Afrika Corps army to major victories over the British commanded Eighth Army, forcing them back to the village of El Alamein, about 260km west of the Egyptian city of Cairo.

From July, 1942, the Eighth Army managed to stall Rommel's forces, but a defeat at El Alamein would put British control of the Suez Canal, a vital route for shipping to Australia and India, as well as valuable Middle East oil fields at risk.

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Who were the Australian troops involved?

The Australian 9th Division, made up of infantry, artillerymen, tank crews and engineers as well as support troops, was part of the multi-national Eighth Army, commanded by British General Bernard Montgomery.

Pilots and air crew from the Royal Australian Air Force were also part of the Desert Air Force supporting the ground forces.

"The Eighth Army was a true Commonwealth force … it had British, Australian, New Zealand soldiers but also other nations including Egyptians, Greeks and French troops," Tibbitts said.

By October 1942, the Eighth Army outnumbered their German and Italian enemies by the ratio two to one in tanks and aircraft.

With Rommel's suffering vital shortages in manpower and supplies including fuel, Montgomery planned a decisive attack at El Alamein.

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What role did the Australians play?

After the battle started with a massive artillery barrage by more than 800 field guns, Montgomery ordered the Australian 9th Division to switch their attack north.

A week of fierce fighting followed, with the Australians grinding their way forward over well-defended enemy positions, taking key positions such as Thompson's Post, the Fig Orchard, the Blockhouse and the Saucer.

The Australian attack tied up all of Rommel's best troops, enabling the British, New Zealanders, Indians, South Africans, French and Poles to make a major breakthrough and force the enemy back.

But it came at a high cost; more than 1000 Australian troops were killed and some 3600 injured during the fighting.

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What impact did the battle have?

By November 1942, the German and Italian forces were in full retreat, while the El Alamein victory proved a major boost for Allied morale.

"It came after so many defeats in the opening years of the war … the success at El Alamein did a lot for lifting morale in Australia and Britain," Tibbitts said.

Although there was more than two years of hard fighting to go until Nazi Germany was defeated, the seeds of Allied success were sown in the North African battle.

"Churchill summed up its importance with his words at the time when he said El Alamein was the 'end of the beginning ' in World War II."



There's an old graveyard that lurks thousands of kilometres beneath the most remote part of the planet, nowhere near any form of civilisation.

For decades, remains have been dumped there which now lie scattered along the floor of the Pacific Ocean – but they aren't human. 

Some 3,000 kilometres east of New Zealand and tucked between Antarctica and South America, this spot is the furthest from any land that you'll find.

In fact, it's so far from the closest humans that those nearest by are actually onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The spot is called Point Nemo and it's where space agencies like NASA have dumped their discarded space junk since 1971.

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Due its extremely isolated location, it's been deemed the "safest" space on the planet for these controlled dumps, which are hurled from thousands of nautical miles from the thermosphere above.

"Most things burn up on re-entry, depending how fast it's going and what material it's made out of," astronomer Dr Sara Webb told 9News.com.au.

"But when there's the risk that there could be a substantial amount of other material left behind – even a few kilos – you want it to land as far away from humans as possible, so Point Nemo is perfect for that.

"It's roughly 2,800 kilometres away from any human being on the planet – it's an extraordinarily safe spot."

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Webb said that depending on the type of material that's being ejected back into the earth's atmosphere above, humans can actually remotely control where it'll land.

"So, if it's got fuel and it's thrustable, you can totally direct it more readily," she said.

"If it doesn't have fuel though, or it's something that you can't communicate with, then you have no option.

"You can't really do much with it but leave it in the orbit and wait for it to naturally decay down."

But, leaving the material in orbit can mean they'll become dangerous, and even deadly if they were to collide with any future human missions.

"In the future, in the not too distant future actually, we'll be able to have satellites that go and grab other dead satellites and then throw them back into our orbit," Webb said.

"In the next 10 years or so we'll start to see very slick things like that.

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"But the risk is, things that are in our orbit are travelling stupidly fast, insane speeds of tens of thousands of kilometres an hour sometimes.

"And when it's metal, if you throw two pieces of metal together at incredible speeds – and it's in the freezing cold space – they can kind of like spot weld themselves together and could cause chaos."

Thankfully, spacecrafts and other discarded pieces of space junk are also able to be moved up into an "orbit graveyard".

However, the astrophysisist, from Swinburne University, said it's "getting crowded" up there, so bringing objects back to Earth, to Point Nemo, is the most sustainable option.

"We might stick things out in the orbit graveyard and they might be good for 50 to 200 years, depending how far away they are, but it's not there forever," Webb said.

"It will always need readjusting at some point. So I think that's why we've got to be smart."

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The United States, Russia, Japan, and other European nations with space agencies have used the location to dump some 263 pieces of debris since 1971, according to a 2019 report by NASA.

The deep sea cemetery will also soon become the final resting place of the ISS, when it's eventually decommissioned in 2030.

Although it's won't serve as the resting place for space junk for eternity, Webb said Point Nemo is working perfectly well for the time being.

It even has a very minimal impact on the environment.

"At Point Nemo, because it doesn't get any of the nutrients washed off from the coasts around the Pacific Ocean, almost no nutrients make it to this point," she said.

"And so there's very, very little life that is living there naturally. The environmental risk is very low.

"There's only about 260 different objects that have been landed there, so it's not thousands of things continuously.

"It is actually used quite responsibly."

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While there are currently a number of emergency and weather warnings in place across Queensland, Victoria and NSW, it's not just the east coast seeing rainfall this weekend.

A series of low pressure systems are wreaking havoc across Australia, delivering rain in the Top End as well as storms and showers in the south-west of the country.

According to Weatherzone, it's the moisture from the tropics that will feed down to southwest WA, bringing smaller totals than those on the east coast but significant none-the-less.

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"While not getting into the crazy three digits like southeast Queensland and northeast NSW, rainfall totals of 10-30mm are forecast for the area – bringing cities and towns closer to their October rainfall averages," they said, adding that cloud cover will also drop temperatures across the area.

"Perth for example, is currently sitting at 16.2mm for the month, however averages 40.1mm for October."

READ MORE: Queensland on alert for 'life-threatening' floods as heavy rain hits

However, this systems is then set to move across the country and "will generate widespread showers and storms across eastern Australia later in the week".

And before that downpour hits, another deluge is on the way today – with totals of up to 300mm forecast in parts of Queensland.

"Sunday and Monday will all see widespread rain continue over southeast Australia, including all of Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and much of southeast Queensland," Weatherzone say.

"Rain will be heaviest over near-coastal southeast Queensland and northeast NSW where 300mm is a decent chance between Saturday and Sunday.

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"Elsewhere, accumulated totals of 40-90mm are expected in a swathe hugging the Great Dividing Range from the Darling Downs to Melbourne. Some alpine areas will likely see 100-150mm.

Storms will cause isolated heavier totals, particularly on Monday to Tuesday over NSW and Queensland.

"We could actually see what we call 'intense rainfall' that can lead to really dangerous, life-threatening flash flooding, particularly with how wet the ground is at the moment and how full the drains are," Bureau of Meteorology's Christine Johnson told 9News.

Residents in Brisbane have begun sandbagging homes, while beaches on the Gold Coast were closed as the current weather warning extends from Bundaberg to Coolangatta.

There are already multiple evacuation orders for NSW and Victoria as floodwaters rise, with residents in Echuca anxiously waiting for the Murray River to peak today with levels already at a 100-year high.

While the east coast of Australia has so far felt the brunt of this latest weather system, South Australia has also been impacted.

A person was struck by lightning in the Riverland on Saturday night after a storm passed over the region.

Emergency services were called to Morgan, about 161 kilometres north-east of Adelaide with no further details on the person or their condition immediately available.

https://twitter.com/9NewsAdel/status/1583728860948226049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

As the wild weather continues across the country, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government is "ready to support those Australians who are suffering the most".

"I do say to Australians in these areas – please follow the advice," Albanese said.

"If you are asked to evacuate, please do so.

"Do not drive through flood waters. It is dangerous. You do not know what is below what you can't see.

"I ask people to continue to take the advice of the experts and to please stay safe."

Residents are advised to keep across BoM's warnings as the system bears down. Queensland warnings can be viewed here, NSW here, Victoria here, Tasmania here and Western Australia here. 

The grandfather of an 11-month-old injured after a car slammed into a family daycare office in Melbourne's north, says she's bruised but okay.

Mohammed Ayad told 9News while the family are shaken up by the incident at Bright Beginnings Centre in Broadmeadows, they are counting their lucky stars no-one was more seriously hurt.

Bruises cover the body of baby Hanan with the 11-month old nursing a purple patch the size of a golf ball, her lips swollen and sore.

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"She's shaken up but also the soreness that comes with it but overall she's doing quite well, she's a tough young little girl," Ayad told 9News.

Vision captured the terrifying moment a car ploughed through the front glass window of the Broadmeadows Family Day Care office on Friday.

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Police said the driver may have been trying to park the car when she accidentally hit the accelerator.

"It's a shock, it's a disaster, it's something you aren't prepared for, it just happens," Ayad said.

"The key question that was on mind, are they safe? Are they alive? And the answer was thank God they are."

But it could have been so much worse.

A staff member in the office was also struck and miraculously appears from the rubble, moving a broken door to escape.

Two other employees were running late but had they arrived on time, they too would have been in the path of the car.

Ayad says there is tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to his business but the more important thing is no-one was hurt.

Bright Beginnings Centre is hoping to reopen their doors in a matter of weeks.