New South Wales residents are being warned not to be fooled by a brief sunny respite over the next few days as flood waters continue to rise.

The mild weather is also likely to be short-lived, with more rain forecast again on Wednesday and Thursday next week, when another system moves across the state.

"My message is please don't be deceived. The sun might be out in various parts of the state, we may be seeing some dry conditions at the present, but our rivers continue to rise and we know that there is another event coming through," NSW Emergency Services minister Steph Cooke said.

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Dams at full capacity, with Sydney's Warragamba Dam currently releasing 90 gigalitres a day.

With grounds saturated, any more rain will come with the risk of flash flooding and drivers are being urged to take care on the roads.

"Please do not drive or enter flood waters under any circumstances, it places you at risk, it places your family or passengers at risk and it places at risk the lives of the emergency services volunteers who continue to turn up day in, day out to help where required," Cooke said.

The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) has issued 94 warnings issues across the state, with the commissioner Carlene York warning residents to evacuate early and take extra precautions.

Jane Golding from the Bureau of Meteorology said up to 100mm of rain fell along some parts of the NSW coast over the past 24 hours, while up to 50mm fell across western and central western slopes. 

Overnight, the SES responded to 343 requests for assistance, 21 of those being flood rescues.

Severe weather warnings relating to strong winds are no longer in place for the Illawarra, Metropolitan and Hunter districts, with conditions easing as the low pressure system moves offshore.

Evacuation orders issued

Heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding is no longer expected, however there are multiple flood warnings for much of the state, including emergency warnings for Oura Beach Camping near Wagga and Western Plains Tourist Park at Dubbo.

At Gronos Point, north of Sydney, the SES are directing people who live on along Gronos Farm Road and Manns Road, to evacuate immediately due to flooding.

There are fresh evacuation orders north west of Sydney.

Residents near the intersection of Sackville Road and Tizzana Road, as well as those living in some properties on West Portland Road in Sackville have been advised to leave before 11.45 pm tonight.

Meanwhile, some residents of properties in Lower Portland east of the Hawkesbury River on River Road have been told to evacuate by 5pm tonight.

An evacuation order for before 7pm tonight is in place for some properties in Cumberland Reach on Laws Farm Road, Lower Portland, also in the Hawkesbury.

Four SES evacuation centres have been set up – in North Richmond, Richmond, Dubbo and Castle Hill.

Due to the widespread rain, multiple inland and coastal rivers are forecast to reach major or near major flood levels over the coming days.

They include the Warren on the Macquarie River, Nanami, Cottons Weir, Jemalong, Euabalong, Forbes on the Lachlan River, Gundagai on the Murrumbidgee River, Weilmoringle on the Culgoa River and Tilpa on the Darling River.

Some catchments east of the Divide are experiencing new flooding from this event, including the Hawkesbury and Nepean.

Along the Hawkesbury River, minor flooding is occurring at Penrith, North Richmond and Windsor.

Moderate flooding is possible at North Richmond from midday Sunday and at Windsor from late Sunday afternoon.

Minor flooding may occur at Sackville and Lower Portland from late Sunday onwards.

People in the Western Plains Tourist Park were asked to evacuate just before 2am "because inundation by floodwater is imminent" and an evacuation centre was set up at Dubbo Showground.

There is also a hazardous surf warning for the Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast and Illawarra Coast.

Emergency services are also warning all people travelling to Bathurst for the Bathurst 1000 to allow for extra travel time.

It comes as September rainfall for the state was 126 per cent above the 1961–1990 average, which is fifth highest September rainfall on record.

Flood waters to hang around 'for months' 

Cooke said the dangerous conditions continued in the state and some communities were likely to be affected by flood waters for some time to come.

"We have also got dangerous surf and damaging wind, potentially bringing trees down and completely saturated landscape, creating the risk of landslips at this time, Cooke said. 

"We know that for inland New South Wales, the flood waters will continue to be a problem for communities not just for the weeks ahead but for months."

A man has been charged with murder after a 23-year-old man was killed in an alleged hit-and-run collision on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

The 23-year-old was with friends when he was hit by a white SUV about 11pm last night on Cool Store Road in Hastings.

Neighbours watched as his friends tried desperately to save him. 

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A 34-year old man from the town was charged with murder over his death, Victoria Police said.

"I feel for the family. It's a terrible thing to happen," one neighbour said.

Police said they were establishing the exact circumstances around the collision.

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Analysis: Tensions are running high in the Korean Peninsula, as the United States and its allies respond to North Korea's flurry of recent missile tests, including one that flew over neighbouring Japan without warning.

North Korea has fired eight missiles in the past two weeks – a prolific number, even in a year that has seen the highest number of launches since leader Kim Jong-un took power in 2011.

The aggressive acceleration in weapons testing has sparked alarm in the region, with the US, South Korea and Japan responding with missile launches and joint military exercises this week. The US has also redeployed an aircraft carrier into waters near the peninsula, a move South Korean authorities called "very unusual."

International leaders are now watching for signs of a further escalation such as a potential nuclear test, which would be the hermit nation's first in nearly five years – a move that would present US President Joe Biden with a new potential foreign policy crisis.

Here's what you need to know about North Korea's rush toward nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles, why they're ramping up now and what, if anything, the US can do to counter Kim Jong Un.

First, some context

The testing itself isn't new. North Korea's weapons development program has been ongoing for years.

Tensions reached near-crisis levels in 2017 when North Korea launched 23 missiles throughout the year, including two over Japan, as well as conducting a nuclear test. The tests showcased weapons with enough power to put most of the world in range, including the country's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Relations thawed in 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump held a landmark summit with Kim. The two leaders "fell in love," Trump said; in return, Kim praised their "special" relationship. North Korea pledged to freeze missile launches and appeared to destroy several facilities at the nuclear test site, while the US suspended large-scale military exercises with South Korea and other regional allies.

But the talks ultimately fell apart, and hopes for a deal that would see the North curtail its nuclear ambitions dwindled by the end of Trump's term.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, pushing North Korea further into isolation. The already-impoverished country sealed its borders entirely, with foreign diplomats and aid workers fleeing en masse. During this time, the number of missile launches also remained low — just four in 2020 and eight in 2021.

So why are they ramping up now?

Experts say there are a few reasons North Korea is accelerating its testing so rapidly now.

First, it could simply be the right time after the events of the last few years, with Kim declaring victory against Covid in August, and a new US administration in place that has focused on shows of unity with South Korea.

"They've been unable to test for quite a few years due to political considerations, so I'd expect North Korean engineers and generals to be very eager to make sure their toys are going to work well," said Andrei Lankov, a professor at South Korea's Kookmin University.

Jeffrey Lewis, a weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said it's also normal for North Korea to pause testing during the stormy summer and resume once weather improved in the fall.

But, several experts said, Kim could also be sending a message by deliberately showcasing North Korea's arsenal during a period of heightened global conflict.

"They want to remind the world that they should not be ignored, that they exist and their engineers are working around the clock to develop both nuclear weapons and delivery systems," said Lankov.

Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Centre in Hawaii, echoed this sentiment. Kim "launches missiles to generate attention towards himself, but also to create pressure for Japan and the United States to engage him," he said.

He added that North Korea might also feel emboldened to act now while the West is distracted with the war in Ukraine.

"(The missile tests) started in January, which is about the time we were beginning to report on what Russian President Vladimir Putin was doing opposite Ukraine," said Schuster. "Kim Jong Un is doing what he thinks he can get away with — he's not expecting any kind of strong US reaction."

Lankov said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have also boosted Kim's confidence because "it demonstrated that if you have nuclear weapons, you can have almost impunity. And if you don't have nuclear weapons, you're in trouble."

What can the US and its allies do to stop North Korea?

Despite the US and its allies' quick military response this past week, experts say there's little they can do to stop or prepare for North Korea's weapons tests.

"The Americans sent the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. South Koreans are launching these missiles, which are not necessarily working well," said Lankov, referring to a South Korean missile on Wednesday that crashed right after launch. "What is the impact of all these American aircraft carriers cruising around Korea? Pretty much nothing."

Though these shows of force might serve to deter North Korea from "starting a war" – which likely isn't Kim's plan, anyway — it does little to prevent further weapons development or missile testing," he said.

"It'll probably make some people in the US and (South Korea) a bit happier, but it'll have zero impact on North Korea's behavior and decision making."

A lack of hard intelligence also means the US is largely left in the dark when it comes to Kim's plans.

The North lacks the widespread use of technology that not only facilitates economic and societal advances, but also provides critical windows and opportunities to glean information for the intelligence services of the US and its allies.

"Since so much of what North Korea does is driven by the leader himself, you really have to get inside his head, and that's a hard intelligence problem," said Chris Johnstone, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

And on the international stage, the US' efforts to punish North Korea have faltered due to pushback from Moscow and Beijing.

In May, Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted UN resolution to strengthen sanctions on North Korea for its weapons testing — the first time either country had blocked a sanction vote against the North since 2006.

What is North Korea trying to achieve?

Kim has spearheaded an aggressive weapons development program that far outstripped efforts by his father and grandfather, both former North Korean leaders – and experts say the country's nuclear program is at the heart of Kim's ambitions.

In September, North Korea passed a law declaring itself a nuclear weapons state, with Kim vowing to "never give up" nuclear weapons.

The law also demonstrated North Korea's hopes of strengthening its ties with China and Russia, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

After China and Russia's open opposition to new sanctions against North Korea, Kim "knows he has their backing," said Schuster.

He added that Kim's weapons testing serves a dual purpose: apart from making a statement to the international community, it also boosts his own image domestically and cements the regime's power.

"It's a very paranoid regime — (Kim) is as worried about the people under him as he is worried about regime change from the outside," said Schuster. With the tests, Kim, is telling his own senior people, "We can deal with whatever the threat the West, the US and South Korea can come up with," he said.

However, in terms of wider public perception, KCNA, North Korea's state-run media, has made no mention of missile launches for months – since its last report of a launch in March.

Lewis, the expert at the Middlebury Institute, added that North Korea will likely continue developing weapons such as ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missile until "they get to a point where they're satisfied with that – then I think they'll probably express an interest in talking again."

Is a nuclear test coming?

The concern in the short-term is whether North Korea will launch a nuclear test, which Lewis said could come "anytime".

However, Schuster and Lankov both said that given the friendly relationship between North Korea and China, Kim might wait until after China holds its high-profile Communist Party Congress later this month – if it happens at all.

The meeting of the party elite is the most significant event on the Chinese political calendar – especially so this year, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping expected to be appointed to a third term in power, further cementing his status as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades.

Kim "depends too much on Chinese aid to keep his country afloat," meaning he can't afford to "do anything to detract from the Party Congress," said Schuster. "So although China can't dictate to him what he must do … he will not cause them problems."

After October, however, the runway is clear for any more significant weapons tests, said Lankov.

South Korean and US officials have been warning since May that North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear test, with satellite imagery showing activity at its underground nuclear test site.

In one area of Auckland, fewer than 20 per cent of eligible people voted in the local elections, a result described by a councillor as “very sad” and warranting systemic change.Overall just 31 per cent of Auckland’s nearly 1.2 million…

Today marks a decade since Julia Gillard rose to her feet in parliament and delivered a blistering takedown – not only of her opponent Tony Abbott, but of the gender discrimination in Australian politics.

On October 9, 2012, Gillard, Australia's first and only female prime minister, had had enough.

She unleashed 15 minutes of pointed and eloquent fury in what became known as her "misogyny speech". 

READ MORE: Julia Gillard reveals regrets over sexist language

The debate in parliament that afternoon was centred around speaker Peter Slipper, who had been accused of sexually harassing his former staffer James Ashby. 

Highly offensive and sexist text messages Slipper sent to Ashby were revealed, however Labor decided not to remove Slipper from his position as speaker.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott used the controversy to accuse the government of sexism and misogyny.

For years, Gillard had endured sexist attacks. 

There were endless comments on her appearance and her fashion choices. Her partner's sexuality was also questioned, as was her decision not to have children.

Gillard could not let the hypocrisy stand. She stood up and delivered the words that would go on to become a seminal moment in Australian political history.

"I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man, I will not," Gillard said. And the government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever. The leader of the opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well, I hope the leader of the opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation."

Watch Gillard's full speech in the video player above.

Gillard's speech went viral online and was picked up across the world. 

That night, 'Gillard' was trending on Twitter, and she made headlines in the US, Britain, India, South Africa and Canada.

The UK's Spectator magazine said there was "much to admire" in Gillard's address.

The Daily Beast noted that Ms Gillard's speech would bring a smile to the face of former British leader Margaret Thatcher, while US feminist blog Jezebel called the prime minister "badass".

Gillard has since said she initially resisted the attention her speech brought, fearing it would overshadow the political legacy of her and her government.

But the former Labor leader appears to have come to terms with it, releasing a book titled 'Not now, Not Ever' to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of her speech.

READ MORE: Australia Post suspends sea mail amid rise in prohibited items

"After staying silent, I'd had my say," Gillard writes in her book.

"At no time did I feel worked up or hotly angry. I felt strong, measured, controlled.

"Yet emotion did play its role in the energy of the speech. The frustration that sexism and misogyny could still be so bad in the twenty-first century. The toll of not pointing it out."

Analysis: An explosion that severely damaged parts of the road and rail bridge between annexed Crimea and the Russian mainland seems designed to play into President Vladimir Putin's current talent for making bad decisions.

It brings forward by a number of weeks the strategic choices he must make about Russia's occupation of southern Ukraine. This entire presence was already poorly supplied, managed and in retreat. And it shows that the key railway route into Crimea and onwards to the frontlines in Kherson is highly vulnerable to future attacks.

While Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the Kerch Strait bridge blast, it has previously taken credit for a series of strikes on targets in Russian-occupied Crimea over the summer.

Russian officials said a limited amount of car traffic had resumed on undamaged sections of the bridge's roadways by Saturday evening and that train services were resuming on the bridge's railways. But trucks were being asked to take ferries across the strait, state media reported.

Rickety ferry crossings in bad weather or highly dangerous air cargo flights may now be needed to bolster military shipments into Crimea and towards the frontlines, which will place more pressure on a single railway track further east coming through Melitopol along the Azov Sea coast.

It exposes the staggering 20th century weakness of Russia's armed forces and occupation: They need railways to get around.

Ukraine has been targeting this system with slow, patient accuracy. First Izium, which led to the collapse around Kharkiv. Then Lyman, which is leading to the erosion of Russia's control of Donetsk and Luhansk. And now the Kerch Bridge, which had become so vital to everything that Russia is trying to hold on to in the south.

Compounding the problem for Putin is the fact that Russia's rail hub further inside Donetsk was also hit on Saturday; a look at Ilovaisk on a map shows the railway arteries running through it. A cargo train detonated there this morning, likely having some impact on Russia's ability to feed the railway lines inside Donetsk and Luhansk that Ukraine has already put under great pressure.

Ukraine has had patient timing on hitting these pressure points. They have not struck until they have seen a moment of weakness – until the Russians are experiencing serious issues already – ensuring that the damage inflicted lasts while time-consuming repairs are underway. (While Russia claims that railway traffic was restored by Saturday night, the bridge's vulnerability to attack at the least will lessen traffic).

A challenge to Putin's poker face

Putin now faces a series of expedited and painful decisions, all of which will severely belie his continued poker-face of pride and bombast towards the gathering signs of slow defeat. To the west of the Dnipro river, his army in Kherson is besieged by fast-moving Ukrainian forces. They are already in retreat, partially owing to the same poor resupply that will be accentuated by the Kerch blast.

They are again cut off from this faltering supply line by another series of damaged or targeted bridges across the Dnipro. Over the past week, they have already fallen back over 500 square kilometres. Can Moscow sustain this force over two damaged supply routes? A precarious presence has perhaps overnight become near-impossible. Does enough truth filter through to the Kremlin head to lead him to pull back? Or does he take the higher stakes gamble of spreading his isolated forces thinly across a wide expanse?

The second point of decision relates to Crimea. Putin personally opened the bridge across the Kerch Strait by driving a truck across it in 2018. The illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory has been the source of misplaced pride and imperial pomp for the Kremlin. But Putin now faces the difficult choice of fortifying it further with depleted forces who face resupply issues, or partially withdrawing his military to ensure their significant resources on the peninsula do not get cut off.

There is a sizeable risk of this. The Kerch bridge can be hit again. The railway link across Melitopol is now a target of outsized value. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said just last week that an offensive from Zaporizhzhia towards Melitopol was a possibility. The mere possibility that Russia's last untouched railway path into the south could be disrupted raises existential issues for its occupation.

Putin must choose between feeding his larger ambitions with a dwindling chance of success, or consolidating forces around an objective he has a greater chance of achieving. One carries the risk of catastrophic collapse, for his entire brutal adventure into Ukraine, and quite possibly his rule. The second leaves him with an immediate loss of face, but a stronger chance of sustaining the occupation of smaller parts of Ukraine.

His internal position has not looked weaker since he came to power in 2000. An admission of failure may be unpalatable at this stage, and a greater gamble the easier move. Yet he again tips the war towards a binary moment where his occupation – and even regime – faces a complete collapse or a tiny, madcap prospect of victory. Nuclear threats and rhetoric have been the horrifying backdrop of this war. Yet still Moscow has not resorted to any doomsday moves while NATO armed Ukraine to an extent that was unthinkable before the war.

Kyiv's smart and patient strikes on Russia's ageing transport dependencies has left Putin with a series of existential decisions to make in the hours ahead. He's made a lot of bad ones in the past seven months. Does the Kerch explosion add to that list, or provide a cold bath of reality, and a readjustment of the Kremlin's view of the possible.

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In 1887, Australian Museum scientists undertook a pioneering expedition to Lord Howe Island, a tiny patch of land off the east coast of Australia. Among their many discoveries, they recorded "a large Blatta" – a type of cockroach – under a decaying log.

This was later described as Panesthia lata, the Lord Howe Island wood-feeding cockroach. P. lata was noted as being highly abundant, playing a key role in nutrient recycling, and presumably a food source for the many birds on the island.

Alas, in 1918 rats arrived on the island from a shipwreck. By the late 20th century, P. lata could not be found despite extensive searches over multiple decades, and was assumed to have gone extinct due to rat predation.

But could it have survived in some unexplored pocket of the island?

Putting the cockroach back where it belongs

In 2019, the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment (NSW DPE) implemented the final stage of its highly successful (although at times controversial) rat eradication program on the island.

Following this, I and my colleagues from NSW DPE, Lord Howe Island Museum, Chau Chak Wing Museum, CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection and the University of Melbourne became interested in the biology of P. lata and the potential to repopulate the island with this insect.

This was on the cards because in 2001, P. lata had been discovered on Blackburn and Roach islands, two small islands near Lord Howe Island.

But hang on a minute: why would we want to put cockroaches, one of the most reviled creatures on Earth, back on a beautiful island after their seemingly fortuitous extermination?

Well, P. lata is, believe it or not, quite cute and charismatic, and has no interest in going into people's houses. It is wingless, about 4cm long, and stays hidden in the forest, where it burrows into the soil and feeds on leaf litter and rotting wood by night.

Fortuitous rocks

In July we received funding from the Australia Pacific Science Foundation to investigate the genetics and ecology of P. lata from Blackburn and Roach Islands. So Maxim Adams, an honours student in our lab at the University of Sydney, and Nicholas Carlile from NSW DPE headed off to Lord Howe Island to begin the study.

Bad weather prevented them from going out to Blackburn Island, so they decided to examine potential sites on Lord Howe Island that might have once been teeming with P. lata before the rats arrived.

They walked to a secluded area in the north of the island, and decided to turn over a few rocks. Literally the first rock they checked revealed a small congregation of the cockroaches.

I was due to join them three days later, but they called me that afternoon with great excitement to relay the news.

They found a few others within a few metres under the same fig tree, but extensive searching over the next few days revealed none in other nearby areas or other parts of the island.

Not the same as their neighbours

We carried out some preliminary DNA tests upon our return to Sydney, finding the rediscovered Lord Howe Island population of cockroaches was distinct from the ones found on Blackburn and Roach islands.

It is possible the population hung on as a result of rodent baiting in the area. The baiting was done in recent decades to assist the survival of various other threatened species.

We are now carrying out more extensive DNA studies, including historical museum samples collected from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and samples from Ball's Pyramid, roughly 20km southeast of Lord Howe Island, collected by Dick Smith in the 1960s.

Through these studies, we hope to determine the relationship of the rediscovered population with those originally collected on the island a century or more ago and those on the outer islands. We also hope to uncover the origins and evolutionary history of P. lata.

The Lord Howe Island Group is a UNESCO world heritage site of global natural significance, and is home to more than 100 plant species found nowhere else on Earth, and many more endemic animal species. The biology of many of these species, particularly the island's invertebrates, remains mysterious.

We hope our use of DNA techniques will help us to establish P. lata as a model for understanding several million years of evolution on the Lord Howe Island archipelago, and aid the re-establishment of this shy yet charismatic creature on its homeland.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.