A former male stripper, security guard and aspiring private investigator cleared of impersonating a police officer is fighting to keep his security licence. Shane Casbolt, 31, was stopped entering Christchurch District Court last…

NASA believes it has solved the mystery of a string-like object found on Mars.

The Perseverance rover photographed the out-of-place item on the red planet last month, on Sol 495 of the mission (July 11). But before higher-resolution pictures could be obtained the mysterious item blew away in wind.

This week the space agency confirmed the material has Earthly origins.

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NASA believes the string is a piece of Dacron netting, a material used in thermal blankets.

"The hardware teams suspect that this is another piece of Dacron netting, based on the observed 2×2 mm² grid mesh pattern," it said in a statement.

"They noted that this particular piece of netting appears to have undergone significant unraveling/shredding, suggesting that it was subjected to strong forces."

Previously a spokesperson had speculated the bundle was "a piece of cord from the parachute or from the landing system that lowers the rover to the ground."

READ MORE: NASA reveals when first ever Mars samples will return to Earth

In the past, the Vikings Lander has measured Martian winds speeds of up to 113 kilometers (70 miles) per hour during dust storms.

Last year Perseverance recorded wind howling through the planet, in what was the first audio ever heard from the planet.

READ MORE: Sydney realtor says deaths of Saudi sisters not random crime

The Perseverance rover is currently collecting the samples on Mars, but it regularly stumbles upon pieces of material left over from its descent.

On Sol 474 (June 23) the rover discovered a piece of mesh netting on the planet; a twisted piece of Dacron net material.

READ MORE: NASA reveals when first ever Mars samples will return to Earth

That came days after Perseverance found a piece of foil wedged in a rock.

The debris is believed to be part of the rover's thermal blanket.

Perseverance touched down on the red planet on February 18, 2021.

Police have found woman "safe and well" after a car was swept off a flooded causeway near Mudgee, in NSW's Central West last night.

More than a dozen flood warnings are in place across multiple states after a complex low pressure system swept east, battering the country with heavy rain and extreme winds.

Police said they were called to Macdonalds Creek, near Lower Piambong Road in Erudgere, last night after receiving reports a vehicle had been swept into the causeway.

When the car was found without a driver, a desperate search was launched.

READ MORE: Suspect who gunned down Queensland family 'in custody', police say

It resumed this morning, with police soon "notified a 59-year-old woman sought assistance at a nearby property in Piambong."

She has been taken to Mudgee Hospital for assessment.

A recovery mission is underway to recover her vehicle.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said between 50mm and 99mm of rain has fallen over parts of NSW since 9am yesterday.

READ MORE: Why Melbourne woman will miss out on $15,000 in parental leave

https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1555297847960125441

A dozen flood warnings are in effect for NSW, with drivers urged to take extreme care.

"People are encouraged to continue to monitor warnings," BoM said.

"Damaging winds remain possible in parts of the southeast."

A full list of warnings in NSW can be accessed here.

Flood warnings are also current for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Tasmania, and Victoria.

A series of destructive low pressure systems have been sweeping east since Monday, causing havoc across southern Australia.

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It was NSW's turn to batten down the hatches yesterday as the intense rain band swept east.

Heavy rain pounded the state's snowfields, turning powdered snow into sludge and transforming once tranquil creeks into raging rivers.

Perisher Creek, near Australia's largest and second-highest and most popular ski area, spilled it's banks.

Thredbo received 63.8 mm of rain to 9am yesterday and a further 47.6 mm between 9am to 4pm.

The popular ski resort was forced to close its lifts amid safety concerns.

High totals were also seen at Perisher.

Up to 64mm fell to 9am and a further 53.8mm was recorded between 9am to 4pm.

Senior Bureau Meteorologist Jonathan How said conditions will start to "ease off" today, but showers will continue across much of the south-east into the weekend.

"We do see that cold front push into the Tasman Sea," he said.

"But showers and rain will push to north east NSW and southern Queensland.

"Across the south east a number of troughs will maintain those cold, blustery and showery conditions".

More snow is likely to fall over the alpine regions from today, repairing some of the rain damage.

US officials believe Russia is preparing to falsify evidence to blame Ukrainian forces for last week's deadly blast at the Olenivka prison ahead of visits to the site by outside parties.

An administration official told CNN they expect Russia will falsify evidence, blame Ukrainian forces, and even have "reason to believe that Russia would go so far as to make it appear that Ukrainian HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) were to blame before journalists arrive."

John Kirby, US National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, confirmed that on Thursday.

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"We anticipate that Russian officials will try to frame the Ukrainian Armed Forces in anticipation of journalists and potential investigators visiting the site of the attack," Kirby said.

"In fact, we've already seen some spurious press reports to this effect, where they have planted evidence. We have reason to believe that Russia would go so far as to make it appear that Ukrainian HIMARS – the high mobility advanced rocket systems that have been so much in the news lately – were to blame."

"And to do that before journalists arrived on site, and again, we're beginning to even start to see some press reporting to that effect," Kirby replied when asked for further information on the reported plan to falsify evidence.

The US supplied Ukraine with the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system earlier this year. The US believes Russia has collected large quantities of HIMARS fragments from strikes against its positions in Ukraine and is likely to deliberately place them at sites such as the prison to claim Ukraine was responsible, according to an administration official familiar with the latest information.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack on the prison in separatist-held eastern Ukraine, which resulted in the deaths of at least 50 prisoners, was "a deliberate war crime by the Russians."

READ MORE: Ukraine nuclear plant 'out of control', UN energy chief warns

Russia, meanwhile, blamed Ukraine for the attack.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday reiterated the Russian claim that the Ukrainian military was responsible for the attack.

"There is evidence here and there is nothing to hide here," he said. "Moreover, you know that the Russian side proposed to the UN and invited the Red Cross to get acquainted with this evidence on the spot, to conduct the necessary exhaustive investigation."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Wednesday it had been able to visit the Olenivka facility only once – in May this year to deliver water tanks. "But we did not have access to POWs (Prisoners of War) held there on an individual basis," it said.

The ICRC added: "Under the Third Geneva Convention, during international armed conflicts, the ICRC must be granted access to all POWs, wherever they are held. We also have full liberty to choose the places we wish to visit. Since February 2022, our teams have been able to have access to some POWs, but not all."

READ MORE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Australian students China must not help Russia

The ICRC says it has requested access to the detention centre again since the attack last week, but has not received permission from the Russians.

The Olenivka prison near Donetsk has been used to house many of the Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol several months ago. CNN could not independently verify the allegations of either side.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a Wednesday news conference that the UN is seeking to establish a fact-finding team to study the attack following requests from both Russia and Ukraine to investigate. He added that the terms of reference for the panel would need to be accepted by Russia and Ukraine before the fact-finding mission would begin.

Video aired on Russian networks and shared on social media channels in Donetsk show extensive destruction to a building and several bodies. CNN was able to geolocate footage of the strike to an industrial area about two miles outside the frontline town of Olenivka.

The Ukrainian military said the explosion took place on the territory of the industrial zone, in a newly-constructed building specially equipped to hold prisoners taken out of Azovstal.

The Ukrainian prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the strike. In a statement, it said pretrial preliminary data shows "the occupying state struck the territory of penal colony No. 120 in the temporarily occupied Olenivka village of Volnovakha district of Donetsk region."

Donetsk and Luhansk are the two regions that together form Donbas, the eastern part of Ukraine where the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists started in 2014.

The area has become the centrepiece of Russian President Vladimir Putin's military ambition in Ukraine after his troops failed to take over Kyiv earlier this year.

The Russian military has kept up a persistent barrage of artillery and missile strikes across the region for several weeks.

The Kremlin says the goal of what it calls its "special military operation" is to take control of both Luhansk and Donetsk.

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When Melbourne woman Nóra Dzsida and her husband were expecting their first child three years ago, it was an especially stressful time for the couple.

They had moved to Australia from Italy in 2018 and were living on bridging visas, waiting to see if their permanent visa applications would be approved.

"We didn't know if we would be able to stay here in Australia, or if we would have to go back," Dzsida said.

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Immigration processing delays during the pandemic stretched out their waiting time from three to eight months, but the news, when it came, was good.

The sponsored, skilled visa Dzsida's husband – who is an architect – applied for was approved and the then family-of-three could stay.

Fast forward three years, and the couple have applied to become Australian citizens. 

Dzsida is also heavily pregnant with her second child, who is expected to be born any day now.

When her son arrives, he will automatically be granted Australian citizenship, being the child of permanent residents.

It was with this in mind that Dzsida contacted Centrelink a few weeks ago to apply for the federal government's paid parental leave.

But, when she got the response from Centrelink a few days ago, Dzsida said she was blindsided by some bad news she didn't expect.

Dzida was told of a waiting period she wasn't aware of for new migrants.

READ MORE: The 'forgotten people' waiting half a century to get their Australian visa

Under Australia's social services law, migrants must wait two years after being granted permanent residency before they become eligible for paid parental leave, or dad and partner pay.

Dzsida said her baby was due to be born on August 8, just 11 days before their two-year waiting period was up.

"It was a surprise, we didn't realise (there was a waiting period)," she said.

With her baby very unlikely to be 11 days overdue, Dzsida will almost certainly miss out on the allowance of 18 weeks' pay at minimum wage – worth $14,600 – while her husband will be ineligible to receive $1600 in dad and partner pay.

"I was quite upset. It's something that we were counting on and it seems a bit unfair that it all depends on 11 days," she said.

READ MORE: Paige waited so long for an Australian visa that she grew up

"When I was pregnant with my daughter, parental leave wasn't something I thought about. We had just come here and I knew that I would not be eligible for anything like that," she said.

"But, now we are permanent residents, I thought it would be different," she said. 

"Our son will be an Australian citizen, so it is quite strange that we will not be able to receive parental leave for our Australian child."

Working as a sole trader, Dzsida said she did not have any employer-provided parental leave to fall back on.

The current waiting periods for migrants to access government benefits, which also include a four-year wait for Jobseeker, were implemented in January 2019 under legislative changes introduced by the Turnbull Coalition government.

Before January 2019, permanent residents automatically qualified for parental leave pay, while the waiting period to access JobSeeker benefits was two years.

Last year, the then-Morrison government introduced legislation to parliament that sought to double the waiting period for parental leave pay, as well as carer leave, to four years.

Under the proposed new law, the waiting period for Family Tax Benefit Part A would also increase from one year to four years, while Family Tax Benefit Part B would go from zero to four years.

The planned legislation was referred for review by a Senate committee, which heard objections from welfare groups, but ultimately chose to recommend the changes be passed.  

All of the Labor and Greens senators on the committee voted against supporting the legislation.

9news.com.au has contacted both Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles but is yet to receive a response on whether plans for the proposed legislation will be abandoned under the new Labor federal government.

Dzsida said the government's policies for migrants seemed to be at odds with the warm acceptance she had experienced from everyday Australians.

"I really love Australia and we love living here. I think it's a very inclusive country… I have never had a negative experience because of my background," she said.  

But missing out on parental leave pay made her feel like an "outsider", she said.

"It's about being accepted. Until you get the same rights as everyone else you will always feel a bit like an outsider, it's not very pleasant.

"If you work here, if you pay your taxes here, if you do everything they require you to do to become a permanent resident, you should receive the same rights."

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au.

Australians are facing a critical medicine shortage, with hundreds of drugs in short supply amid supply chain issues and increased demand.

According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) 343 medicines are currently facing shortages, with dozens listed yesterday.

These drugs include, antidepressants, high blood pressure medications, diabetes medications, asthma drugs and more.

READ MORE: Five people helping police after Queensland farm shooting

There are reports popular ADHD drug Ritalin has been totally wiped from shelves.

The TGA said, "A medicine shortage occurs when there is unlikely to be enough of a medicine in Australia for the people who need to take it."

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"There are usually alternative brands, strengths or dose forms of the same medicine available."

9News has reached out to the Australian Medical Association and the Pharmacy Guild for comment.

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The Sydney apartment where the bodies of two Saudi sisters were found in June is back on the rental market with a real estate ad advising their deaths were "not a random crime and will not be a potential risk for the community".

Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and her 23-year-old sister Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, were found dead on June 7 in separate bedrooms of the apartment in the south-west suburb of Canterbury.

Police believe they died in early May. The decomposed state of their remains complicated the task of determining the causes of death.

READ MORE: Family killed in Queensland farm shooting identified

The first-floor Canterbury Road apartment was open for inspection on Monday with rent set at $520 a week.

That is $40 more than the sisters were charged.

An online ad said the apartment had been designated a crime scene and the mysterious deaths remained under police investigation.

"According to the police, this is not a random crime and will not be a potential risk for the community," the ad said.

But police would not confirm or deny the real estate agent's advice.

"As the investigation is ongoing, police continue to appeal for information in relation to the deaths of the two women," a police statement said.

"No further information is available at this stage."

Police released the sisters' names and photographs last week in an appeal for more public information about how they died, but investigators have remained tight-lipped about many details, including how the sisters came to Australia as teenagers in 2017, their visa status and how they earned money.

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Multiple sources with knowledge of the case said the sisters had been seeking asylum in Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

They had worked for a time as traffic controllers and drove a luxury BMW 5 Series coupe, the newspaper reported.

Police detective Inspector Claudia Allcroft said their family in Saudi Arabia was cooperating with police and there was "nothing to suggest" that they were suspects.

She described the decomposition of the bodies as "problematic".

Police last week had yet to see the results of toxicology tests.

There was no evidence of forced entry to the apartment, where the sisters kept to themselves before their suspicious deaths, Allcroft said.

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"The girls were 23 and 24 years old and they have died together in their home. We don't know the cause of death, it's unusual because of their age and the nature of the matter," Allcroft added.

The sisters seemed fearful and suspicious that food delivered to their apartment had been tampered with, unidentified associates told Sydney media.

The real estate ad said the apartment's bedrooms both had new flooring.

Tobias Friedrich Moran, accused of murdering his former German backpacker girlfriend, will be released on bail as prosecutors decided not to proceed with a detention application.

The 42-year-old was freed by a magistrate today and can now return to Western Australia from where he was extradited.

Bail conditions stipulate he must report to police three days a week and must not communicate via any encrypted websites.

READ MORE: German backpacker was allegedly suffocated to death by boyfriend, court hears

Magistrate Margaret Quinn in the Downing Centre Local Court earlier on Thursday accepted submissions from Moran's barrister there was no new evidence connecting him to the murder of Simone Strobel in 2005.

And while the Crown submitted new witness statements taken from people in Germany showed that he lied about the state of their relationship, that evidence was not currently before the court.

The magistrate said evidence showed the couple had been fighting, drinking a lot and perhaps on some drugs about the time of the alleged murder.

"(But) it doesn't appear in this case to be any direct or indirect evidence connecting him to the offence," Quinn said.

"It's not the strongest circumstantial case I have seen."

His wife has offered $200,000 in security if he fails to show up in Lismore court when required, while another $250,000 has been offered as an undertaking.

Moran is charged with murdering his then partner and acting with intent to pervert the course of justice between 11pm on February 11, 2005 and 3.30pm the following day.

Police allege Moran suffocated or smothered his girlfriend in a camper van in Lismore and disposed of her body nearby.

Moran reported the school teacher missing before she was found days later 100 metres from the camper van.

Her body was too decomposed for a coroner to determine the cause of death, but it is believed to be asphyxiation.

The magistrate disagreed with the Crown's submission that Moran had not co-operated with police, acknowledging he had refused to show up for an inquest in 2007.

But he had submitted plenty of DNA samples to police, one of which was lost, and most recently put himself forward for extradition, she said.

Police last week confirmed they were communicating with German authorities about two arrest warrants for suspects who had been "persons of interest from the very beginning".

Moran's sister Katrin Suckfuell and friend Jens Martin were also travelling with the pair.

Reported with AAP.

While Manly Sea Eagles hooker Manase Fainu may not have signed into a Mormon church event where a man was stabbed in 2019, someone called Finau did, a jury has heard.

Under cross-examination during Fainu's trial on Thursday, the officer in charge of the investigation Detective Brett Hill said one of the adults running the charity dance at Wattle Grove in Sydney had mentioned the sign-in sheet.

The unnamed adult told Senior Constable Odette Hansen that someone with the surname of Finau had signed in, but didn't say that Fainu's name was on the list, the court heard.

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Hill said he had never seen the document, and had not looked for it.

"You're a detective, aren't you? Did you try and find it?" defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC asked.

"I didn't really think about it," the detective replied.

Cunneen said the document was clearly important and asked the officer whether he had investigated the other name, Finau.

"I don't remember," he told Parramatta District Court.

Fainu is accused of stabbing Faamanu Levi in the back at the 2019 event organised by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

He has pleaded not guilty to one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

After a volunteer security guard ushered Fainu and his friends off the dance floor and outside, they later allegedly returned to the car park outside the church to start a brawl.

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Levi was rushed to hospital after the confrontation, suffering internal bleeding and a collapsed lung.

Hill told the court that Fainu had voluntarily turned himself in to police after the stabbing and had no prior criminal history of violence.

A sling which the league player had been wearing for a month due to surgery was seized from his home.

However, no blood was found on it and the only DNA which was detected was Fainu's, the jury heard.

The trial in front of Judge Nanette Williams continues.

Multiple people have been removed from the rural Queensland cattle farm where a deadly shooting took place this morning, police said.

Three people were killed and another was critically injured at the property in Bogie near Collinsville in the Mackay region.

This evening, "a number of people were taken off the property and are assisting with inquires", Queensland Police told 9news.com.au.

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Police were unable to further clarify the situation, including whether anyone was in custody.

They said inquiries were ongoing.

An exclusion zone around the property was set up about 11.30am after police responded to reports of a shooting on the isolated farm.

A short time later a man was found in a vehicle at Flagstone with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The man told police he and three others had been shot before he was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

A further exclusion zone was established at a property along Shannonvale Road where the shooting is believed to have occurred.

Three people have since been found dead at the property. All had been shot.

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"It's taken a number of hours for police to search and clear the area, however we have found a crime scene in a remote rural area," Mackay District Superintendent Tom Armitt said this afternoon.

"At this stage, we are at very, very early stages of our investigation.

"We do not know who is responsible."

Armitt also said it's believed the victims were all family members, and the person who shot them may still be in the area.