Spanish police have seized three 'drone submarines' capable of carrying large amounts of drugs and broken up an alleged smuggling gang.

Officers confiscated three partly build unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and arrested eight people in Spain.

Police said it was the first time they had seized such devices, capable of transporting drugs, such as cocaine, from Morocco to Spain.

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"The three – two of which were being built and one which was practically completed – were to be delivered to French drug traffickers for transporting large quantities of cocaine," a police statement released on Monday (Tuesday AEST) said.

"These devices could allow drug traffickers to transport large quantities of narcotics remotely across the Strait of Gibraltar."

Each UUV could carry up to 200kg of product.

Police said the gang also build aerial drones, with police seizing several large unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Each could fly up to 30km, enabling them to cross the 15km strait separating Morocco and Spain.

READ MORE: Rooftop gunman kills six people at US parade

The gang also built false bottoms into vehicles to carry drugs.

Police said their customers included criminal networks in Denmark, France, Italy and Spain.

A 22-year-old man identified as a person of interest in a mass shooting that killed at least six people, wounded at least 30 and sent hundreds of people fleeing from an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago has been taken into custody.

Police earlier said Robert E. Crimo III should be considered armed and dangerous and was pulled over by police on Monday evening after a brief pursuit.

Earlier, Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said that police had identified Crimo as a person of interest.

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Police declined to answer questions about how they identified Crimo.

Authorities described his car as a silver Honda Fit with an Illinois licence plate DM 80653.

Highland Park Police Commander Chris O'Neill, the incident commander on scene, urged people to shelter in place as authorities searched for the suspect. 

The July 4 shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. 

Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months. 

https://twitter.com/sophie_walsh9/status/1544105613549920256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find cause to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together.

Mayor Nancy Rotering said the violence "has shaken us to our core," adding, "On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us."

The shooting occurred at a spot on the parade route where many residents had staked out prime viewing points early in the day for the annual celebration. 

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Dozens of fired bullets sent hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — fleeing. 

They left a trail of abandoned items that showed everyday life suddenly, violently disrupted: a half-eaten bag of potato chips; a box of chocolate cookies spilled onto the grass; a child's Chicago Cubs cap.

"There's no safe place," said Highland Park resident Barbara Harte, 73, who had stayed away from the parade fearing a mass shooting, but later ventured from her home.

Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference "several of the deceased victims" died at the scene and one was taken to a hospital and died there. 

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Police have not released details about the victims or wounded.

Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people killed at the parade were adults and she doesn't have information on the sixth victim who was taken to a hospital and died there.

Roberto Velasco, Mexico's director for North American affairs, said on Twitter Monday that one Mexican national was killed in Highland Park and added that two other Mexicans were wounded.

Dr Brigham Temple, medical director of emergency preparedness for NorthShore University Health Centre, said the Highland Park hospital received 26 patients after the attack and all but one had gunshot wounds. 

Their ages ranged from eight to 85, and Temple estimated that four or five patients were children.

He said 19 of them were treated and discharged.

Others were transferred to other hospitals, while two patients, in stable condition, remained at the Highland Park hospital.

The shooter opened fire around 10.15am., when the parade was about three-quarters through, authorities said.

Covelli said the gunman apparently used a "high-powered rifle" to fire from a spot atop a commercial building where he was "very difficult to see".

He said the rifle was recovered at the scene.

Police also found a ladder attached to the building.

"Very random, very intentional and a very sad day," Covelli said.

READ MORE: Video shows US police officers kill Black man in hail of gunfire

President Joe Biden on Monday said he and first lady Jill Biden were "shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day".

He said he had "surged Federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time."

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were conducting an urgent trace of the rifle, agency spokesperson April Langwell said.

Federal agents conduct such traces to identify when, where and to whom the gun was last sold.

Biden signed the widest-ranging gun violence bill passed by Congress in decades, a compromise that showed at once both progress on a long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists.

Several nearby cities cancelled events including parades and fireworks, some of them noting that the Highland Park shooter was still at large. Evanston, Deerfield, Skokie, Waukegan and Glencoe cancelled events.

The Chicago White Sox also announced on Twitter that a planned post-game fireworks show is cancelled due to the shooting.

"You have a tragic mass act of violence that was random here today at a community event where people were gathered to celebrate, and the offender has not been apprehended thus far," Covelli, the crime task force spokesman, said.

"So, could this happen again? We don't know what his intentions are at this point, so certainly we're not sure of that."

More than 100 law enforcement officers were called to the parade scene or dispatched to find the suspected shooter.

Hours after the shooting, law enforcement officers searched an office building near where the shooting occurred.

Nearby, armed FBI agents in camouflage had also escorted a family with two small girls across Central Avenue.

The children looked visibly frightened even as their mother attempted to reassure them that the agents leading and flanking them would protect them.

"Don't worry, you're safe now," she told them.

"These guys will protect you."

Ominous signs of a joyous event suddenly turned to horror filled both sides of Central Avenue where the shooting occurred.

Dozens of baby strollers — some bearing American flags, abandoned children's bikes and a helmet bedecked with images of Cinderella were left behind.

Blankets, lawn chairs, coffees and water bottles were knocked over as people fled.

Highland Park is a close-knit community of about 30,000 people located on the shores of Lake Michigan just north of Chicago, with mansions and sprawling lakeside estates that have long drawn the rich and sometimes famous, including NBA legend Michael Jordan, who lived in the city for years when he played for the Chicago Bulls.

John Hughes filmed parts of several movies in the city, including Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said in a statement: "There are no words for the kind of monster who lies in wait and fires into a crowd of families with children celebrating a holiday with their community."

Gina Troiani and her son were lined up with his daycare class ready to walk onto the parade route when she heard a loud sound that she believed was fireworks — until she heard people yell about a shooter. In a video that Troiani shot on her phone, some of the kids are visibly startled at the loud noise, and they scramble to the side of the road as a siren wails nearby.

"We just start running in the opposite direction," she told The Associated Press.

Her five-year-old son was riding his bike decorated with red and blue curled ribbons. He and other children in the group held small American flags.

The city said on its website that the festivities were to include a children's bike and pet parade.

Troiani said she pushed her son's bike, running through the neighbourhood to get back to their car.

"It was just sort of chaos," she said.

"There were people that got separated from their families, looking for them. Others just dropped their wagons, grabbed their kids and started running."

Debbie Glickman, a Highland Park resident, said she was on a parade float with co-workers and the group was preparing to turn onto the main route when she saw people running from the area.

"People started saying: 'There's a shooter, there's a shooter, there's a shooter,'" Glickman told the AP.

"So we just ran. We just ran. It's like mass chaos down there."

She didn't hear any noises or see anyone who appeared to be injured.

"I'm so freaked out," she said.

"It's just so sad."

Dr Ben Bravery was just 28 when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

He'd had diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain and bleeding, on and off for six months – but only saw his GP as his mother Jo begged him to.

After his diagnosis, he underwent gruelling treatment to remove the tumour, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

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And while he admits there was nothing wrong with his actual health care, he was stuck by the way he was treated as a hospital patient.

Especially when, after his surgery, his expected few days stay became four weeks due to serious complications.

"I got world class medicine but the humanity part was often missing," he told nine.com.au.

"It was really disempowering.

"Not only was I sick and in a lot of pain, I was often confused and not really clear when the doctors were coming, what was happening with my treatment, when I was getting out.

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"And when a doctor did come they'd often have a whole team with them that I didn't know, and ask me really intimate questions really quickly.

"Even if you had questions, you don't feel brave enough to ask them."

He was also in a shared ward in the Melbourne hospital, where he was decades younger than other patients.

"I spent a lot of time next to one man who on a nightly basis would beg the doctors to die. I started getting anxiety that I was going to end up like that," he said.

"Nobody checked in with me of this stuff. They were focused on the technical stuff."

At one point he said a hospital manager even threatened to give him a feeding tube if he didn't start eating, when he simply couldn't.

Once Bravery recovered, after 18 months of treatment, he returned to his job.

After training as a zoologist, he was running a science communications business.

But he wasn't happy, and despite changing jobs again, had a feeling he knew what he wanted to do.

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He Google-searched 'how to become a doctor'.

And aged 32, he went to medical school in Sydney, with the aim of becoming an oncologist.

He wasn't from a typical medical school background, being the first in his family to go to university, and the second to finish high school.

He was born to a young mother and his father wasn't around, and at times Bravery lived in a caravan in south-east Queensland's Logan area.

He explained why he was so drawn to medicine as a profession.

"A lot of people would run from it and never wanna go back," he said.

"I wanted to go back for two reasons. I wanted to give back. I was so grateful for having my life saved. I got world class medicine – and I didn't pay a cent.

"And the second reason was, these things I noticed, sometimes how people spoke to me, sometimes when I didn't feel strong enough to ask questions, or didn't understand, I thought maybe I could go back and make it a bit better for other patients and doctors.

"It's a bare bones keep people alive system, and that's good it does that.

"But what people remember is the grumpy nurse, the doctor who didn't listen to them."

He found medical school tough.

He encountered bullying, a surprising absence of specific training on cancer and a lack of encouragement on treating patients with compassion.

And after graduating in 2018 his first job as an intern was in a hospital in Western Sydney.

But it wasn't what he'd hoped for either.

There were 12-hour days, a high workload, a lack of respect from senior doctors and he felt like patients were treated as numbers rather than people.

He said he saw an elderly man die without his wife there even though she was in the same hospital – because she was bedridden and there were no porters to take her to his side.

He also witnessed a man with terminal cancer, who had broken his arm, wait a week for surgery as he wasn't classed as a priority.

"It was disappointing. The way doctors approached patients, and the way doctors approached doctors, seemed to have a lot of problems," he said.

"I went to medical school to try and make things better for patients and discovered I wasn't going to do that unless I also made things better for doctors.

"I had tried to hold on to who I was, the kindness, the compassion, but it's really hard to implement in practice because you're slammed."

However, he stuck with it, and has now found a specialty where he hopes to make a difference – psychiatry.

Bravery is working in a Sydney hospital and says he has no regrets about his dramatic life change.

Now aged 40, he also has a son, Evren, with wife Sana, who he'd only just met when he was diagnosed.

He was born after IVF – Bravery had frozen his sperm as his cancer treatment had left him infertile.

He also has no evidence of cancer, but still goes for checks.

Bravery said he's still determined to make a difference for other patients, even if, as a junior doctor, he's starting small.

"I'm able to do my little bit, every patient interaction I'm trying to remember I'm having a conversation that might change that person's life," he said.

"But I bring this really interesting mix, having being sick, and going to med school.

"I still see myself as a patient wearing a stethoscope."

Bravery has written a book called The Patient Doctor about his experience, which is out now. Find more details about bowel cancer here.

In a strange twist in the Chris Dawson murder trial, a man who has never met the former teacher has been called as the sole defence witness.

Dawson is accused of killing his wife Lynette, but today the court heard from a man named Paul Cooper, who claimed he saw the missing mother after she ran away from her unfaithful husband.

Cooper, a convicted criminal, was asked about a conversation that took place 40 years ago.

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He said he saw a woman who looked like Lynette at a Warner's Bay hotel in Lake Macquarie in 1982.

"She had left her husband… he had been playing up on her… I asked her was she going to go back and she said no," Cooper told the Supreme Court on Monday.

"I said: 'what about your children? It's not fair to them'.

"She didn't have any ID… she had money because she had sold something.

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"She was also waiting to get a passport… she was going to go to Bali and then head off to another overseas country."

Lynette's family shook their heads in disbelief as Cooper gave evidence. They maintain she would never have abandoned her daughters.

Cooper claims the discussion went even further and he suspected the woman was trying to frame her husband.

"I said to her they were going to think he knocked ya… I thought she was setting her husband up."

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In 2018, Cooper saw photos of the missing nurse on A Current Affair which prompted him to come forward – not to police but to Dawson's solicitor Greg Walsh.

The witness's credibility was called into question. The court was told he'd done jail time for drugs, theft, break and enter, as well as armed robbery.

He also admitted to being a regular cannabis user in 1982.

Dawson waived his right to give evidence, leaving only closing statements in the marathon trial.

The Crown argues he murdered his wife so he could move on with the family babysitter.

South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem on Sunday defended her state's abortion ban, which includes an exception when the pregnant person's life is at risk but not in cases involving incest or rape.

When asked by CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" whether children similar to a 10-year-old child abuse victim who travelled from Ohio to Indiana to receive an abortion should be forced to give birth, Noem said, "this tragedy is horrific".

"I can't even imagine. I have never had anybody in my family or myself gone through anything like this. … But, in South Dakota, the law today is that the abortions are illegal, except to save the life of the mother."

READ MORE: Father 'shocked' after his son was left alone at school holiday program in Melbourne

Noem told Bash she would not be in favour of amending the current law, a so-called trigger law that took effect following the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to add an exception for similar situations.

"I don't believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy," she said.

But Noem did signal that a 10-year-old in the described situation may qualify for the state exception for life-threatening medical emergencies.

"I think that's something that, yeah, that situation, the doctor, the family, the individuals closest to that will make the decisions there for that family," she told Bash.

"That's what's interesting about the time we live in right now," Noem added.

"Every state will have different laws on the books.

"The decisions will be made by the legislators that are closest to the people. That's appropriate. It's the way our Constitution intended."

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The US Supreme Court's recent majority ruling that there is no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion has led more states to implement their own abortion policies.

The ruling has already resulted in a patchwork system, as was anticipated, in which access to the procedure is, for many people, determined largely by whether a state is controlled by Republicans or Democrats.

Along with South Dakota, trigger abortion laws have been implemented in at least three states: Arkansas, Missouri and Wisconsin.

A Mississippi trigger law is set to take effect on July 7.

Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho, and Tennessee are awaiting state action, and legal fights over abortion restrictions are underway in more than a dozen states.

Noem was also asked Sunday about supporting paid family leave or greater financial access to child care.

"That's a discussion we're going to have. I think it's important that we back up exactly what I have been saying since I'm governor, that we want stronger families," she told Bash.

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"Many times, it's the financial cost, the medical cost and the leave policy that many people have a tough time supporting.

"But I think, in South Dakota, that the time is right."

Noem, however, said she does not back expanding Medicaid, which is on the state's ballot in November.

The measure would cover low-income women without health insurance in South Dakota during and after pregnancy.

An investigation is underway after a young boy was left unsupervised at school holiday care for two hours in Melbourne.

The child was on a program run by Team Kids at Dingley Village Primary, in Melbourne's south-east, when he was left behind at the campus on Wednesday last week.

Seven-year-old William was one of around 40 children setting off for rock-climbing adventure, as part of a school holiday program.

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But the bus took off without William, who was left alone, without a phone and no way of contacting anyone for help.

William's nine-year-old sister raised the alarm at the venue and staff member did a headcount.

The staff then realised the young boy was left behind.

The staff member returned to the school, where they found him.

William's father, Nathan Cummings said he was "absolutely shocked" that his son was left behind.

"I just got this overwhelming shock, it was indescribable," he said.

"It's pretty daunting to think what could've happened 'cause, even if he fell off the playground, he's there by himself.

"That night I had a lot of trouble sleeping and a couple of nights after, I was just constantly thinking about 'what if?'"

Team Kids chief executive James Taylor says it was a result of staff forgetting to do a head check on the children before they left.

Four Team Kids staff members running the program that day have since been stood down.

An Education Department spokesperson said they were investigating the incident.

"The health and safety of all children is our top priority," the spokesperson said.

Video footage has captured the first moments of a newborn southern right whale off the coast of Queensland.

The baby was seen swimming with mum after it was born off the coast of Burleigh Heads, on the Gold Coast today.

More whales are expected to be spotted off Queensland's coast in the coming months as humpback whales make their annual migration journey north from Antarctica, to the warmer waters of Queensland to mate, give birth and care for their newborns.

Humpback whale season in Queensland is between June and September, with thousands of whales making the journey up the coast, stopping in famed whale watching locations like Hervey Bay, north of Brisbane.

Southern right whales, a type of baleen whale, typically migrate up the coast of New South Wales between May and September, peaking around July.

Watch the full video of the encounter in the video player above.

An aged care facility in Melbourne's north, where 45 residents died from COVID-19, has been charged.

WorkSafe Victoria charged St Basil's Homes For The Aged in Fawkner with nine breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act following the deadly COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.

But the families of those who died in the notorious nursing home, are calling for prison sentences for those responsible.

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The workplace safety watchdog alleges that in July 2020, after being notified by a worker that they tested positive to COVID-19, the facility failed to require workers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE).

It's also alleged the facility failed to train workers how to safely don and doff PPE, verify that staff were competent in using it, tell staff when it should be used and supervise the use of the equipment.

In the outbreak, 94 residents and 94 staff members tested positive for the virus, with 45 residents dying from COVID-19 related complications.

Spiros Vasilakis' mother, 81-year-old mother, Maria, was among 45 residents who died during the outbreak.

"This is significant, today is a day we found out that this facility would be held accountable," he said.

"It news brought about a sense of relief, it was elated, something has finally happened.

"At the same time, it draws up all those sad and bitter feelings."

Vasilakis said he hoped for a harsher penalty.

"They've been charged, fantastic. But that the end result is a fine, that's the hollow bit," he said.

"When an employer isn't providing a safe work environment, that should be a fine. But when the employer lacks a safe work environment and that results in death, that can't stop at a fine.

"Fifty lives can't be a fine, one life can't be a fine. I'm afraid that's a criminal charge only punishable by a stint in prison."

WorkSafe Victoria charged the aged care provider with multiples offences including two breaches of failing to enable workers to perform their work safely.

St Basil's was also charged with three breaches, after failing to ensure its employees were not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from conduct of its undertaking.

The maximum penalty for each of St Basil's alleged offences is a fine of $1.49 million.

In November 2021, a coronial inquest found a failure in communication between state and federal health departments was at the root of the deadly coronavirus cluster.

The inquest began with a memorial to the victims.

The matter is listed for a filing hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on August 1.

More than 30,000 people remain on flood alert across New South Wales as the flooding crisis gripping much of the state continues.

There are more than 70 evacuation orders in place for western and south-western parts of the city as three major rivers burst their banks in another "life-threatening" flood emergency.

The State Emergency Service has responded to hundreds of calls for assistance and seven evacuation centres have been set up.

READ MORE: When is it going to stop raining?

As the situation is constantly changing, visit the SES, Bureau of Meteorology and LiveTraffic websites for the latest orders and information.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Nicole Hogan has pleaded with people not to take risks by driving into floods.

Images have shown multiple people being rescued from cars over the past few days. One woman was saved from a flooded park on Saturday night.

"The majority of our rescues have been cars in floodwater, with NSW SES members also supporting the community through medical transports and the safe removal of animals," Hogan said.

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"If you are in a flood-prone area and undertaking travel that is not for essential purposes, we ask that you reconsider your travel plans.

"Our message is simple: if it's flooded, forget it."

The ADF has been deployed in the Windsor area, which is one of the worst-hit areas. They have set up a staging area in Vineyard, and are deployed in McGraths Hill.

The Windsor bridge is underwater again, as forecasters warned the flooding from the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Georges rivers would approach levels previously seen both in March 2022 and March 2021.

A man was rescued from his car in Windsor before it went completely under.

Sydney Harbour's worth of rain falls on the city

Earlier, Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said Sydney has had the equivalent of a Sydney Harbour's worth of rain dumped on it daily, exceeding the monthly average in the first few days of July.

"It is hard to fathom that we are seeing a rain event of this magnitude hitting this part of Australia once again," he told Today.

"We have had several of them already this year but this one in particular has been exceptional heavy for areas near and south of Sydney.

"The Illawarra coast has had about 600mm over the last three days. That is about the entire annual average for places like Canberra and Melbourne falling just over 72 hours."

Hundreds of rescues, thousands of calls

In the past few days, the SES and other emergency services have performed 116 flood rescues.

Eighty-three of these were since 9pm on Sunday. Since then there have also been at least 1593 requests for assistance.

"And after every flood event, we have a number of flood rescues and sometimes deaths that take place because people don't follow that instruction and they drive through floodwaters," Perrottet said.

"People drive through floodwaters because they can't see the depth of the road beneath.

"You cannot appreciate how deep that water is.

"Please do not drive through floodwaters and keep you and your family safe and ensure the SES and other volunteers don't have to put their life on the line."

More than 100mm of rain has fallen in many places along the NSW coast, from Maitland and Newcastle right down to the Illawarra, in the last 24 hours.

"We are seeing a steady stream of showers tracking into the central New South Wales coast," Jane Golding from the Bureau of Meteorology said.

"At the moment, the focus area is very much along the Illawarra, through Sydney, into the Blue Mountains and the Central Coast area, and as mentioned, we are expecting that accumulation of rainfall for some locations to be very high again today.

"So, that is on top of hundreds of millimetres that these areas have received over the last two-three days."

She warned people to stay out of the water as the waves generated by the weather system are dangerous.

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Parts of the state have already had a months' rainfall in just hours, with the heaviest rain in 30 years falling in some areas.

"We are now facing dangers on multiple fronts," Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said.

"Flash flooding, riverine flooding, and coastal erosion."

The Hawkesbury also submerged the bridge at North Richmond, cutting off the small town from Greater Sydney.

With the Warragamba damn spilling, parts of Penrith, Camden and Chipping Norton are also underwater, with images showing street signs all but submerged in Penrith's west.

Cooke said raising the dam was under consideration. But she warned it would not be a short-term step.

"These dams were not created as mitigation dams to start with," she said.

"They were either water supply or irrigation dams. When you augment them for another purpose, it makes it a very big and complex project and process."

Senior weather bureau meteorologist Jonathan How said weather conditions will ease after today, but flooding remains a problem.

Heavy rain of up to 150mm is forecast in parts of NSW today, but by tomorrow afternoon it will slow down in the Illawarra and the Hunter.

"Even better news is that we are expecting to be dryer earlier than forecast," he said.

"By Wednesday, we are looking at mostly dry conditions across the east coast."

But he said rivers would remain swollen and floodwaters high for some time after the rain stopped.

New footage has emerged of one of Queensland's worst military disasters, which killed three marines and injured dozens more during a failed aircraft landing.

The video shows personnel in the military helicopter, the MV-22 Osprey, attempting a landing on a ship off the coast of Rockhampton in 2017 – when the aircraft falters and nose dives towards the deck.

Marines are heard shouting 'get back' as the aircraft's propellers narrowly avoided the flight crew.

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Upon landing, the cockpit of the helicopter was crushed due to the impact.

The aircraft then fell a further 10m from the ship – USS Green Bay – into the ocean.

Lieutenant Colonel David Berke said it's miraculous more people weren't killed.

"There are so many things that can occur in that landing phase, the bottom line is landing an aircraft aboard a ship is very demanding," he said.

Keith Tonkin, one of Australia's leading aviation experts, said the pilots were attempting a risky manoeuvre during the crash.

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"They were trying something very hazardous in the circumstances and sometimes unfortunately things go wrong," Tonkin, who has spent 15 years in the Royal Australian Air Force, said.

"It would have happened very quickly."

A Marine Corps report into the incident revealed "no one was at fault for the incident" but that "too much downwash" and potentially excessive weight in the aircraft may have contributed.

"It's technically very difficult aircraft to understand, interesting technology that took a long time to develop and there certainly have been accidents in the development of that aircraft," Tonkin said.

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