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Amber Heard says she will stand by her testimony to her 'dying day'

Amber Heard has spoken out about everything from the public's treatment of her during her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp to whether she was telling the truth about his alleged abuse.

Heard sat down for an exclusive interview, her first, with NBC News' Savannah Guthrie, a portion of which aired on the US Today program on Tuesday.

The actress did not back down from her claims that Depp had physically and emotionally abused her during their marriage.

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"To my dying day, I will stand by every word of my testimony," she told Guthrie.

Heard said she was also aware of the negative light the case shone on both her and her ex-husband.

"I would not blame the average person for looking at this and how it's been covered and seeing it as Hollywood brats at their worst," she told Guthrie.

"But what people don't understand is it's actually so much bigger than that."

Heard said she believed "the vast majority of this trial was played out on social media," referencing the many memes and spoofs of the court case which circulated on TikTok and other platforms.

She said the jury was "not immune" to those less-than-flattering portrayals of her.

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"I think even the most well-intentioned juror, it would have been impossible to avoid this," she said.

Guthrie pushed Heard on whether she had abused Depp after the Aquaman star said she never started a physical fight with Depp despite audio played during the trial, which appeared to show she had.

Guthrie pointed out that Heard's alleged aggression was "in black and white" via a court transcript.

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"As I testified on the stand about this, is that when your life is at risk, not only will you take the blame for things that you shouldn't take the blame for," she said.

"But when you are in an abusive dynamic psychologically, emotionally and physically, you don't have the resources that, say, you or I do with the luxury of saying, 'hey this is black or white' because it's anything but when you're living in it."

Heard admitted that she "did do and say horrible things throughout my relationship".

"I behaved in horrible, almost unrecognisable to myself ways," she said.

"I have so much regret."

"This was the most humiliating and horrible thing I have ever been through."

Depp had sued his ex-wife for $US50 million, alleging she defamed him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote about her experience with domestic violence.

Depp was not referred to by name in Heard's piece, but he said it cost him work. Heard countersued him for $US100 million.

Both Heard and Depp were found liable for defamation in duelling lawsuits against each other.

The jury, however, awarded significantly more damages to Depp.

Heard said during her interview that in the days leading up to the trial she had to walk by blocks of Depp supporters on her way to court, holding signs that disparaged her with phrases that included "Death to Amber".

The courtroom was packed with "vocal, energised" fans of Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" character, she said.

"This was the most humiliating and horrible thing I have ever been through," Heard said.

"I have never felt more removed from my own humanity. I felt less than human."

Heard said she believes the verdict may have been different had "really important pieces of evidence" from a UK libel case Depp lost in 2020 against a British tabloid that called him a "wife beater" been allowed to be submitted in her case.

When asked if she thought Depp's lawyers were better than hers, Heard said his attorneys "did a better job of distracting the jury from the real issues."

Heard's team has said they intend to appeal the verdict.

Guthrie said she interviewed Heard more than a week after the trial ended.

Prior to launching into an earlier interview with two of Depp's attorneys, Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez, Guthrie disclosed that her husband, public relations consultant Michael Feldman, had provided consulting services for Depp and his team, but not in connection to her interview.

K-pop supergroup BTS says it's making time for solo projects

Global superstars BTS said they are taking time to focus on solo projects, but the company behind the groundbreaking K-pop group said they are not taking a hiatus.

The seven-member group with hits like "Butter" and "Dynamite" talked about their future in a video posted on Tuesday celebrating the nine-year anniversary of their debut release.

They just released a three-disc anthology album, "Proof," last week.

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Band member Suga asked the group if they should talk about why they were going into a hiatus as they sat down for a group dinner.

They discussed having to deal with COVID-19 interrupting their touring plans and music releases, as well as what each one thought about their individual artistic goals.

The group spoke in Korean, and the word "hiatus" was used on English subtitles included on the video.

But a statement from Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company behind BTS, said they'll still be working on projects as a group, as well as individually.

"BTS are not taking a hiatus. Members will be focusing more on solo projects at this time," the statement said.

No details about future BTS collaborations or the solo projects were announced.

BTS has a global fanbase that follows the group and members online and in recent years the group's profile has rose overseas.

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The group recently address the UN General Assembly and went to the White House to discuss with President Joe Biden ways to curb violence against Asian Americans.

The band members, J-Hope, RM, Suga, Jungkook, V, Jin and Jimin, opened up about the struggle to develop as individual artists within the K-pop genre.

"The problem with K-pop and the whole idol system is that don't give you time to mature," said RM.

Some of the group members appeared to be crying during the conversation.

Band member V recalled a conversation he had with J-Hope in which they discussed how working on solo projects would improve their "synergy" as a band.

Suga described an interest in trying out new genres.

"We're each going to take some time to have fun and experience a lot of things," said Jung Kook to their fans.

"We promise we will return someday even more mature than we are now."

Qantas plans to lift mask mandates on some international flights

Qantas is planning to allow travellers on some international flights without masks despite face coverings remaining mandatory on domestic services.

It comes as mask mandates in terminals will lift from Saturday after an Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) recommendation yesterday.

Travellers will still be required to wear masks on all flights, however, the AHPPC said it will issue further advice on this in the future.

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Wait times to reach Qantas call centres have blown out massively in 2022.

Qantas welcomed the AHPPC recommendation and called for the next step to be removing mask mandates onboard flights.

"Global studies show the risk of transmission inside aircraft cabins is very low due to the air being refreshed every few minutes, in addition to forward facing seats and HEPA filters which capture 99 per cent of airborne particles," Qantas said in a statement.

"The Qantas Group intends to soon update our onboard mask policy for international flights to align with the rules at the destination."

Masks are no longer mandatory on flights to the US, UK and Europe and Qantas plans to lift the face-covering requirements to these destinations.

However, mask mandates are different in each country, meaning travellers may need to wear a mask on one part of their journey but not another.

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Qantas acknowledged these variable mask rules may cause confusion for customers, especially with connecting flights, and have called on governments for more consistency.

"We'll continue to make masks available on board all our flights and appreciate that some customers may wish to continue wearing them for the duration of their journey regardless of the international rules that apply," Qantas said.

Qantas still requires all international travellers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination on flights.

China 'one step closer to Pacific island base'

There are warnings today that China is one step closer to establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands after President Xi Jinping authorised an expansion of his country's armed forces.

State-backed Chinese media said Xi had signed new trial guidelines that allowed for Chinese "armed forces operations" that were not warfare.

They came into effect on Wednesday.

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But security experts told 9News the move was the latest in a series of assertive steps by Beijing to expands it power in the Pacific region.

"China is laying the groundwork for a military base in the Solomon Islands … something it could establish quite quickly," Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said.

He said the new trial powers for China's military were in line with Beijing's goals in the Pacific.

The superpower recently gained the power to safeguard its investments in the Solomon Islands by force through a controversial security agreement with the small Pacific nation.

State media said Xi's guidelines would define the Chinese military's role in some its existing operations such as peacekeeping, disaster relief and humanitarian aid missions.

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"Chinese troops can prevent spillover effects of regional instabilities from affecting China, secure vital transport routes for strategic materials like oil, or safeguard China's overseas investments, projects and personnel," the Global Times reported.

But Davis said the new powers for China's People's Liberation Army were another example of "grey warfare" – coercive state-backed actions that fall short of conventional warfare.

The move by Xi to ratify non-combat "military operations" comes just months after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine under the pretense of a "special military operation".

Security expert John Blaxland, a professor of international security and intelligence studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, told 9News the move by Xi went beyond legalising the role of China's military in humanitarian missions overseas.

"It shows China is taking a more proactive, more combative approach," he said.

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Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says the new government is looking into whether the former prime minister's office sent an election day text about an asylum seeker boat.

Australia should respond by becoming more engaged with Pacific nations to counter the Chinese push, he said.

The subject of China's growing power will be discussed today by Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart during talks in Tokyo.

"China is seeking to shape the world around it in a way that it has not done before. That makes our strategic circumstances complex," Marles said yesterday.

Earlier this week, Marles met Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe in Singapore in the first ministerial in-person meeting between the two countries for more than two years.