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Australia's very own 'Top Gun' pilots are taking to the skies over the Northern Territory in a major military exercise.

The Royal Australian Air Force's Exercise Diamond Storm 22 started this week, with the aim of training the best of the best in air warfare.

More than 60 Australian and US aircraft will fly in the bi-annual exercise that is being held until late June. The warplanes taking part include F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters.

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The giant military drill will also deploy about 1400 Australian and US service personnel.

RAAF Air Commodore Ross Bender said the Northern Territory offered the military one of the best training environments.

"Diamond Storm provides our candidates with the opportunity to apply their skills in high-end warfighting scenarios alongside international partners," he said.

Warplanes based from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal will fly throughout the NT.

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Air crews will also fire missiles and other weapons at the Delamere Air Weapons Range during the exercise.

The training also gives the RAAF the opportunity to hone the skills and knowledge of its future air warfare instructors.

"Our air warfare instructors will be knowledgeable and approachable experts who can integrate people, systems and combat effects across the five warfare domains: air, land, maritime, space and cyber," Air Commodore Bender said.

Exercise Diamond Storm 22 is being held as the film Top Gun: Maverick, starring Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, screens in Australian cinemas.

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The sequel to the famous 1986 Top Gun movie, it is about pilots from the US Navy's Top Gun elite flying school.

Shocking vision has emerged of a man being attacked by a kangaroo for more than six minutes in central Victoria.

Heathcote man Cliff Des told Today how the large animal set upon him when he went to see what his dogs were barking at near his backyard.

"It was a six-foot mad roo trying to rip my little dogs out of the yard," he said.

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"I went near it, about 30-foot away to try to shoo it away but it didn't want to go away."

Des then ran back to his yard, with footage showing the kangaroo then stomping on him as he tries to flee.

"I fell near a stick, and after three whacks with the stick, it snapped like a carrot."

The 59-year-old pinned the kangaroo after it continued to attack him.

"I thought this guy means business, he was going to mongrel me if I didn't, I took him to the ground.

"It tried to gouge my face. I put my head down so it gouged me on the top of my head. It bit my finger. Then it put its back claw through my leg, about an inch-and-a-half through my back leg, shredded my pants down to the cuff."

Des then tried to run away again and it chased him around his car, with the ordeal lasting six minutes and 22 seconds.

"I didn't come out that good. I've got a few bruises and scars on me.

"It mongreled me real good."

Des said it was fortunate the attack happened to him, seeing a lots of elderly people and kids also walked through the area.

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"It could have been worse. It could have been one of them," he said.

However, Des said he held no resentment towards kangaroos after the encounter, saying humans were on kangaroos' land.

"We built our roads over theirs. They're a beautiful animal.

"What I can take from the whole scenario is just don't go near them.

"They can snap…we don't know how they think."

The kangaroo hopped away uninjured.

A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the encounter as happening in Ballina, NSW.

An otherworldly grey, dusty substance on the moon could be instrumental in getting humans to Mars, and Australia is one of a handful of nations best equipped to mine it.

Regolith, a kind of lunar dust which covers the moon in depths of up to 10 metres, has been formed over billions of years through constant meteorite strikes.

Rich in minerals, regolith is believed to contain oxygen, silicon, iron, aluminum, titanium, calcium, magnesium and other rare elements – all which could help humans live in space.

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Unlocking the potential of regolith is set to drive a kind of new gold rush on our closest celestial neighbour, which has been a source of fascination and held religious and cultural significance since prehistoric times.

Before Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July 1969, there were fears inside NASA that the moon's lunar dust could simply swallow up its astronauts like quicksand.

But, as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin discovered, despite having the appearance of light and flaky sand, regolith is in fact sharp and jagged, with a kind of coral and fragmented glass-like form.

"When Apollo 11 astronauts came back from the moon and their beautiful white spacesuits were all dusty and dirty, that's regolith," Melissa de Zwart, a member of the Advisory Council of the Space Industry Association of Australia, tells 9news.com.au.

Along with the US, China, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency, de Zwart lists Australia as part of a select group who have the technological capability to mine the moon for what could be hundreds of billions of dollars of untapped resources.

And, as Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Tesla's Elon Musk have shown, billionaires of untold wealth and with an eye for opportunity will ensure this brave, new frontier is not the sole domain of nation states.

De Zwart says mining the moon is "going to happen very soon", and points to "proof of concept" operations already successfully conducted.

READ MORE: Mesmerising rover footage captures rare sight above Mars

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In 2020, NASA pledged to buy moon rocks from private companies who put robotic rovers on the lunar surface and dig for samples of the dusty terrain.

Last year the Australian Space Agency announced plans to send an Australian-made rover to the moon by as early as 2026, under a deal with NASA.

And the European Space Agency plans to start mining for water and oxygen, contained in regolith, by 2025.

The agency has signed a one-year contract with aerospace company ArianeGroup to spearhead efforts to mine regolith.

De Zwart says private corporations, such as ArianeGroup and Australian mining giants Vale, Glencore, Rio Tinto, and BHP, will "most likely" pioneer mining operations on Earth's only natural satellite.

"Australia has such an advantage technologically," de Zwart says, "because who has the expertise in mining autonomously in such hostile and extreme environments?"

National science agency CSIRO believes Australia can leverage its geoscience and mining expertise – particularly in the fields of remote and automated mining.

READ MORE: Volcanoes could still be active on Mars

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Much of the mining activity in Western Australia's Pilbara is managed remotely from Perth, a method which could be replicated on the moon.

With a race for minerals, strategic advantage and unknown levels of financial wealth, there are fears of tensions between world superpowers as the space sector heats up.

The moon is viewed as a kind of lunar gateway, which could potentially vault humans beyond the International Space Station and into other far flung parts of the universe.

Taking materials up to the moon, powering through the Earth's gravitational pull, is too difficult, inefficient and horrendously expensive.

To transport cargo the 384,400 kilometres from Earth to the moon, CSIRO estimates it costs around US $1 million per kilogram.

It is necessary, experts believe, for humans to create and build bases on the moon using materials excavated from regolith.

So robotic mining rovers will be just part of the puzzle.

De Zwart says our lofty ambitions to reach Mars will mean putting people back on the moon to assist mining operations and build settlements and bases.

And that, de Zwart says, is where humans are venturing into unknown and possibly fraught territory.

The Outer Space Treaty, signed by 107 countries, prevents any nation from claiming sovereignty over the moon or any other celestial body.

READ MORE: Why the US government proposed nuking the Moon

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However, mining on the moon is not fully regulated by any treaty.

The Moon Agreement, signed in 1979, accords most protection of the moon and does seek to govern the kind of activities that take place on its surface.

However, of the leading spacefaring nations, only Australia has signed up to the agreement, which has a meagre 18 signatories.

"Human beings will go into space, and, you know, things happen when humans go anywhere," de Zwart predicts.

"You are going to have multiple, competing uses of the moon."

READ MORE: Real reason sides of the moon look different

Tensions could rise over mine and other strategic locations, she says.

At the moment, under current treaties, there is no certainty or rulebook for how potential conflicts will be resolved.

"One bad mistake in space can mess it up for everybody. So, it really is an environment that we need to be cooperative about," de Zwart says.

"The moon, I think, means something to most people.

"When we look up at the moon, it gives us a sense of where we are on Earth. And we get excited when there's a big full moon or a blood moon or an eclipse.

"I don't think that we want to go up there and fight over the moon."

As a particularly virulent and nasty influenza strain tears through the country, states have made flu shots free for everyone who wants one.

Victoria has just become the latest state where people can get a free jab.

So what do you need to know to get a free flu shot, state-by-state.

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Victoria

Free flu shots will be available for the month of June in Victoria.

The scheme was announced earlier today.

"We have seen cases rise really rapidly," Health Minister Martin Foley said.

More than 3000 GP clinics and pharmacies will have the option to offer the government-funded vaccines.

New South Wales

Free flu shots will be available for a month in NSW, starting from tomorrow, June 1.

Anyone older than five can get a free flu shot at pharmacies around the state.

Free shots are also available at local GPs.

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Western Australia

West Australians will be able to get a free influenza vaccine this month.

The vaccines will be available at state-run clinics as well as participating pharmacies and GPs.

The WA government said anybody older than five can simply walk in to get a shot at a state-run clinic.

For a free shot at a pharmacy or GP, people will need to book ahead.

Queensland

Queenslanders have been able to get a free flu shot since last week.

The jabs will be free at local pharmacies and GP surgeries until June 20.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described the rollout as a "preemptive strike" against influenza A, the dominant strain.

"What we're particularly concerned about is the effect on young people," she said.

"The symptoms are very similar to COVID."

South Australia

People older than five will be able to get a free jab at South Australian pharmacies and GPs.

Previously in SA, only certain groups of people, such as young children and those with medical risk factors were eligible for free flu vaccines.

The program will be in place until the end of June.

Tasmania, NT and the ACT

Tasmania and the territories are the only jurisdictions where flu shots are not free for everybody.

In the NT and the ACT, vulnerable groups are eligible for free jabs.

That includes Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, young children, pregnant women and anyone over 65.

McDonald's in Russia has submitted possible brand names for the company taking over its fast-food restaurants there, including "Fun and Tasty" and "The Same One", patent filings showed.

The company said that the trademarks registered with Russia's Rospatent agency, from which it ultimately planned to choose one brand, also included '"Just Like That" and "Open Checkout".

The world's largest burger chain has nearly 850 restaurants in Russia, and it's selling those stores to local licensee Alexander Govor, who runs an operation of 25 restaurants.

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Govor will operate the brand under a new name in Russia, and other franchisees will be given the option of working under the new brand.

McDonald's had announced in May that it would leave Russia altogether in response to the nation's military campaign in Ukraine and the subsequent wave of Western outrage and sanctions.

The company, which owns 84 per cent of its restaurants in Russia, is one of the biggest international brands to leave since the February invasion.

Initially in March, shortly after the war began, McDonald's followed other Western companies in temporarily shutting down its restaurants in Russia.

The decision brings to an end McDonald's three-decade relationship with Russia.

McDonald's opened the doors of its first restaurant in Moscow on January 31, 1990. More than 30,000 were served and the Pushkin Square location had to stay open hours later than planned because of the crowds.

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It was a powerful symbol of the easing of Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union.

McDonald's will take a significant write-off from exiting Russia — between $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.

McDonald's decision to leave came as other American food and beverage giants including Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Starbucks paused or closed operations in Russia in the face of Western sanctions.

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McDonald's had 847 restaurants in Russia at the close of last year, according to an investor document. Together with another 108 in Ukraine, they accounted for 9 per cent of the company's revenue in 2021.

Corporations from British energy giants Shell and BP to French carmaker Renault have pulled out of Russia, taking a hit to their bottom lines as they seek to sell their holdings there.

Other companies have stayed at least partially, with some facing blowback.

– Reported with CNN, Associated Press

Winter doesn't officially start until tomorrow but a polar blast in Australia's south-east has brought heavy snow to alpine Victoria and NSW.

Ten-year-old Tess Marie Mata hoped to one day go viral on TikTok – even though she was too young to have an account.

Last Tuesday, Tess was one of the 21 victims killed at the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting.

Her family is now doing what they can to fulfill her dreams.

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Tess' uncle, Robert Hill said she had dreamed of having one of her dance videos go viral on the social media app, TikTok.

Since users must be at least 13 years old to create an account, Hill said Tess would make videos and save them to her mother, Veronica's account.

"She had over 150 videos drafted," Hill said.

"We were going through all of them and talking about how she always wanted one of her dances to go viral."

The family decided to try and make that dream happen to honor Tess.

They picked one of their favorites – a video of Tess doing a popular dance routine to Don Toliver's song "No Idea" – to share.

The video was posted to Veronica's account last week with the caption: "My sweet baby girl. She was taken from us because of a senseless act in a mass shooting. I never allowed Tess to post her videos because she was so young. But today I want to celebrate her by trying to fulfill her wish by becoming TikTok famous. #uvaldestrong."

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Hill also shared and reposted the video, hoping his following would help it gain more attention.

As of Monday afternoon, the video on Hill's account has more than 90,000 views, 33,000 likes and 2000 comments.

Two of those comments come from the verified accounts of Lance Bass, a member of American pop boy band NSYNC, and Paris Hilton.

Bass commented "breaks my heart" on Saturday.

"We were excited because after that, we kind of knew that this was going to happen for her," Hill said.

"Unfortunately, she just can't be around to see it."

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Hilton left a comment saying, "So sorry for your loss… Sending lots of love to you and your family."

Kourtney Kardashian and Kylie Jenner also reposted the TikTok to their Instagram stories, according to Hill, though they have disappeared after the 24-hour post limit.

One of Tess' favorite bands was BTS, Hill said, adding that he hopes the video eventually reaches them.

"It's something we definitely want to see happen for her," he said.

"It's hard to still wrap my head around this," Hill continued.

"I wish she was around to see this,"

Tess will be buried on June 13 at the Hillcrest Cemetary in Uvalde.

READ MORE: Millions raised for kids after mother was killed in Texas school shooting

With CNN