Travel photography blog Capture the Atlas has published the latest edition of their annual Milky Way Photographer of the Year, a collection featuring the best photos of the Milky Way.

Exclusive: A Sydney vet has warned pet owners in the city's Inner West to be extra vigilant after she discovered deadly paralysis ticks attacking a cat in "highly unusual" circumstances.

Finding two small, eight-legged parasites on a "very sick" male cat in her Glebe clinic was puzzling, Dr Emma Hall said, because the nasty arachnids are usually only found in Sydney's Northern Beaches and the South Coast.

Chopin the cat had not been taken out of the Inner West, Dr Hall said, which led the vet to speculate ixodes holocyclus, the Australian paralysis tick, may now be circulating in Inner West neighbourhoods.

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Hall wondered if floods have driven bandicoots, possums and other traditional tick-carrying hosts into the area. Tick eggs on leaf mulch dispersed by flood waters could also be to blame, Hall said.

"I've worked at multiple Sydney clinics … and I've never treated an animal for tick paralysis who hasn't left the Inner West," Hall said.

"Finding one (on Chopin) was highly unusual, two even more so."

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Cats in the Inner West would be especially vulnerable to a tick insurgency, Hall said, because the tiny bloodsuckers are simply not on the radar of owners in the area.

"It's something cat owners are not usually worried about (but) if these ticks are related to the floods then I think we're definitely going to see more in the Inner West."

Paralysis ticks bite and burrow into animals, gorging for days and releasing toxins which often cause severe breathing difficulty and can lead to blindness and death.

"They are definitely fatal if they're not removed," Hall said.

The signs a pet is under attack can often be vague, until it is too late.

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Hall said owners should watch for "a change in voice" and any odd breathing behaviours, unusual levels of salivating, coughing or vomiting.

Often a cat or dog will need to be hospitalised and ventilated while "riding out" the effects of the potent tick toxins.

"If we think that it could be a tick, then we'll search for it," Hall said, "but sometimes we don't end up diagnosing it until they become very weak in their hind legs."

She said it's often necessary for vets to shave a pet "from top-to-toe" to find the hidden parasites, which can be as small as 2mm in diameter or ballooning up to 1cm when fully engorged with blood.

Owners are often reluctant to shave their cat or dog if there is "not a high suspicion" the animal has ticks, Hall said.

Hall and her team had to shave large sections of Chopin once the ticks were found, but he is now recovering well.

Inner West cat owners should closely monitor their pets and even consider using tick prevention medicine if they want to be extra-vigilant, Hall said.

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How to search your pet for paralysis ticks

The RSPCA has issued a handy instruction guide to help you look for ticks.

1. Search your pets thoroughly daily. Use your fingertips to feel through the coat. Ticks or tick craters can be felt as lumps on the skin's surface.
2. Most ticks are found forward of the front legs, especially on the face, neck and ears. However, it is important to search your entire pet.
3. Start at your pet's nose and slowly examine the face, forehead and ears (outer and inner surface of the ear flap). Also search the eyes and lips and the skin/fur around the eyes and lips. Carefully examine all skin folds.
4. Remove any collars and search the neck area thoroughly.
5. Search the shoulder area and front legs. Remember to check between each toe and under surface of the front feet. Don't forget to check under the 'armpits'.
6. Examine the chest area, all along the back, sides, belly, groin area, around the tail and anus and the thighs, back legs, in between the back-leg toes and feet.

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Heavy rain is forecast for Brisbane, Sydney and Perth today, triggering flood and surf warnings across the country.

The extremely wet weather is expected after the three cities were already hit with wild conditions yesterday, leaving thousands of people in Western Australia without power, and causing flights to delayed by hours in Sydney.

Almost continuous rain is forecast for Brisbane and Sydney everyday until Sunday.

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There is hazardous surf warning in place right from Fraser Island to Batemans Bay in the Far North Coast of NSW, while a flood warning has been issued for the Northern Rivers.

On Australia's western coast, there is a severe weather warning in place at the moment for a massive stretch of WA, with the area involved spanning more than 1000km.

Thousands of WA residents are without power winds of up to 125km/h knocked down massive trees over powerlines overnight.

https://twitter.com/BOM_WA/status/1528658359171301377

Perth has been hit with up to 50mm of rain since yesterday.

However, the wind and rain is expected to ease in WA today, with tomorrow forecast to be 21C and sunny.

Sydney is expected to get about 40mm of rain today, particularly around Cronulla and Collaroy, and Sydney airport, where flights were delayed for several hours yesterday due to a lightning strike.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1528845401595555841

In Victoria, sunny conditions are expected across the state with cool temperatures.

The lone survivor of a 2009 plane crash in the Indian Ocean took the stand Monday in a Paris courtroom, recounting her ordeal as a 12-year-old girl hearing screams, clinging to floating debris and desperately hoping that her mother was still alive.

Bahia Bakari's mother was among 152 people who died on the flight operated by Yemen Airways, which is now known as Yemenia.

Composed throughout her testimony, Bakari cried as she mourned her mother's loss. Others in the courtroom broke down crying too.

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Bakari, dressed all in white and praised for her bravery by judges and lawyers, delivered powerful testimony in a room heavy with emotion.

"We were landing, I started to feel some turbulence but people didn't seem worried about it. Then I felt an electrical shock and I woke up in the water. I don't remember what happened between sitting in the plane and being in the water. I have a black hole," Bakari said.

Yemen's national carrier is charged with manslaughter and unintentional injuries over the crash, which occurred at 11.53pm, causing the deaths of 141 passengers and 11 crew members. Sixty-five of the dead were French citizens.

Now 25, Bakari was 12 when she took the plane with her mother to go to Comoros off Africa's eastern coast to attend a wedding. The plane departed from Paris, made a stopover in the southern French city of Marseille and then landed in Sanaa. Bakari described switching to a smaller plane to go from the Yemeni capital to Moroni in the Comoros. It was a night flight and Bakari remembered that "everyone was exhausted."

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After the plane plunged into the ocean, she grasped a floating part of the destroyed plane and stayed in the water for 11 hours before being saved by fishermen.

Bakari remembered hearing "female voices which screamed for help in Comorian" at first. She then fell asleep and woke up alone: "It was so long. I almost gave up. I almost lost hope. Thinking about my mom helped me to hold up. I convinced myself that everyone except me made it home safe."

As the hours passed, she said, "I lost track of time when I was in the water."

After her rescue, Bakari was taken to the Moroni hospital then repatriated to France. Bakari suffered a broken collarbone, a broken hip, burns and other injuries.

Today, "I don't suffer any physical effects, but my mother is gone. I was very close to her," she said, in tears.

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The young woman, who now works in real estate, has two younger siblings and relied mostly on her father who helped her deal with the trauma. She didn't seek therapy after leaving the hospital.

"I didn't feel comfortable talking to a stranger. I was close with my family," she said.

Bakari said she is "doing much better now," and resumed flying two years after the crash. She said she doesn't suffer traumatic flashbacks, but she isn't at ease in the water.

Bakari couldn't attend her mother's funeral because she was still in the hospital, but said she considered herself lucky because her mother's body was identified, and she had a proper grave.

Bakari, who describes herself as "a proud Comorian," stood with the more than 250 plaintiffs, who mostly come from Comoros, in a packed courtroom. The trial was broadcast live in a courtroom in Marseille, where many victims came from.

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She co-wrote a book Bahia, the Miracle Girl, and told the court she did it for the victim's' relatives, to "leave them something to hold on to."

Despite the pain of reliving the memories, she said she felt relieved to have a trial, even so many years later.

In 2015, the airline was ordered in civil proceedings by two French courts to pay more than €30 million ($45 million) to the victims' families, who deplored the slowness of the procedure between France and Comoros, a former colony that became independent in 1975.

In 2018, a confidential agreement was signed between the airline and 835 beneficiaries, who had to wait several more years to receive compensation.

No representatives of the company attended the Paris trial. Bakari deplored the absence and said she wishes the company would apologise.

The trial ends on June 2. The airline faces a fine of up to €225,000 ($338,000).

A young Queensland family is seeking answers after their six-year-old son died just hours after being discharged from a hospital in Brisbane's south.

Hiyaan Kapil had been feeling unwell and experiencing stomach pains for several days before he was taken to an emergency room in Logan, south of Brisbane, last night.

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The boy's family said Hiyaan spent four hours in hospital, where he was vomiting, before he was discharged at 10pm.

The family says he was still in pain when he collapsed to the floor of their home just two hours later.

Hiyaan's father drove the young boy straight back to the hospital but it was too late to save the boy.

Family friend Rajbir Gill said Hiyaan was an active little boy with no previous health issues.

"He was very happy as a child," Gill said.

"Very naughty, always happy."

"I just got a call in the morning, 2'oclock… 'he's not with us'."

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Hiyaan's friends and family now want to know what went wrong and why their son was discharged from the hospital.

"We want to know what happened, that's the only question," Gill said.

"We don't want to blame we don't want to claim anything… we don't need it because we can't get him back.

"The only important thing we lost. He's not with us."

Queensland Health did not respond to 9News' request for comment by the time of publication.

Neighbours say they are shocked the young boy is gone, and are also mourning the loss of the Bethania Lutheran college student.

"He was a great kid, he'll be sadly missed," a neighbour said.

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Iconic Australian brand Alvey Reels will close after more than 102 years in business creating its signature fishing reels.

Announcing the shutdown in emails to shoppers and on social media, the company said "drastic cost increases" in raw materials as well as global supply chain issues were proving to be too expensive to remain in business.

Alvey will cease production at its Carole Park facility in Queensland on June 30th, where it has been since 1978.

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"After announcing in 2019 that Alvey Reels was going into its centenary year of 2020 with a bright outlook and emerging global markets, Alvey Reels has seen significant export market growth, product innovation and expansion," owner Con Athans said.

"The ability to source raw materials together with drastic cost increases, significant and increasing domestic and global supply chain logistics issues, and coupled with Covid 19 disruptive staff shortages, Alvey Reels has made the difficult decision that production at the Carole Park facility is no longer sustainable, and to cease manufacturing effective 30th June 2022."

The business said it was sitting on "significant supplies" of stock, which it will sell the entirety of.

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Phones at its Carole Park facility will be diverted to an answering service while warehouse, dispatch and administration staff will remain on roster until early 2023 to help fulfil the businesses' final sales.

"We at Alvey Reels deeply regret this difficult decision, and whilst we commit to supplying as many of our products as we can for as long as we can, our immediate priorities are our loyal staff, our dedicated retailers and passionate supporters and customers," Alvey said in a statement.

"On behalf of the Alvey Team, we thank you all for your 102 years of support."

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The demise of Alvey comes almost five years after the business was saved from the brink of collapse.

In July 2017 Bruce Alvey – a direct descendant of the man Charles who founded the business in 1920 – announced that Alvey Reels would be closing down due to low sales.

An outpouring of nostalgia and support following the announcement filled enough orders to keep the business alive for another 12 months.

When the company came near to collapsing in 2017, many theorised that because the original reels were built so well customers never needed to buy another.

It then attracted investment from businessman Con Athans, who revived the business and expanded its product line to include different types of fishing reels and high-end apparel.

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A uniquely Australian product, the iconic side cast reels (occasionally dubbed the "dog's dish" or "knuckle buster") produced by Alvey were renowned for their durability and longevity.

Unlike high-end spin and overhead reels, Alveys could be dropped in sand and water without affecting their operation, proving popular with beach and rock anglers.

If fishermen were unlucky enough to break their Alvey, a call to the business would often be received by a descendant of Charles Alvey himself.

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