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The owner of the news agency which sold last night’s winning Powerball ticket hopes the winner, who is today $28 million richer, will go to the store to check it. The winning ticket was bought from Meg Star in Henderson, West Auckland.Owner…

Thunderstorms and flash flooding are expected to once again hit Queensland's battered south-east in coming days.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning covering a wide swathe of the region, from the northern Sunshine Coast to Coolangatta on the Queensland-New South Wales border, and west out to Gatton.

The heavy weather is due to a coastal trough over the south-east, which is only expected to deepen in the next two days.

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Heavy rain is expected from tonight, with widespread falls of up to 180mm.

Even larger falls of up to 250mm are predicted in isolated spots where thunderstorms are forecast.

There is a risk of flash flooding on Monday and Tuesday as well, with northern NSW facing the same problem.

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Forecasters have said it won't take much rain to raise the water level to flooding, due to the saturated ground left by recent weather events.

It comes after waterspouts were seen yesterday off the NSW South Coast, which was subject to flash floods and heavy rain yesterday.

Stay up to date with warnings at the Bureau of Meteorology website.

By RNZ Contractors working to clear slips and landslides in the Tairāwhiti region are finding the ground is still moving and more slips are occurring.State Highway 2 from Gisborne to Wairoa is closed from slips and fallen…

A rāhui has been put in place until this afternoon at a beach near Dunedin where a man died after being pulled from the water yesterday. Police and paramedics were called to Aramoana Beach around 2.30pm after reports a man…

Auckland Mayor and former Labour leader Phil Goff will become New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to the UK when he finishes his term.The appointment may not be officially signed off by Cabinet until much closer to the announcement,…

STAY IN THE KNOW. SIGN UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTERS HERE. Waterlogged East Coasters will have to wait a little longer to start their mammoth clean-up after wild weather thrashed the region this week.But up north, Aucklanders…

A group of beach-goers along with marine rescue crews in South Australia have jumped in to help save an injured whale in the waters off Port Willunga.

Drone footage captured the young whale stranded and distressed in the water, with several beach-goers jumping in to help the whale.

"Good Samaritans try and drag it out but it sort of keeps beaching itself and coming back," beach-goer Julian Susing told 9News.

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But their efforts proved to be in vain as the whale continued to struggle and bleed.

Another beach-goer by the name of Adam said it was "the hardest thing" to see.

"You were trying to set it off and it would just come spearing back to the beach," he told 9News.

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"It's very distressed and it's quiet emotional to watch it suffer," a person watching from the beach told 9News.

Surf lifesavers patrolled the coastline for any other members of its pod or sharks that may be attracted to the area.

Marine experts eventually took over the rescue mission, saying "we're trying to do the best we can but it seems like it's just not working".

A Gold Coast man has arrived at Brisbane Airport this morning after a two-week rescue mission to get his family out of Ukraine.

Jason Marrable waited weeks and journeyed over 13,000km to bring his family back home to Queensland from conflict-ridden Ukraine.

Mr Marrable said he was exhausted after the journey.

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"It's been a surreal two weeks," he said.

Mr Marrable travelled to Ukraine to help bring his wife's sister, Ira, and their nine-month-old nephew, Maxim, back home to Queensland.

"It's been a traumatic experience, it's been a life-changing experience. Seeing the grief, the trauma that these people have been through," Mr Marrable said.

Ira, her husband and Maxim first fled Kyiv to the north of the country.

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But as the bombing intensified, Ira made the difficult decision to leave her husband and flee to Poland with Maxim, where Mr Marrable was waiting.

While Mr Marrable and his family are now safely home in Queensland, the grief for the country they've left behind is overwhelming.

"Very scared, because she said, 'When you wake up and you hear the bombs' explosion and you're just running with your baby and don't know where to run'. Very, very scary," Nataliya said about her sister's experience.

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After spending days in underground bunkers, Maxim slept for almost the whole trip to Australia.

Nataliya said she was delighted to be able to meet her nephew for the first time face-to-face.

"Can't wait to give him proper hug once he's out of the stroller," she said.

Two people have died in car crashes around the North Island this afternoon.One person died following a crash in Palmerston North. Emergency services were alerted to the single-vehicle crash shortly before 4pm at the intersection…