A badly sunburnt and distressed bottlenose dolphin was euthanised after it was found on a Tiwai Point beach about 5.20pm on New Year’s Day, the Department of Conservation has reported.Doc spokeswoman Ros Cole said the dolphin was…

A woman has died on a beach in Mangawhai Heads after suffering a medical event near the water. Emergency services attempted to revive the woman on the beach near Mangawhai Heads Rd shortly before 4.30pm. Police and St John staff…

Holidaymakers at Waihi Beach are being urged to avoid the dangerous surf overnight, after emergency services searched for an adult and child who were reported missing. All swimmers at the beach this afternoon were ordered from the…

International arrivals into Queensland now have to quarantine for twice as long as locals who actually have COVID-19, infuriating some Australians returning to the Sunshine State.

Queensland agreed to new rules discussed in National Cabinet last week to reduce the self-isolation period for COVID-19 patients and their close contacts to seven days.

But the state has kept a rule forcing anyone coming from overseas — except New Zealand — whether vaccinated or not, to quarantine for 14 days at home or a government-arranged hotel.

READ MORE: More than 20 Sydney COVID-19 testing sites shut temporarily

International arrivals must test negative to COVID-19 within 72 hours of getting on the plane.

After many years living in Berlin, Natalie and her son, Max, are returning to Australia to spend more time with her unwell father. She was unsure whether or not the Queensland government will drop the quarantine requirement by the time they arrive in mid-January and described the inconsistency as frustrating and unfair.

"Unfortunately, it's not so surprising to me, seeing how we've been treated differently over the last two years, and also the justification often for it," she told 9News.com.au, asking for her last name not to be used.

"That even when they hit the 80 per cent (of people aged over 16 with two jabs), they were saying international people will still be treated differently because of different vaccines, which doesn't make any sense.

"Because of different variants — doesn't make sense, there's more Omicron in New South Wales than there is from where I come from."

READ MORE: Two funerals and a wedding on Zoom in horror year for Brisbane mum trying to get back to Queensland

Natalie said she and her two sisters all rushed back to Australia in February when her father took a turn for the worse and one stayed behind. She said it was incredibly difficult being effectively cut off from her parents after so many years of knowing she could always be home in a day or two in an emergency.

"There's a perception that the borders are open but they're not," she said.

"There's still a lot of people struggling to come home and looking at it at a public health risk aspect, the humanity side, it just doesn't make sense."

Western Australia is the only other state or territory to still force fully vaccinated international travellers to undergo two weeks of quarantine. It currently asks the same of any of the limited interstate arrivals granted exemptions to enter too.

South Australia scrapped quarantine requirements for vaccinated arrivals on New Year's Day and the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria did the same in December. Tasmania requires vaccinated international arrivals from most countries to quarantine for seven days.

READ MORE: Elderly couple missing in Western Australia could be headed for Queensland

But Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has not announced any plans to scrap or reduce quarantine for international travellers until the state hits the 90 per cent vaccination threshold.

A Queensland Health spokesperson said that milestone was still expected some time this month; as of Tuesday, 86.6 per cent of Queenslanders aged 16 and over were fully vaccinated.

The spokesperson defended the decision as a "cautious approach".

"While both interstate and overseas hotspots are a concern, the risk profile for overseas hotspots is greater due to several factors, including quality of vaccinations, different variants circulating overseas, and uncertainty in contact tracing processes used in other countries," the spokesperson told 9News. 

Brisbane man Seamus, who asked for his last name not to be used, has more reason to be upset with the new rules than most.

Having only recently recovered from COVID-19 contracted while introducing his 21-month-old son to family in Canada for the first time, he needs to get official confirmation from a doctor and multiple PCR tests to apply for an exemption to get back. 

That's because PCR tests can still pick up traces of the virus after people have stopped being contagious.

The advertising professional is frustrated that after all these precautions, and money, he will likely still have to undergo two weeks of home quarantine on return to Australia this month.

"You're getting a doctor's letter saying you've done two weeks isolation in your country and you've recovered from COVID and I've got tests to prove it," the double vaccinated Queenslander told 9News.com.au

"It just seems ridiculous to then go back and do two weeks of quarantine after you've basically had to prove that you've had COVID for two weeks."

He said it was incredibly hard for his wife not to see her family for almost two years after the birth of their son.

"You don't understand what opening borders means," he said, referring to a backlash to the Queensland government's decision to let interstate visitors back in. 

"It means that families are not like, blocked from seeing each other. That's what it means.

"It's not 'we're just letting COVID in for the sake of it'. It's opening up for families and people meeting."

A lucky ute owner has avoided losing his vehicle to cyclone-triggered tides, after it was swept off a Queensland beach.

The man had been off-road driving his Ford Ranger, with jet ski in tow, at Rainbow Beach, north of Brisbane, around rocks when he was hit by the encroaching waves.

Video footage captures the ute bobbing in the surf, as several locals and bystanders enter the water to assist the man and his passenger.

LIVE UPDATES: COVID-19 numbers explode across multiple states

Brisbane resident Bruce Howe, who was visiting Rainbow Beach with his wife, filmed the scene, as waves swept the ute onto nearby rocks, and then thrashed it in the surf.

"Most of the locals went down and tried to help," Mr Howe said.

"There's not much they can do in that situation but people were trying to help unload the truck, belongings, surf boards and stuff like that."

READ MORE: Queensland island split in two by cyclone swells

The owner of the ute struggled to get the vehicle ashore.

"They were in a bit of a panic trying to save the car of course its probably an $80,000 car," Mr Howe said.

He said the ute became submerged around 5pm yesterday, with futile missions to remove it lasting into nightfall.

"By then we knew the car wasn't going anywhere," he said.

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Across Queensland and New South Wales, several beaches were closed yesterday due to dangerous surf and abnormally high tides created by ex-cyclone Seth.

On Stradbroke island, eight metre waves were recorded, and on the Gold Coast, every beach was closed prompting stark warnings from life guards and authorities to avoid the water.

Mr Howe said the owners and volunteers abandoned their mission after several hours, returning to the beach at low tide early around 3am today to retrieve the ute.

"I probably wouldn't have driven down there because of the big tides we had," he said.

READ MORE: Three-day heatwave to cause 49 degree temperatures

On several other Queensland beaches today, beach-goers ignored warning signs, braving the violent surf, as clean ups continued from yesterday's king tide.

Lifeguards were busy urging residents to stay out of the water, or to stay at ankle depth, as unpredictable waves and currents turned beaches to whitewash.

The Gold Coast's chief lifeguard Chris Maynard said those knowingly entering the water of closed beaches were endangering themselves, and those who may have to rescue them.

"You don't want unnecessary things happening where lifeguards have to go out but also others might go in to try and help," he said.

Easing conditions as the former cyclone weakens could see beaches reopen tomorrow, but heavy rains are expected.

"We'll reassess in the morning," Mr Maynard said.

On Stradbroke island, near Brisbane dozens, of volunteers came armed with shovels to help deal with the aftermath of the egregious tides.

"Everyone just turned up with a smile and a shovel and sandwiches. We think we filled 12 to 1300 sandbags," volunteer Katherine Wall said.

In Cleveland, near Brisbane, some areas have become flooded as salt water entered the streets.

Meteorologist Harry Clark said some areas could see 100mm of rain in 24 hours, but the movements of the tropical low are unpredictable.

"Depends on the movement of Seth over the next few days, which is still uncertain."

One person is seriously injured after powerlines were downed and a car caught fire in Waikato this afternoon. Dawson Rd in Taupiri is blocked in both directions after power lines were “brought down” in the single-car crash just…

A judge on Monday ordered charges dropped against two Bureau of Prisons guards who admitted falsifying records after Jeffrey Epstein took his own life in jail over two years ago.

The guards — Tova Noel and Michael Thomas — had agreed to deferred prosecution deals last May that required them to admit their guilt with the understanding that charges in a federal indictment would be dismissed if they followed the rules of their agreement for six months.

They also were required to do 100 hours of community service.

READ MORE: Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty in sex trafficking trial

Prosecutors last week requested the charges be dropped, and Judge Analisa Torres ordered the dismissal Monday.

Epstein, 66, was awaiting a sex trafficking trial when he took his life in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in August 2019.

The death, a major embarrassment to the Bureau of Prisons, touched off intense scrutiny of operations at the federal jail adjacent to two large federal courthouses in lower Manhattan.

It is currently closed.

In court papers, prosecutors said Noel and Thomas were at their desks just 15 feet (4.5 meters) from Epstein's cell as they shopped online for furniture and motorcycles and failed to make required rounds every 30 minutes.

READ MORE: What the four women who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell said

The indictment alleged that both appeared to have fallen asleep for one two-hour stretch.

Their lawyers blamed their sleepiness on staff shortages that caused them to work excessive overtime.

In a release, attorney Jason Foy said that Noel, his client, had provided the government with "truthful insight into the toxic culture, subpar training, staffing shortages, and dysfunctional management of the now closed Metropolitan Correctional Center. In exchange for Ms. Noel's cooperation, all charges against her were dismissed."

He added: "The short comings and mistakes made by Ms. Noel were a result of inexperience, lack of proper and sufficient training, and being put in a position to fail by the leadership of MCC and the Bureau of Prisons."

Foy said Noel now faces administrative proceedings with the Bureau of Prisons.

A lawyer for Michael Thomas did not immediately comment.

Epstein's death sparked widespread anger that he wouldn't have to answer for the allegations.

Last week, his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in Manhattan federal court of sex trafficking and conspiracy charges after a monthlong trial.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.

The mates and fellow students of the Auckland teenager who died in Omaha on New Year’s Day will farewell him with a haka at his funeral this weekend.Joshua Wayne Hartner, 17, was lying in the sand at a property on Omaha Dr when…

A newborn baby was reported in stable and healthy condition on Monday after being found days earlier abandoned in a cardboard box in frigid temperatures near a rural intersection around Fairbanks, according to authorities in Alaska.

Alaska State Troopers, in a statement, said they were notified around 2pm on Friday (local time) that a baby had been found abandoned.

The wind chill factor in the area at that time was reported around -12.

READ MORE: Queensland island split in two by cyclone swells

The baby appeared to have been left at the location recently, troopers said.

Kelly Atlee, a spokesperson with Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks, said by email on Monday that the baby is "stable and healthy."

Ms Atlee said she could not provide additional information. The Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is among the facilities that are part of the health organisation.

A map of the intersection where the baby was found — identified by troopers as Dolphin Way and Chena Point Avenue — appears to be a more rural setting.

Tim DeSpain, a troopers spokesperson, said on Monday he had no further information to share.

READ MORE: Epstein settlement with Prince Andrew accuser made public

"We are continuing to seek assistance from media and the public to determine the circumstances of the child," he said by email.

The troopers said they are asking anyone who might have information about the child to contact them.

A woman posted on social media that she found the baby near a row of mailboxes.

The post, dated Friday, included video of a letter that started with the words "please help me!!!" and said the child's parents and grandparents "don't have food or money to raise me."

"Please take me and find me a LOVING FAMILY. My parents are begging whoever finds me," the letter shown in the video states.

READ MORE: Three-day heatwave to cause 49 degree temperatures

The post was later taken down or made private, and the person who posted it did not respond to a request for comment.

Troopers said a note was left with the child "indicating the parent could not take care" of them but provided no other details.

Mr DeSpain did not respond to numerous questions, including if he could confirm the authenticity of the letter posted online.

Alaska has a so-called safe haven law that allows parents to legally surrender an infant under certain conditions, such as leaving the baby in the physical custody of someone such as a peace officer, doctor, hospital employee or firefighter or with someone they believe would provide appropriate care.

The law applies to babies younger than 21 days old.

A missing elderly couple from Western Australia have been found.

The pair was found at 10am today near Warakurna, just over an hour away from the Northern Territory border, in near 42C heat.

Carol Lisle, 84, disappeared from her nursing home in Halls Head in Mandurah on Sunday afternoon with Ralph Gibbs, 80, her partner of more than a decade.

READ MORE: Elderly couple missing in Western Australia could be headed for Queensland

They were believed to be travelling through the state in a white 2006 Mazda B2600.

Ms Lisle and Mr Gibbs were taken to a nursing post for an initial medical check.

Mandurah detectives were travelling to Warakurna on a police plane to make further enquiries into the couple's disappearance.

Ms Lisle is wheelchair-bound and suffers from Parkinson's disease and dementia and requires full-time care.

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While Mr Gibbs uses a crutch to walk.

The couple will be flown back to Perth.

At this stage police have not laid any charges.