The world was supposed to end today – at least, according to one sect of TikTok users.

"RaptureTok" has taken over millions of users' For You Pages, revealing videos of religious Americans who are convinced the end times are upon us.

They subscribe to the evangelical Christian belief that the "Rapture", an apocalypse that will see Jesus Christ return to Earth and take true believers to heaven, is coming.

And they're convinced it's going to happen on September 23 and 24. Here's what you need to know.

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What is 'RaptureTok'?

A surprising number of TikTok users, most of them from the US, have posted videos claiming that the rapture will occur on September 23 and 24.

Several TikTok users who have made videos about the supposedly impending rapture have detailed how they're preparing to leave the Earth for heaven.

"When you finally start moving up into the air, I recommend that you don't hold on to anything … keep your face looking upwards," one user said.

One user shared a clip of a car being put on a tow truck and claiming they sold their car because they wouldn't need it after the rapture.

Another claimed she stocked her home with canned food and left 'instructions' for the people who will be left behind on Earth after the rapture.

Some have even spoken about how they're preparing their children for the rapture.

READ MORE: Bad buildings, biological weapons and killing cows: Trump's most notable lines at the UN

The movement, dubbed "RaptureTok" by some users, has sparked confusion and ridicule on social media.

But the more non-believers interact with "RaptureTok" content, even if only to poke fun at it, the more the TikTok algorithm pushes similar content to users.

Hence why "RaptureTok" appears to be all over everyone's feeds right now.

Why do people think the rapture will happen this week?

The theory that the rapture will occur on September 23 and 24 appears to have originated with a South African man named Joshua Mhlakela.

Mhlakela holds no religious titles but claimed to have previously worked as a pastor.

In June, YouTube user CettwinzTV posted an interview with Mhlakela where he claimed to have had a vision of Christ telling him the rapture was coming.

"He says to me: 'On [September] 23 and 24, 2025, I will come to take my Church,'" Mhlakela said in the clip.

"The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not."

The video has since been viewed more than half a million times.

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What is the rapture according to the Bible?

Though the rapture is a staple in some Christian belief systems, the word 'rapture' does not actually appear in the Bible.

Several passages in the New Testament reference the second coming of Christ, the end of the world, or other events that believers may link to the Rapture.

One such reference is Thessalonians 4:13–17, which reads: "For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

"After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord Forever."

READ MORE: Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths named among Australia's most distrusted brands

The book of Revelation also details specific signs that will precede the end of the world in chapters five, six and eight.

It starts with seven 'seals'; a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, a pale horse, martyred souls, natural disasters, and silence in heaven.

Following the breaking of the seven seals, angels will sound seven trumpets of judgement, signalling the end of days.

Belief in the rapture specifically can be traced back to mid-19th century Britain.

Christians already believed in the second coming of Christ but this new belief suggested that only some people – especially virtuous Christians, usually – would be accepted into Heaven.

The theory gained traction in the 20th century and was picked up by evangelical media, later spreading into pop culture as well.

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Southern Australia is among the global regions forecast to experience "day-zero droughts", periods of extreme drought and water shortages in the years ahead, according to new research.

The study, published in the journal Nature this week, examined how periods of drier and warmer weather driven by climate change will impact agriculture and ecosystems, including water supply.

Australia's southern states are projected to endure more prolonged day-zero drought events with less time between each one, limiting their ability to recover.

READ MORE: Where 'day-zero droughts' could happen as soon as this decade

It could face this situation as early as the 2020s or 2030s.

The scientists used a large number of climate models to assess the timing and likelihood of day-zero droughts.

Christian Franzke, a climate scientist at Pusan National University in South Korea and an author of the report, said they are "unprecedented water scarcity events, events which haven't occurred so far".

"It's when you turn on your water tap and no water comes out," he said.

South Australia has already had a taste of what may come in the years ahead following the severe drought earlier this year.

Parts of South Australia, south-west Victoria and north-west Tasmania had their driest start to the year on record.

It left farmers pleading for emergency supplies of hay, or selling stock to stay in business, while some isolated communities depended on water being trucked in as reservoirs ran dry.

Franzke said the study's findings point to the clear need to speed up the clean energy transition, he said, as well as improve water management — huge amounts are wasted through leaky pipes, for example.

– With CNN

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US President Donald Trump's hour-long address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York was full of mockery, bizarre tangents and praises for his own accomplishments.

He spent a considerable amount of time criticising the UN for its "bad teleprompter and bad building" and failure to stop international conflicts, leaving it up to him to end seven "unendable" wars.

Maybe his most shocking line was when he told world leaders, "Your countries are going to hell" if they did not crack down on migration. 

READ MORE: Macron forced to walk NYC streets as Trump motorcade blocks traffic

If you don't have the time to sit through the entire speech, fret not. Here is a compilation of some of the president's most notable lines. 

'Whoever's operating this teleprompter is in big trouble'

Trump's speech was off to a rocky start due to some temporary teleprompter issues.

He didn't seem to mind and said this was an opportunity to "speak more from the heart".

"I don't mind making this speech without a teleprompter because the teleprompter is not working," he said.

"I feel very happy to be up here with you, nevertheless, and that way, you speak more from the heart. I can only say that whoever's operating this teleprompter is in big trouble."

The teleprompter was ultimately fixed.

'We're the hottest country' 

This is a line that we heard quite a bit during his address.

"Just eight months into my administration, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world, and there is no other country even close," he said. 

Trump was unabashedly boastful, patting himself on the back for building the "greatest economy in the history of the world".

"We had the best economy ever, history of the world. And I'm doing the same thing again, but this time it's actually much bigger and even better. The numbers far surpass my record-setting first term," he said.

The president spoke about a "prosperous" world during his first term, which descended into "weakness, lawlessness and radicalisation" under the former Biden administration.

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'I want to thank the country of El Salvador'

The president threw in a shoutout to El Salvador for taking in people the US has deported, including people who are not from El Salvador and who do not appear to be criminals.

They have been held in a controversial prison – the Centre for Terrorism Confinement.

"I want to thank the country of El Salvador for the successful and professional job they've done in receiving and jailing so many criminals that entered our country," he said.

"On the world stage, America is respected again like it has never been respected before. You think about two years ago, three years ago, four years ago, or one year ago, we were a laughingstock all over the world."

'I have ended seven unendable wars'

Trump has criticised the UN for its failure to stop global conflicts and leaving it up to him to end several wars.

"In a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars," he said.

"It's too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them, and sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.

"I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalising the deal."

Trump does get credit for hosting peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan after nearly four decades of war.

The conflict in Congo and Rwanda continues, however, despite Trump's peace effort.

India has rejected the idea that Trump ended its short-lived conflict with Pakistan.

The ceasefire between Iran and Israel was also negotiated by Qatar and came only after Israel violated Trump's previous ceasefire announcement.

Neither Kosovo and Serbia nor Ethiopia and Egypt were technically at war during Trump's term.

READ MORE: Albanese, Trump meeting confirmed for White House

This building needs work

Trump first criticised the bad teleprompter, and now, he is going after the escalator. 

"All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up, stopped right in the middle," Trump said.

"If the first lady wasn't in great shape, she would have fallen, but she's in great shape. We're both in good shape. We both stood.

"These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter."

Trump appeared to dislike the UN's headquarters building. We will learn more on this shortly.

'What is the purpose of the United Nations?'

The mockery of the UN continues.

"What is the purpose of the United Nations? The UN has such tremendous potential. I've always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it's not even coming close to living up to that potential, for the most part," he said.

"At least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up.

"It's empty words, and empty words don't solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action."

Trump is heralding his own peace efforts.

He, however, has failed to stop the war in Gaza and Ukraine he promised to end as a presidential candidate.

READ MORE: Trump calls climate change 'the greatest con job ever perpetrated' on the world

'Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize'

Several world leaders have endorsed the idea of awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize over high-profile diplomatic efforts.

If he wins, he would be the fifth US president to do so.

But in his speech, Trump said he does not care about winning prizes. 

"Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements," he said.

"But for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with their mothers and fathers because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and unglorious wars.

"What I care about is not winning prizes; it's saving lives. We save millions and millions of lives with the seven wars. And we have others that we're working on. And you know that."

Seriously, this building

And he's gone right back to the UN building. 

He revealed he had actually bid on rebuilding the headquarters, but they went in a different direction. 

"Many years ago, a very successful real estate developer in New York, known as Donald J. Trump, I bid on the renovation and rebuilding of this very United Nations complex," he said.

"But they decided to go in another direction, which was much more expensive at the time and which actually produced a far inferior product.

"It was going to cost them a fortune. And I said, and wait till you see the overruns. Well, I turned out to be right.

"They had massive cost overruns and spent between 2 and 4 billion dollars on the building and did not even get the marble floors that I promised them. You walk on terrazzo. Do you notice that?

"As far as I'm concerned, frankly, looking at the building and getting stuck on the escalator, they still haven't finished the job.

"The project was so corrupt that Congress actually asked me to testify before them on the tremendous waste of money.

"Unfortunately, many things in the United Nations are happening just like that, but on an even much bigger scale. Much, much bigger. Very sad to see."

READ MORE: Would-be Trump assassin tries to stab self with pen after verdict

The US is in the minority by not recognising a Palestinian state

Trump spoke about the recognition of Palestinian statehood a day after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined France, the UK, Belgium and several other countries in formally confirming their support. 

"As if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state," he said.

"The rewards would be too great for Hamas' terrorists for their atrocities… but instead of giving in to Hamas' ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message: Release the hostages now. Just release the hostages now."

More than 150 of the 193 UN-recognised countries have recognised Palestine as a state.

Stop doing business with Russia

"Even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products, which, as you know, I found out about two weeks ago and I wasn't happy. Think of it — they're funding the war against themselves," he said.

"Who the hell ever heard of that one?"

Europe does indeed continue to import oil from Russia but far less than before the war, when Russia was Europe's largest oil importer.

The US continues to import things like fertiliser from Russia, according to a CNN report.

'Ending the development of biological weapons'

Trump has used his speech to announce his plan to end biological weapons. 

"Just a few years ago, reckless experiments overseas gave us a devastating global pandemic, yet despite that worldwide catastrophe, many countries are continuing the extremely risky research into bio-weapons and manmade pathogens," he said.

"This is unbelievably dangerous."

He added that he wanted to hold a biological weapons convention. 

"To prevent potential disasters, I'm announcing today that my administration will lead an international effort to enforce biological weapons convention, which is going to be meeting with the top leaders of the world by pioneering an AI verification system that everyone can trust," he said.

"Hopefully, the UN can play a constructive role, and it will also go — be one of the early projects under AI.

"Let's see how good it is, 'cause a lot of people are saying it could be one of the great things ever, but it also can be dangerous, but it can be put to tremendous use and tremendous good. And this would be an example of that."

READ MORE: Jimmy Kimmel's cryptic social media post ahead of show return

'You're destroying your countries'

Trump tackles the issue of migration in Europe.

"We have reasserted that America belongs to the American people, and I encourage all countries to take their own stand in defence of their citizens as well," he said.

"You have to do that because I see it. I'm not mentioning names. I see it, and I can call every single one of them out. You're destroying your countries. They're being destroyed.

"Europe is in serious trouble.

"They've been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody's ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe.

"Nobody has ever — and nobody's doing anything to change it, to get them out. It's not sustainable. And because they choose to be politically correct, they're doing just absolutely nothing about it."

'Your countries are going to hell'

In arguably one of the most jarring lines in his entire speech, Trump tells the world leaders that their countries are going to hell.

"It's time to end the failed experiment of open borders," he said.

"You have to end it now. It's — I can tell you. I'm really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell."

'We will blow you out of existence'

"We've recently begun using the supreme power of the United States military to destroy Venezuelan terrorists and trafficking networks led by Nicolás Maduro," he said, speaking about blowing up boats in the Caribbean.

"To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence.

"That's what we're doing. We have no choice."

There's a very real question about whether Trump should be asking Congress for authority to make these strikes and whether they violate international law.

READ MORE: 'Rewards would be too great': Trump hits out at recognition of Palestine

'It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world'

Trump said green energy is the "greatest con job".

"All green is all bankrupt. That's what it represents. And it's not politically correct, I'll be very badly criticised for saying it, but I'm here to tell the truth," he said.

"I don't care, it doesn't matter to me. I'm in New York City. I'm feeling a lot safer.

"It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you're involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling."

Trump blamed the UN for raising the alarm about climate change.

"All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong," he said.

"They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don't get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail."

He also went on the attack against what he called the "falsely named renewables".

"By the way, they're a joke. They don't work. They're too expensive; they're not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great," he said.

"The wind doesn't blow. Those big windmills are so pathetic and so bad, so expensive to operate, and they have to be rebuilt all of the time and they start to rust and rot."

'I've been right about everything'

Trump said he is "really good about predicting things".

"I don't say that in a braggadocious way, but it's true," he said.

"I've been right about everything. And I'm telling you that if you don't get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail.

"And if you don't stop people that you've never seen before, that you have nothing in common with, your country is going to fail.

"I'm the president of the United States but I worry about Europe. I love Europe, I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration."

READ MORE: Drone flyover 'most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure'

Stop being nice and politically correct

Trump drew together the ideas of climate change and immigration. 

"You want to be nice, you want to be politically correct, and you're destroying your heritage," he said.

"They must take control strongly and immediately of the unmitigated immigration disaster and the fake energy catastrophe before it's too late.

"The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they're heading down a path of total destruction."

'They want to kill all the cows'

Trump has made an argument against doing anything at all about the climate. 

"So all of these countries are working so hard on the carbon footprint, which is nonsense, by the way. It's nonsense," he said.

"In the United States, we have, still, radicalised environmentalists, and they want the factories to stop.

"Everything should stop. No more cows. "We don't want cows anymore." I guess they want to kill all the cows."

Cow farts produce methane, and it is a major climate change issue, but there is no serious talk about killing all the cows. 

Bizarre standing order in the White House

It's a bizarre standing order, but Trump has made everyone in the White House refer to coal as "clean, beautiful coal". 

"I have a little standing order in the White House — never use the word "coal," only use the words, "clean, beautiful coal." It sounds much better, doesn't it?, he said.

READ MORE: The 10 most culturally powerful people in Australia in 2025

Make the World Great Again?

He ended his hour-long speech with a blueprint on how the world can be 'great again', drawing reference to his Make America Great Again movement. 

"In closing, I just want to repeat that immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world, and a large part of our planet," he said.

"Countries that cherish freedom are fading fast because of their policies on these two subjects. You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again."

– Reported with CNN

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Traffic during the United Nations General Assembly in New York can be brutal—even for presidents. 

French President Emmanuel Macron suddenly found himself stranded on the sidewalk Monday night. 

That's because President Donald Trump's motorcade had the street on lockdown. Macron picked up the phone and called Trump to jokingly complain about the gridlock. 

READ MORE: Years before AI deepfakes, Sarah's face was stolen by a friend

"How are you? Guess what? I'm waiting in the street because everything is closed for you," Macron says on the call.

Eventually, the barricades opened for pedestrians, but not for cars. 

Macron had to keep the call going while walking to the French embassy. 

And if that wasn't unusual enough, a bystander seized the opportunity for a quick kiss with the French president. 

Macron's walk through the Big Apple took about a half hour.

The French president used his trip to New York to formally recognise the "State of Palestine" on behalf of France at the UN.

Australia, Canada, the UK and Portugal have all made similar announcements.

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It all started for Sarah with a strange Facebook message that arrived out of the blue. 

"One of your friends has been very naughty," the message, sent by a complete stranger, said. 

It was over ten years ago and Sarah was a student at a Victorian university, studying business and economics.

READ MORE: TV presenter backs NSW's tough new laws on sexually-explicit deepfakes

Back then, the AI-powered deepfake apps that have become so common and problematic today did not exist, but the message contained screenshots of something eerily similar.

There were altered photos of Sarah with her face superimposed onto graphic pornographic images.

The original photos used of Sarah were innocent —a headshot at age 14, and another of her at 19, a beautiful picture from her sister's wedding where she was maid of honour.

The violation was unsettling.

The most confronting part to Sarah was that she had never been exposed to pornography before.

Her first experience with it was seeing her own face on explicit content.

"It made me feel violated in a very strange way," she said.

"I felt angry." 

Some internet sleuthing led to a further horrifying discovery – her photos had been uploaded to "fakes" websites, where users had been asked to photoshop them.

Some of the results were convincing, while others were clearly bad work.

The fake photos had then been uploaded to pornographic websites.

"I managed to have the images removed on one technicality – the images that had been uploaded of me were when I was age 14," Sarah said.

"I contacted the sites, directly letting them know I would pursue police action for child pornography. All sites removed my images."

The original photos were taken from Sarah's private Facebook page.

Initially, she had no idea who was behind it and deleted over 300 people from her social media, fearing that anyone could be responsible.

One of the men she deleted from her Facebook friends list was John*.

An international student, John held a position of trust at the university. 

"He was quiet and reserved and generally quite kind; he was a trusted man, holding a position of authority amongst the student body," Sarah said.

When Sarah had any problems, she would confide in John because of his mentoring position.

The pair were also friends and would hang out together socially.

But they had a brief falling out, and for that reason, Sarah decided to include him in her Facebook cull.

However, six months later, John sent her a Facebook friend request, and fearing she had overreacted, she accepted. 

Around a month later, more images of Sarah appeared online.

Having believed that the problem was over, seeing more digitally altered and explicit photos of herself online hit her hard.

"I wasn't sleeping, my exercise and diet were all over the place and I felt constantly dirty and like I wanted to throw up," Sarah said.

Determined to track down who was responsible, and now strongly suspecting John, Sarah did some more digging online.

Searching by the uploader's username, Sarah noticed some digitally altered photos of other female friends and acquaintances from within her university social circle.

John, she realised, was the common factor, the one person who was friends with all of the women on Facebook.

A mutual friend contacted John, who was overseas at the time, and confronted him about the images that had been found.

John broke down and confessed, Sarah said.

"He said it was because of a deep addiction to pornography and a growing obsession to be able to see the women he knew and fantasised about naked," Sarah said.

Sarah had initially reported the matter to the police, but felt her complaint was brushed off at the time.

Now, armed with this new information, Sarah went back to the police. As did her friend, whom John had confessed to.

Months later, Sarah received a call from the sex crimes unit, who told her John's passport had been flagged, meaning he would be arrested if he ever re-entered Australia. 

Sarah also reported the matter to the university, which took disciplinary action against John, excluding him from his course and barring him studying at the university ever again.

More than a decade later, Sarah's experience has had a lasting impact. 

Looking at the photos John altered is still triggering and has tarnished her memories of the special events where they were taken. 

The incident influenced her decision to raise her own four children in an almost "tech-free" home.

She has also chosen not to post images of them online, especially given the prevalence of child pornography.

Sarah, who now has a strong Christian faith, said she holds no ill will towards John and forgives him.

"He suffered terrible consequences for his actions," she said, adding she hoped he was able to get the help he needed.

A new era of deepfakes

Sarah is sharing her story as police, governments and other authorities grapple with the growing problem of young people digitally altering photographs to make them explicit.

Australia's eSafety commissioner revealed in June that reports of deepfakes and other digitally altered images of people under 18 have more than doubled in the past 18 months, compared to total figures from seven years prior.

New research released today from the commissioner has shown the extent to which pornography has been normalised among children.

Almost one-third of Australian children – some as young as 10 years of age – have seen pornographic images or videos online, according to the eSafety research.

Earlier this month, Communications Minister Anika Wells announced the federal government's plans to ban "nudify" tools and hold tech platforms accountable for failing to prevent users from accessing them.

Nudify or "undress" tools are available on app stores and websites.

They use artificial intelligence methods to create realistic but fake sexually explicit images of people.

Sarah said it was important that these tools should not be normalised, and people needed to realise the impact they could have.

"I think young people especially need to realise this isn't normal, it's perverted and harmful to all involved," she said.

Wells said having already criminalised the distribution of deepfake imagery, the government now wanted to shift the focus to preventing harm, before it happened in the first place.

Cybersecurity expert Simon Smith said while it was a good idea for the government to crack down on platforms that allow access to nudify apps, or advertisers that promote them, the reality was this would likely only work in the most direct of cases.

"I think blocking and trying to have a one-size-fits-all approach is impossible, especially with VPNs and the ability for people to bypass many, many different technology prevention measures," he said.

Banning nudify apps would also not get rid of other means of using AI to develop deepfakes, like chatbots, he added.

AI and how it worked was generally still misunderstood by most people, he said.

"AI is not some big magic monster, it is a structured set of rules that have always existed to be able to edit images," he said.

"By thinking that it can be something that can be just turned off or banned, that's showing an underlying complete misunderstanding of how AI, especially generative AI, itself works."

The future may well come where the best protection people have from deepfakes is to copyright their own face to prevent it being used in unauthorised images, Smith said.

*Name has been changed.

Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at EM********@******om.au

EXCLUSIVE: For years, Shellie Holmes' world has been getting smaller.

It started when cafes and pubs started letting dogs in, followed by hair salons, offices and even a handful of major retailers.

Now Virgin has announced it will allow pets select flights from October and Holmes is terrified it will spell the end of her travels because of her crippling dog phobia.

READ MORE: How Trump just slugged new Aussie workers $150,000

The Perth local suffers from cynophobia, the uncontrollable and irrational fear of dogs and other canines.

Though less common than something like arachnophobia (fear of spiders), it can be more debilitating because sufferers are exposed to dogs so often in daily life.

And it's only getting worse for people like Holmes as more Australian businesses and businesses adopt dog-friendly policies.

"It's expanding to the point where I'm like, will I be able to leave my house? Will they be taking dogs into Woolworths?" she told 9news.com.au.

"I shouldn't have to avoid hairdressers and coffee shops and pubs, but if it gets the point where it's universal, I won't be able to go anywhere."

Living in fear of 'man's best friend'

Holmes has suffered from cynophobia since childhood.

She crosses the road to avoid dogs and just being in the same room as one makes her anxious and distressed.

When dogs have approached her in the past, she's had panic attacks or shut down entirely out of pure terror.

"I've seen her chased by a dog that just wanted to say hello to her, and she will scream and run away," Holmes' husband Matt Huey told 9news.

"She's been trapped in lifts with dogs, and she panics. It's extreme."

READ MORE: The man who engineered lockdown makes startling admission

President of the Australian Association of Psychologists Sahra O'Doherty told 9news that cynophobia can be treated with exposure therapy but not cured.

"The aim of treatment is to reduce the intensity of our fear, reduce the frequency that we experience the fear, so we're not experiencing it every waking moment," she said.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM5), only 12 to 30 per cent of people with a specific phobia seek treatment.

For some, it's a financial decision; treatment can take tens or even hundreds of psychologist sessions, which can cost hundreds of dollars a pop.

It's a cost Holmes just can't afford in a cost of living crisis.

So she does her best to avoid dogs, but that's become harder than ever in Australia.

The rise of dog-friendly pubs, cafes, shops and planes

Almost half of all Aussie households have at least one pet dog according to Animal Medicines Australia's Pets in Australia study, totalling more than 7.3 million canines.

That figure rose by more than 2 million in the last three years.

The number of businesses and venues that allow dogs in has also skyrocketed post-pandemic, likely in response to the spike in dog ownership.

A City of Perth spokesperson told 9news that individual cafés, pubs, and stores can choose whether to allow dogs on their premises, at the discretion of the business owner.

READ MORE: What we know about autism's causes and any potential link to Tylenol

For millions of Aussies, it's a dream come true.

For Holmes, it's a waking nightmare.

"I can't even go to the pub within five minutes walking distance from us … because there's now dogs in there," she said.

And the dogs themselves aren't always the worst part – sometimes their owners are.

"People can't differentiate between someone having a fear of dogs and someone disliking dogs, so as soon as Shelley shows fear the response is, 'What's her problem?'" Huey said.

Owners have allegedly berated Holmes, called her names, or followed her with their dog when she reacted fearfully to it.

Huey claimed some have become aggressive when he has asked them to move their dog to let Holmes pass in pubs or stores.

Holmes said it's unfair that most Aussies take ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) seriously but ridicule her phobia, when dogs cause far more hospitalisations and deaths than snakes.

"What if I bring a pet tarantula or a pet snake to a cafe? Or a ferret? That's not acceptable, so why is a dog?" she added.

Under the Western Australia Dog Act (1976), dogs in public places must remain on a leash unless in a designated off-leash area.

Owners also have a legal responsibility under the Act to control their dog in all areas, whether public or private.

But Huey and Holmes claimed these rules aren't always followed.

"There was a time when you just didn't take your dog into a cafe, a shop or into the Bunnings or into an enclosed place," Huey said.

"People are getting to the point now where, in their minds, they have a right to take their dog anywhere."

What's the solution?

As much as Holmes would appreciate a return to the days when dogs weren't allowed in public places, she knows that's a fight she can't win.

Instead she and Huey are petitioning to amend the Western Australia Dog Act (1976).

They're proposing a legal mandate requiring owners in public places to move their dogs away from members of the public when asked.

"If you can open the doors to let everyone take their dogs into a public place, like Bunnings, there needs to be a counterbalance to that," Huey said.

"If I say could you please move your dog away from me, there needs to be a legal obligation that you actually do that."

Exceptions would be made for service dogs, which undergo extensive training and are subject to different rules to pet dogs.

Though their Change.org petition has gained some traction, Huey fears the overwhelming popularity of dogs as Aussie pets will prevent real change.

And it's unlikely individual businesses will adjust their policies to protect the small number of Aussies living with cynophobia.

"The rate of all phobias globally is under 10 per cent of the population," O'Doherty said.

"So if less than 10 per cent of a pub or cafe's clientele are going to be experiencing this phobia, then most likely they won't change anything."

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Families have been caught up in a large brawl that broke out at a park in Sydney's south-west. 

The violence was captured on camera at Parry Park in Lakemba yesterday evening when the fields were packed with people.

There were multiple games of OzTag and training for after-school sport under way when the violence broke out about 6.10pm.

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Police received multiple calls reporting a brawl.

Witnesses told 9News it escalated in just a matter of minutes, involving dozens of people.

"I'm not sure exactly what happened exactly," one man said.

"I believe it was over something, obviously, and yeah, escalated.

"A lot of families were here so it was actually quite sad, to be honest, to be able to see a lot of kids crying."

Police said their inquiries were ongoing.

"Officers attached to Campsie Police Area Command arrived and were told a group were fighting before leaving the scene prior to police arrival," they said in a statement.

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US television host Jimmy Kimmel has taken to social media for the first time since his television show was pulled off the air, posting a cryptic photo.

Kimmel's show Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pre-empted by Disney-owned ABC last week after the late-night host criticised the MAGA movement's reaction to conservative activist Charlie Kirk's death, and claimed they were trying to score political points.

Despite praise for the decision from US President Donald Trump and others in the MAGA movement, Disney and ABC copped a barrage of backlash from critics and subscribers, and have now relented, with Kimmel to return to the airwaves tonight US time.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/DO88ZNDiWAg/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp

In the lead-up, and posting for the first time since his controversial monologue, Kimmel took to Instagram with a picture of himself and screenwriter Norman Lear.

"Missing this guy today," Kimmel wrote.

Lear, who created and produced numerous classic US sitcoms including All In The Family, Sanford and Son, and The Jeffersons, was also a prominent liberal activist and thorn in the side of then-president Ronald Reagan.

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Lear founded the organisation People for the American Way, a group which sought to counter the rise of the Christian right wing that helped propel Reagan to power.

In his later years, Lear, who died in 2023 aged 101, was a vehement critic of Trump, saying in one speech in 2016 that if Trump threatened the First Amendment, it would be time to "hunker down and fight".

Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group, which together own about one in five ABC affiliates nationwide, both said they would continue pre-empting Kimmel's show in a controversy that's gone beyond late-night talk shows into questions of free speech and the First Amendment.

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Sinclair, one of the country's biggest owners of local TV stations, said its ABC affiliates will preempt the show "beginning Tuesday night." Sinclair said it will air news programming in the time slot instead.

"Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show's potential return," a Sinclair spokesperson told CNN.

And Nexstar said its ABC affiliates will also continue to preempt Kimmel's show.

"We made a decision last week to preempt 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' following what ABC referred to as Mr Kimmel's 'ill-timed and insensitive' comments at a critical time in our national discourse," the company said in a statement on Tuesday morning.

"We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve."

Brendan Carr, Trump's close ally atop the Federal Communications Commission, cheered the affiliate owners' preemption of the resumed show in a social media post Tuesday. Carr wrote that "local TV stations – for the first time in years – stood up to a national programmer & chose to exercise their lawful right to preempt programming."

Tuesday night's guests of Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be actor Glen Powell, with musical guest Sarah McLachlan. The show will feature Ethan Hawke, Lisa Ann Walter and musical guest Yungblud on Wednesday, and Peyton Manning, Oscar Nuñez and musical guest Alex G on Thursday.

Both Powell and MacLachlan are promoting Disney-owned projects: Powell for Hulu's upcoming sports comedy series Chad Powers, and MacLachlan is behind the Hulu documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, which follows the '90s-era female-focused music festival founded by MacLachlan.

This past weekend, while Kimmel's show was off air, MacLachlan refused to perform at the documentary's premiere, stating that she was taking a stand in support of free speech.

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More women are being encouraged to become construction workers amid the housing shortage in Australia, but they face major hurdles in a male-dominated industry.

That is the conclusion of a new report by the University of Sydney, commissioned by the National Association of Women in Construction.

Women make up only 13 per cent of the residential building industry workforce, but the federal government is pushing for thousands more to join to help close a skills shortfall.

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But the research, partly based on the experiences of women working in the industry, says the construction sector is lagging behind others in recruiting and retaining women.

A "career-breaking" challenge facing female building workers is parental leave, with some even putting off having children to fit around the job.

Several women interviewed said they had waited until they had been promoted to a particular level, or been with the company for several years, before trying to become pregnant.

The study's co-author Natalie Galea says the industry's strong health and safety culture doesn't extend to pregnant workers.

"Many of the women we spoke to were the first in their workplace to take parental leave and received little support from managers who lacked knowledge and experience," she said.

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"In fact, they reported serious issues including forced disclosures, withheld promotions, demotions and redundancies.

"Even in supportive workplaces, there are widespread issues including inadequate health and safety policies, lack of basic amenities, such as women's toilets and lactation rooms, and lack of clear and transparent parental leave policies."

The report's authors are urging the NSW government to consider an industry levy to fund parental leave, especially for small businesses and sole traders, to help tackle the problem. 

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Many parts of world are predicted to endure "day-zero droughts," periods of extreme and unprecedented water scarcity, which could happen as soon as this decade in certain hotspots including parts of North America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa, according to a new study.

It's well known that climate change, driven by burning fossil fuels, is throwing the global water cycle off balance and causing scarcity.

What's much less clear is when and where extreme water shortages will hit.

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The new research helps provide answers and some of them are surprising, said Christian Franzke, a climate scientist at Pusan National University in South Korea and an author of the study published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

The scientists used a large number of climate models to assess the timing and likelihood of day-zero droughts.

These are "unprecedented water scarcity events, events which haven't occurred so far," Franzke said.

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It's when "you turn on your water tap and no water comes out," he told CNN.

Day-zero droughts arise from the confluence of various factors, including a prolonged dearth of rain, low river levels and shrunken reservoirs, as well as rocketing water demand to supply people, farms and industries.

Nearly three-quarters of drought-prone regions, including those with major reservoirs, face a high risk of severe and persistent droughts by the end of the century if humans keep burning planet-heating fossil fuels, the study found.

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More than a third of these regions, including the western United States, could face this situation as early as the 2020s or 2030s.

The finding that day-zero droughts could happen so soon, at current levels of global warming, was "something that surprised us," Franzke said, even though a few cities have already come perilously close.

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Cape Town, South Africa, faced a dire crisis in 2017 and 2018 after one of its most severe multi-year droughts on record.

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It narrowly avoided disaster thanks to extreme water saving measures and above average rain in 2018.

Chennai in southeastern India came very close to running out of water in 2019, as the monsoon rains failed and and reservoir levels plummeted.

Water was trucked into neighbourhoods with residents forced to line up for hours in the baking heat.

Many cities are currently battling to avoid day zero, from Tehran and Kabul to Mexico City and Los Angeles.

Cities are particularly at risk as booming populations increase demand on water resources already under pressure from climate change and mismanagement.

Low-income communities are expected to be disproportionately affected, the study found.

Some parts of the world, including the Mediterranean, southern Africa, Asia and Australia, are projected to endure more prolonged day-zero drought events with less time between each one, limiting their ability to recover, the report found.

This can have devastating effects on agriculture and ecosystems, and for some particularly badly affected areas, it throws into question "whether people might still be able to live there long term," Franzke said.

The findings point to the clear need to speed up the clean energy transition, he said, as well as improve water management — huge amounts are wasted through leaky pipes, for example.

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The research should also guide industry, he added, pointing to the proliferation of water-guzzling semiconductor manufacturing and data centres in water-stressed areas such as Texas and Arizona.

One limitation with the study is that it doesn't include groundwater resources in its calculations as they weren't included in the models the scientists used, but Franzke said they have some measures in their analysis to help account for this.

Richard Allan, a professor of climate science at the University of Reading who was not involved in the research, said it was "important new evidence for how drought will emerge as climate warming combines with the demands for fresh water by societies."

The research is a "guide rather than a perfect prediction," Allan told CNN, but, it "paints a picture of an increasing attack on water resources from multiple fronts that is already emerging."