Money raised from the 'Ice Bucket Challenge' has funded a new ALS drug.

Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge from way back in the day?

Cast your mind back to 2014, when suddenly your social feeds were filled with videos of people having their loved ones, colleagues and mates dunking buckets of ice on them and urging others to do the same.

Well, the Ice Bucket Challenge videos raised enough funding for the cause it was all about – trying to find a cure and treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS. 

Pete Frates inspired millions to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge & donate to the ALS Foundation, raising a jaw-dropping $115 million.

Now the FDA has approved a drug that slows the progression of ALS, a direct result of Pete’s philanthropy.

That’s quite a legacy! pic.twitter.com/gPUVBSegyW

— Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) October 11, 2022

ALS is the most common form of motor neurone disease in adults. According to MND Australia, it refers to a group of diseases that cause the nerve cells which control the muscles responsible for vital functions in the body to degenerate and die.

Sadly, MND is progressive and terminal, and there’s no known cure or effective treatment for it. So with this in mind, the ALS Association in the US put the money donated back in 2014 into researching and developing a drug known as AMX0035, trade name Relyvrio, which the FDA just approved for consumer treatment ahead of the completion of its stage three trials.

It’s a step in the right direction to finding a cure and bringing hope to those with the disease.

Floods are ravaging the country at the moment, with warnings issued across parts of Victoria, Tasmania and NSW.

For Victoria, more than 70 warnings were issued across the state with the SES receiving more than 1600 requests for assistance. Hundreds of Victorians have been told to move to higher ground. An emergency-level warning has been issued north of Melbourne from Seymour to Lake Eildon, with major flooding expected along the Goulburn River on Thursday night.

In Tasmania, several people have been rescued from floodwaters as rivers rise and communities hit by deadly flooding six years ago face an anxious wait.

Heavy rain across the northern half of the island state began on Wednesday night and is not expected to ease until early Friday morning. Prepare-to-evacuate warnings were issued on Thursday for some people.

And in NSW, the State Emergency Service ordered hundreds of people in the central western town of Forbes to evacuate before major flooding hits the area. The Lachlan River is expected to reach a major flood peak of 10.6 metres later on Thursday or early on Friday.

The Bureau of Meteorology says southern inland NSW will be hit with widespread heavy rain and flash flooding as damaging winds continue on Thursday.

For a full rundown, you can listen to tonight’s episode of The Quicky.

The 2022 ARIA Award nominations have been announced ahead of Australian music’s biggest night, taking place in November. Here’s everything you need to know about the nominees and the surprise celebrity hosts.

Plus, our favourite complicated celebrity Emily Ratajkowski has announced she’s launching her own podcast, which will consist of multiple episodes a week. And we have some thoughts on how the author and model’s new project is going to be received.

And, it’s the scandalous true crime story that has been the subject of Hollywood movies, documentaries, and magazine stories for well over a decade. The Bling Ring were a group of teenagers who broke into the homes of A-List celebrities in a series of orchestrated attacks. And for years Rachel Bilson was the one celebrity involved in the crime spree who refused to forgive them, now she’s come face to face with two members of the group and we need to talk about it.

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Alex Jones must pay $US965 million ($A1.5 billion) in damages to numerous families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting for claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy, a Connecticut jury says.

It is the second multimillion-dollar verdict against the conspiracy broadcaster in just over two months.

The verdict came after three weeks of testimony in a state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, not far from where a gunman killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. 

Jones claimed for years that the massacre was staged as part of a government plot to take away peoples' guns.

In August, another jury found that Jones and his company must pay $US49.3 million ($A79 million) to Sandy Hook parents in a similar case in Austin, Texas, where the headquarters of Jones' Infowars website is located.

Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families for years of lies that the school shooting was a hoax https://t.co/VhSyOhCYse

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 12, 2022

Lawyers for families of eight Sandy Hook victims during closing arguments in Connecticut last week said Jones cashed in for years on lies about the shooting, which drove traffic to his website and boosted sales of its various products.

The families, meanwhile, suffered a decade-long campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones' followers, lawyer Chris Mattei said.

Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred, also testified and briefly threw the trial into chaos as he railed against his critics and refused to apologise to the families.

Jones' lawyers have said they hope to void most of the payout in the Texas case before it is approved by a judge, calling it excessive under state law.

- With AAP

The trial for the man accused of raping his former colleague Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House could be finished by the end of next week. 

Bruce Lehrmann is charged with sexual intercourse without consent and is being tried in the ACT Supreme Court. 

He has pleaded not guilty and denies having any sexual interaction with Ms Higgins. 

The trial had originally been set with a four to six-week duration timeline.

But on the Wednesday of the trial's second week the court was told proceedings were further ahead of schedule than expected. 

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Chief Justice Lucy McCallum informed the jury that the prosecution and defence expected to deliver their closing arguments next week.

The jury was also told Ms Higgins would return to court on Friday after being unavailable earlier in the week. 

The trial has continued in her absence with the Crown calling other witnesses.

When Ms Higgins returns on Friday she will face continued cross-examination by Lehrmann's defence lawyer Steven Whybrow.

The court has prevented publication of any evidence from other witnesses until after Ms Higgins has completed her evidence.

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with AAP

King Charles III's coronation ceremony has been set for next year at London's Westminster Abbey, raising questions on whether Australians will be given a public holiday.

The 73-year-old automatically became king on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth last month but the grand coronation ceremony for him and his wife Camilla, who will be crowned Queen, will now take place on Saturday, May 6.

"The coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry," the palace said in a statement.

The Coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey.

The Ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside The Queen Consort.

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 11, 2022

So far, the Australian government has not confirmed whether a public holiday will be held for the coronation, which will take place overnight on a Sunday in Australia. 

A spokesperson for the prime minister's office told 9News a decision was yet to be made.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office has already confirmed there won't be a public holiday, while UK government officials say they are keeping an open mind on the decision. 

- With AAP.

NSW has scrapped mandatory reporting of positive COVID-19 tests, in the latest relaxation of rules. 

From Friday, residents will no longer need to register a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) on the NSW government website or Service NSW app, which was made mandatory back in January. 

However, NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant is still encouraging people to report RATs voluntarily. 

"Registering a positive RAT through Service NSW allows us to connect people to medical care, particularly older people and the immunocompromised, and it also helps inform our ongoing public health response," she said.

From Friday, people who test positive to COVID on a rapid antigen test won't have to report it to NSW Health. But, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant is still encouraging people to use RAT kits and report positive results. It helps them track the virus. https://t.co/OF81oZFF1j pic.twitter.com/3d97hVeCoa

— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) October 12, 2022

The news comes as national cabinet agreed to end mandatory isolation for COVID-19 from tomorrow. 

Dr Chant urged people to stay at home if they have cold or flu-like symptoms.

"If you have to leave the house while unwell, wear a mask when indoors and on public transport, avoid large gatherings and indoor crowded places, and don't visit high risk settings, such as hospitals, aged or disability care facilities for at least seven days," she said. 

Over in Victoria, masks will no longer be required at schools from today, as the Victorian pandemic declaration came to an end at midnight last night.

Asked if the pandemic was over for Victoria given the declaration was expiring, Premier Daniel Andrews said it is in a legal sense.

"Does that mean COVID is over though? No. COVID is still here and we ask people to get tested, act on your symptoms, do everything you can not to make anybody else sick," he told reporters at parliament yesterday. 

While the cost of living is going up and things like interest rates are heading in the same direction, for a very long time, our wages haven't been climbing at the same rate, leaving us falling a tad short in the hip pocket.

But recent stats show that wages are now on the way up, with many industries finding it increasingly difficult to secure workers. So what if you're an existing employee who hasn't been able to get yourself some of that sweet new money?

Today, we look at how you can jump on the wage growth gravy train and the best way to ask for that sometimes very overdue pay rise. 

Missed yesterday's news feed? Catch up on what women were talking about here.

Feature Image: Getty.