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TRANSCRIPT:
Defence Minister Israel Katz has declared Israel will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River to create a defensive buffer in their campaign against Hezbollah.
The area has long been considered a stronghold of the militant group.
Israel's military has warned residents in Beirut's southern suburbs of imminent strikes.
Senior Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah says they will hit back against any Israeli assault - which UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says is a horrifying prospect.
"We don't need more fighting. We don't need more rhetoric... There needs to be a return to negotiations and there needs to be return to the full implementation of Security Council 1701."
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Donald Trump says he remains confident about the chance of a ceasefire deal with Iran, even as Tehran and Israel have continued their strikes, and the US sends more troops to the region.
Trump's pronouncements in recent days have swung wildly from vowing massive attacks on Iran to declaring the nearly month-long war is virtually over.
In his latest comment, the US President has declared Iran's surviving leadership has offered the United States a "prize", without offering further details.
Donald Trump: "They did something yesterday that was amazing actually. They gave us a present and the present arrived today. It was a very big present - worth a tremendous amount of money. And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize. And they gave it to us. And they said they were going to give it to us. So that meant one thing to me: we're dealing with the right people."
Reporter: "Is it nuclear-related?"
Trump: "No, it's not nuclear-related. It was oil and gas related."
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Denmark has voted in an election that could hand Prime Minister Mette Frederikson her third term.
More than 4.3 million people were eligible to have their say in the vote for the new Folketing, or parliament, in Copenhagen, which is elected for a four-year term.
Frederiksen has benefited in recent months from her resistance to Donald Trump's desires to control the Arctic island of Greenland, but many Danes have also called for the PM to focus on domestic issues.
Moderates candidate and former Digital Affairs Minister Caroline Stage Olsen says the exit polls remain very promising.
"A large part of the Danish population wants a centre-focused government, and I really hope that the polls will become reality and we will have the opportunity to form a government across the middle of Danish politics."
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Back in Australia, Service station operators are reporting a rise in fuel theft as the cost of petrol continues to climb.
The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association says incidents have risen by 30 per cent, with aggression towards station workers also spiking.
Association chief executive officer Rowan Lee says the increase has been recorded nationwide, with no single state or territory standing out.
The figures follow the charging of a 39 year old man who allegedly seriously injured a worker trying to stop him fleeing a station without paying in Perth.
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A 16-year-old boy has been charged with multiple terrorism offences after he allegedly posted threats of extremist violence online.
The charges were laid after federal police reviewed electronic devices seized from a home in Sydney's inner west in December.
The teenager is expected to appear at a children's court today.
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The New South Wales government has delayed a proposal for legal changes to Indigenous land rights in the state.
Under current law, Aboriginal land councils can make claims on crown land that is unused, not needed or not being used lawfully, a measure designed to compensate Indigenous people for historical dispossession.
A proposal to change that has been put on the backburner by Lands Minister Steve Kamper after widespread condemnation from Indigenous representatives.
New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council CEO Clare McHugh says there had been no proper consultation process.
"The way that this process has been done by stealth is that there was no notification provided of the proposed changes, hitting parliament at 9:10 pm on a Tuesday night under cover of darkness."
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Locals in the Northern Territory town of Katherine are back on flood alert.
The town of 10,000 residents had looked set to avoid major damage from former tropical cyclone Narelle.
But the flood level warning for the nearby Katherine River has now been upped from moderate to major.
The flood peak is expected today.
