Emergency crews on standby for New Year's Eve wild weather in New South Wales and Queensland. Israel's Prime Minister says his nation must control Egypt border zone with Gaza. Sixteen year-old Luke Littler shines at world darts championship.
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TRANSCRIPT:
- Emergency crews on standby for New Year's Eve wild weather in New South Wales and Queensland.
- Israel's Prime Minister says his nation must control Egypt border zone with Gaza.
- Sixteen year-old Luke Littler shines at world darts championship.
Emergency crews will be on standby on New Year's Eve with heavy rain, thunderstorms and giant hail forecast for parts of northern New South Wales and Queensland.
A wild weather system is forecast to stretch more than 1000km from Port Macquarie in New South Wales to Rockhampton in Queensland.
The focus today will be on the area from Charters Towers to Emerald in northern Queensland.
Weather bureau senior meteorologist Jonathan How is urging residents to stay on top of flood warnings.
"Severe thunderstorms are forecast for parts of Queensland and northern New South Wales this weekend and unsettled conditions will continue into the new year. We are expecting further thunderstorms through the day, and in anticipation of the rainfall, we have issued a flood watch and that covers catchments from the Gold Coast and Brisbane all the way up into the Capricornia. At this stage, we're not expecting widespread flooding, but areas of heavy rain with thunderstorms could produce flash flooding, expose rapid rises and creeks, rivers, and storm drains."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the border zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt should be under Israel's control, as he predicted the war in the Palestinian enclave and on other regional fronts would last many more months.
Mr Netanyahu held a press conference as Israel entered the 13th week of its war against Gaza's ruling military group, which has stoked violence in the occupied West Bank and touched off attacks by Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Israel has reiterated its intent to destroy Hamas in Gaza and deradicalise the territory in order to prevent any repeat of the October 7 cross-border killing and kidnapping spree by the Palestinians militant group that sparked the war.
The Israeli Prime Minister says that if his country doesn't have control of the border zone then they will not be able to ensure a demilitarization of the area.
"The Philadelphi Corridor - or to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point (of Gaza) - must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarization that we seek."
Australians are gearing up to ring in the new year with multiple celebrations across capital cities and regional towns alike.
After a year characterised by cost of living pressures, more Australians say they hope to welcome 2024 without the hefty price tag, as one in three are set to take advantage of free sites to view their cities' festivities.
Sydney will be one of the world's first major cities to celebrate, setting the tone with 20 minutes of pyrotechnics all up, a smoking ceremony, A-I-driven projections onto the harbour bridge and illuminated boats on the water.
More than a million people are expected to flock to the harbour foreshore and surrounding vantage points.
City of Sydney fireworks director Fortunato Foti said onlookers could expect something a little different than previous years.
"In excess of 30,500 aerial fireworks, 36,000 shooting comets and mines and with the different types of effects that we're doing this year such as seven shape fireworks, soft willow fireworks, crackling palms and a lot of different styles of colours."
A man has reportedly lashed out at cabin crew onboard Qantas flight QF46 from Denpasar, Indonesia to Melbourne this morning.
He was restrained by fellow passengers and cabin crew for the remainder of the flight.
That flight has now safely landed at Melbourne Airport where security and police met the aircraft to manage the situation.
Sixteen-year-old Luke Littler has continued his historic world darts championship journey by downing hero Raymond van Barneveld to reach the quarter-finals in London.
The English teenager has set the Alexandra Palace tournament alight on debut and is the youngest player ever to reach the last eight after a stunning 4-1 win on Saturday night.
He showed maturity and talent way beyond his tender years to get past the five-time world champion, who he used to imitate in front of the television as a three-year-old.
He peppered the treble 20 nine times and finished with an emphatic average of 105.01.
