Flood warnings in place as Victoria is hit by ongoing severe weather; Jordan's king presses Antony Blinken on a Gaza ceasefire; Injury forces Rafael Nadal to withdraw from the Australian Open.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Flood warnings in place as Victoria is hit by ongoing severe weather
- Jordan's king presses Antony Blinken on a Gaza ceasefire
- Injury forces Rafael Nadal to withdraw from the Australian Open
Flood warnings are in place for parts of Victoria as severe thunderstorms impact the state.
Victorian State Emergency Service personnel responded to hundreds of requests for help over the weekend, with at least 53 flood-related rescues.
Michael Efron from the Bureau of Meteorology says the severe weather will continue on Monday.
"And given the amount of the moisture in the atmosphere, we could actually see totals around 200 mm through the north and the northeast. So we have issued a number of warnings of flood watch. The amount of moisture across the state at the moment is incredible. It is what you would normally see in somewhere like Queensland. We're seeing those northerly across the state at the moment bringing that moisture down."
South Australian and southern NSW areas are also in the firing line of the major weather event.
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The US National Transportation Safety Board is asking for members of the public to help with locating the missing piece of fuselage that blew off mid-flight, affecting an Alaska Airlines.
The US air safety regulator [[the Federal Aviation Administration]] says it is requiring immediate inspections of the same model of plane involved in the Alaska Airlines emergency landing incident - the Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets.
Around 171 planes worldwide will need to be checked before they can return to flight.
Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, says the investigation into what happened will be thorough.
"The question is, do we suspect that there is an overall design problem with this plane based on previous accidents involving the Boeing Max? At this time, no. We are only focused on this investigation, this airplane. We are not focused the fleet. But again, nothing is out. We'll go where the investigation takes us and look at what we need to to make sure that we're addressing safety."
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Jordan's King Abdullah has warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the "catastrophic repercussions" of the continuation of Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
Mr Blinken met with King Abdullah in Jordan as a part of a week-long trip that will also take him to Israel, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
In a statement, King Abdullah says he also told Mr Blinken that the US had a major role to play to put pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
During his time in Jordan's capital, Amman, Mr Blinken visited the United Nations’ World Food Program regional coordination warehouse.
Mr Blinken says one of his objectives on this trip is to improve the flow of aid into Gaza.
"It is imperative that we maximize assistance to people in need. Not only to get it to Gaza, but once it in Gaza, that it can be effectively disrupted to people who need it everywhere in Gaza."
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There are reports Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has won re-election for a fourth term.
While counting is ongoing, an election spokesman has said Ms Hasina has won more than 50 percent of seats.
A boycott of the vote was led by opposition parties, and early reports indicate a low turnout for the election.
Sheikh Hasina has presided over breakneck economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless opposition crackdown.
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In sports, tennis legend Rafael Nadal will miss the Australian Open this month due to an injury sustained during the Brisbane International tournament last week.
The 22-time grand slam champion had hip surgery in June and hadn't played since last year's Australian Open until returning at the season-opening Brisbane International.
He says MRI results show he has sustained a small muscle tear and he has made the decision to return to Spain to see his doctor and get some rest.
Over the weekend, he addressed the issue of the injury.
"Yeah, I mean, it is a very similar place to what happened last year, but different stuff. I feel more muscle. Last year was tendon. I feel the muscle tighter than this.. When it happened last year I felt something drastic immediately. And today I didn't feel anything. The only problem is because the place is the same, you get a little bit more scared than usual."
