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TRANSCRIPT
- Donald Trump threatens more strikes on Iran, as Iran's president apologises to Gulf nations
- Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah defeats former prime minister Sharma KP Oli in Nepal's election
- And in Formula One, George Russell secures pole position for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Iran's president has apologised for attacks on neighbouring countries, saying Tehran would not attack them unless attacked first.
The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain continue to issue alerts for missiles and drones, and report missiles have been intercepted.
President Masoud Pezeshkian issued the message one week into the conflict that has spread across the region, disrupting global markets and air travel.
Mr Pezeshkian says Iran's leadership dismisses US President Donald Trump’s call for Iran to surrender unconditionally.
Farsi translated into English: "That we surrender unconditionally, they should take that dream to their grave. What we are committed to is international law, human frameworks, and the principles they talk about, they should be committed to those principles. They can't ignore the rights of any country, including Iran."
Meanwhile, in a statement on social media, Mr Trump threatened that Iran would be "hit very hard" and more areas and groups of people would become targets - without providing further elaboration.
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Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from flood hit towns in Australia's top end, amid record rainfalls.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro says about 400 people from the Indigenous township of Daily River have been evacuated to Darwin using seven helicopters, while around 200 members of the Aboriginal community of Palumpa have been airlifted to safety by fixed-wing aircraft.
Police Incident Controller Shaun Gill says some houses in Palumpa are already inundated and they have determined the Stuart Highway is completely cut off.
Acting Commissioner Travis Wurst says they expect the Daly River to be among the systems that will continue rising over the next week because of rainfall totals exceeding 140 millimetres.
"Without predicting what the river height may be, it's going to be - so for example, the most recent evacuation was as a consequence of a 14.3-metre flood. This is as you've heard going to exceed that - and it's anticipated to rise about that again."
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Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah is set to become the next prime minister of Nepal.
Nepal's Election Commission has confirmed that the 35-year-old has unseated former prime minister Sharma KP Oli in his parliamentary constituency (receiving 68,348 votes compared to Mr Oli's 18,734).
Mr Shah's Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is heading towards a landslide result in Nepal’s parliamentary elections, winning 25 seats and leading in 93 constituencies in the latest round of vote counting.
It is the country's first election since what many have described the Gen Z movement in September, with the rapper-turned-politician Balendra emerging as a dominant force.
20-year-old Aayush Bhattarai says as a supporter of Mr Shah's, he wants to see change.
"Now we have finally got the youngest prime minister in the world. Hope he will not forget all his promises and will work on the behalf of the people. Wish him good luck, thank you. We trusted you, now you should not play with our trust. We love you Balen. Okay, bye bye."
Opposition leader Angus Taylor has conceded his party has fallen behind in reaching younger voters.
The latest Redbridge poll released last week showed support for the party at less than 15 per cent among generation Z and millennial voters.
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The new Liberal leader has used his first speech to the party since taking up the top job to announce he plans to prioritise a digital campaign strategy to reach these voters long before the next election.
Mr Taylor says traditional campaigning alone will not reverse the Coalition's fortunes at the ballot box.
"And we've fallen behind in reaching Australians where they are on their phones, in their feeds, and in the online spaces where views are shaped well before an election occurs. This must change. We need a digital operation that is fast, that's creative, and able to reach Australians with targeted messages that matter to them."
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To sport and in F1 news,
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen will start the Australian grand prix from the rear of the grid after crashing in the first part of qualifying.
The Red Bull star went into the barriers at Melbourne's Albert Park before he even began to turn into the first corner of his opening qualifying lap.
He missed out recording a time because his crash brought down the red flag on the race.
Meanwhile, local-hope Oscar Piastri has finished second behind George Russell, which means he is in the second stage of qualifying as the top 16 go through.
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