Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as a powerful storm approaches Australia's northeast coast.
Cyclone Debbie is expected to turn into a Category 4 storm, the second strongest on the scale of hurricane intensity, before it makes landfall in Queensland on Tuesday morning.
Winds are forecast to reach up to 260 kmph (160 mph) as the storm hits, making it Australia's most powerful storm since Cyclone Yasi in 2011.
Around 3,500 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas near Townsville after concerns that the tidal surge could be as high as 4m (13ft).
Authorities have also advised a further 2,000 people in the town of Bowen to leave their homes and evacuations are underway from low-lying areas in Mackay.
Queensland State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk encouraged Queensland residents to listen to authorities, saying that "the window of opportunity to leave is drastically closing".
"I am just pleading to everyone, please, listen to authorities. I do, you must as well. This is about your safety, it is about the safety of your family and the safety of your children," she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said the farming region has never experienced a storm stronger than Category 2 and warned that older homes would not withstand a Category 4 storm.
Queensland State Disaster Co-ordination Centre deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski told people in the areas affected "to move now".
"Don't wait till tomorrow because you will not will be able to move probably past midnight tonight," he said.
The storm is expected to land somewhere along a sparsely populated 60-mile stretch of coast between the towns of Ayr and Bowen, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said.
The bad weather is also due to hit the Whitsundays Islands.
Whitsundays Regional Council Mayor Andrew Wilcox said: "in the Whitsundays we're pretty laid back sort of people.
"So what my message is, 'guys, this is a real threat, this is serious, don't be complacent, make sure you have all your preparation right, take shelter and please be safe'."
Operations at several coal mines in the area have been halted ahead of the storm and the Abbot Point coal terminal and ports at Mackay and Hay Point have also closed.
Flights to the region are also affected. Townsville Airport is closed and airlines Qantas, Jetstar, Rex and Virgin Australia say they have cancelled flights in the region.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Al Qaeda terror mastermind Qari Yasin killed in US airstrike in Afghanistan
An al Qaeda leader behind a series of terror attacks including one on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team has been killed, the Pentagon has said.
Qari Yasin, a senior militant figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, died during US airstrikes in Afghanistan.
He had ties with the Pakistani Taliban terror group and masterminded the bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens, including two American service members in 2008.
A 2009 bus attack in Lahore, Pakistan, killed six Pakistani policemen and two civilians and wounded six members of the Sri Lankan cricket team.
US defence secretary Jim Mattis confirmed Yasin died in Paktika Province on 19 March and said in a statement: "The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice."
The death of Yasin in eastern Afghanistan will fuel Pakistan's claims its militant enemies have established sanctuaries there.
The neighbouring countries have accused each other of harbouring the other's foes.
Relations deteriorated earlier this year after a series of attacks in Pakistan killed 125 people led Islamabad to close its border with Afghanistan for more than a month.
The two countries have exchanged lists of insurgents hiding out on the other's soil.
Afghanistan has given Pakistan the locations of 23 bases where its Taliban militants are hiding, which it is demanding are closed.
Qari Yasin, a senior militant figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, died during US airstrikes in Afghanistan.
He had ties with the Pakistani Taliban terror group and masterminded the bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens, including two American service members in 2008.
A 2009 bus attack in Lahore, Pakistan, killed six Pakistani policemen and two civilians and wounded six members of the Sri Lankan cricket team.
US defence secretary Jim Mattis confirmed Yasin died in Paktika Province on 19 March and said in a statement: "The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice."
The death of Yasin in eastern Afghanistan will fuel Pakistan's claims its militant enemies have established sanctuaries there.
The neighbouring countries have accused each other of harbouring the other's foes.
Relations deteriorated earlier this year after a series of attacks in Pakistan killed 125 people led Islamabad to close its border with Afghanistan for more than a month.
The two countries have exchanged lists of insurgents hiding out on the other's soil.
Afghanistan has given Pakistan the locations of 23 bases where its Taliban militants are hiding, which it is demanding are closed.
Low-cost airline easyJet close to landing post-Brexit EU base
EasyJet will announce within weeks the location of a new European base as Britain's airline industry grapples with the potential consequences of a 'hard Brexit'.
Sky News understands that the low-cost carrier's board has pencilled in an April decision on the location of a new air operator's certificate (AOC), which will allow it to continue flying between EU member states.
The decision will effectively entail the establishment of a new legal headquarters for easyJet, although the company has no plans to relocate the 1000 staff who work at its operational head office at Luton Airport.
EasyJet has spent the last nine months evaluating the merits of securing an AOC in each of the remaining 27 EU member states, and sources said on Sunday that countries including Austria, Malta and Portugal had been under serious recent consideration.
Sky News understands that the low-cost carrier's board has pencilled in an April decision on the location of a new air operator's certificate (AOC), which will allow it to continue flying between EU member states.
The decision will effectively entail the establishment of a new legal headquarters for easyJet, although the company has no plans to relocate the 1000 staff who work at its operational head office at Luton Airport.
EasyJet has spent the last nine months evaluating the merits of securing an AOC in each of the remaining 27 EU member states, and sources said on Sunday that countries including Austria, Malta and Portugal had been under serious recent consideration.
Scottish Muay Thai boxer Jordan Coe found dead in Thailand
A Scottish boxer has died in Thailand of suspected heatstroke.
Jordan Coe, who was 20 years old, was wearing a heavy tracksuit when his body was discovered.
It is believed he was trying to reach a certain weight for a professional fight.
Mr Coe, who was from Maddiston in Falkirk, was a professional Muay Thai boxer and used to train at a gym in Glasgow.
He had been scheduled to fight a Cambodian boxer in the Muang district on Sunday night, and was expected to return to Scotland in the summer.
Craig Floan, his coach at the Glasgow Thai Boxing Academy, said: "He moved to Thailand to chase his dream of becoming a professional after being with me for three-and-a-half years.
"We've set up a fundraiser for him and I'm now trying to help raise enough money to bring him home."
More than £15,000 has been raised for Mr Coe's family so far - and the boxer has been described as "the most loveable, likeable, caring, enthusiastic young man you will ever have come across".
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said assistance is being provided to Mr Coe's family.
Jordan Coe, who was 20 years old, was wearing a heavy tracksuit when his body was discovered.
It is believed he was trying to reach a certain weight for a professional fight.
Mr Coe, who was from Maddiston in Falkirk, was a professional Muay Thai boxer and used to train at a gym in Glasgow.
He had been scheduled to fight a Cambodian boxer in the Muang district on Sunday night, and was expected to return to Scotland in the summer.
Craig Floan, his coach at the Glasgow Thai Boxing Academy, said: "He moved to Thailand to chase his dream of becoming a professional after being with me for three-and-a-half years.
"We've set up a fundraiser for him and I'm now trying to help raise enough money to bring him home."
More than £15,000 has been raised for Mr Coe's family so far - and the boxer has been described as "the most loveable, likeable, caring, enthusiastic young man you will ever have come across".
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said assistance is being provided to Mr Coe's family.
The Battle for Mosul
A huge operation, involving more than 100,000 Iraqi troops, federal police, Shia and Sunni militias, was launched in October 2016 to recapture the country's second-largest city.
Mosul has been under Islamic State control since 2014, when it was used as the base by leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to declare a caliphate across Iraq and Syria.
Military officials estimated up to 5,000 IS fighters were left defending the city when the offensive began, with as many as 2,000 more in towns and villages surrounding the city.
The city - the last IS stronghold in Iraq - is a key milestone in Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led military intervention to degrade and ultimately destroy the extremist group.
Here is a timeline of the operation to recapture Mosul:
4-10 June 2014Fall of Mosul
Militants from Islamic State began their attack on Mosul on 4 June 2014, after the death of the group's military leader Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi near the city on the previous day.
Initially, convoys of pick-up trucks carrying four IS militants entered the city, shooting their way through checkpoints with many of the city's 25,000 soldiers and police away fighting in Fallujah.
The group infiltrated the city, seizing military vehicles and weapons and crucifying, burning and hanging soldiers.
Lieutenant General Mahdi Gharawi, operational commander of Nineveh province which has Mosul as its capital, has been blamed for the city's collapse, with reports that thousands of Iraqi troops tasked with defending it deserted or followed orders to flee in the face of the IS attack.
Gharawi has been charged with dereliction of duty and could be sentenced to death if he is found guilty at a military trial. He denies the charge and claims he was a scapegoat for members of then-prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's regime.
5 July 2014IS leader's sermon
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gives a 21-minute sermon at the pulpit of Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri.
The video came days after Islamic State declared a caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria.
In it, he said: "Do jihad in the cause of God, incite the believers and be patient in the face of this hardship.
"If you knew about the reward and dignity in this world and the hereafter through jihad, then none of you would delay in doing it."
19 August 2014Fight for Mosul Dam
Militants from Islamic State began their attack on Mosul on 4 June 2014, after the death of the group's military leader Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi near the city on the previous day.
Initially, convoys of pick-up trucks carrying four IS militants entered the city, shooting their way through checkpoints with many of the city's 25,000 soldiers and police away fighting in Fallujah.
The group infiltrated the city, seizing military vehicles and weapons and crucifying, burning and hanging soldiers.
Lieutenant General Mahdi Gharawi, operational commander of Nineveh province which has Mosul as its capital, has been blamed for the city's collapse, with reports that thousands of Iraqi troops tasked with defending it deserted or followed orders to flee in the face of the IS attack.
Gharawi has been charged with dereliction of duty and could be sentenced to death if he is found guilty at a military trial. He denies the charge and claims he was a scapegoat for members of then-prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's regime.
5 July 2014IS leader's sermon
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gives a 21-minute sermon at the pulpit of Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri.
The video came days after Islamic State declared a caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria.
In it, he said: "Do jihad in the cause of God, incite the believers and be patient in the face of this hardship.
"If you knew about the reward and dignity in this world and the hereafter through jihad, then none of you would delay in doing it."
19 August 2014Fight for Mosul Dam
IS seized the strategically important Mosul Dam, which provides water and power to millions of people down the Tigris River valley, in August 2014.
Kurdish forces, backed by US airstrikes on IS, fought to retake the key facility hindered by roadside bombs left behind by retreating militants.
The US military had warned of the danger of the dam collapsing, with estimates saying 500,000 people in Mosul and Baghdad could be killed if it did give way.
The hydroelectric dam - dubbed by the US Army Corps of Engineers as "the most dangerous in the world" in 2007 - requires constant grouting to maintain its structural integrity.
Sky News Special Correspondent Alex Crawford reported from the damas Peshmerga troops fought with the militants to drive them away from the area.
2015US airstrikes begin
A major military operation involving a force of up to 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops to sever supply routes and then recapture neighbouring areas outside the city was planned for the spring.
The US began co-ordinating airstrikes on Mosul with Kurdish forces to target supply lines and IS positions around the city.
But the offensive was postponed until October 2016 after IS captured Ramadi in May 2015.
The sustained bombardment did temporarily force militants to begin leaving Mosul as the US-led coalition dropped leaflets on the city warning residents to evacuate ahead of the offensive.
IS responded by threatening to behead civilians over loudspeakers if they attempted to flee.
In March, IS leader al-Baghdadi is reportedly seriously injured by a US airstrike in the al-Baaj district of Mosul.
21 October 2016On the frontline
The postponed offensive began in March 2016, with Iraqi troops, Shia and Sunni militias advancing on Mosul from the east.
Kurdish forces, backed by US airstrikes on IS, fought to retake the key facility hindered by roadside bombs left behind by retreating militants.
The US military had warned of the danger of the dam collapsing, with estimates saying 500,000 people in Mosul and Baghdad could be killed if it did give way.
The hydroelectric dam - dubbed by the US Army Corps of Engineers as "the most dangerous in the world" in 2007 - requires constant grouting to maintain its structural integrity.
Sky News Special Correspondent Alex Crawford reported from the damas Peshmerga troops fought with the militants to drive them away from the area.
2015US airstrikes begin
A major military operation involving a force of up to 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops to sever supply routes and then recapture neighbouring areas outside the city was planned for the spring.
The US began co-ordinating airstrikes on Mosul with Kurdish forces to target supply lines and IS positions around the city.
But the offensive was postponed until October 2016 after IS captured Ramadi in May 2015.
The sustained bombardment did temporarily force militants to begin leaving Mosul as the US-led coalition dropped leaflets on the city warning residents to evacuate ahead of the offensive.
IS responded by threatening to behead civilians over loudspeakers if they attempted to flee.
In March, IS leader al-Baghdadi is reportedly seriously injured by a US airstrike in the al-Baaj district of Mosul.
21 October 2016On the frontline
The postponed offensive began in March 2016, with Iraqi troops, Shia and Sunni militias advancing on Mosul from the east.
They faced strong resistance in villages outside, with IS deploying suicide bombers and well as mortars and machine guns.
US-led coalition airstrikes targeted key IS positions around the city as Iraqi forces slowly gained control of the areas surrounding the south and east of Mosul.
By October, the assault to recapture Mosul was declared by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with a huge number of troops vastly outnumbering the IS militants.
The following month, troops entered the east of the city where they were met with fierce fighting and defences erected by IS including road blocks, booby traps, snipers and suicide bombs.
Sky News Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay was embedded with the Iraqi army's elite Golden Division, a US-trained special forces unit, as they arrived on the front lines of the offensive.
The Golden Division was tasked with retaking the city and to rescue civilians.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Uber halts driverless car tests after vehicle rolls over in Arizona smash
Uber has suspended its self-driving car programme after a crash involving one of its vehicles.
The accident happened in Tempe, Arizona, and pictures posted on Twitter showed the autonomous car on its side next to another vehicle which was badly dented with its windows smashed.
Despite the severe damage to both vehicles, nobody was seriously injured.
The Volvo SUV was moving in autonomous mode when the accident happened.
Uber has stopped its self-driving car pilot in Arizona while it launches a probe into the crash.
An Uber spokesman said: "We are continuing to look into this incident and can confirm we had no backseat passengers in the vehicle."
Tempe Police said another vehicle failed to give way at a traffic signal while making a left turn and collided with the Uber SUV, before a third vehicle was hit.
The self-driving programme was launched in Arizona last December after California revoked the licence of some of the cars because it said they were not properly marked as test vehicles.
Uber said on its website that the use of the vehicles was still in its early stages.
It said: "While Uber is still in the early days of our self-driving efforts, every day of testing leads to improvements.
"Self-driving cars have the potential to save millions of lives and improve quality of life for people around the world."
Uber has been hitting the headlines after a string of scandals including accusations it tolerates sexism after a female engineer wrote a blog claiming she was harassed by her boss.
Earlier this year its CEO Travis Kalanick was forced to apologise after he was caught on video yelling at one of his own drivers.
The accident happened in Tempe, Arizona, and pictures posted on Twitter showed the autonomous car on its side next to another vehicle which was badly dented with its windows smashed.
Despite the severe damage to both vehicles, nobody was seriously injured.
The Volvo SUV was moving in autonomous mode when the accident happened.
Uber has stopped its self-driving car pilot in Arizona while it launches a probe into the crash.
An Uber spokesman said: "We are continuing to look into this incident and can confirm we had no backseat passengers in the vehicle."
Tempe Police said another vehicle failed to give way at a traffic signal while making a left turn and collided with the Uber SUV, before a third vehicle was hit.
The self-driving programme was launched in Arizona last December after California revoked the licence of some of the cars because it said they were not properly marked as test vehicles.
Uber said on its website that the use of the vehicles was still in its early stages.
It said: "While Uber is still in the early days of our self-driving efforts, every day of testing leads to improvements.
"Self-driving cars have the potential to save millions of lives and improve quality of life for people around the world."
Uber has been hitting the headlines after a string of scandals including accusations it tolerates sexism after a female engineer wrote a blog claiming she was harassed by her boss.
Earlier this year its CEO Travis Kalanick was forced to apologise after he was caught on video yelling at one of his own drivers.
Gunman opens fire on bus on Las Vegas Strip, killing one
One person has been killed and another injured after a gunman opened fire on on a double-decker bus on the Las Vegas Strip.
The attacker then barricaded himself inside the vehicle, beginning an armed stand-off with police that lasted several hours.
The siege began at about 11am local time on Saturday as the bus stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard, near the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino.
:: Las Vegas casino panic over suspected robber in pig mask
"He was on the bus. He was shooting people on the bus. He was just contained to that location. He never exited the bus," Clark County assistant sheriff Tom Roberts said.
Two people were taken to hospital after the shooting. One later died and the other was said to be in a stable condition.
SWAT teams surrounded the vehicle as the authorities as the authorities tried to establish if there were any more victims inside.
Officers also swept into the casinos to warn tourists to take cover until further notice, leaving the normally busy road empty.
The famous illuminated Strip was shut down in both directions.
Las Vegas police said the man, believed to be in his 50s, gave himself up just before 3.30pm without incident.
Police did not open fire and said they believe the man was the only suspect.
They ruled out terrorism or any connection to an earlier robbery nearby that put part of the Bellagio hotel in lockdown.
Up to three robbers, one wearing a pig mask, used sledgehammers to break into a jewellery case in a store in the luxury hotel.
One person was taken into custody.
The attacker then barricaded himself inside the vehicle, beginning an armed stand-off with police that lasted several hours.
The siege began at about 11am local time on Saturday as the bus stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard, near the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino.
:: Las Vegas casino panic over suspected robber in pig mask
"He was on the bus. He was shooting people on the bus. He was just contained to that location. He never exited the bus," Clark County assistant sheriff Tom Roberts said.
Two people were taken to hospital after the shooting. One later died and the other was said to be in a stable condition.
SWAT teams surrounded the vehicle as the authorities as the authorities tried to establish if there were any more victims inside.
Officers also swept into the casinos to warn tourists to take cover until further notice, leaving the normally busy road empty.
The famous illuminated Strip was shut down in both directions.
Las Vegas police said the man, believed to be in his 50s, gave himself up just before 3.30pm without incident.
Police did not open fire and said they believe the man was the only suspect.
They ruled out terrorism or any connection to an earlier robbery nearby that put part of the Bellagio hotel in lockdown.
Up to three robbers, one wearing a pig mask, used sledgehammers to break into a jewellery case in a store in the luxury hotel.
One person was taken into custody.
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