Sydney, Jan 31: Australian authorities have issued a major flood warning for the country’s northeast.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) on Friday issued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall for communities along a 400-kilometre stretch of coast in far north Queensland state.

Residents in the area were told to prepare for up to half a metre of rainfall and for the possibility of flooding.

“Intensely heavy rainfall and significant, potentially life-threatening flash flooding are expected to develop,” Miriam Bradbury from the BoM said.

“These areas have already seen a huge amount of rain so far this week, and additional rainfall is likely to lead to further flash flooding.”

The area between Cairns and Townsville, the two biggest cities in far north Queensland, is expected to receive between 300 and 500 millimetres of rainfall between Friday night and Sunday.

Queensland’s State Disaster Coordinator Shane Chelepy said at a press conference that flood preparations were underway.

He urged residents in the affected area to put a disaster plan in place, ensure they are stocked up on food and fuel and that their electronic devices are charged.

“The most important thing they can do is stay connected with our messaging,” he said.

The area controller for the State Emergency Service, Chris Watts, said that emergency crews prepared flood boats and storm damage equipment.

He said that residents in flood zones should be prepared to evacuate.

According to the BoM, parts of Queensland’s north tropical coast received up to 800 millimeters of rain in the past week.

The heavy rainfall was being driven by three tropical low systems that formed off the coast of Queensland.

Washington, Jan 30: No survivors have yet been found of American Eagle Flight 5342 that collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near the Reagan National Airport in Washington DC Wednesday night.

Both aircraft fell into the Potomac river.

The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four members of the crew while the helicopter had three service members.

Rescuers had pulled out several bodies from the icy cold water of the river till early Thursday morning, but no survivors. The temperature of the water in the river was dangerously low around 0 degree celsius.

NBC’s Washington affiliate has reported rescuers have recovered 30 bodies from the river.

The plane was carrying passengers from Wichita in the state of Kansas to the National Airport.

DC authorities have said the plane had broken into pieces and the helicopter was found upside down in the river.

Rescue helicopters hovered over the river with flood lights as boats and rescuers combed the river for survivors and bodies.

The collision reportedly took place around 8:47 pm, local time.

The Army helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk on a training flight, US military officials have said. It was assigned to Bravo Company of the 12th Aviation Battalion, which operates out of Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir, in nearby Virginia.

Two renowned former Russian figure skaters were on board the passenger plane, the Kremlin has said according to reports.

They were Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov did not identify them at a briefing but confirmed when asked if they were on board.

He also suggested that other Russian nationals were aboard the crashed flight.

“There were other of our fellow citizens there as well,” he said.

Shishkova and Naumov won gold at the 1994 Figure Skating World Championship for Russia. The Washington Post reported the married pair lived in the United States since at least 1998, where they coached young ice skaters.

Stockholm, Jan 30: Salwan Momika, the 38-year-man who held several demonstrations in Sweden and was accused of burning the Quran, has been shot dead in the city of Sodertalje in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, Swedish media reported on Thursday.

Momika was allegedly shot dead while he was conducting a live broadcast on social media from his apartment in Hovsjo late on Wednesday, a day before a verdict was scheduled to be announced by the Stockholm District Court in an incitement case against him.

“I can confirm that five people have been arrested, suspected of murder,” prosecutor Rasmus Ohman was quoted as saying by Sweden’s leading daily Dagens Nyheter.

According to the spokesperson for the Stockholm Police Region, the police received a report of the shooting in Hovsjo at 11:11 pm, local time.

The newspaper detailed that the crime scene was investigated overnight and the apartment building remains cordoned off on Thursday with several police officers on site. It was reported that drones have also been sent up over the area.

“The police have been questioning me and they confirmed that he has died,” Salwan Najem, a friend of Salwan Momika, told Swedish state broadcaster SVT.

Najem, who said that he has been told “you’re next”, had also spoken during the night with Momika’s girlfriend.

“She started crying and said they killed him,” Najem told SVT.

The desecration of the Quran had sparked an angry reaction from several countries, including Saudi Arabia, which strongly condemned the burning of a copy of the Islamic holy book in the Swedish city of Malmo by Momika, an individual of Iraqi origin, in October 2023.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry had “reiterated the Kingdom’s rejection of such flagrant acts,” and said such a move had inflamed the feelings of millions of Muslims worldwide.

Momika had allegedly torn pages of the holy book and also burnt it in full public view during demonstrations.