2 dead, 150 homes destroyed in Australian bushfires

Saturday, 9 November 2019 11:16

At least two people have been killed and over 150 homes destroyed as bushfires raged across eastern Australia.

Five more people remain unaccounted for, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison raising concern that the number of deaths could rise.

"These fires have already claimed two lives ... and as we get access to further areas that have been cut off we are expecting worse news again," he said during a televised news conference in Sydney on Saturday.

Reserve members of Australia's armed forces could be pulled in for emergency services, he added.

On Saturday, 81 fires were reported burning across the state, 36 of them uncontained, with an emergency warning on four of them.

More from International News

Thailand's Queen Mother Sirikit dies at 93

Thailand's Queen Mother Sirikit, who brought glamour and elegance to a postwar revival in the country's monarchy and in later years, would occasionally wade into politics, has passed away at the age of 93, the Thai Royal Household Bureau said on Saturday.
Thai PM to sign Cambodia ceasefire deal, skips summits over royal death

Thailand's prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul will travel to Malaysia to sign a ceasefire deal with Cambodia that US President Donald Trump is set to witness after he pulled out of the ASEAN Summit due to the death of the kingdom's Queen Mother Sirikit on Saturday.
Ringleader of Wagner-directed UK arson on Ukrainian business jailed

The ringleader of an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London last year was on Friday jailed for 17 years for what prosecutors described as "a sustained campaign of terrorism and sabotage on UK soil".
Britain pushes allies to boost Ukraine support as Zelenskyy lands in London

Britain on Friday urged fellow allies of Ukraine to reach a deal to use frozen Russian assets to strengthen its hand for any future peace talks, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in London for talks with those allies.