Residents in Far North Queensland are being urged to prepare for up to half a metre of rain this weekend.
Severe weather warnings have been issued with alerts for flash flooding with areas between Cairns and Townsville most affected.
The State Emergency Services are telling people to be prepared for evacuation.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli says he is confident the state is ready.
"We are prepared, well and truly and I can advise Queenslanders that we spent a lot of time ahead of the disaster season focusing on preparation and the pre-deployment that has occurred in the past day has given me confidence about how well prepared we are, and both of the mayors reflected that to me in their conversations. We have got emergency personnel on the ground including swift water rescue."
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New rules have come into effect on how paracetamol is sold in Australia, aiming to reduce the risk of overdose and serious harm.
As of today, the biggest pack of paracetamol available outside of chemists will be 16 tablets or capsules, and they'll all be in blister packs.
Some stores may also limit customers to one pack per purchase.
Pharmacists are still able to provide packs of up to 100 tablets, provided they speak directly with the customer.
Around 50 Australians die from paracetamol poisoning each year, and over 200 end up in hospital with liver damage.
An expert review commissioned by the Therapeutic Goods Administration confirmed there were increasing rates of intentional self-poisoning with paracetamol in the last decade in Australia, with the greatest proportion of cases in adolescents and young adults. Females were significantly over-represented.
Anyone seeking crisis support can contact Lifeline Australia for free on 13 11 14.
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An internal investigation has found eight W-A Police officers did not perform their duty in the lead-up to a man killing two women.
In the Perth suburb of Floreat last May, Mark Bombara shot dead his wife's best friend Jennifer and her teenage daughter Gretl, in their home before taking his own life.
Police say insufficient action was taken by officers to explore if Bombara was a fit and proper person to hold a firearms license based on medical grounds.
That's despite officers being advised of his deteriorating medical condition.
Mark Bombara's daughter Ariel Bombara says she and her mother had repeatedly tried to warn police about her father but were ignored.
"I hope that the recommendations from this report are a good first step in fixing a broken system that failed multiple families, and eight police officers, and continues to fail women and children today."
The report includes 18 recommendations including better risk management and information sharing.
WA Police have already completed eleven of them.
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Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has raised urgent questions following the fatal collision between a military helicopter and a passenger plane in Washington this week.
Speaking on Fox News early Friday, Mr Hegseth condemned the incident as "unacceptable."
"We will get to the bottom of what happened here. It's completely unacceptable in our nation's capital or anywhere. The military trains, and it trains robustly. And we're not going to stop training, even though there's a pause on this unit, on this exercise, which is an important one. And we should have that pause until we get to the bottom of this. We have to be we have to train. We have to train safely. Something like this can never happen and it's completely unacceptable."
All 67 people aboard both aircraft were killed.
Police boats have returned to the Potomac River as recovery efforts continue after the United States’ deadliest aviation disaster in nearly 25 years.
Two law enforcement officials say more more than 40 bodies have been recovered so far.
Flights at Reagan National Airport are gradually resuming.
Investigators have retrieved flight recorder from the passenger plane, which collided with military helicopter as it landed on Wednesday.
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Hamas has revealed which of the remaining Israeli hostages will be released today.
The three people include Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel - a joint U-S citizen - and Ofer Kalderon.
Mr Kalderon is a French national whose family told media they are relieved and happy.
His wife's cousin, Olivier Jaoui spoke with reporters on the eve of his return.
“Hadas and the four children are very, very happy to know that Ofer will be really released tomorrow and to have the proof, we hope so, that he's alive. Because we didn't know whether he was alive or not, because we have no information concerning all the hostages."
The trio is among 251 people taken from Israel on the 7th of October, 2023.
Of those, 79 remain in Gaza, including at least 34 the military says are dead.
Local advocacy groups are reporting that 90 Palestinian prisoners will be released by Israel today as part of the ceasefire deal, which came into effect on the 19th of January.
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Emerging key forward Mykelti Lefau is urging AFL clubs to explore the untapped potential of athletes with Pacific Islands backgrounds.
Lefau is part of a Richmond delegation heading to Samoa - the country of his heritage - to try and share his journey to the sport's top tier.
The group will showcase the club and A-F-L to a new audience, visiting schools and conducting football clinics.
Lefau says he hopes the trip will inspire young Samoans to look beyond rugby.
