Several blocks in a north Brisbane suburb are in lockdown because of a tense alleged domestic violence incident between a man who may be armed and a woman who has now escaped the house.

The man is still holed up inside the Strathpine home, 17km north of Brisbane CBD, and negotiations are ongoing.

Police told 9News the woman managed to escape from the house but they fear he could be armed.

READ MORE: Residents in southern Queensland told to evacuate as bushfires threaten homes

Specialist police teams and negotiators are on site.

Police rushed to the property in Peter Street around 1.30am, because of a disturbance.

A few hours later, just after 4am, police declared an emergency situation and put an area the size of 13 football fields into lockdown.

The police boundaries encompassed Gertrude Street, Peter Street, Rowland Street and Cavendish Street.

Police have urged people to avoid the area and residents inside the exclusion zone have been told to remain indoors until further notice.

Traffic diversions are in place.

More to come …

Donald Trump has described one of Australia's richest men as a "red haired weirdo" after reports were published of the complicated relationship between the two.

On Sunday 60 Minutes and Nine Newspapers broadcast audio recordings of billionaire Anthony Pratt discussing his conversations with the former president.

The New York Times then published its own story on the two, leading to Trump issuing a denial on his social media website.

READ MORE: Judge fines Donald Trump $7900 over post maligning court staffer

"The Failing New York Times story, leaked by Deranged Jack Smith and the Biden 'Political Opponent Abuser' DOJ, about a red haired weirdo from Australia, named Anthony Pratt, is Fake News," Trump wrote.

"I never spoke to him about Submarines, but I did speak to him about creating jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania, because that's what I'm all about – JOBS, A GREAT ECONOMY, LOW TAXES, NO INFLATION, ENERGY DOMINANCE, STRONG BORDERS, NO ENDLESS WARS, LOW INTEREST RATES, and much more!"

Trump is accused of revealing highly sensitive information about American submarines to Pratt.

Pratt is then reported to have passed on that information to dozens of other people.

In conversations with others, Pratt described a discussion he reportedly had with Trump, in which the former president dismissed the phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that led to his first impeachment.

 READ MORE: Animated Trump told to keep volume down in trial

"Yeah and Trump said, 'You know that Ukraine phone call? That was nothing compared to what I usually do'," Pratt was recorded saying.

"He said, 'that Ukraine phone call, that's nothing compared to what we usually talk about'."

In the audio, Pratt both praised and criticised Trump.

"He knows exactly what to say and what not to say so that he avoids jail, but gets so close to it that it looks to everyone like he's breaking the law," Pratt said.

"Like he won't go up to someone and say, 'I want you to kill someone'. What he'll say, he'll send someone to tell someone to kill someone."

Pratt is the third-richest person in Australia, according to The Australian Financial Review Rich List.

His family runs Visy, which manufactures paper and cardboard products around the world, including in the US.

Nine has approached both Pratt and Trump for comment.

A Kiwi pensioner says he thought he'd flown to Thailand to pick up a Covid-19 award from the United Nations. Instead, it turned out to be two kilograms of heroin.

The 77-year-old was arrested in July by the Australian Federal Police when they found the drugs in his luggage as he transited to Auckland through Melbourne on his way home from Thailand.

He faces a charge of importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled substance, which could see him serve up to 25 years behind bars.

READ MORE: Violent NZ pub announces it will stop selling alcohol

Australian Border Force officers (ABF) allegedly found "white powder", which later tested positive for heroin, hidden inside the lining of his suitcase.

He claims he is the victim of a scam.

According to court documents obtained by Stuff, the Aucklander said he believed he was flying to Thailand to pick up an honour from the United Nations for the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

About 18 months before his arrest, he was contacted through WhatsApp by a man who called himself George, the prosecution's statement of facts said.

"He was told he needed to go to Bangkok to sign the certificate and pick up prizes for other people back home," his lawyer told Stuff.

Instead, he was duped into taking drugs in his luggage.

While he was in Bangkok, a woman met the man at his hotel and gave him a black carry-on bag with "carry gifts for officials he would be meeting in Australia", the court documents said.

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He told police that inside the bag he had only seen soap and clothing wrapped in plastic.

After taking the gifts to the "officials" in Melbourne, he would then receive US$23 million (A$36 million) and the certificate.

His lawyer said his family claimed he had previously fallen for online scams, but this one had far more severe consequences.

Since his arrest, he has been held at a medium-security remand centre in Melbourne's west, where alleged offenders wait until they face court.

Unless the charges are either thrown out or he is bailed, he is likely to remain behind bars through his 78th birthday next month.

While at the facility, a kidney condition he had prior to incarceration has worsened, and he faces the possibility of going on dialysis, his lawyer said.

"He's terrified of the environment he's in," his lawyer said.

"Who would think an elderly man would end up in a place like this."

Israeli warplanes have struck targets across Gaza, including in areas where Palestinian civilians have been told to seek refuge, after another small aid shipment was allowed into the besieged Hamas-ruled territory.

Israel is widely expected to launch a ground offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ brutal October 7 rampage into southern Israeli communities.

Tanks and troops have been massed at the Gaza border, and Israel says it has stepped up airstrikes in order to reduce the risk to troops in the next stages.

READ MORE: Victorian grandparents tell of moment war erupted around them

Fears of a widening war have grown as Israeli warplanes have struck targets in the occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon in recent days. It has frequently traded fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, which is armed with tens of thousands of rockets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops in northern Israel on Sunday that if Hezbollah launches a war, "it will make the mistake of its life. We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state will be devastating".

More than 1400 people in Israel have been killed – mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack. At least 212 people were captured and dragged back to Gaza. Two Americans were released on Saturday, hours before the first shipment of humanitarian aid.

More than 4600 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. That includes the disputed toll from a hospital explosion.

Israel has carried out limited ground forays into Gaza, and on Sunday, Hamas said it had destroyed an Israeli tank and two armoured bulldozers inside the territory it has ruled since 2007.

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed and three others were wounded by an anti-tank missile during a raid inside Gaza.

READ MORE: French intelligence points to Palestinian rocket, not Israeli airstrike, for Gaza hospital blast

The military said the raid was part of efforts to rescue hostages abducted in the October 7 attack. Hamas hopes to trade the captives for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

On Sunday, 20 trucks entered Gaza in the first aid shipment into the territory since Israel imposed a complete siege at the start of the war. Israel allowed a second convoy of 15 trucks into Gaza today. Both entered from Egypt through the Rafah crossing, the only way into Gaza not controlled by Israel.

COGAT, the Israeli defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said the aid was allowed in at the request of the United States, and included water, food and medical supplies. It said everything was inspected by Israel before it was brought into Gaza.

In a Sunday phone call, Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden “affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza", the White House said in a statement.

READ MORE: Israel says it doesn't plan to control life in Gaza after destroying Hamas

Relief workers said far more aid was needed to address the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where half the territory’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes.

The UN humanitarian agency said the 20 trucks that entered Saturday amounted to 4 per cent of an average day’s imports before the war and “a fraction of what is needed after 13 days of complete siege".

The Israeli military said the humanitarian situation was “under control", even as the UN called for 100 trucks a day to enter.

Israel has not allowed any fuel to enter Gaza, where there has been a full power blackout for more than a week and where hospitals say they are scrounging for generator fuel in order to keep operating life-saving medical equipment and incubators for premature babies.

The World Health Organisation said seven hospitals in northern Gaza have been forced to shut down due to damage from strikes, lack of power and supplies, or Israeli evacuation orders.

The lack of fuel has also crippled water and sanitation systems. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in UN-run schools and tent camps are running low on food and are drinking dirty water.

READ MORE: Father of American teenage hostage freed by Hamas says she is 'doing very good'

Israel repeated its calls for people to leave northern Gaza, including by dropping leaflets from the air. It estimated 700,000 have already fled. But hundreds of thousands remain. That would raise the risk of mass civilian casualties in any ground offensive.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel “can't go back to the status quo” in which Hamas controls Gaza and is able to threaten it, but that Israel has “absolutely no intent” to govern Gaza itself.

“Something needs to be found that ensures that Hamas can’t do this again, but that also doesn’t revert to Israeli governance of Gaza,” he told NBC's Meet the Press.

“It’s something that needs to be worked even as Israel is dealing with the current threat.”

Israel captured Gaza, along with the West Bank and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for a future state.

Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade of varying degrees since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

READ MORE: Bar fined for offering patrons free drinks based on their bra size

Heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling continued overnight across Gaza, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said. It said airstrikes hit residential apartments in the town of Khan Younis and the Nuseirat refugee camp, both of which are south of the evacuation line.

The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service reported heavy overnight airstrikes near al-Quds hospital in Gaza City. Aside from patients, the hospital houses more than 12,000 displaced people, it said.

The Israeli military says it does not target civilians. It says Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets at Israel since the start of the war.

The military said Monday that it had struck 320 militant targets throughout Gaza over the last 24 hours.

It said it had destroyed anti-tank positions and other targets that could endanger forces preparing for “a manoeuvre in the Gaza Strip", an apparent reference to a ground operation.

Three people have died on our roads since Friday as the holiday draws to a close.

Emergency services spokesperson says they responded at 6.47pm.

The person died at Hutt Hospital yesterday

A Victorian driver who killed a much-loved father while high on ice has sobbed in court as he admitted he never should have been behind the wheel.

Corey Comport, 24, was travelling close to 170km/h when he crashed into a Jeep on the Bulla-Diggers Rest Road northwest of Melbourne on August 30 last year.

The force of the collision caused the Jeep to slam into a Toyota Kluger driven by Nirvair Singh, who died at the scene from significant head and chest injuries.

READ MORE: Homicide detectives investigating after man's body found at Melbourne school

Comport pleaded guilty on Monday in the Victorian County Court to culpable driving causing the 44-year-old man's death.

Singh's wife Harpreet Kaur said his passing had left a void in her heart that seemed impossible to fill.

"Every moment, my thoughts are consumed with memories of him," she told the court through tears.

"I'm doing my best to find the strength to carry on."

READ MORE: Children fighting for life after young siblings killed in shed fire in Victoria

Kaur said she felt the burden of being the sole parent to her two young sons, wanting to support them while also dealing with her grief.

The boys also wrote victim impact statements to the court, where they described how much they missed their father.

"My life will be very quiet and not joyful because my dad is not with me," one of the boys said.

"Life will be very difficult without him."

READ MORE: Children fighting for life after young siblings killed in shed fire in Victoria

Comport, seated at the back of the courtroom, quietly sobbed as he listened to the family's statements.

The court was told the 24-year-old had been travelling 168km/h in a 80km/h zone when he struck the Jeep about 3.30pm on August 30 last year.

He had evaded cops twice in the preceding 30 minutes, with multiple drivers later telling police they were scared as he weaved between lanes and overtook them.

A roadside drug test showed he was under the influence of GHB, methamphetamine and ketamine.

READ MORE: Melbourne Muffin Break franchise fined for hiring underage children

The driver of the Jeep escaped serious injury but she told the court she still struggled to get behind the wheel.

"[The crash] has cast a long dark shadow over my once fulfilling existence," she said in her victim impact statement.

In a sentencing discussion with Indigenous elders, Comport sobbed and admitted the fatal crash never should have happened.

READ MORE: Crews battle large grass fire in Sydney's west

He apologised to Singh's family and friends, saying he stuffed up and he felt horrible.

"I wish I was never on the road," he told the court.

Comport admitted he had been given chances in the past and he wanted to "change his life and become a better person" once he was eventually released from jail.

The 24-year-old is planning to move interstate with his brother and start his life over again, away from drugs and bad influences.

County Court Judge Scott Johns adjourned the case to a further plea hearing in December so more psychological material could be obtained.

Comport was remanded in custody to his next court date.

A man has been charged after allegedly biting a police officer and leading authorities on a high-speed pursuit through Sydney's inner west.

Officers allege the man travelled at 140km/h in a 60km/h zone on Parramatta Road during an hour-long chase across Five Dock, Strathfield, Homebush, Auburn and Ashfield just before midnight last night.

It's alleged the car travelled onto the wrong side of the road multiple times and drove onto footpaths.

READ MORE: Body found on grounds of Melbourne school

Police said they first approached the man on Great North Road in Five Dock when the car was stationary on the side of the road.

"Police will allege in court that when the officers returned to their vehicle, the sedan rolled backwards into the police car," NSW Police said in a statement.

"The sedan then allegedly drove away. When it failed to stop as directed, a pursuit was initiated."

READ MORE: Aussies stealing from supermarkets, servos, new research shows

CCTV and dashcam captured the black Nissan Infiniti sedan allegedly speeding through the suburbs on Paramatta Road.

"The vehicle continued on Parramatta Road before the pursuit was terminated due to the dangerous manner of driving.

"The sedan crashed into a pole and came to a stop at the intersection of Liverpool and Parramatta Roads at Ashfield about 1.10am today."

The driver, a 38-year-old man, was arrested at the scene by officers.

Police allege the man allegedly resisted police and struggled with several officers during the arrest, with a number of responding police receiving minor bite marks.

One officer was taken to hospital with a minor leg injury.

The 38-year-old man was also taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital under police guard, where he remains.

He has since been charged with five offences including reckless driving and possessing a prohibited drug.

A Muffin Break franchise charged with hundreds of child labour law contraventions after hiring three underage children has shut down after being unable to repay COVID-related debts.

Rianshi Pty Ltd faced millions of dollars in fines after being charged by the Wage Inspectorate with 360 offences related to breaches of child employment laws.

Between March and October last year the company, operated by a husband and wife, hired three 14-year-olds without having work permits for them.

READ MORE: Bar fined for offering patrons free drinks based on their bra size

The children had all approached the store looking for work, the company's barrister Cassie Serpell told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

While that didn't excuse their wrongdoing, this wasn't a case where they had actively sought out underage employees, she said.

On 111 occasions over seven months, the children worked shifts at the Muffin Break store without child labour permits, and on each of those occasions they were not supervised by someone with a Working with Children Clearance.

On 70 occasions the children worked longer than three hours without being given their required 30-minute breaks, and they were employed for longer shifts than allowed on 69 occasions.

Children aged 14, who are legally employed under permits or licences, can only work three hours a day or 12 hours a week during school terms, or six hours a day or 30 hours a week in school holidays.

READ MORE: The pub with no beer: Violent Auckland pub stops selling booze

Serpell said the couple were simply not aware of the laws for hiring children under the age of 15 and while that didn't excuse their behaviour, it did explain it.

The Wage Inspectorate had been provided with an undated letter from the father of one of the children, giving permission for his child to work there, she said.

Though that didn't meet the legal requirements it was further context to the offending, Serpell said.

"They are both incredibly remorseful that they didn't know better," she said.

"They realise they should have got legal advice of that nature prior to starting the business."

Magistrate Malcolm Thomas acknowledged the couple were two small business owners, and not a large corporation with access to a human resources department.

But he accepted that because the laws were specifically designed to protect children from harm it was important to hand down a penalty that deterred others from breaking the law.

READ MORE: Plea for information about murder of 'kind and caring' man at Queensland prison

He convicted and fined Rianshi Pty Ltd $10,000.

The couple bought the franchise in May 2017 for $330,000 but after struggling financially since the COVID-19 pandemic they closed down the operation on Tuesday last week.

The court heard they had suffered health and sleeping difficulties as a result, were frequently stressed and depressed, and had fallen into debt with Muffin Break and Southland mall management – owing $171,000 in back rent.

Serpell also noted that changes had been made to child employment laws in July this year to simplify the process for employers.

Rather than the one permit per child employee system that existed at the time of their offending, the law now requires a single licence to cover the employment of multiple children.

Serpell told the court that in her extensive experience in industrial relations law, this was not an area that was well understood by businesses.