Dozens of writers have pulled out of the Adelaide Writers' Week after it dropped a Palestinian author, Randa Abdel-Fattah, from the program due to "cultural sensitivities" following the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.

The Adelaide Festival Board yesterday announced it had cancelled her scheduled appearance at the February 28 to March 5 event in light of promoting social cohesion.

"Whilst we do not suggest in any way that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah's or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, given her past statements we have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi," the board said in a statement.

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Abdel-Fattah faced sustained criticism over a previous comment she made, saying Zionists had "no claim or right to cultural safety".

Dozens of writers have consequently withdrawn from the event in support of Abdel-Fattah, while others called on attendees to boycott it.

"I believe this statement, and the board's censorship, to be dangerous, inflammatory, and a broad threat to Australian writers and freedom of speech," Maxine Beneba Clarke, co-author of Eleven Words for Love, said.

"It is a gross act of discrimination and censorship I can in no way agree with, and I will therefore be withdrawing from this year's Adelaide Writers' Week unless Dr Abdel-Fattah's place in the program is reinstated," Hannah Kent, author of Always Home, Always Homesick, said.

Others who cancelled their appearance at the event include star British author Zadie Smith as well as Percival Everett, Hannah Ferguson, Jane Caro, Amy McQuire, Peter FitzSimons, Vanessa Turnbull Roberts, Karen Wyld and Chelsea Watego.

Adelaide Writers' Week has today updated its website to say: "In respect of the wishes of the writers who have recently indicated their withdrawal from the Writers' Week 2026 program we have temporarily unpublished the list of participants and events while we work through changes to the website."

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Abdel-Fattah said the decision to remove her from the program was a "blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship and a despicable attempt to associate me with the Bondi massacre".

"The board's reasoning suggests that my mere presence is 'culturally insensitive'; that I, a Palestinian who had nothing to do with the Bondi atrocity, am somehow a trigger for those in mourning and that I should therefore be persona non grata in cultural circles because my very presence as a Palestinian is threatening and 'unsafe'."

The Adelaide Festival Board said it conducted a review of current and planned events over the past few weeks in light of the heightened community tensions and debates following the events at Bondi on December 14.

The board said the decision to remove Abdel-Fattah from the program has "not been taken lightly" and that a sub-committee has been formed to oversee the review and guide decisions.

"This suite of decisions has been taken with the genuine view that they provide the best opportunity for the success and support of the Adelaide Festival, for Adelaide Writers' Week and the communities we seek to serve and engage," the board said.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he fully supported the board's decision, as Abdel-Fattah had advocated against the cultural safety of those who believe in Zionism.

"I think in the context of the single worst race-based terrorist attack that we've seen in the history of our federation, that matters," he told ABC.

9news.com.au has contacted Adelaide Writers' Week for further comment.

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A major bushfire that has destroyed homes and left three people missing in central Victoria has created scenes that a local firefighter has likened to an "atomic bomb".

The out-of-control blaze in Longwood has already burnt more than 48,000 hectares of land around the townships of Ruffy, Tarcombe, Caveat and Dropmore as the state battles the most dangerous conditions since the Black Summer fires.

In the small town of Ruffy, south of the fire, at least 10 homes have been destroyed.

READ MORE: Three people, including a child, missing in Victorian bushfires

"It looks like an atomic bomb has gone off," CFA Captain George Noye told ABC this morning.

"We've lost the old school, the old Ruffy produce store is gone, three houses on the main street.

"We've lost countless homes across the area. Ten of my firefighters that I know of have lost homes."

Noye told 9News this afternoon that the fire has cleared homes, buildings and livestock.

"There's not much left. It's just ash. If we go away to a lot of fires, and we see this happen with communities… It's devastating," he said, becoming visibly emotional.

READ MORE: Parts of Australia's south-east set to face hottest days in years

Three people also remain missing in nearby Longwood East. 

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Robert Hill said firefighters had come across a man, woman and child near a home and advised them to take shelter because it was too late to evacuate.

Those firefighters later went back to the home and saw it had been destroyed by the fire.

"Those three people remain unaccounted for. Where that house has been destroyed is still a hot spot, and we are yet to be able to put the strike team from the fire services into that area to conduct an assessment for us," Hill said.

READ MORE: Prime Minister rejects criticism of former judge leading Bondi attack royal commission

The Longwood fire has been described as "incredibly dynamic" with emergency services warning it is spreading in multiple directions.

Residents in the impact zone have been told it is too late to leave and shelter now, while others in potential impact areas are urged to evacuate now.

Victoria is experiencing extreme fire conditions due to the peaking heatwave and strong, dry winds.

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There are currently seven emergency bushfires burning across the state in Longwood, Walwa, Streatham, Natimuk, Harcourt and Ravenswood, Muckatah and Bamganie.

Temperatures reached 46.7 degrees in Walpeup and 42.9 degrees in Melbourne.

A total fire ban is in place for all of Victoria today.

For all the latest updates and advice on fires, visit the VicEmergency website

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She told the man to stop having sex with her, but he wouldn’t, and then he beat her.

Queenslanders on the state's north coast are being urged to prepare for a massive rainfall event as forecasters warn a tropical low sitting off the coast is likely to reach cyclone intensity before it crosses the coast on the weekend.

"Plan for the worst" was the message from Premier David Crisafulli after today's emergency management meeting.

Sodden catchments that have endured days of rainfall, between Hope Vale in the north and Mackay in the south, some already exceeding half a metre of rain, are set to receive even more when the system reaches the coast sometime tomorrow.

READ MORE: Tropical low forecast to reach 'cyclone intensity' before landfall, BoM says

Crisafulli said additional police, fire and rescue and SES personnel had been deployed to the area.

"They join many thousands of local people who live and work in these areas and who are very experienced in this," the premier said.

"If you know you're in a low-lying area, now's the time to get your sandbags.

"I'm just asking people just to do the little things today to help, when this rainfall event does come in whatever shape it takes and wherever it comes, there's no harm in doing the preparation now.

"This rainfall will impact a large area, a large population, but they have great experience and great nous in being able to handle this."

READ MORE: Millions in disaster funding announced for flood-ravaged northern Queensland

Chris Hooper from Ergon Energy said people in warning areas should get ready for power outages.

"With these sort of systems that come through, we could expect to lose power," he said.

Mobile phone services could also be impacted.

Deputy Police Commissioner Chris Stream was scathing of people driving into floodwaters despite warnings ad nauseam.

"It's critical that people through those warning areas remain vigilant, and pay close attention to both the bureau warnings and also the information supplied through the disaster.qld.gov.au website," Stream said.

"You have all seen that emergency services have had to carry out a number of rescues over the last, several days.

"That has included two rescue activities in the last 24 hours.

"This is beyond stupidity," Stream said.

"When you drive into floodwaters, this is negligent activity, you are placing yourselves and your passengers at risk, as well as other people that have to come and rescue you from those situations."

READ MORE: Fourth major fire breaks out in Victoria

Townsville Mayor Nick Dametto said sandbagging sites are being replenished.

He urged people to be "prepared but not panicked".

"With warnings of heavy rain and wind, we could see power outages over the weekend and next 48 hours," Dametto said.

"We want people to take this seriously but not be worried to the point where they're stripping the shelves."

Meanwhile Cairns residents are now on level four water restrictions and are being asked to restrict their water use to drinking, cooking, and bathing due to "high turbidity" in the catchment.

Emergency kits should contain food, bottled water and medication for three to four days, pet supplies, torches with batteries and a radio.

The affected gel packs were available up until Christmas Eve last month.

About 191,000 adults skipped prescriptions in 2023/24 due to co-payment costs.

The devastating impact of the fires is being laid bare, but the fight is far from over.

Diver Jordy Bardin shared the close encounter with her 18,000 online followers.

The top Washington-based diplomats for Greenland and Denmark met with White House officials at the National Security Council today as Greenland continues to publicly and privately insist it is not for sale.

Denmark's Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen and Greenland's head of representation to the US, Jacob Isbosethsen, met with Trump advisors, diplomats familiar with the matter told CNN.

President Donald Trump has been proclaiming that he wants to purchase Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, since 2019.

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But neither he nor anyone in either of his administrations has ever privately broached the idea directly with Danish or Greenlandic officials, the diplomats familiar told CNN, despite White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying on Wednesday that the administration is "actively" discussing a potential purchase.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment about the meeting.

Even as Trump has repeatedly raised the spectre of using the military to take Greenland by force, behind the scenes, the US's relationship with Nuuk and Copenhagen remained business-as-usual for most of last year, the people said.

The message that Greenland received from Trump administration officials throughout last summer was that there was no policy directive for US officials to work towards taking the island, the diplomats said.

Danish and Greenlandic officials were blindsided, therefore, when Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland in December who said his role is aimed at making Greenland "a part of the US".

Danish and Greenlandic officials have still not heard from the envoy, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, the diplomats said.

So when earlier this week Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, announced on CNN that it was now the "policy" of the US to acquire Greenland – adding that nobody would fight the US military "over the future of Greenland" and questioning Denmark's right to claim the territory – Denmark and Greenland were irate.

They immediately requested a high-level meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio is scheduled to meet with the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark in Washington next week.

READ MORE: Bondi hero Ahmed al-Ahmed meets former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on US trip

Trump's renewed focus on Greenland comes just days after he authorised a military operation to capture the president of Venezuela.

The operation has heightened concerns among Danish and Greenlandic officials about Trump's potential willingness to seize Greenland.

But much like a possible purchase, the US has never directly raised the threat of military force with Danish or Greenlandic officials, either, the diplomats said – even as the White House has telegraphed publicly that it hasn't taken military action off the table.

Rubio, meanwhile, told lawmakers earlier this week that Trump was interested in buying Greenland and downplayed the possibility of any forthcoming US military intervention to take the island by force, sources familiar with the briefing told CNN.

Officials from Greenland and Denmark have made clear both publicly and privately, however, that they will not even entertain conversations about any mechanism that could enable the sale of Greenland to the US, saying that a population cannot simply be purchased.

Greenland is also not interested in a free-association agreement, the diplomats said.

Greenland's prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a statement on Monday: "The current and repeated rhetoric coming from the United States is entirely unacceptable. When the President of the United States speaks of 'needing Greenland' and links us to Venezuela and military intervention, it is not only wrong. It is disrespectful."

The top diplomats who visited the White House also met with lawmakers throughout the week and reiterated their message that they had no plans to negotiate a sale to the US.

Senator Roger Wicker, the GOP chair of the Senate Armed Services committee, told reporters after meeting the diplomats that it is Denmark's "prerogative and right" to refuse talks over the sale of the semiautonomous territory.

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He argued the US should focus on other "great opportunities" to enhance the country's relationship with Denmark and Greenland.

Still, officials from Greenland remain worried about the Trump administration potentially using coercion – with economic tools or intelligence operations – to force them to entertain conversations that they are unwilling to have, diplomats said.

During the Rubio meeting next week, it is likely that the foreign ministers from both places reiterate Greenland's willingness to work with the US on national security and minerals extraction efforts, underscoring that there are agreements already in place that would enable joint efforts to expand.

Whether or not Trump can be convinced that US national security interests can be protected with the relationship in the current status remains unclear.

He has made the case that taking over the island is a national security imperative – citing concerns about the Chinese and Russian presence in the region.

Trump also believes that ownership is in his view "psychologically needed for success" when it comes to the island, he told the New York Times this week.

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