‘Over the last few years, the flip-flopping of policy direction has cost our communities.’

Many are changing flights; officials are opening 12 evacuation centres.

‘A car hit a bank and the driver sustained minor to moderate injuries,’ police said.

The fires were lit across the first three months of this year.

Stocks racked up more losses on Wall Street as a trade war between the US and its key trading partners escalated, wiping out all the gains on the S&P 500 since Donald Trump was elected president.

And those losses are bleeding into the Australian sharemarket, with the S&P/ASX 200 dipping 0.2 per cent, or by 18.4 points, to 8179.70 at the opening of trade.

It comes after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and doubled tariffs against imports from China overnight. All three countries announced retaliatory actions, sparking worries about a slowdown in the global economy.

READ MORE: US and Ukraine ready to sign minerals agreement within hours

The S&P 500 fell 1.2 per cent, with more than 80 per cent of the stocks in the benchmark index closing lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.6 per cent.

The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4 per cent. The tech-heavy index briefly reached a 10 per cent decline from its most recent closing high, which is what the market considers a correction, but gains for Nvidia, Microsoft and other tech heavyweights helped pare those losses.

Financial stocks were among the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 index. JPMorgan Chase fell 4 per cent and Bank of America lost 6.3 per cent.

READ MORE: Trump vows to 'tell it like it is' in his first speech to Congress

Markets in Europe fell sharply, with Germany's DAX falling 3.5 per cent as car makers suffered sharp losses. Stocks in Asia had more modest declines.

“The markets are having a tough time even setting expectations for what this trade war could look like,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. “This is clearly a level step higher than anything we saw during (Trump's) first term.”

The market could soon face more twists in the tariff drama. President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress tonight. After the closing bell, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox Business News that the US would likely meet Canada and Mexico “in the middle" on tariffs, with an announcement coming as soon as Wednesday.

READ MORE: 'Some random country': Vance irks allies in UK, France with troops comment in Fox News interview

The recent decline in US stocks has wiped out all of the markets’ gains since Trump’s election in November. That rally had been built largely on hopes for policies that would strengthen the US economy and businesses. Worries about tariffs raising consumer prices and reigniting inflation have been weighing on both the economy and Wall Street.

The tariffs are prompting warnings from retailers, including Target and Best Buy, as they report their latest financial results. Target fell 3 per cent despite beating Wall Street’s earnings forecasts, saying there will be “meaningful pressure” on its profits to start the year because of tariffs and other costs.

Best Buy plunged 13.3 per cent for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast and warning about tariff impacts.

“International trade is critically important to our business and industry,” said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry.

Barry said China and Mexico were the top two sources for products that Best Buy sells, and it also expects vendors to pass along tariff costs, which would make price increases for American consumers likely.

Concerns about profits follow a series of economic reports with worrisome signals that include US households becoming more pessimistic about inflation and pulling back on spending. Consumer spending has essentially driven US economic growth in the face of high interest rates.

Wall Street has been hoping that the Federal Reserve would continue lowering interest rates in 2025. The central bank has signaled more caution, though, partly because of uncertainty surrounding the economic impact of tariffs. The Fed is expected to hold rates steady at its upcoming meeting later in March.

The Fed raised interest rates to their highest level in two decades in order to tame inflation. It started cutting its benchmark rate in 2024 as the rate of inflation moved closer to its target of 2 per cent. But inflation remains stubbornly just above that target and tariffs threaten price increases that could fuel inflation.

In the bond market, Treasury yields were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.20 per cent from 4.16 per cent late Monday. It’s still down sharply from last month, when it was approaching 4.80 per cent, as worries have grown about the strength of the U.S. economy.

“Because tariffs are in effect, and there’s no guarantee that they’re likely to be temporary, that’s filtering its way to the bond market and we’re seeing the threat of higher inflation eroding the value of the 10-year note,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury held steady at 3.94%.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 71.57 points to 5778.15. The Dow dropped 670 points to 42,520.99, and the Nasdaq shed 65.03 points to 18,285.16.

The Christchurch Southern Motorway is closed near Curletts Rd following the crash.

A second Sydney nurse has been charged in relation to an alleged antisemetic video that surfaced online.

Ahmad Rashad Nadir, 27, was arrested at Sutherland Police Station about 7.30pm yesterday.

He has been charged with using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend threaten to menace, harass or cause offence along with possessing a prohibited drug.

LIVE UPDATES: Fears cyclone 'storm surge' could see tides flood thousands of homes

Nadir allegedly appeared alongside fellow nurse Sarah Abu Lebdeh in a video made by Israel influence Max Veifer, which circulated widely online earlier this month.

Nadir and Lebdeh were at Bankstown Hospital and in nurse uniforms during the video.

Lebdeh, 26, self-presented at Sutherland Police Station, where she was placed under arrest last week.

She was charged with three Commonwealth offences, including threatening violence and using a carriage service to threaten to kill and to menace.

READ MORE: Woman charged with murder after body found inside Melbourne home

More to come.

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A Brisbane man is accused of making a bomb threat while onboard a flight and travelling under a false name.

The alleged threat happened on January 14 when the 44-year-old man boarded a flight to Brisbane at Sydney Airport. 

It is alleged the man was speaking on a mobile phone before take-off and referred to a bomb. 

READ MORE: Cars caught in surging tides on Gold Coast

Australian Federal Police officers escorted the man off the plane before discovering he was travelling under a fake name. 

Following a search of the aircraft, it was determined there was no bomb threat.

The man was charged with making a threatening statement on an aircraft and travelling under a false name and is due to appear at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney today.

The charges come with a maximum one year imprisonment and a $16,500 fine. 

AFP Detective Superintendent Morgen Blunden said the AFP would not tolerate threats to aviation security – overt or overheard.

"Travelling on an aircraft should be a safe experience for passengers and airline crew alike," Blunden said.

"The AFP will continue to work closely with airline partners to deal with any behaviour that interferes with aviation security."

NASA's two stuck astronauts are just a few weeks away from finally returning to Earth after nine months in space.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have to wait until their replacements arrive at the International Space Station next week before they can depart later this month.

They'll be joined on their SpaceX ride home by two astronauts who launched by themselves last September alongside two empty seats.

READ MORE: Private lunar lander Blue Ghost aces moon touchdown with a special delivery for NASA

During a news conference on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), Wilmore said that while politics is part of life, it did not play into his and Williams' return, moved up a couple weeks thanks to a change in SpaceX capsules.

US President Donald Trump and SpaceX's Elon Musk said at the end of January that they wanted to accelerate the astronauts' return, blaming the previous administration.

But Williams, in response to a question, did take issue with Musk's recent call to dump the space station in two years, rather than waiting until NASA's projected deorbit in 2031. She noted all the scientific research being performed at the orbiting lab.

"This place is ticking. It's just really amazing, so I would say we're actually in our prime right now," said Williams, a three-time space station resident. "I would think that right now is probably not the right time to say quit, call it quits."

Williams said she can't wait to be reunited with her labrador retrievers. The hardest part about the unexpected extended stay, she added, was the wait by their families back home.

LIVE UPDATES: Fears cyclone 'storm surge' could see tides flood thousands of homes

"It's been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us," she said. "We're here. We have a mission. We're just just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun."

Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week or so when they launched last June aboard Boeing's new Starliner capsule, making its crew debut after years of delay. The Starliner had so many problems getting to the space station that NASA ruled it too dangerous to carry anyone and it flew back empty.

Their homecoming was further delayed by extra completion time needed for the brand new SpaceX capsule that was supposed to deliver their replacements.

Last month, NASA announced the next crew would launch in a used capsule instead, pushing up lift-off to next Wednesday.

The two crews will spend about a week together aboard the space station before Wilmore and Williams depart with NASA's Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov.

Millions of Australians across Queensland and northern New South Wales are bracing for tropical Cyclone Alfred to make landfall in the next 48 hours.

More than four million people, from Sandy Cape to Grafton, have been warned that the storm is expected to strike by Friday morning, bringing intense rainfall, dangerous winds, and the potential for flash flooding.

Here's everything you need to know about when and where Cyclone Alfred is predicted to strike.

LIVE UPDATES: Fears cyclone 'storm surge' could see tides flood thousands of homes

When will Cyclone Alfred make landfall?

Cyclone Alfred is still predicted to make landfall on Thursday night or Friday morning.

Senior meteorologist Christie Johnson said the storm was currently forecast to cross the coast at 1-2am on Friday, though that could possibly be off by one or two hours either side.

Residents living between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, including those in Brisbane, are in the firing line.

9News understands Alfred's speed has also picked up, to about 17km/hr.

Damaging wind gusts up to 130km/h are expected to lash the southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales coasts starting from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, destructive wind gusts of up to 155km/h may develop about coastal and island locations near and to the south of the track from Thursday afternoon.

There have also been large swells over 7m already recorded.

Heavy rainfall will come next, with possible daily totals of 200 to 400 millimetres, and could cause flash-flooding.

Australians can track the storm's predicted path on the BOM website, which hosts regularly updated 'track maps'.

At the time of writing Alfred was sitting 465 kilometres east of Brisbane, the bureau told media Wednesday in Queensland's capital.

READ MORE: How to prepare for Tropical Cyclone Alfred and what to expect

Where is Cyclone Alfred likely to hit?

Cyclone Alfred is expected to affect the southeast Queensland coast and some parts of northeast New South Wales.

The Bureau of Meteorology currently lists the areas from Double Island Point to Grafton as 'warning zones', including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and Byron Bay.

However, the warning zone does not include Grafton.

A 'watch zone' is current for Sandy Cape to Double Island Point in Queensland, including K'gari.

The northern NSW towns of Ballina and Lismore are also preparing for the cyclone.

However, the effects of the cyclone – especially strong winds – may extend beyond the currently listed regions.

READ MORE: 'Window is closing': Queenslanders urged to act as cyclone approaches coast

What time will Cyclone Alfred hit Brisbane?

Cyclone Alfred is currently predicted to hit Brisbane late on Thursday night or early Friday morning, bringing damaging winds, intense rain and possible flooding.

READ MORE: Will Tropical Cyclone Alfred impact flights this week?

How far is Cyclone Alfred from Brisbane?

As of Wednesday morning, Cyclone Alfred is building about 465 kilometres east of Brisbane.

At the time of writing, it is listed as a category 2 storm with wind gusts near the center hitting up to 130km/h.

BOM will continue tracking the storm as it creeps closer to the coast.

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