Early wind and rain from a rare tropical cyclone began lashing part of eastern Australia on Thursday as schools were closed, public transport was stopped and desperate residents got around shortages of sandbags by buying potting mix.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred is forecast to cross the Queensland state coast somewhere between the Sunshine Coast region and the city of Gold Coast to the south early Saturday, Bureau of Meteorology manager Matt Collopy said.

Back then it was Diego Milito, Samuel Eto'o, Mario Balotelli and Wesley Sneijder.
Now it's Lautaro Martinez, Marcus Thuram and Nicolò Barella leading Inter Milan's attack.

Ahead of the EU summit in Brussels, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the European leaders to act jointly in responding to tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.
He said that “Europe is the strongest economic area in the world with its own opportunities. And that is why it is very important that, especially when it comes to tariffs, we are also clear about how we act in this matter — namely united and determined.”

France is providing military intelligence to Ukraine after Washington announced it was freezing the sharing of information with Kyiv.
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said, “Our intelligence is sovereign. We have intelligence that we allow Ukraine to benefit from.”

The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed as “extremely confrontational” a speech by Emmanuel Macron, in which the French president called Moscow a “threat” to Europe.
In an address to the nation on Wednesday, Macron also said that he’s ready to start discussions on nuclear deterrence with European allies.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says “Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself.”
Arriving at the EU summit alongside Zelenskyy, von der Leyen said: “This is a watershed moment for Europe and Ukraine as part of our European family. It’s also a watershed moment for Ukraine.”

European Union leaders are holding emergency talks on Thursday on ways to quickly increase their military budgets after the Trump administration signaled that Europe must take care of its own security and also suspended assistance to Ukraine.
In just over a month, President Donald Trump has overturned old certainties about U.S. reliability as a security partner, as he embraces Russia and withdraws American support for Ukraine.

The Hamas militant group on Thursday brushed off President Donald Trump's latest threat and reiterated that it will only free the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out of the ceasefire agreement they reached in January. The agreement calls for negotiations over a second phase in which the hostages would be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

A superb goal from Brahim Diaz helped Real Madrid maintain its dominance of the Madrid derby on Europe's biggest stage with a 2-1 victory over bitter rival Atletico in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday.
Atletico has been beaten by the record 15-time European champion in both Champions League final matchups and has won only three of 11 meetings with their city rivals in UEFA competitions.

Arsenal is all but guaranteed to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League after recording the biggest-ever win away in the knockout stage of Europe's elite tournament, beating PSV Eindhoven 7-1 on Tuesday.
The Gunners were ruthless in the first leg of their last 16 tie and romped to an emphatic win despite injuries to key forwards including Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus.
