00:00Good day, welcome to the Gulf News update for Thursday January the 16th.
00:08Here are the top stories at this hour.
00:11Australians sweltering through an extreme heatwave were warned that the worst was yet
00:14to come, with hundreds of fires raging in several states and temperatures soaring, nearing
00:18record highs.
00:19Most of south-east Australia has been in the grips of a scorching heatwave that triggered
00:23a devastating wildfire on the west coast, razing 55 homes and claiming one life on Sunday.
00:29The mercury has soared above 40 degrees Celsius for successive days now in South Australia.
00:34There is a total ban on recreational fires in neighbouring Victoria, where players at
00:37the Australian Open fainted, vomited and cramped up in blistering conditions.
00:42Egypt's draft constitution, a milestone in a military-backed transitional roadmap, is
00:46set to be overwhelmingly endorsed by the public, initial results from a referendum have shown.
00:51More than 95% of those who took part in the two-day referendum voted in favour of the
00:56charter and more than 50% of registered voters have cast their ballots.
01:00Official results are expected on Saturday.
01:03The UN Secretary-General says that half of Syria's population, some 9.3 million people,
01:08are in urgent need of aid.
01:09Ban Ki-moon was speaking at a donor conference in Kuwait promoting the UN's largest ever
01:13appeal for a single issue.
01:15The meeting aims to raise $6.5 billion.
01:18It has secured $2.4 billion in pledges by the end of Wednesday.
01:22The US Air Force has disclosed that 34 officers entrusted with the world's deadliest weapons
01:26have been removed from launch duty for allegedly cheating or tolerating cheating by others
01:31on routine proficiency tests.
01:33Football legend Pele is in Dubai today as part of a brief visit to the UAE and will
01:37attend a media conference hosted by Emirates Airline.
01:40The Brazilian collected the first ever FIFA pre-donor in Zurich on Monday night.
01:45And finally the weather.
01:46The daytime temperature will be 23 degrees Celsius, falling to a chilly 11 degrees at
01:50night.
01:51That's all for now.
01:52Thanks for watching.
01:53A reminder that our next bulletin will be on Sunday, but as always, you can get the
01:56latest news at golfnews.com
Comments