Australia's prime minister: Flooding expected to rise in St. George

January 8, 2011 -- Updated 1246 GMT (2046 HKT)

Australian PM Julia Gillard flies in an army helicopter to view the flooded Fitzroy River in Rockhampton on January 8, 2011.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Gillard says $4 million has been allocated, but hundreds of millions more are needed
• Flooding recedes in Rockhampton but could still peak in St. George
• Parts of eastern Australia are forecast to get above-average rainfall until March
• Queensland official: The repair could take months or years to complete

Rockhampton, Australia While floodwaters in Australia have begun to recede in some areas, the worst could still be on the way for at least one city, the country's prime minister said Saturday.
"Today I've been in St. George, and they are still bracing for the peak of the flood," Julia Gillard told Australia's Nine Network, according to a transcript from the prime minister's office. "They're very well prepared, but of course they're anxious as they await the peak."

In Iraq, a popular cleric cranks up anti-U.S. rhetoric

"We continue to resist the occupier militarily, culturally and by all means," Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr tells Iraqis on Saturday.

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Muqtada al-Sadr returned to Iraq after three years in Iran
• He delivers his first public speech in Iraq in years
• The cleric calls for Iraqis to unite and resist

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American political figure who returned to Iraq this week from self-imposed exile, told tens of thousands of his followers Saturday to "resist" and "disturb" the United States.
"We have not forgotten the occupier. We remain a resistance," said al-Sadr, delivering a fiery speech in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, his first public address in Iraq in years. "We continue to resist the occupier militarily, culturally and by all means of the resistance."

Report: Iran says it can create its own nuclear fuel plates, rods

The reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran. The Iranian atomic chief says Iran can build nuclear fuel plates.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Salehi reportedly says Iran wants nuclear technology for "peaceful purposes"
• The West's behavior "facilitated our successes," Salehi tells Fars news agency
• Fars: Iran hopes to inject self-produced uranium into a reactor by the middle of next year

 Iran can now make its own nuclear fuel plates and rods, spurred in part by the West's behavior, the country's atomic chief and acting foreign minister told the nation's media.