澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-12-23（在线收听）

Catastrophic fire warnings have been issued across South Australia with temperatures set to rise above 40 degrees. Eight districts have been put on alert, including the Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and the Flinders Ranges. Extreme and severe warnings were in place for the remainder of the state. Strong winds from tropical Cyclone Laurence are expected to fan the flames. It’s still moving inland, bringing widespread destruction to parts of the Pilbara region. It was downgraded to a category one storm overnight and is expected to be downgraded again to a tropical low this afternoon. 

Still with a wild weather and about 150 homes in Brisbane's north are still without power after severe storms battered southeast Queensland in late yesterday. Crews worked throughout the night to restore power to over 30,000 homes and clear flooded roads, more than 3,500 lightning strikes were recorded. 

And traders on Wall Street have been given something to smile about in the dark economic times. Darth Vader was joined by Storm Troopers to ring in the start of the day's trade, while R2-D2 showed off his trading skills on the floor. After 30 years, Star Wars figures are still the top-selling licensed toys in the US.

And we will have more news later.