the situation in the region more dangerous. Israel won't officially confirm the strikes. The Arab League is calling on the UN Security Council to intervene.

 

Malaysia's ruling coalition has won the country's hotly contested election. The National Front passed the 112 seats that it needs to form government. But the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is refusing to concede defeat and is accusing the ruling party of electoral fraud.

 

A New South Wales inquiry into allegations the Catholic Church covered up child sex abuse will begin in Newcastle today. The inquiry looks at how the church handled complaints about two former priests in the Hunter region. Now the inquiry was set up after senior police officer Peter Fox raised the allegations on the ABC's lateline program.

 

The Federal Government is facing another revenue blow to next week's budget. The parliamentary budget office is forecasting that the mining tax will raise just 800 million dollars this year.That's less than half what the government was predicting late last year.

 

A woman has suffered serious burns in a fire in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Auchenflower. Authorities say a fence at the property was burning when the emergency services arrived shortly before six o'clock this morning.There had been reports of an explosion. The woman is in a critical condition in hospital.