Sydney

Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia's largest city in a flood emergency that was impacting 50,000 people, officials said Tuesday.

Emergency response teams made 100 rescues overnight of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or in inundated homes in the Sydney area, State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan said.

More than 30,000 residents of Sydney and its surrounds have been told to evacuate or prepare to abandon their homes Monday as Australia's largest city faces its fourth and possibly worst round of flooding in 18 months.

Torrential rain since Friday caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks, bringing another flood emergency for the city of 5 million people.

Global stock markets and Wall Street futures advanced yesterday after the downturn in China's service industries eased and news reports said the Biden administration might lift U.S. tariffs on some Chinese imports.

London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices gained to stay close to $120 per barrel.

The woman lives in Sydney

A British family of five was caught in a landslide while walking in Australia's Blue Mountains, and the father and 9-year-old son died. The mother and their teenage son were critically injured.

The landslide on a walking path at Wentworth Pass, a popular tourist destination in the mountains west of Sydney, was reported to emergency services about 1.40 p.m. Monday.

Oil prices have surpassed 0 per barrel, and stock prices around the world have collapsed after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a "military operation" in Ukraine with a hint of a bigger war.

Exchanges have collapsed since earlier this week after the Kremlin recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Monday night and later sent "peacekeepers" to them.

One of the largest opals in the world was sold for $125,000 at auction in Alaska on Feb. 20.

The opal, dubbed the "Americus Australis," weighs more than 11,800 carats and is one of the largest gem-quality opals in existence, according to the auction house Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals. It also has a long history.

International tourists and business travelers began arriving in Australia with few restrictions on Monday, bringing together families in tearful reunions after separations of two years or longer forced by some of the most draconian pandemic measures of any democracy in the world.

Sydney authorities on Thursday deployed baited lines to try to catch a giant great white shark that devoured an ocean swimmer, as beach communities in Australia's largest city were rocked by the first such attack in decades.

Australian maritime experts said on Feb. 3 they believed they've found the wreck of one of the most important ships in the history of the South Pacific after it was scuttled in the U.S. more than 200 years ago.

But archaeologists in the U.S. quickly countered by saying the findings were premature and a breach of contract in their joint research.