Two pro-democracy politicians have been arrested by Hong Kong police for their involvement in last year’s protests.

Lam Cheuk-ting and Ted Hui are among 16 people detained following early morning police raids on their homes.

Lawyer and fellow party member James To called the arrests, 'out and out political persecution.'

Texas and Louisiana residents are bracing for disaster as Hurricane Laura strengthened to a category four storm overnight.

620,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders with the storm currently 320 kilometres south-east of Port Arthur, Texas.

Parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee has recommended multiple changes to press freedom laws.

An inquiry concluded that search warrants for journalists should only be issued by senior judges and showed concern documents were being classified at higher security levels than necessary.

The inquiry came after Federal Police raided the Canberra home of a News Corp journalist and ABC headquarters in Sydney last year.

Community service workers are warning of severe consequences if the governments planned cuts to JobSeeker go ahead.

A survey conducted across a range of social services by the University of New South Wales, found more than 80 per cent of workers said the increased payments were a huge benefit to the people they helped.

The owner of Brisbane’s iconic Lamb house has been handed a three-month deadline to pay all overdue rates on the property or see it go to auction.

Joy Lamb owes over $321,000 on the Kangaroo Point home which has belonged to her family since its construction in 1901.

The Brisbane City Council has expressed interest in purchasing the heritage-listed property, as concern grows for the home’s survival.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed a second new case of Coronavirus in Queensland this morning.

A Cairns resident who recently returned from Papua New Guinea has tested positive for the virus and is currently in hotel quarantine.

The new case is Queensland’s second in 24 hours, after at trainer from the Queensland Corrective Services Academy returned a positive test yesterday afternoon.

At least 70 people have died and dozens injured following flash flooding in the province of Parwan in Northern Afghanistan on Wednesday morning.

A statement from the Presidential palace says that urgent emergency assistance has been requested for the city of Charikar by Afghan President Ashgraf Ghani.

Provincial spokeswoman Waheeda Shakar says that many of the victims are women and children, and that the death toll is expected to rise. 

Kim Jong-Un has made an appearance at a party meeting on Tuesday amid global speculation regarding his health.

The North Korean leader announced that the countries’ authorities should prepare for the threat of the coronavirus pandemic as well as a possible incoming typhoon.

Though a suspected case of the virus has been reported near the border of North Korea and South Korea, no positive cases of COVID-19  have been confirmed.