Severe thunderstorms hit the New South Wales coast yesterday afternoon, delaying dozens of flights at the Sydney Airport. 

Severe lightning strikes and strong winds also meant around 37 flights were cancelled across the domestic terminal yesterday, and four international flights were delayed until this morning. 

More storms are expected this afternoon, and passengers travelling today are being warned to expect delays. 

The Australian Greens party are calling for separate glass bins in the state of Victoria, after finding more than 40 per cent of glass used by people of the state ends up in landfill due to contamination. 

Victorian Greens environment spokeswoman Ellen Sandell has spoken out, saying offering a separate bin would help reduce contamination and allow for recycling. 

“New Zealand has separate glass-only bins for people’s homes, and it’s led to a huge increase in glass being recycled,” said Ms Sandell.

$1 million is being put into a feasibility study for a water pipeline that would link Wivenhoe Dam with Warwick’s Leslie Dam as severe drought continues in South-East Queensland.

The 87km pipeline would top up the drinking water supply for people in and around Warwick, at a cost of up to $90 million.

Seqwater will lead the study and report back to the government with a preferred option around April next year. 

Scientists from five Australian universities have launched a ‘google map for sounds’ that will continuously record the calls of wildlife for five years.

Four hundred solar-powered audio recorders will be placed across 100 sites in remote parts of Australia to create a soundscape that will mark environmental changes, part of the National Acoustic Observatory Project.

The Indonesian Human Rights Commission condemned the Attorney General's Office on Monday for barring homosexual, bisexual, transgender and bisexual people from applying for positions because it does not want those so-called "sexual orientation deviations".

The AGO website lists applicants' criteria and says that they must not have "physical or mental disorders, including biases in sexual orientation and behavior."

"We just want the normal ones," said Mukri, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office.

Hundreds protested in front of the Kyrgyz government headquarters on Monday, asking authorities to follow up on media investigations into allegations of money laundering, involving $ 700 million in money laundering by former senior officials.

Kyrgyzstan is a close ally of Moscow, home of Russian military bases, and the most politically turbulent country in Central Asia. Protests turned into violent riots and overthrew two Kyrgyz presidents in 2005 and 2010.

Severe thunderstorms hit NSW last night, and firefighters are now working to determine if lightning strikes sparked more bushfires.

“Not exactly what we wanted to see,” the NSW Rural Fire Service tweeted after storms hit the city last night.

An assessment completed by RFS yesterday found that 663 homes had been destroyed so far.

There were 80 fires burning in NSW at 7pm yesterday, 50 of which were uncontained.

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston will address a major conference in Canberra today, and she is expected to discuss some of Australia’s most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges. 

Senator Ruston has resisted calls to increase the rate of Newstart, which is approximately $277 a week.

The conference has been set up by the sector’s peak body, the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS).