A supercell hailstorm that pelted the Sunshine Coast on Sunday afternoon has destroyed crops on several farms in the area.

Millions of dollars worth of damage has been done to lychees, avocados, macadamias, pumpkin and custard apples by the 20-minute long hailstorm.

Ryan Martin, who works on his family’s fruit farm, says “We were hoping to get around 20-25 tonnes worth of lychees, and obviously not now — I reckon we'll be lucky to be pushing five tonnes”.

The roof of Currimundi Woolworths on the Sunshine Coast gave way to gushing water during severe thunder and hail storms on Sunday afternoon.

As locals ran for cover inside the supermarket, cricket ball sized hail was seen to fall- with staff rushing to protect stock and the registers as the storm lasted 30 minutes. 

Bureau of Meteorologist forecaster Rosa Hoff states that the storms were predicted to not bring much rain or bushfire relief- the Sunshine Coast being an exception with 35mm of potential rainfall.

Local Queensland cricket clubs are coming up with new ways to attract kids into the game as parents become more time poor and increasingly sun-conscious. 

Clubs are installing new infrastructure needed to play games and train at night, instead of the traditional Saturday morning.  

Queensland Cricket’s general manager of community cricket, John Stock, says it is important to adapt to the needs of kids and parents.  

Stock says in Queensland the heat and weather are big factors, so night cricket helps grow the game.

With 106 South Australians passing away this year due to influenza, the State Government is implementing changes to the law that will allow children as young as 10 years old, to receive a flu jab at the pharmacy.

At present, children must be at least 16 to not receive a vaccination at the doctor, with Health Minister Stephen Wade believing that lowering this required age would increase the number of vaccinated children in Australia. 

Australian politicians have expressed grave concerns over the details of a New York Times exposé on the Chinese crackdown on ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.

More than 400 pages of leaked internal Chinese Communist Party documents revealed President Xi Jingping’s decree for “absolutely no mercy”.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne labelled the New York Times reports “disturbing” saying they reinforced Australia’s resolve to raise their human rights concerns with Beijing. 

A new law in Germany will include tax breaks for train tickets and tax increases to be levied on the price of airline tickets — in an attempt to make it more attractive for people to choose trains, which emit lower levels of carbon dioxide, over higher-emitting planes.

Germany enshrined its fight against climate change into law on Friday in a bid to meet its targets under the Paris Agreement, approving a raft of measures including a $60 billion spending package, a fee system for carbon emissions and taxes to make flying more expensive.

The US says it has postponed a joint-military exercise with South Korea in an “act of goodwill” towards North Korea.  

The U.S. military for years has called its joint military exercises with South Korea an important for keeping troops and commanders ready for combat on short notice, but President Trump has called them a waste of money and a provocation to the North.