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.

New statistics from the Suburban Alliance by the Urban Economics indicate that 86 per cent of jobs in the south-east are located outside of Brisbane city, with a key growth in jobs in the health and aged care sector.

Data indicated that the CBD hosts 8 per cent of the jobs in south-east Queensland, with approximately nine out of 10 jobs found outside of that area from a period between 2006 and 2016. 

The bushfires that are continuing to burn throughout the South East have been raising air pollution levels and triggering severe asthma for those who suffer from the condition. 

Nebulisers have been in short supply with pharmacies throughout the region selling out leaving sufferers searching for relief. 

Air pollution levels in some parts of Brisbane last week have been on par with that in Beijing and worse than in Mumbai. 

75 bushfires continue to burn across the state. 

With Foodbank's 2019 Hunger Report indicating that regional and remote food insecurity has risen in Australia by 6.5 per cent in the last year, drought in these regions is furthering this phenomenon and causing the demand for food relief to escalate. 

Foodbank Australia CEO Brianna Casey explained that a large number of drought-affected regions are also some of the regions that supply the best farming and cropping areas.

An Australian MP has ruled out ever repenting for being critical of the Chinese government's human rights abuses against Uighurs in Xinjiang province.  

Andrew Hastie was planning to travel to China with a number of other MPs in December however was informed on Friday that his visa had been denied.

A Chinese Embassy spokesperson called on Mr Hastie to "genuinely repent and redress his mistakes" however Mr Hastie has refused saying he was standing up for Australia’s sovereignty and for those who can't speak for themselves. 

Australian university students have been urged to leave Hong Kong as militant students clash with police during major protests in the city.

The Umbrella Movement that has brought Hong Kong to a standstill is in its fifth month and shows no sign of slowing down.

In fact, violence is escalating as protesters have turned the campus of Hong Kong’s Chinese University into a fortress stockpiled with petrol bombs and bows and arrows.