Twitter will ban all political advertising internationally as social media firms are being criticised ahead of the US 2020 elections.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey believes that the reach of a political message should be earned not bought.

"While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics," Mr Dorsey tweeted.

The Institute of Company Directors shows the number of women on boards of Australia’s top companies has stalled and may be in danger of tumbling.

The rate at which women are appointed to boards has decreased from 45% of the available seats to 31.7% since December last year.

There are no women on the boards of seven top 200 companies, including telco and takeover target TPG.

The ACID chief executive, Angus Armour says he was surprised and disappointed about the results, claiming it was the worst drop since 2015. 

Taxpayer spending on climate programs will need to be dramatically increased if the federal government does not introduce new policies, warns farming, industry and investor groups. 

Emissions Reduction Minister, Angus Taylor, received a joint letter by 10 business groups, stating the government will either need to back new policies that drive private-sector action or boost taxpayer funding now and into the future.

Residents of drought-stricken parts of southern Queensland are being warned of the increasing number of people affected by Q fever, a nasty bacterial infection spread from animals. 

University of New England Institute of Healthcare Research director Frances Quirk says prolonged drought conditions have seen the disease pop up in new areas.

A company working on the Shell-owned Queensland Gas Corporation project have told job applicants they will need to complete a blood test before being offered jobs. 

The tests will check if applicants are at risk of heart attacks, high cholesterol and other conditions, and employees must sign a waiver to release their medical records to overseas companies that do not comply with Australia’s privacy laws. 

The curator of the Historic Royal Palaces has announced archaeologists have found complete 500-year-old skeletons of a woman and child underneath the Tower of London's chapel.

The Royal Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula is known as the burial place for many famous prisoners, including three queens of England.

Combining documented evidence, Historic Buildings Curator Alfred Hawkins, deduced that the two skeletons were buried on the floor of Edward I's lost chapel which burnt down in 1513.

Police have arrested a man allegedly accused of smuggling two rare lizards in rice cookers in the mail from Melbourne to Hong Kong.

The package was stopped at Melbourne Airport in January and discovered to contain an albino blue tongue and a shingleback lizard which were taped, stuffed in a sock and put in the bottom of a rice cooker.

The man is now under an ongoing investigation of an illegal wildlife smuggling ring.

Five men have been taken to hospital after a B-double truck crashed into three cars and caught fire at a roadworks site on the M1 on the NSW Central Coast this morning. 

Chief Inspector Cole Lott from Tuggara Lakes Police District said the men were "very lucky" not to be more seriously injured, with the driver only sustaining a minor injury to his shoulder after being ejected from the vehicle.

The driver will undergo mandatory testing, while four road workers were also treated for shock after the accident.