Chinese president Xi Jinping expressed a strong threat against dissenting Hong Kong  protestors,  at a press conference in Nepal on Sunday.

This comes after violence has continued to escalate in Hong Kong, with a police officer taken to hospital  after his neck was slashed and other authorities struggling to restore order on Sunday night.

The Chinese president has claimed that independence advocates would be 'crushed', stating that any external forces backing attempts to divide China would be merely supporting a 'pipe dream'.
 

In a joint declaration, scientists from 20 countries have broken with the caution traditionally associated with academia to side with peaceful protesters.

Almost 400 scientists have endorsed a civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing governments to take rapid action to tackle climate change, warning that failure could inflict "incalculable human suffering."

Attorney-General Christian Porter expects to introduce new religious freedom laws to parliament by the end of this year.

Religious freedom laws will be introduced to federal parliament by the end of this year, but are unlikely to take effect for at least a few months.

Attorney-General Christian Porter expects to introduce the bill and kick off the debate before Christmas, but anticipates the legislation will be scrutinised through a "heavy and contested" committee inquiry.

Following the decision last week by the US Customs and Border Protection Department to block the import of suspected forced labour goods , human rights activists in Australia are urging the government to follow suit.

An Australian Border Force spokesman stated that the Federal Government is not considering these restrictions, as he noted that recent laws in Australia were sufficient in reducing modern slavery.

The laws require companies with an annual consolidated revenue of over $100 million to report on annual risks of exploitation in their supply chains.

Last Wednesday, police took a man into custody after he chained himself to train tracks in Brisbane's inner suburbs as part of Extinction Rebellion protests.

The arrest is just one of many expected with activists out in force again after similar chaos across major cities.

With close to 100 people being arrested last week in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne police are warning that any unreasonable disruption to transport, roads and members of the public would not be tolerated.
 

American gymnast Simone Biles has won gold in the balance beam and the floor exercise at the world championships, taking her career medals to 25.

Simone Biles has broken the all-time record for most medals by any gymnast at the world championships by winning the balance beam and floor exercise.

The American won her 24th medal on the beam in Stuttgart on Sunday, breaking a tie on 23 with the Belarusian men's gymnast, and added her 25th less than two hours later.

Poland's conservative ruling party Law and Justice won the most votes in a general election held Sunday in the deeply divided nation and appeared, according to an exit poll, to have secured a comfortable majority in the parliament to govern for four more years.

The exit poll, projected that Law and Justice won 43.6 per cent of the votes. 

The poll said that a centrist pro-European Union umbrella group, Civic Coalition, would come in second with 27.4 per cent. The biggest party in the coalition is Civic Platform, which governed Poland from 2007-2015.
 

From November 1st , Medicare will raise the rebate for heart health checks to 100 per cent, meaning more than 1.5 million Australians at risk of heart attack or stroke will have free access to GP-administered heart health checks.

This follows the February Heart Foundation and News Corp Australia’s award-winning Serial Killer campaign, which saw the Federal Government introduce the new Medicare rebate at 85 per cent, for the nation’s first heart health screening program.

A new report by the Grattan Institute is calling for all major cities in Australia to impose a congestion charge on drivers during peak hours to ease heavy traffic in the CBD.

Lead author and the institute's transport program director, Marion Terrill, said new technology meant the charge was the easiest, cheapest and most effective way to reduce congestion in cities. 

The idea behind the charge is that it would encourage people to catch public transport, walk, or ride their bike instead of facing a heavy fee for driving on heavily congested roads.