The withdrawal of US troops from northeast Syria has caused panic and confusion among the 66 Australian women and children who are stuck in refugee camps in the region.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds confirmed that the Australian government is in no rush to bring them back, telling reporters on Tuesday that they “will not be endangering the lives of other Australians.”

The White House has slammed the door in a letter on Tuesday on any cooperation by President Donald Trump's administration with the Democrats' impeachment probe, calling it "constitutionally invalid."

The eight page letter to Democratic leaders, rejected the entire process underway in the House of Representatives, which is examining whether Trump abused his office by seeking a corruption probe in Ukraine of 2020 election rival Joe Biden.

A whistleblower and an academic have said pressure from the Australian government’s top cyber security agency led to their speeches being cancelled at a conference in Melbourne.

Former NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, and Melbourne University academic Dr Suelette Dreyfus were both due to speak at the Australian Cyber Conference in Melbourne this week, but were told by officials that their speeches had been cancelled.

The Morrison government has defended Newstart allowance as affordable and well targeted, as it faces criticism sparked by research showing it is one of the lowest unemployment benefit schemes in the developed world.

Analysis provided by the Australia Institute said Newstart was also the third-lowest unemployment benefit in the OECD for a newly unemployed minimum wage worker. 

A home in Laidley, west of Brisbane has been destroyed by flames due to the hot and windy weather in Lockyer Valley, which reached 41 degrees on Tuesday as westerly winds fuelled the bushfire.

The fire flared shortly before 3:00pm on Tuesday, with authorities quickly issuing an emergency warning for residents to seek shelter.

A cashless welfare card trial that restricts people’s spending on gambling and alcohol has made the Bundaberg-Hervey Bay community in Queensland feel humiliated, according to residents on the scheme

There are 6000 people on the card trial in the area and 80% of their spending is scrutinized in the scheme.

Despite the inconvenience to residents, the president of the Burrum District Community Centre, Fay Whiffen, says the scheme has proved useful in helping people control their budgets.

A University of Melbourne academic is allegedly being held against her will in Iran, according to a report released by the ABC last night.

Meimanat Hosseini Chavoshi, a population expert at the University of Melbourne and dual Australian-Iranian citizen, was on a study tour in Tehran last year when she was arrested on charges of "social espionage" and "collaborating" with the West. 

Three scientists have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Medicine in Stockholm for discovering how the body’s cells sense and react to low oxygen levels.

Two Americans, Professor William G Kaelin Jr, Professor Gregg L Semenza, along with British Professor Sir Peter Ratcliffe will share the $1.35 million prize for their groundbreaking cellular research