Thousands of Samsung washing machines have been recalled after a machine caught alight in a Perth home last week.

Affected units have an internal fault where condensation is able to meet electrical connectors and spark a fire.

More than 6600 machines remain in the homes of Western Australia residents, and are now considered a serious threat.

Doctors might soon be prevented from prescribing repeats of certain antibiotics in an attempt to reduce the spread of superbugs.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee is worried automatic repeats allow common infections to build a resistance to bacteria. 

New changes mean repeat prescriptions will no longer be subsidised on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

The world’s second deadliest fungus has been found in the rainforests of Cairns in far north Queensland, but scientists are baffled by its appearance.

The discovery was made by Ray Palmer, a photographer and “fungi fanatic”, and the Australian Tropical Herbarium has confirmed the species.

Poison fire coral is usually only found in Japan and Korea; it is poisonous to touch and fatal to ingest.

Ipswich Libraries opened a self-service library pod at Karalee Shopping Village last week in an Australian public library first.

The pod allows members to use a mobile phone or library card to browse, borrow and return a collection of popular and trending books.

Community, Cultural and Economic Development Department general manager Ben Pole says “the Library Pod is a new direction for Ipswich Libraries as we continue our goal to bring more of our curated collections to more of the community”.

Facebook has removed hundreds of fake accounts, groups, pages and Instagram profiles to engage in so-called "coordinated inauthentic behaviour.”

The company said in a statement that it deleted 443 Facebook accounts and 125 Instagram accounts in Indonesia, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.

Nathaniel Gleicher, head of Facebook's cybersecurity policy, said that the "account network" was created "to mislead others about their identity and what they are doing.”

On Sunday, Chinese soldiers warned Hong Kong demonstrators that the protesters had direct contact with the mainland military for the first time in four months of anti-government demonstrations, firing lasers at military camps in the city.

The confrontation with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) ended with violent clashes at several locations after the rally of tens of thousands of protesters took place earlier on Sunday.

The police fired tear gas and crowded the crowd with batons, and some demonstrators threw bricks and petrol bombs at the police at night.

Another Queensland dairy farmer has sent his cows to the meatworks, saying that it would not have happened if major supermarkets had passed on the price increase to farmers.

Facing drought and growing costs, the Priebbenow family was finally forced to sell their herd due to the supermarkets’ price increase.

A report has found that non-lethal shark relocation devices that catch and release the animals elsewhere would not work on the Great Barrier Reef.

SMART Drumlines, trialled in New South Wales and Western Australia, would not work, as intended release points include offshore areas such as islands and coral reefs that are frequented by swimmers.

The report into Queensland's shark control program is part of $1 million in annual government funding to trial alternative shark safety measures.