China has issued a warning to Hong Kong's protesters, saying their attempts "to play with fire will only backfire".

Hong Kong has experienced nine weeks of anti-government protests over a proposed bill that would allow suspected criminals to stand trial in China, and demonstrations have frequently ended in violent clashes with police. 

A spokesman for China's top policy office on Hong Kong told protesters not to "underestimate the firm resolve [of] the central government".
 

Queensland is leading the nation in the uptake of new solar panels, with 25 Queensland suburbs and towns now recording at least 50 per cent of households with rooftop solar. 

The report from the Climate Council showed Moreton Bay and Logan City Council areas were leading the way, with the Moreton Bay suburb of Elimbah recording 70 per cent of households with rooftop solar while the Logan suburb of Jimboomba recorded 60 per cent. 

Landowners in Victoria will have to pay for a multimillion dollar clean-up after the discovery of tens of thousands of tonnes of previously unknown recycling stockpiled at sites rented by failed recycling company SKM.

After fires at its facilities and environmental sanctions, SKM last month told 30 local councils it could no longer accept their recycling and are now unable to clean up the waste sitting in these storage units. 

Former US Vice-President Joe Biden and Democrat most likely to take on Donald Trump in 2020 has backed an Australian style gun buyback program following America’s recent mass shootings.

Following this weekend’s shootings that killed 22 in El Paso’s and nine in Dayton, Ohio, Biden told CNN to reduce the huge number of assault weapons in circulation he would “institute a national buyback program.”

Universities will have to demonstrate success across four new performance measures to unlock funding increases from 2020 as the government lifts a two-year freeze on support for undergraduate places.

Under a new funding scheme to be introduced by the Morrison government, universities will be measured for how well they perform in graduate employment outcomes, student success, student experience and enrolment of Indigenous, disadvantaged and rural students.

The state government has announced a $351 million contribution for stage 3A of the Gold Coast light rail, with work expected to begin next year if further funding can be agreed with the federal government.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expected to meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday to request the federal government increase their investment from $112 million to $269 million. 

Prosecutors in Russia are seeking to strip a couple of parental rights after they took their one-year-old son to an unsanctioned opposition protest.

The Moscow city prosecutor’s office says during a July 27 rally against the exclusion of opposition candidates in Moscow city elections, the parents handed their young child to a third person, potentially endangering the boy’s health and life. 

Venezuela and Uruguay have issued a travel warning to their citizens about the United States following two mass shootings over the weekend that killed 31 people. 

The alert noted factors such as the “indiscriminate possession of firearms by the population” among reasons travelers need to be particularly wary of high populated areas or events while in the states. 

The Red Cross blood service is calling on people with the rare O-negative blood type to donate after reserves reached their lowest point this year. 

Red Cross spokeswoman Helen Walsh says many regular donors are still recovering from the cold and flu, causing O-negative reserves to fall to less than two days’ supply. 

Over the next fortnight the blood service is calling on 5000 people to donate to meet hospital demand, and people with O-negative blood are asked to encourage family and friends to donate alongside them.