New data released by Queensland Health shows that tens of thousands of Queensland patients in emergency care aren’t being seen within clinically recommended timeframes.

Following the release of the announcement, which stated that 27% of emergency patients weren’t being seen on time last month, Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said that that the state’s doctors and nurses were struggling to cope with the sheer escalating numbers of patients.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed suggestions US President Donald Trump froze aid to pressure him to launch a probe into Joe Biden.

Ukraine's leader said that in discussions with Trump, he repeatedly stressed the importance of US military aid to help Ukraine battle Russian-backed separatists.

The Pentagon announced plans in June to send $US250 million ($A373 million) in aid to Ukraine, but its delivery was delayed, before the phone call took place.

Bulgaria's highest court has announced it will now hear the case of Australian Jock Palfreeman a fortnight earlier than originally scheduled.

The Supreme Court of Cassation was originally due to review the 32-year old’s parole on October 23rd, but announced it was moving the case forward due to the amount of public interest in the trial, and the restrictions placed on the convicted Australian’s movements

An $870 million program offered by the Victoria State Government will upgrade the roads and fix the potholes.

1800 km of the roads will be fixed, 150,000 potholes will be repaired, and 30,000km roadside vegetation will be trimmed. Premier Daniel Andrews says the project aims to allow people get home safer and sooner.

Aside from fixing the roads, the government also wants to commit on rail investment, especially for the Metro 2 tunnel project which will run from Clifton to Fisherman Bend and Newport.

Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide are expecting an early summer, with warm weather predicted across Australia’s south-east coast.

A hot air mass from Western Australia is moving across South Australia and Victoria on Wednesday and Thursday, and expected to hit New South Wales on the weekend.

Adelaide is expected to hit 33 degrees on Saturday.

Several letterboxes on the Sunshine Coast have been filled with cheaply-made explosives, causing major damage and prompting a police that residents are at risk of injury. 

With dozens of letterboxes being destroyed across the region, officers said they believe young people are responsible for the destruction, with the explosions commencing at the start of the school holidays.

Inspector Mark Cordwell said the letterbox bombings pose a risk not just to residents and neighbours, but also to those making the explosive, as well as causing major damage to property.

Severe thunderstorms north of Brisbane in the early hours of yesterday morning flooded homes and businesses, and brought more than 100 millimetres of rain in parts of Moreton Bay and the Sunshine Coast..

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe storm warning just after midnight on Monday, after the storms developed along a trough that moved gradually north of Brisbane.

US Republican congressman Chris Collins, has resigned ahead of his expected guilty plea in a criminal insider trading case on Monday.

The criminal case is related to Australian biotechnology company Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd, a company for which Chris Collins sat on the board and held a 16.8% stake.

Mr Collins is scheduled to appear in the Manhattan Federal Court to enter his guilty plea, along with his son Cameron Collins, and another man Stephen Zarsky who will also plead guilty, court records show.

Iranian courts have sentenced one person to death for spying for the CIA, jailed two others for 10 years for the same crime, and have imprisoned a fourth person for 10 years for spying for Britain.

The verdicts come amid spiralling tensions between Tehran and the United States since President Donald Trump last year withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy in order to force Tehran to renegotiate the pact.