More than 500 workers at Blacktown City Council in Sydney have stopped work and have begun to strike after union officials claimed they were told that if they refused to use weedkiller they would be forced out of their jobs.

More than 10,000 bins were left uncollected yesterday and workers are meeting this morning to decide whether to continue the strike. 

Eight former Logan councillors have lost their appeal to delay a civil case while they face criminal charges over their alleged plot to sack their chief executive.

Former CEO Sharon Kelsey is suing the group after she was let go in February last year and the councillors are also facing criminal charges over the same allegations.

Potentially deadly combustible cladding will be banned from all new Queensland buildings.

The combustible cladding ban includes all aluminium composite panels with a polyethylene core of more than 30 per cent and will restrict usage across all buildings in Queensland.

The ban will protect Queenslanders but Housing Minister Mick de Brenni is calling on the federal government to protect all Australians by introducing an importation ban on all aluminium composite panels with a PE core.

An air strike has hit a detention centre for migrants in the Lybian capital,Tripoli, killing at least 40 people and wounding 80 others.

The centre which held migrants mainly from African countries was located next to a military camp.

A Libyian National Army official denied his force had hit the detention centre, and said militias allied to Tripoli had shelled it after a precision airstrike by the LNA on  the camp.

According to the Malaysian Government, Australia's immigration policies have contributed to a rise of Malaysians rorting in  the local visa system.

Deputy Foreign Minister, Marzuki Yahya, said that Malaysians are encouraged to manipulate Australia’s visa system because they only receive ‘light punishment’ and are even given free flights home when they overstay their visa. 

Mr Yahya said Malaysians are visiting Australia on tourist visas and then getting protection visas as an excuse to stay longer in Australia before being flown home for free. 

Australian woman, Ruth McCance, has been formally identified as one of the  8 victims who has died while climbing India’s second tallest mountain, the Nanda Devi.

The 8 climbers,  four from Britain, two from the United States and one each from India and Australia went missing on the 31st of May, after they failed to return to base. 

Vijay Kumar Jogdande, an Indian district official explained,  seven dead bodies were brought from base camp to the Pithoragarh district.

One of Adelaide’s public hospitals,Modbury Hospital, is using hotel rooms instead of hospital beds for some of its patients to reduce overcrowding and to provide better care for Amputees.

Clinical Manager, Felicity Jenkinson said there was an urgent need for creative ways to offer solutions to patients and hotel room was one option.

Under the new arrangements, patients are housed in a nearby hotel’s wheelchair-accessible room with more cooking facilities than a regular hotel room.

Union representatives have agreed on a three-year pay and allowance deal for  Queensland teachers.

On Wednesday morning, the Queensland Teachers' Union endorsed the state government's wages offer for 46,000 teachers.

The deal offers a 2.5 per cent wage increase and includes a one off $1250 sign-on bonus, and a $1000 incentive for teachers beginning their career in regional Queensland. 

More than 3000 bus services, across three of Brisbane's busiest bus routes, have been at capacity and forced to skip stops in the past 12 months.

Figures released by Brisbane City Council show route 66, between the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and UQ via Woolloongabba, has been reported being too full to pick up additional passengers.

The data was only released following Transport Minister Mark Bailey's announcement this week of $1 million extension of bus routes that service University of Queensland St Lucia campus.