Seven Australian telcos have been fined for not being up-front about how slow their internet speeds might be on the National Broadband Network.

Under rules introduced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority last year, telcos are required to publish a fact sheet with information about their NBN services, including how slow it might be during peak times, and they are ordered to ‘line test’ new services.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has ramped up the pressure on websites spreading "evil" hate messages after more than 20 people were killed in a suspected terrorist attack in the US.

Mr Dutton said many online media companies were operating out of Russia or other countries where the rule of law does not apply in the same way as western democracies.

He said the depth of hatred was damaging children and being proliferated through online media, which operates on different rules to traditional platforms.

Hong Kong students and emigrants in Taiwan have been buying helmets, goggles, umbrellas, plastic wrap and band-aids in bulk and couriering them to pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

A campaign in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, saw an outpouring of help for the protesters collecting more than $1 million in cash which will be spent on buying items and paying for deliveries to Hong Kong.

Authorities in mainland China, meanwhile, have reportedly been intercepting Hong Kong-bound parcels containing similar items.

A Uighur man who was facing imminent deportation to China on Saturday has been halted by the Qatari government while lawyers attempt to find a third-party country to accept him.

53-year-old Abulikemu Yusufu was returned to Doha’s Hamad International Airport after trying to enter Europe via Bosnia in late July, and was told he would be deported to China.

The Queensland government has revealed plans to make the night of Christmas Eve a public holiday after 6pm to ensure people who work that night receive a pay loading on their standard wage.

If the changes are adopted, a hospitality industry employee working on Christmas Eve night would receive about $146 more in their pay.

The government will also have to pay up to $21 million for nurses, police officers and other government workers under the changes.

Brisbane Developers will be offered the incentive of reduced infrastructure fees to build homes that meet safer ‘universal building standards’ for older residents and people with disabilities.

The concept was first announced in the Brisbane City Council budget in June, with $2 million set aside to offset the reduced developers’ infrastructure charges.

Under the scheme, a developer can apply for a reduction of up to five thousand dollars if they build homes that meet the Liveable Housing Design Guidelines for people with disabilities.

The Uniting Church has broken ranks and declared its support for decriminalising abortion in NSW saying the church should “offer care” and not “stand in judgement".

Senior Sydney Catholic and Anglican clerics came out against decriminalisation, with St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral’s dean Reverend Don Richardson using Sunday Mass to declare the bill “another attack on the conscience rights of Catholics".

The bill to decriminalise abortion was introduced to the New south Wales parliament last week, the last Australian state to do so, and is currently being debated.

A migration requirement that has resulted in more than 15 people with disabilities or illnesses having their Australian visa application rejected each year has been quietly relaxed by the government after decades of campaigning. 

The government’s immigration health requirement prevents any migrant with an illness, disease or intellectual or physical disability from obtaining a visa if it is deemed their condition will be too costly to the Australian taxpayer or put the general public at risk.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in the Siberian Krasnoyarsk region after a massive explosion injured at least eight people and led to the evacuation of thousands yesterday.

Russia’s Defence Ministry says a fire triggered the explosion at a storage facility for gunpowder charges near the city of Achinsk.

Regional Governor Alexander Uss says 6,000 residents in the town of Achinsk have been evacuated, as well as towns and villages within a 20 kilometre radius of the depot.