The French government wants to extend a ban on supermarkets throwing away unsold food to include non-food items such as clothing, electronics, plastics, and other products.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, says supermarket chains would have to hand unsold products to charities or ensure they are recycled.  

Almost $1 billion worth of unsold non-food items are currently thrown away or destroyed every year in France and Mr Philippe says the laws would prevent the waste of products and objects that are in perfectly good condition.
 

The state government is urging residents in south-east Queensland to be aware of fire safety risks, after firefighters attended 520 house fires across the state last winter.

The south-east accounted for almost two thirds of house fires in Queensland last year, with almost 300 fires occurring in Brisbane, Logan and the Gold Coast.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll says residents should check their heating devices, practice caution when cooking and develop a fire escape plan.

Architect Anthony Clarke says a well-thought out and researched house design could provide significant benefits to clients living with chronic conditions.

Mr Clarke established his own practice, BLOXAS, in 2010, which focuses on empathetic and experimental architecture.

Mr Clarke says this venture began with a family who asked for a space suitable for their autistic son, and since then he has designed homes for people living with trauma, dementia and other conditions.

A 93 year-old great grandmother could be deported after living in Australia for 11 years.

Mollie Manley, originally from Somerset in England, has failed Australia’s permanent visa requirements on health grounds following a recent potentially fatal health scare, and may have to return to the UK where she has no remaining relatives.

A push to re-word Australia’s national anthem has gathered support from a Liberal MP following Indigenous Rugby League players’ plan not to sing the anthem ahead of tonight's State of Origin Match.

The rugby league stars claim the line “young and free” ignores Australia’s 60,000 year indigenous history.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly suggests many Australians would support a minor change to the lyrics suggesting replacing the word “young” with “strong” could solve the problem.

Forensic analyses of fingerprints on 11th-century pottery have provided physical evidence showing both males and females were involved in pottery production in an ancient New Mexico society.

Before this discovery, which was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, there had been an understanding that pottery production had been exclusively handled by women in the village of Ancestral Puebloans.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte claims he “cured” himself of homosexuality with the help of “beautiful women” in a speech at a Filipino community event in Tokyo.

President Duterte also appeared to try to insult opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes, a prominent critic of Mr. Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown, by saying the lawmaker is gay.

Filipino gay rights activist Rhadem Camlian Morados says Mr Duterte often uses homesexuality as an insult and has condemned the President’s statements as counterproductive and demeaning.

The Brisbane City Council has been urged to discontinue using weed killers containing the chemical glyphosate, after it has been linked to causing cancer in multiple court cases.

Deputy opposition leader Jared Cassidy moved an unsuccessful urgency motion calling on the LNP administration to stop using such herbicides for the benefit of staff and the community.