Companies mining coal in Queensland have been asked to pour $70 million of their profits back into regional towns where they operate in return for a freeze on royalty increases.

The state government will pitch in $30 million and wants coal companies to add another $70 million, on top of contributions.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said "we want to set up a fund that will go to assist regional communities to deliver on infrastructure they have been which they have been  crying out for for a while now."

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller said his investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election was never going to end

Special Counsel Robert Mueller denied on Wednesday that his investigation of Russian election meddling had exonerated Donald Trump of obstruction of justice.

That oblique conclusion confused the public when the summary findings of the 448-page report were first released in March, allowing Trump to declare full exoneration.

US Navy pilots have reported seeing a series of unknown objects with no visible engine that are able to reach hypersonic speeds.

Navy pilots reported to their superiors that the objects had no visible engine or infrared exhaust fumes but  and that they could reach 30,000 feet at hypersonic speeds.

The strange objects, one of them like a spinning top moving against the wind, also appeared almost daily from the summer of 2014 to March 2015.

Former prime minister,Kevin Rudd has suggest Queensland was solely responsible for Labor's federal election loss.

Mr Rudd said at a national level, Labor needed to focus on two fundamental propositions in order to win government.

One was fairness for working families and aspirational Australians, and the other was carving out a future for the country and the community.

Noongar man Ken Wyatt has made history by being the first Aboriginal person to be sworn in as minister for Indigenous Australians.

Mr Wyatt, the member for the Western Australian seat of Hasluck,received a large applause as he was sworn in on Wednesday.

Mr Wyatt was also the first cabinet minister to wear a kangaroo skin to a function in the Governor-General's official Canberra residence.

A ban on townhouses and apartment blocks in Brisbane’s  suburbs could come into effect before the end of the financial year.

In September last year, the council requested state government's approval to amend the council’s City Plan.

The plan prevent apartment blocks and townhouses from being built on blocks larger than 3000 square metres in low-density residential zoned suburbs.

Approximately 500 students at the University of Queensland voted 'No' to the private humanities degree being offered to the university by the conservative Ramsay Centre.

They also voted loudly for students to retain ownership and management of the replacement theatre if the Schonell Theatre is demolished.

The UQ Senate proposed last year to demolish the theatre, and build a new student union hub and add the Ramsey Centre for Western Civilization degree to the university's program.

Sixteen people have been charged for the murder of a teenage girl in Bangladesh.

Nusrat Jahan Rafi died days after being burned alive on the roof of her school after reporting being sexual harassed on the 6th of April.

Prime Minister Sheik Hasina says every person involved in the killing will be brought to justice.

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