The 2019/20 Queensland budget will include another surplus as well as record spending on health and education.

Upgrades to the Ipswitch, Caboolture and Logan hospitals are set to feature as well as lower freight fees for northwest miners.

Treasurer Jackie Trad told the Courier Mail ‘in the face of slowing national economic conditions, we are continuing to back Queensland jobs’.

A refugee on Manus Island set himself on fire while in the East Lorengau camp on Monday.

The man was briefly hospitalised at a local clinic and treated for burned before being discharged.

It marks the latest in the rapidly rising number of self-harm attempts in the detention centre, with 70 incidents by about 50 refugees or asylum seekers since the Australia federal election.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revealed his government’s plan to ban single-use plastic as early as 2021.

The specific items to be banned will be determined by a science-based review, but the government is considering items such as water bottles, plastic bags and staws.

Trudeau says the move aims to reduce the 3 million tons of plastic waste produced by the country every year.
 

The Washington Post, The Guardian, Bloomberg and The New York Times are now blocked on China’s internet.

Censorship has increased under the backdrop of the 30 year Tiananmen Square anniversary with key words and images relating to the incident on the popular social media platform 'WeChat' being prohibited.

This move signals another shift in China’s authoritarian leadership since the pro-democracy protests in 1989.

Fortitude Valley State Secondary College will be the name of the new high school opening in Brisbane’s inner north next year.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the college will be the first high school to be built in Brisbane’s inner city in more than 50 years.

The school’s Foundation Principal Sharon Barker said they acknowledge Fortitude Valley in the school’s name because they want the community to play an important role.

Western Australians look forward to calmer weather after the third storm system in four days slams the state.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Noel Pusey says Perth beaches have been hard-hit, with noticeable erosion to the shores.

Mr Pusey said winds speed have surpassed 100 kilometres per hour, and small hail and thunderstorms are possible today.

An international team of experts have published a study about the effects of heavy internet usage on our brains.

MRI scans published in the study shows brain activity differs greatly between heavy online users and those with less usage.

Study lead author Dr Joseph Firth said the negative effects of the internet can be minimised through mindfulness and focus practices.

Eight people have been injured when a 19th-century wooden ship sank after colliding with a container vessel in northern Germany.

Fire service official Wilfried Sprekels said deaths were likely if rescue boats hadn’t already been in the area due to a nearby but unrelated accident.

The wooden ship had been recently restored at a cost of 1.5 million pounds and was only put back on water last month.

Microsoft has deleted it’s database of 10 million images used to train face-recognition programs, the Financial Times reports.

Microsoft President Brad Smith called on US politicians last year to strengthen legislation that regulates the use of recognition systems.

The database was reportedly used to train a system for police forces and the military.