An emergency meeting has been called by the Queensland government for this afternoon at Parliament House to discuss immediate and long-term practices to ensure the state’s 49,000 mine and quarry workers’ health and safety is ensured.  

The meeting follows six deaths in Queensland mines and quarries in the past 12 months, two of which occurring in the past fortnight. 

The United Arab Emirates has announced it will reduce the number of its forces in Yemen as part of a ‘strategic’ redeployment, designed to support a United Nations-led peace process that began in Stockholm last December. 

The UAE will remain in the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in 2015 to restore the Yemeni government ousted by the Houthis, a rebel group backed by Iran, but the focus of its remaining forces will pivot towards counter-terrorism efforts against al-Qaida and Islamic State. 

China has demanded that the United States ‘immediately cancel’ a proposed $2.2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, including battle tanks and anti-aircraft missiles. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang says the proposed deal is a ‘crude interference’ in Chinese internal affairs and urged the US to stop military relations with Taiwan to avoid further damaging China-US relations and harming peace and stability in the region. 

The Queensland government has agreed to pay $190 million in a class action on behalf of an estimated 10,000 Indigenous workers who had their wages stolen between 1939 and 1972. 

Lead applicant Hans Pearson took the Queensland government to the Federal Court to claim wages he earned but did not receive due to the Protection Act, which mandated Indigenous workers have their pay given to the state. 

Amazon's former chief scientist, Dr Andreas Weigend, says cities that collect data from citizens must be aware of unintended bias or risk missing obvious problems.

Dr Weigend says people in poorer economic areas may not drive, and may not see potholes as a problem, or they may not be connected online and may not report them, meaning the issue is not addressed. 

Dr Weigend also says citizens should be transparent about how they use private data, and that citizens should be able to see their own data within that organisation. 
 

A measles alert in New South Wales has been issued after a man was diagnosed with the disease upon returning from Southeast Asia, in the 40th New South Wales case of the disease since Christmas.

Measles symptoms include fever, sore eyes, a cough for three or four days followed by a red, spotty rash that spreads from the head down the body.

Recent studies on Antarctic glaciers have found the region is reaching a tipping point where glacial melting will accelerate and become irreversible, even if global heating eases. 

A NASA-funded study found instability in the Thwaites glacier, part of the West Antarctic ice sheet, meant it would likely reach a point where it was impossible to stop it flowing into the sea, shedding ice faster than previously expected and triggering a 50cm sea level rise. 

MPs in Northern Ireland have voted to allow same-sex marriage and access to abortion, bringing the region’s laws into line with the rest of the UK on the two social issues. 

The changes came via amendments to a separate bill and were approved through a conscience vote, with the changes to marriage law passing by 383 votes to 73 and the extension of abortion rights passing by 332 votes to 99. 

Victoria is working to become the first Australian state or territory to undertake treaty negotiations with its Indigenous people.

The treaty aims to recognise elements of historical significance to the Indigenous people such as sacred sites and place names as well as apologies for historical wrongs and how these relationships can be managed in the future.

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Natalie Hutchins said when the process started last year that “it is a historic moment in history for our state and country.”