Shanghai enacted strict green policies on Monday limiting disposable takeaway utensils and hotel room essentials, as it rolls out a recycling overhaul to become a leader in clean technology.

The latest report by the UN's renewable energy advisory body, REN21, shows China led renewable energy investment worldwide for the seventh successive year, contributing to almost a third of global investment in renewables in 2018 at $130.2 billion. 

Security forces in Myanmar are committing human rights violations which may amount to war crimes amid ongoing conflict in western parts of the country, according to a UN human rights expert.

Government troops are currently fighting ethnic rebels in the conflict-torn states of Rakhine and Chin and officials have shut down access to the internet and telecommunications in the area since June 22nd. 

Queensland Teachers Union delegates are voting this morning on whether to accept a proposed three-year pay and allowances deal offered by Education Queensland on Monday. 

The new enterprise bargaining agreement offers a 2.5 per cent wage increase, plus a suite of allowances and claims for teachers, costing the Queensland government more than $1 billion over three years if accepted.

Infrastructure Australia has announced $2 billion worth of funding for planned upgrades to the Bruce Highway, south of Cairns, and the M1 Pacific Motorway.

The upgrades to the M1 include widening of an 8.5 kilometre stretch between Eight Mile Plains and Daisy Hill and an extension of the South East Busway to the Springwood bus station, providing capacity for 50,000 extra daily trips by 2041. . 

Labor will move to establish a parliamentary committee to examine press freedom in Australia, following AFP raids on a NewsCorp journalist and the ABC. 

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally will move a motion in the senate on Thursday to establish the Joint Select Committee into the Public's Right to Know and Press Freedom, which would also examine whistleblower protections and the independence of the AFP. 

The liquefied natural gas industry will play at least as big a role as new coal investments in bringing on a climate crisis if all planned projects go ahead, according to US-based energy analysts and campaigners.

CoalSwarm executive director Ted Nace says most of the projects are in the pre-construction stage so there is still time for a moratorium on LNG infrastructure before we lock ourselves into even more irreversible climate  damage. 

Chinese border police are reportedly installing surveillance applications on the phones of visitors and downloading personal information as part of the government’s scrutiny of the Xinjiang region. 

Analysis by the Guardian, academics and cybersecurity experts suggests the app, designed by a Chinese company, searches Android phones against a list of content authorities view as problematic. 

Two women have been nominated to serve in high profile European Union positions for the first time after three days of negotiations by European leaders. 

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has been nominated as the next president of the European Commission, whilst Frenchwoman Christine Lagarde has been proposed as president of the European Central Bank.