Celebrities boycott hotels amidst new Brunei LGBT laws

Several celebrities are boycotting hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei amidst news of Brunei’s laws to stone LGBT citizens to death.

Royal on the Park Hotel, in Brisbane’s CBD, has now been added to the list of hotels owned by the Brunei government.

Boycott Brunei in Australia rally co-organiser Peter Hackney says they want to show that "there is no market for bigotry in Brisbane.”

Queensland university partners with GARSP to take on drug-resistant infections

The University of Queensland is joining forces with the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) to tackle the rising concern of drug-resistant infections.

Dr Mark Blaskovich from UQ’s Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD) says about 700,000 people die of drug-resistant infections every year. “ With CO-ADD at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience identifying more than 1500 potential new antibiotics since its launch in 2015.”

Female of rare tutle species dies

The last known female of one of the world's rarest turtle species has died.

The turtle lived in the Suzhou zoo in Southern China and was one of only four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known to exist in the world.

The female turtle was over 90 years old and had undergone a fifth attempt at artificial insemination shortly before she died.

World's longest plane takes off

The world's longest wing-spanned plane has taken its maiden voyage over California's Mojave Desert.

Built by Stratolaunch Systems, the plane features six-engines and is designed to carry as many as three satellite-laden rockets under the centre of its 117m wing.

The behemoth, twin-fuselage Stratolaunch jet took off from Mojave Air and Spaceport and flew for two and a half hours, reaching a maximum speed of 304 kilometres per hour and altitudes of 17, 000 feet.

Wombats revealed to have three subspecies

Which wombat is which?

Researchers from the University of Tasmania have revealed the common wombat actually has three subspecies.

While the three subspecies look vaguely similar, they are genetically distinct; with the Bass Strait Island wombat being the smallest with the lightest fur and the Mainland Australian species being the largest.

It is hoped further research into the marsupials' genetic structures would help conserve the species and national treasure.

Food truck invigorates refugee community

A refugee-run food truck is serving up Iraqi comfort food and dishing out employment skills for refugees.

After struggling to find work after moving to Australia eight years ago, Fadhaa Al-Khalidi reached out to the Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees (CARAD) who helped her set up the "Fare Go Food Truck".

The truck takes on refugees struggling to break into the employment market and provides them with the skills, confidence, and experience they need to transition from the truck into the wider workforce in Australia.

Brisbane Indigenous cultural markets set to sell-on until 2021

Brisbane's largest Indigenous cultural markets are set to sell-on until 2021, following a support pledge by the Queensland Government.

Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones says the Meeanjin Markets, first held during the 2018 Commonwealth Games "created more opportunities to share Queensland's unique Indigenous cultures with the world," and the investment is to ensure the market's "legacy lives on."

The markets will be held biannually at Reddacliffe Place until 2021 with the stalls being set up next on May 31st.

Queensland Government launches safety campaign ahead of Easter weekend

The Queensland Government is launching a world-first road safety campaign encouraging drivers to "drive smarter, not faster" ahead of the Easter long weekend.

The Palaszczuk Government worked with behavioural neuroscientists to devise eight simple exercises to help Queenslanders stop speeding or being distracted and focus on their driving.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey says he "encourage[s] all Queenslanders to visit the Street Smarts website and try the experiments to see which ones work [for them]."