At least seven people have died when a tourist boat with South Korean tourists on board capsized on the Danube river in Budapest, Hungary, with several others taken to hospital.

Local media reported approximately  14 people had been lifted from the river after Wednesday night's accident, seven of them dead.

The Danube is flooding, with strong currents, and there is heavy rain in Budapest which makes rescue efforts difficult.

Israel is heading to the polls for a second time this year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to put together a ruling coalition.

In April Mr Netanyahu appeared set for a fifth term after his Likud Party won 35 of the Knesset's 120 seats, even though he faces possible indictment in three corruption cases.

But despite weeks of negotiations he failed to overcome divisions between secular and religious allies and in the early hours of Thursday, parliament voted by 74-45 to dissolve itself.

The law farm,Slater and Gordon is preparing a class action against bench-top manufacturers with an alarming number of workers developing potentially lung diseases from exposure to silica dust.

Slater and Gordon says companies that make artificial stone have failed to properly warn workers about the severe health risks their products pose and how it must be handled to avoid harm.

They are planning a national class action on behalf of affected workers, with at least 135 stonemasons diagnosed with silicosis in Victoria and Queensland alone.

Labor's Jim Chalmers is in line to become the party's next shadow treasurer when MPs meet for the first time since their federal election loss to elect a new frontbench.

The caucus gathering in Canberra on Thursday around noon will pick 30 members for the shadow ministry.

leaving incoming leader Anthony Albanese to allocate portfolios ahead of a public announcement on Sunday or Monday.

After more than 1 million rides through Brisbane streets, electric Lime scooters have been the subject of 427 complaints from residents to Brisbane City Council.

The council couldn't break down all of the complaints into particular topics other than "non-specific complaints", "safety of pedestrians" and "driver behaviour".

Nearly 80 complaints were made about pedestrian safety, and 28 about driver behaviour.

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.