Australian distilleries are challenging the London gin industry in an effort to have the best.

Local distilleries in Australia have been experimenting with their gin, creating unique blends with ingredients such as seaweed, native flowers and cheese whey.

Stuart Gregor from the Australian Distillers Association said, "in 20 years Australia may flip the whole industry on its head and could actually be the world leaders in gin production.”

Brunei is defending their Islamic laws that allow punishments including stoning for “crimes” of homosexuality and adultery.

The country has received global criticism for defending the Islamic Law and will implement Sharia laws punishing sodomy, adultery, rape and death penalty from April 3.

The Prime Minister’s office released a statement on Saturday saying the laws aim to “protect legitimate rights of all individuals, society or nationality.”

A German engineer has built Australia’s first manufactured electrical car.

Queensland start-up company ACE EV built the two-seater electric van in a warehouse south of Brisbane.

The van took three years to build and designers managed to keep costs down by manufacturing parts in China and Taiwan.

Managing director Greg McGarvie said he hopes the company can build 100 cars by the end of the year.

Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner has been picked to replace Graham Quirk as Brisbane’s Lord Mayor.

Following his announcement to step down, Councillor Quirk revealed his last day on the job will be the 7th of April, where Councillor Schrinner will be sworn in on Monday the 8th of April.

Councillor Schrinner has big plans for the city, including five new green bridges estimated to cost $550 million.

Labor leader Bill Shorten promises to promote more women to senior positions and give them a better chance at equal opportunities under a federal Labor government.

The Labor government commits to appointing a woman as the next governor-general and introducing gender-neutral job applications to ensure there is no gender bias.

Shorten said, “if we did nothing else in the next 10 years but achieve the equal treatment of women in Australian society, we would be the richest, most successful country on the planet.”

The NRMA has called for a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars as early as 2025 to encourage the adoption of low-emissions vehicles.

UK and France have announced a similar plan to phase out and ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 with Germany and China indicating they intend to follow suit.

RACQ head of Public Policy Dr Rebecca Michael said the transport sector needs to play a role in meeting emissions targets for the Paris Agreement and clear government policy is needed to drive that effort.

The #MeToo movement is spreading across Muslim-majority northern Nigeria using #ArewaMeToo.

Arewa is the general term used to refer to northern Nigeria - a conservative society with a majority Muslim population where issues surrounding sex and sexuality are rarely discussed publicly.

Betty Abah, the director of the Centre for Children’s Health, Education, Orientation and Protection  NGO said she thinks “the bravery of the women [speaking out] is similar to a revolution.”

Rare white male and female lion cubs have been born in the Taygan Lion Park near Belogorsk in Russia.

This is the second time the mother of the cubs, Milady, has given birth since last year.

The cubs were born several days ago, and are few of the 300 white cubs left in the world, where most of them are kept in captivity.