For the second time in weeks, delegations from both camps out of Venezuela met in Norway for talks aimed at finding a solution to the political crisis

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his rival Juan Guaido are keen to move towards a negotiated solution of the country's crisis.

For the second time in weeks, delegations from both camps met in Norway this week for talks aimed at finding a solution to the political crisis that has been haunting the country for months.

A man has set himself on fire near the White House today, he was caught on video appearing to calmly stroll through a park before cops extinguished the flames.

Witnesses saw the man erupt into a bright orange fireball at the Ellipse  which is a tourist-filled park that sits north of the Washington Monument.

Video shot by Berzins and posted to Twitter by her father shows the man, clad in black pants, covered head to toe in flames as he takes a slow walk across the grass.

Conservative Coalition MPs emboldened by strong support from religious voters at the election are pushing the Morrison government for more radical and far-reaching religious freedom provisions in forthcoming laws.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce wants laws to exempt religious beliefs from employment contracts .

Two of the biggest right-wing unions have swung their support behind Chris Minns for the NSW Labor leadership.

The Health Services Union  and the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association  will back Mr Minns for the leadership over his contender Jodi McKay, believing he has the best chance of winning the election.

The move is seen as significant within the party's senior ranks, as Ms McKay is the preferred candidate of the party's Sussex Street head office, led by general secretary Kaila Murnain.

Millions of dollars of unused fares left on cancelled Go Cards will be taken by the government, unless it’s claimed by the rightful owners.

A right to information  has revealed nearly half a million Go Cards have been cancelled.

The cards, first introduced in 2005, are loaded by commuters and used to pay for train and bus transport across South East Queensland.

Brisbane woke up to its coldest May morning in more than a decade on Wednesday, with chilly temperatures expected to blast the south-east until the weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Adam Blazak said Wednesday had been Brisbane's coldest May morning since 2006, with the mercury plummeting to 7.7 degrees.

Cold temperatures records for May tumbled around the state on Wednesday, in particular Bundaberg, where it was 5.5 degrees – the coldest May day for more than 50 years.

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.