More than 200 Chinese militia vessels have swarmed near a Philippine-occupied island in the most hotly disputed region in the South China Sea.

The Philippino Department of Foreign Affairs lodged an official protest after 275 Chinese fishing-militia and military-controlled Coast Guard vessels appeared near Thitu Island.

China has been found to have warned other ambassadors about attending a UN Human Rights Council Meeting on Xinjiang human rights violations.

The NGO Human Rights Watch has obtained a letter sent by Chinese ambassadors that asked others to not co-sponsor, participate in, or be at the panel event last month.

Chinese diplomats also allegedly approached some delegates directly before the event where they repeatedly denied committing the alleged human rights abuses.

Thanks to a waterway survey and DNA technology, a platypus has been found in Logan’s Albert River for the first time in 18 years.

The Logan City Council have collaborated with Wildlife Queensland to confirm platypuses were living in the river after a member of the public reported a sighting in 2017.

A young boy from Dakabin, North Brisbane was rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital last night after his iPhone 6S Battery erupted into flames.

The 15-year-old admits to bending the battery out of curiosity when it then sparked and quickly exploded onto his chest, searing several layers of his skin.

Victoria's coal-fired power plants released more than a tonne of mercury into the atmosphere during 2017-18, and were the greatest source of fine-particle pollution nationwide.

Victoria's three coal-fired-power plants collectively pumped 1,007.5 kilograms of mercury into the atmosphere, with Yallourn power station single-handedly emitting 435kg of mercury — the highest in the country.

A man has been found dead after a shipping container explosion in Mackay in the early hours of Tuesday morning.  

Four fire crews, police and paramedics responded to multiple emergency calls at 2am and found a shipping container on fire. One fatality has been confirmed, but no identification has been made.

The UK House of Commons voted on four more Brexit proposals last night, with all four failing to reach a majority.

The motion calling for a confirmatory referendum and the motion proposing a customs union both came within a dozen votes of a majority, giving some members hope for finding a resolution to Brexit.

Communications professionals are warning that China’s international media campaign is a threat to democracies everywhere.

Billboards advertising China’s Central Global Television Network have sprung up in Australian capital cities since September last year as a part of a $9.3Bn global influence campaign.