At least five homes in the Northern NSW town of Tabulam have been destroyed by a bushfire that has so far scorched 4000 hectares of land.

The fire also ripped through Jubullum Aboriginal community, where an unknown amount of structures have been destroyed.

A second blaze has has burnt through approximately 5600 hectares of land at Tingha, and a total fire ban remains in place.

The opposition’s medical evacuation bill has passed the senate, pushing border protection to the forefront in the lead up to the Federal Election.

The new law will allow sick refugees in detention centres to come to Australia for treatment.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced the Christmas Island detention centre will reopen, as he believes people smuggling is set to increase.

Further harassment allegations have emerged against former Liberal-National MP Jason Costigan.

The LNP used parliamentary privilege to detail allegations of stalking and sexual harassment against the Whitsunday MP, who was expelled from the party earlier this month.

The Whitsunday MP intends to run in the next state election as an independent.

Queensland’s Children Hospital will benefit from a $20 million expansion that will allow for 30 new beds, with the first phase delivering 6 new beds to the oncology ward.

Queensland Health Minister Stephen Miles says increasing the number of beds for children with cancer was a priority, with the oncology unit being consistently over capacity.

State LNP Opposition Health spokesperson Ros Bates says they welcomed the new beds, but they should’ve been started already, adding any upgrades should be fast-tracked.

French newspaper Liberation has uncovered a private Facebook group where French journalists would harass women.

The group, called the “LOL League”, is accused of organising targeted hate campaigns against female public figures on social media.

Several prominent French journalists, including the editor-in-chief of Slate Magazine’s French desk, have been outed as members of the group.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned European countries that using technology from Huawei could damage their relationship with the United States.

It’s the latest effort by the US government to to pressure nations to keep Huawei out of the next generation of wireless networks, as they believe China could use the devices for spying.

The Chinese government criticised Pompeo’s remarks, labelling them unfair and immoral, and accusing Washington of attempting to sow discord between China and other countries.

A new study has found women who suffer from endometriosis or fibroids who then have a hysterectomy, have an 80% lower chance of developing ovarian cancer, compared to those who have the conditions but do not.

Researchers from the QIMR Berghofer studied data from 800 000 women between 1988 and 2015 and hope the findings will give women more information when making a difficult medical decision.