The Queensland government is urging Google to fix its Maps application over claims inflated travel times are deterring tourists to the outback.

Acting premier Cameron Dick says he intends to send a letter to the head of Google Australia and New Zealand to fast-track amendments of the travel times, which outback businesses say add up to six hours to journeys.

Outback Queensland Tourism Association Manager Peter Homan says tourism is crucial for the outback towns facing drought, hence this issue must be addressed immediately.

Fifteen years of Queensland research has identified and proven a solution that prompts cane toad tadpoles to turn cannibalistic and eat cane toad eggs.

Last summer, it eliminated more than 1 million cane toad tadpoles in Queensland.

Although unsuccessful in finding an Australian company willing to take up the patent, the product was sold to a pest control firm in Washington, DC, in 2016. The product will take four to five years to be developed for the market.

According to a report released by the United Nations, a third of UN staff and contractors have experienced sexual harassment in the past two years.

The results of the online survey - completed by just 17 per cent of those eligible - found more than half of the sexual harassment cases happened in the office, and only a third said they took action afterwards.

Police in Sudan have fired tear gas at protestors in Kassala, according to eyewitnesses, during one of the biggest protests against President Omar al-Bashir.

It was the first time protestors took to the streets in Kassala since anti-government demonstrations began in December last year.

The protestors are calling for the removal of al-Bashir, the general-turned-politician, who has ruled the north African country since 1989.

Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has hinted interest in helping solve Sydney’s road congestion nightmares, quoting $1 billion on Twitter for a high-speed transit tunnel through the Blue Mountains.

People would not actually drive through the tunnel - their vehicles would be secured on platforms that can travel at high speeds between platforms.

The 50 kilometre tunnel would link the Penrith and Lithgow regions, opening up the Western parts of the state.

The future of Keith and District Hospital is in doubt as the South Australian Government reveals it has provided the facility with $400,000 in emergency relief funding.

Keith Hospital has been under financial stress and reliant on short-term funding from the Government for many years; however, local Liberal MP Nick McBride says the funds currently allocated are so tight he questions whether it will last until July.

Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have found a new class of blood-pressure regulating peptides in the venom of the common vampire bat, located in Mexico and Central and South America.

UQ Associate Professor Bryan Fry says the peptides could help revolutionise treatments for conditions ranging from hypertension to heart failure, kidney diseases and burns.

Stevedoring giant, Hutchison Ports, has lost an eleventh-hour bid to force its employees to delay a wave of industrial action, including rolling strikes set to afflict its Australian port terminals from Thursday.

Unionised employees of Hutchison Ports in Sydney and Brisbane have voted to begin a series of “broad-ranging” industrial action – such as bans on specific duties and overtime, and a range of work stoppages – amid deadlocked negotiations with management over the terms of a new wage agreement.