Clean Up Australia Day has released the preliminary results from this year's campaign.

Some 680,000 registered volunteers cleared at least 15 thousand tonnes of rubbish from 6,834 sites across the country.

3000 of those tonnes came from Queensland's parks, bushland, streets, waterways, and beaches thanks to the 130,000 people who volunteered their Sunday to reduce our impact on the local environment.

China is taking its renewable energy push further than ever before by working to develop a solar energy plant in space that could one day light an entire city.

This project could take a monumental leap in history as it aims to fight against our planet's current issues with air pollution and global warming.

With Beijing pledging to invest 18 billion dollars in renewable power generation by 2020, China might just have the financial firepower it needs to reach success.

Over 1500 exotic turtles and tortoises were found abandoned and wrapped in duct tape at the Manila Airport in the Philippines on Sunday.  

The animals, which were all alive and found in four separate suitcases, were believed to be worth around $86,000. Police believe the bags were abandoned after the passenger found out about the hefty penalties for wildlife trafficking.

Once found, all of the animals were turned over to the Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit of the Philippines' Department on Natural Resources.

Investigations into the birth of a baby with brain damage at a Queensland hospital have revealed that important patient data was entered into different sections of the mother’s medical record.

The report highlighted this disjointed information flow was likely responsible for obstetricians missing a key test result, which contributed to the incident.

The baby’s mother was a high-risk patient, and suffered short-term memory loss due to eclampsia; a condition that can cause high blood pressure and convulsions during pregnancy.  

The Australian humpback whale population is again in danger after already coming close to extinction from hunting.

A University of Queensland study identified that the whales may be overshooting the carrying capacity of the environment to maintain the population, with a lack of krill in the Antarctic posing the greatest threat.

Researchers predict there will be a spike in the population, followed by a sharp decline, set to hit sometime between 2021 and 2026.

Five of the 29 bushfires currently burning in Victoria are still out of control this morning.

The fires have affected some 59,000 hectares so far after being sparked by dry lightning strikes in Bunyip State Park last week.

Authorities hope that stormy conditions and cooler temperatures over Tuesday and Wednesday will help curb the remaining fires.

On Sunday morning, thousands of Australians joined together nationally for a ‘Paddle Out’ to protest against the plans of the Norwegian Oil Company ‘Equinor’ from deep water oil-drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

At least 23 people have been killed in Alabama after two tornadoes hit the region on Sunday afternoon, with rescuers expecting the death toll to rise as they continue to search through the rubble.

Three children, aged six, nine and ten, are among the dead, and tornado warnings have been issued for Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Alabama meteorologist Eric Snitil tweeted that there had been more deaths from tornadoes in Lee County in one day than in the entire US last year.

SpaceX has become the first company to dock a commercial spaceship designed to fly people to the International Space Station.

The Crew Dragon was launched on Saturday and docked at 5:51 AM eastern time on Sunday, making it the first American-made, designed-for-crew spacecraft to pull up to the station in eight years.

There were no people on board on the ship, only 400 pounds of cargo and a crash-test dummy, but astronauts aboard the space station were quick to check out the new spacecraft after docking.