A Japanese spacecraft has touched down on an asteroid in an attempt to collect a sample of rock from the surface.

The spacecraft reached asteroid Ryugu in June 2018 after a three-and-a-half-year journey from Earth.

It is expected to return to Earth with the rocky material it has collected in 2020.

Australian retailers are currently going under at the rate of about one a month, making everyone in the industry nervous.

Over the last couple of years about two dozen chains have collapsed, with the makeup empire of Napoleon Perdis the latest in an increasingly long line of failures.

It is not just Australian-owned retailers that are struggling, but also some established local outlets of big international players.

Fugitive Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been issued with a new Australian passport after lengthy negotiations over whether he was subject to an arrest warrant for a "serious foreign offense".

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official confirmed in a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday that Mr Assange's 2018 application for a new passport had been accepted.

Consular and Crisis Management Division first assistant secretary Andrew Todd says "Mr Assange does have an Australian passport".

Tropical Cyclone Oma looming in the Noosa Shire is bringing in several weather warnings.

Dangerous surf conditions closed Noosa Main Beach on Thursday with it likely to remain closed over the weekend.

Sitting 860kms off the Queensland coast as of 10 am Thursday, BoM predicted the category two system would move slowly southwest over the weekend but it's likelihood to make landfall was low.

Mining giant Glencore's decision to cap its coal production will not halt the growth of Australia's exports, despite claims it represents a shift away from coal.

Glencore, Australia's largest coal miner, will cap its global output at its current level of about 145 million tonnes a year in the wake of pressure from activist shareholders as part of a pivot towards minerals used in renewable energies.

The company also told investors it recognised the increasing risks associated with climate change.

A dog filmed on CCTV being punched repeatedly by a man in north Queensland is happy and healthy and his alleged attacker has been identified.

Last week, the RSPCA called for public assistance to find the man who was captured on CCTV repeatedly punching a dog; the attacked was unprovoked as the dog did not behave aggressively and was coaxed to come to the man.

The RSPCA thanks the public for helping them identify the man, and the dog is looking fit and healthy.

An Aboriginal man in Darwin who stole two bottles of wine spent three months in jail in part because of a more serious charge that was eventually dropped.

Lawyers say it is a run-of-the-mill situation for the Northern Territory, but one that highlights procedural obstacles and delays that can clog up the courts and strand people in prison.

The man, 46, was charged with stealing and robbery in November.

Western Australia’s  jobless rate has hit a historic high, with the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate at 6.8 per cent and almost 100,000 people are looking for work.

The most recent statistics show that while some sectors are creating jobs such as mining and healthcare, others such as the  financial, retail and wholesale trade sectors have shed the most, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Nearly 100,000 West Australians are looking for work but regional WA, especially the Kimberley, is bearing most of the unemployment pain.

New South Wales has smashed the jobs record with its lowest unemployment rate on record cementing its position as Australia’s job creation capital, according to the latest jobs data from the ABS.

The State’s unemployment rate fell a further 0.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent for January 2019, the lowest since monthly records began in February 1978, with a sum of 47,000 jobs added.

NSW remains well below the national unemployment rate of 5 per cent and well ahead of Victoria at 4.5 per cent.