Vigilante cow-protection groups in India have reportedly killed at least 44 people in the past four years.

A report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that there have been over 100 attacks across 20 Indian states between May 2015 and December 2018.

The human rights agency said these crimes go unpunished due to the support of law enforcement and by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to spur a violent vigilante campaign against eating beef.

Canberra politicians are debating legalising marijuana for recreational use.

The law has been proposed by Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson and would allow Canberra residents to carry, use, and grow small amounts of cannabis.

The sale of marijuana would still be illegal, but residents would be allowed to carry up to 50 grams of the drug and grow two plants.

A NSW prison officer has been charged with ongoing sexual abuse of female prisoners at a prison in Berkshire Park in western Sydney.

The crime was uncovered following police investigating prisons as part of Strike Force Nautilus in October 2018 after receiving reports that prisoners were being sexually assaulted.

The 62-year-old man will face court today on six counts of aggravated sexual assault.

A miner has died, and at least four others are injured, after an underground collision in a central Queensland mine.

Paramedics were called to the site about 4pm on Wednesday after an incident involving a grader and personnel carrier.

Ten other employees who were inside the personnel carrier also received medical treatment, with four treated for possible spinal injuries.

The cause of the incident is not clear and an investigation will be conducted by Anglo American – the company which operates the site.

An audit into Queensland’s manufacturing stone industry has revealed 98 workers have contracted the potentially deadly lung disease silicosis, with 15 cases deemed terminal.

Across the state, almost 800 stonemasons have been referred for lung testing in a situation which health experts are calling a major epidemic.

The Queensland Government said it is not aware of any workers who have yet died from the incurable disease but said many will need lung transplants to survive.  

Asylum seekers on Manus Island say the Government hired security contractors are “doing nothing” on the ground with the $423 million grant the firm has been issued.

The firm, known as Paladin, have little experience in providing security services in immigration detention, and were reluctantly hired according to a journalist on the island, Behrouz Boochan, after other security companies were hesitant to be associated with Australia’s controversial offshore detention regime.