Costa Rica has successfully gone 300 days using only renewable energy, beating their own 2015 record of 299 days on renewable energy.

Hydropower has become the largest energy generator in Costa Rica, bring in 78 percent of the country’s renewable energy; followed by wind, geothermal at 10 percent and biomass and solar at 1 percent.

Dr Monica Araya, Costa Rican clean development advisor, said the 300 day achievement is “fantastic,” but it hides a paradox, which is that nearly 70 percent of all our energy consumption is oil.

One person has died and another is in a serious condition after a unit fire at Woody Point.

Firefighters and paramedics were called to the scene at 6:30am to a unit block on Georgia Street and Oxley Avenue at Woody Point.

The fire is being treated as a crime scene and police have commenced investigations into the blaze.

An independent inquiry into the procurement of the $4.4 billion New Generation Rollingstock, led by retired judge Michael Forde, found the design of the trains was flawed from “day one”

The trains had disability access issues, including the toilets and pathways being too small for wheelchairs, but they were rolled out in December 2017 as the NGR were needed for the Commonwealth Games timetable.

Decisions to allow non-compliant trains were made on the basis of incomplete information as those issues were not escalated to senior decision-makers.

Aussie farm produce remains above average. Australian farmers are expected to produce $58 billion worth of goods in the current financial year, marking a decline from earlier forecasts.

Due to lower production as a result of poor seasonal conditions, export earnings for 2018-2019 are tipped to decline by seven percent to $45 billion.

Increases in farmgate prices and strong production in Western Australia are tipped to contribute to the solid result, offsetting the impact of a drought.

The first two of Australia’s state-of-the-art fighter jets have arrived at Williamtown RAAF Base near Newcastle.

These are the first in a $17 billion dollar order from the US that will leave Australia with a total of 72 F-35 fighter jets

The project has been widely criticised and is cited as the most expensive in history, with the total projected cost - once research, development, and sustainment is factored in - estimated to be over $1 trillion dollars.

A European Union study showed more than one in three European Jews have considered moving over the past five years because they no longer feel safe amid a surge in anti-Semitism.

The survey in 12 countries that are home to 96 percent of European Jews showed widespread concern at a rise in hate crimes which Jewish communities blame in part on anti-Semitic comments by politicians.

An Infrastructure Australia report to be released Tuesday, will show public transport, roads, hospitals and schools are failing to keep pace with new housing developments in Brisbane.

Infrastructure Australia policy and research executive director Peter Colacino said “it is not affordable or sustainable for Brisbane to accommodate the projected population growth in new areas. Brisbane needs to focus on growing up, not out, through a delivery of higher quality and higher density established areas.”

Queensland will brace for more wild weather with ex-Tropical Cyclone Owen set to return for another round of destruction.

Owen is currently a tropical low, but it is expected to reform in the Gulf Carpentaria over the next 48 hours before swinging back east towards Townsville, then possibly tracking down the coast through the weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology has given it a 20-50 percent chance of redeveloping into a category one cyclone by Wednesday evening.