Fiji’s Prime Minister has warned Australia that climate change is no laughing matter and poses an enormous threat to Fijians and Pacific Islanders.

The Fijian Prime Minister took advantage of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Pacific visit calling him on to put the welfare of the Pacific people before the welfare of a single industry.

Mr. Morrison is the first Australian Prime Minister to visit  Fiji since 2006, with this trip aimed at shoring up Australia's influence in the nation, which has been home to Chinese investment of late.

Casual workers at a New South Wales coal mine will be placed on permanent contracts after a landmark agreement between the mining union and he colliery’s operator.

This follows strike action by workers from the Wongawilli mine south west of Sydney earlier this week, demanding improved pay and conditions.

The changes will see casualised, labour hire workers, among the lowest paid, offered permanent work, a 2 per cent pay rise twice annually and will accrue leave.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has weighed into the discussion over Macedonia’s name-change, accusing the US and its allies of destabilising the Balkans by asserting dominance in the region.

Putin criticised what he described as deliberate efforts to increase western influence in regions which have a long, close history with Moscow.

Last week, Macedonian MPs endorsed a landmark accord which will rename the Balkan nation the Republic of North Macedonia in a move which opens the way to NATO membership.

A woman who co-founded Soranet, South Korea’s largest pornography website, has been sentenced to four years in prison for aiding the distribution of obscene material.

It is illegal to produce and disseminate porn in South Korea.

The site had over a million members at its height, and tens of thousands of illegal porn videos, including spycam and revenge porn.

"Beyond the basic concept of pornography, the website severely violated and distorted the values and dignity of children and youths as well as all human beings," the court said.

The busy Sorell causeway in Southern Tasmania is proving to be a death trap for the region’s silver gull population, with large numbers of birds being struck by traffic.

This narrow stretch of the Tasman highway is a significant gully colony, where about 300 nests have been established and 700 eggs laid this season.

Eric Wohler from BirdLife Tasmania said there had been a slow increase in the number of birds at the colony since egg oiling ceased in 2018.

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.