Queensland’s mining expertise could be the ticket to Space.

A paper published by a Queensland inquiry into job creation opportunities from the establishment of an Australian space industry said the sector needed skilled workers in manufacturing, technology, mining, aviation and defence.

Pam Melroy, from Nova Systems, argued Australians could bring the ingenuity they brought to operating in remote, harsh environments to bear in the next intergalactic steps planned to the moon and Mars.

There is more than $110 million in Medicare rebates sitting unclaimed as masses of Australians have not provided their bank account details to the government.

Human Services Minister Michael Keenan says about 670,000 people are owed money and insists it takes about one minute to provide the necessary information to receive the rebates.

Australians need to update their bank account details with the government to access the unclaimed Medicare rebates.

A Nepalese charity has been evicted from a Brisbane City Council-owned heritage building, after reportedly failing to pay rent.

The United Hands Foundation Australia moved into the historic 1920s-era building after council restored it and has run the Engine Room Cafe in Teneriffe since 2016.

Eight more state schools are set to re-open in the flood-affected Townsville region, taking the total number of schools re-opened to 20.

Education Minister Grace Grace has announced the appointment of a Disaster Recovery Coordinator to help flood-ravaged state schools get back to normal.

Ms Grace says alternative arrangements will be made for students from state schools which are unable to be re-opened.

Bees have a grasp of basic maths and are able to add and subtract, a joint Australian-French study has shown.

In an experiment with far reaching implications, scientists taught honey bees to recognise colours as plus or minus symbols.

Armed with this knowledge, they went on to solve basic mathematical problems set by the scientists.

While Australia suffered through its hottest January on record, around the world things aren’t much better.

The past four years - 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 - have been confirmed as the warmest years on record around the world, according to new research released by the UN's World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on Thursday.

Average global surface temperatures were 1.0 degree Celsius above pre-industrial times in 2018, the report said, based on data from US, British, Japanese and European weather agencies.

A second US politician has been embroiled in scandal, apologising for wearing blackface to a party in 1980 to impersonate a rapper.

Attorney General Mark Herring is second in line for for the governorship of the state of Virginia, where the Democratic governor and the lieutenant governor are already facing claims of scandal.

Herring, 57, who has served as attorney general since 2014, apologised for what he described as "callous and inexcusable lack of awareness."

Brazilian health experts are warning of a potential health crisis after a dam containing mining waste collapsed in the state of Minas Gerais.

There are fears the contamination could result in the spread of dengue, yellow fever or diarrhoea for communities in the affected area.

Authorities are continuing their search for 199 missing people following the dam collapse, but no one has been found alive since January 26.