The disappearance of a Japanese islet half a kilometer away from Hokkaido may affect Japan’s territorial waters, according to a coast guard official.

The coast guard says the islet may have been eroded by wind and snow, then hidden by rising sea levels.

Japan has taken a number of measures to preserve Japanese territorial waters, including naming 158 of their uninhabited islands and building an 148 million dollar observatory tower south of Tokyo.

Sister Patricia Fox, an Australian nun who has vocally attacked Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, has returned to Australia after being blacklisted from the country.

Fox angered Duterte after investigating the leader’s record of killings, torture and harassment.  She strongly criticised his human rights record, describing his leadership as ‘a reign of terror’.

Refugee doctors are urging federal election candidate Brian Owler to place the medical needs of refugees on Nauru over Labor party politics.

As the former president of the Australian Medical Association, Professor Owler took the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm and was a vocal advocate for asylum seekers.

Since entering the candidate race Professor Owler has toed the party line, telling Fairfax media that Australia needs a stronger border policy to deter people smugglers.

The former race discrimination commissioner has suggesting the federal parliament should take caution as to not ‘normalise’ white supremacy.  

Speaking at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney,  the commissioner outlined his believe that certain members of parliament such as Pauline Hanson’s recent comments on race are causing a ‘dangerous precedent’.

He also questioned the backlash against identity politics in Australia which is due to a sense of disempowerment as well as a lack of civic literacy.

Brisbane families are concerned after Brisbane City Council revealed graves are intentionally flooded after burials at Mount Gravatt Cemetery.

Brisbane resident Doreen Awabdy (Ah-wab-dy) says the council broke ethical and moral boundaries by not informing the family of planned water damage prior to paying over 6000 dollars to bury their loved ones at the site.

Major Korean bank lenders have declined any involvement in the funding of Adani’s Queensland  coal project.

Anti-Adani supporters, including traditional owners, are currently lobbying these Korean lenders to continue non support of the project.

This comes as Adani continues searching for funding of the down-launch, in an estimated cost of $16.5 billion.  Traditional owners have also made a complaint to the United Nations in regard to the treatment of land exploitation.

Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu continues to support Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Netanyahu’s first public comments on the Khashoggi affair described it as ‘horrendous’ but stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia’s stability on the world stage.

While the two countries have no formal diplomatic relations, Israel considers Saudi Arabia central to its efforts to counter Iran’s influence in the Middle East.

A storm in Sicily, causing widespread flooding has killed 12. Italian emergency services have declared 9 of the victims come from a single family holidaying in the area of Palermo.  

This storm has seen a government cabinet meeting, providing 1.5 billion US dollars to aid storm ravaged communities, as well as introduce safe cleaning of river beds and hydrogeological conditions.