A long term study of the Great Barrier Reef has shown the recovery times of the reef overall has fallen over the eighteen year period studied.

The study, published in Science Advances, used eighteen years of data to conclude that the ability of most reefs to recover following massive events had fallen by, on average, 84 per cent between 1992 to 2010.

An animal rescue group is urging people to take pets they can no longer care for directly to rescue groups or shelters.

In June, six-month-old Trixie was offered up "free to a good home" on social media by her Bundaberg owners who were no longer able to care for her.

About a fortnight later she was picked up by a council animal control team as a stray with multiple lacerations to her face.

An attempt to deploy a new submarine for Spain's navy has run aground again, after it emerged it cannot fit in its dock, Spanish media reports.

The S-80 boat was redesigned at great expense after an earlier mistake meant it had problems floating, and it was lengthened to correct the issue.

A Spanish newspaper now reports that after the changes, the docks at Cartagena can no longer fit the vessel. The cost for each vessel has almost doubled.

It estimated that the cost of each S-80 "Plus" submarine would now be close to €1bn ($1.6bn AUD)

Germany, Hungary, and other European countries have called for asylum seekers who initially landed in Greece to be returned to the Mediterranean country.

Late last month, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said a deal was reached to return refugees and migrants from Germany to Greece and Spain.

However, Kyriakos Giaglis, Greece's country director for the Danish Refugee Council, explained that previous attempts to return asylum seekers to Greece were "never really" implemented.

Trackless trams are predicted to take over city streets in the near future, with the technology currently being trialed in China.

The trams runs on “virtual rails”, instead of having to concrete rails into the road to allow the street cars to run, with steel wheels being replaced by rubber tyres.

"A light rail system that sometimes, like in Sydney's case, cost $120 million per kilometre, we think could be done for $5 million per kilometre," Professor Peter Newman said.

Scammers taking advantage of tax time are trying to trick Australians into handing over their personal details with the promise of a tax refund through a fake myGov form.

Stay Safe Online issued a high alert for the latest scam on Wednesday.

The phishing email claims to come from myGov and has the subject line, "Important information regarding your account", as well as the myGov logo.

A Brisbane man has sued the biggest search engines and Yahoo for publishing a website that contains, according to an earlier injunction granted to the man, defamatory material.

The Queensland Supreme Court claims are in addition to his ongoing suit against Google, lodged before winning record damages in a 20-15 suit against a former business partner who defamed him on US site, ripoffreport.com.

Two hazard reduction burns being conducted by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service have created a smokey start to Thursday for Brisbane.

Burns at Freshwater National Park near North Lakes, and on North Stradbroke Island began on Wednesday evening in a bid to reduce the amount of fuel on the ground at both locations and help with forest regeneration.

Residents affected by smoke were advised to keep asthma medication close by and close doors and windows.