Papua New Guinea’s Planning Minister has defended the country's controversial national identification program amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

In 2015, Papua New Guinea’s Government announced it would attempt to register all its citizens in a central database and issue them with photocards for voting and identification.

Since then, only 500,000 Papua New Guineans have been registered, with others not being able to register due to broken printing machines.

The Syrian military have launched an assault on Daraa, forcing at least 45,000 people to flee towards Jordan.

Syrian troops launched a major assault targeting the rebels in Daraa on Tuesday, which has left tens of thousands of civilians forced to flee.  

Jordan foreign minister has said the country will not open its borders to the thousands of civilians fleeing the conflicts.

A small town in Queensland has spent $100,000 in renovating its churchs’ old matron’s house into a domestic violence shelter, but it is struggling to find anyone to help to operate the service.

Normanton Assembly of God Church Pastor Doug Thomas said there was an immense need for the shelter in the area, after women and children in the community would come to him and ask for protection.

New research from Mozo has found the big four banks stunt Aussie kids savings due to their poor interest rates.

The comparison site found interest rates on children’s savings accounts can vary between 0.5% to 3.5%, with smaller banks offering competitive savings rates.

Mozo Director Kirsty Lamont says it pays to shop around as the bank you choose could be the difference between blossoming savings for your child, or pitiful growth.

Brisbane’s bars and clubs are losing business due to compulsory ID scanning in Safe Night Precincts that are in place after 10:00pm.

The Brisbane Safe Night Precinct covers the CBD, most of Fortitude Valley, and the inner west; and many of these venue operators are calling on the government to implement a different system and to take better account of losses suffered by small business owners.

A new genetic technology bankrolled by the United States military has potential to wipe out feral mice and malaria - but scientists are warning it could have unintended consequences.

CRISPR is a new genetic technology which allows scientists to modify, delete or insert genes into organisms more easily and accurately that it was previously.

The technology could select certain genes to propagate in wild populations of animals and render them infertile or unviable.

Animal activists in China are using the lunar Year of the Dog to push for a ban on the dog meat trade - which is viewed as a tradition in some parts of the country.

According to a recent survey, less than a third of China’s 1.4 billion people have ever eaten dog, and it’s only popular in specific regions in the South, Central and North-east parts of China.

Volunteer Wang Liping, who runs a dog shelter on the outskirts of Beijing, says she’s been waiting for this sort of law her entire life.

Infrastructure Australia chief Philip Davies has lashed the government and big business for failing to tackle population planning, warning Australia’s standard of living was being put at risk by policy short-sightedness.

Mr Davis has urged the government to stabilize the energy market and plan for a rapidly growing population, which is expected to add a city the size of Canberra each year for the next three decades.