Hundreds of Sunshine Coast residents with eating disorders will gain access to improved healthcare under a $3.2 million project launched on Tuesday.

The two-year project, funded by the federal government, will aim to better equip local doctors to identify, diagnose and refer patients with eating disorder symptoms.

Patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or other complex eating disorders will be offered up to 50 therapy sessions, more than five times the number of sessions currently offered.

An international team of polar scientists have found the Antarctic ice sheet has lost more than 2,000 billion tonnes of ice in the past 25 years.

West Antarctica contributed to the most ice loss from the continent, shedding nearly 160 billion tonnes each year since 2012.

According to project leader Professor Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds, the increase in melting should act as a wake up call, as the events are strong indicators of climate change and should be of concern for governments worldwide.

Israel's use of lethal force along the Gaza Strip border in recent weeks could amount to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

The rights group accused Israel of repeatedly using live ammunition "with apparent lethal intent" against Palestinian demonstrators who posed no imminent threat to life.

Israeli authorities allege that its soldiers were acting in self-defence and had adhered to the rules of engagement.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he will issue a formal apology to thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse that went on in schools, religious organisations, and other institutions.

The PM said the government has accepted most of the recommendations from the 2017 report by the Royal Commission, the country’s highest investigative body.

Some of the recommendations include compensating victims and establishing a national office for child safety.

The PM is expected to issue the formal apology in late October this year.

Transgender people in Queensland will now be able to stay married when they change the gender on their birth certificate.

Sally Cripps, the LGBTIQ Training Facilitator of the QLD AIDS council, says that this is an “amazing change.”

“Marriage equality has finally arrived in Queensland. Now that's worth celebrating,” she said

The Queensland budget has revealed Brisbane commuters will get discounts on public transport if they buy more than one trip at a time.

The budget shows a $371.1 million spend over four years for a new public transport ticketing system.

In the future, people will be able to use wearable devices, such as smartphones and smartwatches, to buy tickets, along with credit and debit cards.

There is also $8 million dedicated over three years, starting next year, for trials and pilots of the new system.

Brisbane’s south-east has been hit with rate rises of more than $100 a year in the 2018 council budget, which Lord Mayor Graham Quirk claimed was a “perfect 10”.

The Opposition Leader Peter Cumming said the rates increase would take $59 million out of ratepayers’ pockets.

The Brisbane suburb with the highest rate increase is Mansfield with an increase of 6.9 per cent.