The construction of a new 32 storey tower in Brisbane’s CBD has been given the green light.

Brisbane mayor, Graham Quirk, has said no to banning smoking in King George Square despite strong opposition.

Spain’s incoming Prime Minister has given the majority of cabinet positions to women.

With 11 of 17 positions now being held by women, including some of the biggest portfolios such as education, finance, education, and defence.

In a televised statement, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, said his new government was made up of people who "shared the same vision of a progressive society that was both modernising and pro-European".

Sánchez promised his government would be "socialist and have gender parity".

A French man has won the country's lottery for the second time in less than two years.

The winner, who was not named, won his first million euros in late 2016 and continued to play each week.

Last month he won his second million.

Mathematicians said that that the odds of this happening is one in 16 trillion.

Large Australian fish stocks have declined by a third, a new decade-long study has revealed.

The study, looking at nearly 200 species at 544 sites, found the main cause of decline was overfishing, but climate change also contributed.

It compared areas where fishing was allowed to marine park areas where there was either limited fishing or no-take zones, and concluded that on fished reefs, the number of large fish declined by 36 per cent.

This was compared to 18 per cent in zones where there was limited fishing.

A seven-year-old from New South Wales is using the state’s new container deposit scheme to save up for a house.

Lilly came up with the scheme after her mother forgot to take out the recycling, and instead of taking it to the dump, they tried their local recycling centre.

Lilly's customers contact her via her Facebook page when they've got excess recycling they'd like to donate.

She collects their donations after school or on the weekends and takes them to her local collection point where she earns 10 cents per item.

Cairns Regional Councilors are against changes to the Local Government Act, as all councilors elected on a team ticket must abstain from voting on issues where one councilor had a conflict of interest.

The changes mean the Chief Executive Officer of the council must decide on matters where a majority cannot be reached.

Local Government Association of Queensland chief executive Greg Hallam said it was a problem for six councils and called on Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe to intervene.

Visitors to Brisbane are expected to have spent $50 million more in Brisbane than the past year.

Brisbane’s lord mayor, Graham Quirk, said the increase from the previous year was because of the city hosting a showcase of events in the past 12 months.

“International students are also good news for Brisbane with numbers of enrolments rising 12 per cent,” he said.