A Telstra phone cable has been cut by an unknown party causing triple-0 outages across the country.

Water taxis and city-sight tour boats could begin operating along the Brisbane river from next year, with the delivery of on-water transport hubs one step closer.

The Queensland government has passed laws restricting farmers’ rights to clear vegetation from their properties.

A new blood test has been developed to uncover peanut allergies in the United Kingdom.

In the UK, nut allergies are currently diagnosed by pricking the skin with a needle coated with the allergen, and if this test proves inconclusive increasing amounts of allergen are ingested orally, until a reaction does or doesn’t occur.

This new blood test positively identified peanut allergies at a significantly higher rate than both these methods, and researchers estimated that its adoption will reduce the number of highly stressful “oral food challenges” by 65%.

Japanese Scientists have discovered how to make a alcoholic beverages from wood.

Researchers from Japan's Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute who have been experimenting with the unconventional ingredient, obtain sugar for fermenting by grinding tree bark into a paste, then extracting the sugar with chemical processes.

The beverage made by this process is similar to rice wine, Japan’s favourite alcoholic drink, and it’s creators hope to have it commercially available by 2021.

Rising electricity costs have hit many Australian small business hard, with many saying they may have to begin cutting down on staff members to shave expenses.  

The Paper Cup Company and La Tosca Foods are some the small businesses to be hit the hardest by these costs, with the Paper Cup Company’s electricity costs jumping from 12 thousand dollars to 28 thousand dollars in just five months.

A severe weather warning has been issued for southern states today with heavy rain and strong winds heading for South Australia and Victoria.

Residents are being advised to stay home after The Bureau of Meteorology warned of damaging winds with gusts of up to 90km/h -110km/h, thunderstorms, heavy rain and flash flooding from the west to east until tomorrow morning.

Another, weaker front will bring another burst of lighter showers to the far southeast on Saturday, before calmer conditions return on Sunday.

A final report into why an AirAsia X flight turned back after take-off from the Gold Coast last year has found a “rare” birdstrike caused its engine to burst into flames.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report released on Wednesday, suggests a company pilot travelling as a passenger advised the flight crew of a "starboard engine fire" which was visible from the aircraft cabin.