The United Kingdom’s Home Office is reporting a sharp increase in the number of European Union citizens applying for British citizenship in the wake of the Brexit referendum.

Just less than 30,000 applications from the EU were received between June 2016 and June 2017, more than double the previous year.

The data also seems to suggest the looming Brexit divorce has warmed some cold feet, with citizenship through marriage applications almost trebling in the same period.

Toy retailer Toys R Us will cease trading in all 800 of its American stores, after an announcement earlier in the week it would also close its 100 United Kingdom stores.

The chain, which employs up to 33,000 employees in the USA, filed for bankruptcy in America and Canada in October 2017.

The Australian arm, which comprises 39 stores, said after the bankruptcy filing last year it was “”business as usual” for local operations, although it’s unclear what effect the latest development will have.

The South Australian election remains a genuine three horse race rarely seen in Australian politics.

ABC election analyst Antony Green believes the Liberals are on track to win the 24 seats required to form government following an electoral redistribution in the state; Labor would need a uniform swing of 3% to retain government.

South Australia Best leader Nick Xenophon is in a tight battle for the seat of Hartley with the very real prospect of losing out to Liberal incumbent Vincent Tarzia as the pressure of leading a campaign for government has become apparent.

The Northern Territory marine ecosystems may be under threat after rising sea temperatures lead to coral bleaching in waters near the Co-bourg Peninsula.

Rangers at the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park have documented large patches of bleached coral from the air in January this year, in the same area where coral grew healthily in 2015.

Today marks the 75th anniversary since the American Seventh Fleet was created out of General Douglas MacArthur’s Brisbane headquarters in the old AMP building on Queen St during World War II.

Current commander of the Seventh Fleet, Vice admiral Philip Sawyers, laid a wreath yesterday on the New Farm Submarine Heritage Walk, the site of an Allied submarine base during World War II.

The Seventh Fleet operates out of the Pacific, and comprises up to 40,000 sailors and more than 60 ships and 300 airplanes.

Doctors at Lady Cilento children’s hospital are allegedly ‘turning a blind eye’ to parents illegally administering medicinal cannabis to their seriously ill children.

In a recording obtained by the ABC, Brisbane father Steve Peek told a doctor he would be administering the drug while his daughter is in Hospital, to which he was told as long as staff didn't know about it, it was ‘completely fine’.

A man and a transgender woman were arrested in Banda Aceh, Indonesia for allegedly engaging in intimate acts in a beauty salon.  

Banda Aceh has a record of poor human rights and discrimination particularly since it was granted special autonomy in 2001 to be ruled by Islamic law.

The pair, who deny the allegations made against them, face charges under Article 26 of Aceh sharia law which carries a punishment of 100 lashes.

23 Russian Diplomats have been ordered to leave the United Kingdom after the attempted assassination of a former Russian intelligence operative on British soil with a Soviet-era nerve agent.

UK authorities are holding the Russian State responsible for the act, though Russian authorities deny their involvement.