Brisbane is preparing to welcome the Queen’s Baton Relay ahead of the Commonwealth Games, with less than a week until it tours the streets of Brisbane.

Roads across the city will be temporarily shut and bus routes delayed as the baton travels from Brighton to Sherwood on Friday, and will then continue its journey on Saturday from Sherwood to South Bank Parklands.

Over the 39-kilometre baton-bearer mode, it will be exchanged every 200 metres. Road closures and bus services on the route will be detoured.

Hundreds of complaints have been made over the past year in regards to bus drivers and the general public smoking at bus stops.

Queensland legislation was amended in 2016 to enforce a statewide ban on smoking within five metres of all public transport waiting points including bus stops, ferry terminals and taxi ranks.

Transport agency Translink says they have received over 80 complaints about bus drivers smoking illegally at bus stops, but states that disciplinary action is the responsibility of the council, and not Translink.

The Coalition government has lost its 29th consecutive Newspoll, finishing behind the Labor party 47 to 53 on a two-party preferred basis.

The latest Newspoll consisting of 1,597 voters that was published in The Australian shows Labor’s primary vote is also climbing to 39% against the Coalitions standstill of 37%.

There is concern for the Coalition as this brings Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull closer to the significant 30th poll, which he believes was one of the reasons for defeating Tony Abbott in 2015.

The reusable bag culture at the stores will be adopted across QLD in July to avoid environmental damages.

The decision is creating a relevant discussion towards the community about the government decision. Some people agree with the changes reinforcing the idea of rubbish reduction. However, others are up in arms over the decision because from now they might buy heavy plastic bin bags instead of recycling.

Skiers and snowboarders were met with orange snow in Sochi, Russia over the weekend due to a sandstorm in North Africa, which blew across the Sahara Desert.

The sandstorm made its way through Greece and up to Russia and was big enough to be seen via NASA satellite imagery.

The Athens Observatory said on Friday that this is one of the largest transfers of desert sand to Greece from the Sahara in history.

Space experts predict the Tiangong-1 space station, or "Heavenly Palace", will crash somewhere on earth during the Easter long weekend.

The unmanned spacecraft completed its mission in 2016 and is expected to begin its fiery descent between March 30 and April 3.

Space engineer Warwick Holmes, executive director of space engineering at the University of Sydney says that although there are concerns the ship is out of control, chances of being struck by a chunk of debris from the spacecraft are extremely minimal.

Thousands of protesters have taken to streets across the United States over the weekend in a protest for stricter gun control laws.

The March For Our Lives movement came about after 17 students were shot and killed at a high school in Parkland, Florida last month.

Singers Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lin Manuel-Miranda performed in front of the U.S Capitol Building to offer support to the survivors and the victims families and friends.

Residents in far north Queensland are bracing for more heavy rainfall today after ex-tropical Cyclone Nora.

Emergency services crews have received more than 100 callouts for help and went through 10 tonnes of sand during flash flooding in the Cairns and Port Douglas region.

Bureau of Meterorology (BOM) forecaster Harry Clarke says severe weather warnings for heavy rainfall were in place for the north tropical coast, Tablelands and the Gulf country with some areas to the north of Cairns recording more than 500 millimetres of rain in 24 hours.

Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art has opened their largest-ever exhibition by an Australian artist, showcasing genetically-modified human-pig hybrids.

Patricia Piccinini's Curious Affection exhibition opened in Brisbane on Saturday featuring fields of more than 3000 flower sculptures as well as 70 other sculptures, photographs, videos and drawings.

It is the first time in five years that the entire GOMA ground floor has been handed over to a single artist.