This Easter long weekend, The Australian Red Cross blood service is calling for two thousand people to donate blood.

This is to ensure there is enough blood to help treat cancer patients and stem bleeding in emergency trauma situations over the long weekend.

Blood Service spokesperson Erin Lagoudakis said platelets have a shelf-life of just five days which means they can’t stockpile them ahead of a long weekend and need continuous donations during this time to meet demand.

The Woolloongabba bikeway project, worth 11 million dollars, will be Brisbane’s biggest bikeway and is designed to create safer routes for those cycling on Annerley Road, Stanley Street and in inner-city areas.

The bikeway will include a 2.5-kilometre corridor bike lane between Woolloongabba and South Brisbane, with the aim to separate motorists from 700 cyclists who ride along Annerley Road daily.

The first nonstop flight from Australia to Britain has touched down at Heathrow.

Qantas Flight 9 from Perth landed at 5:00am after a flight that lasted 17 hours and covered over 15,000 kilometres.

Previously, all Australia to UK flights had stopped at least once en route to refuel. But improved technology and fuel efficiency means the 787 can cover the ground between Perth and London with a full payload without the need to stop.

New research from Anglicare and the Per Capita shows that tax concessions, to the wealthiest fifth of households, are costing the federal budget half as much as the total cost of welfare payments.

The study revealed that major tax concessions cost the government around $135 billion a year in lost revenue.

Anglicare's executive director Kasy Chambers said, "the cost to Australian taxpayers of the richest 20 percent of Australians is actually a staggering $68 billion per annum".

A former French left-wing parliamentary candidate was arrested in southern France last week, over his tweets about a policeman killed during a jihadist siege.

Stéphane Poussier celebrated the death of Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, saying it was great and also adding that his death meant one less voter for President Emmanuel Macron.

Mr Poussier's Twitter account has since been deleted and French media say he could be charged with apologising for terrorism.

Ride hailing firm Uber is selling operations in South East Asia to regional rival Grab, with the sale expected to be announced later today.

The deal mimics Uber’s 2016 sale of Chinese operations to their local rival Didi Chuxing, with the company retreating further from international operations.

Although there has been no official confirmation of the deal yet, Uber is expected to retain a 30 per cent stake in the business with the deal also including the sale of Uber Eats operations in the region.