An unauthorised climber on the Sydney Harbour Bridge has forced police to shut numerous lanes on the bridge, causing severe traffic delays in both directions.

A police spokeswoman says multiple reports were received around 4:30am this morning and negotiations with the man are ongoing.

The Traffic Management Centre have warned motorists saying, “It doesn’t look like it’s going to have a quick resolution … it’s basically going to throw peak into chaos for anyone coming into the Sydney CBD.”

Residents along the Queensland coastline are being warned of wild weather following Tropical Cyclone Iris.

The Whitsundays is most at risk, with the cyclone sitting around the region for the next couple of days until it eventually goes out to sea.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says “no matter what community gets impacted, we are all here to help.”

Drug companies are being investigated after allegedly using the codeine crackdown as an opportunity to sell stronger painkillers to doctors.

The companies are sending targeted advertising to doctors for stronger pain medication in an effort to encourage them to sell their products.

The suggested new medications are twice as strong as the codeine painkiller Pandaeine Forte.

Australian farmers are expected to be benefited, following a discovery of heat-resistance crops from NASA.

This follows a 2013 discovery from NASA scientists of a new way to measure fluorescence in plants.

Australian scientists have continued this research in Narrabri, New South Wales and are now using state-of-the-art technology to further develop hardier crops.

Slum residents in Argentina have gotten their own TV news hour made by, and for, them.

The programme is an attempt to represent some of the 700,000 people living in slums in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, many of who are Indigenous people.

The news program, titled Mundo Villa, is anchored by young hosts who aim to discuss everything from the presence of drug trafficking to slum town culture.

Prince Charles has found himself in the middle of an Australian republic debate after Paul Keating told the British Press he was certain Prince Charles would support Australia leaving the monarchy.

Publicly, both Prince Charles and the Queen have stressed it's up to Australians to decide whether to follow the republic path.

Prince Charles will be at the Old Government House with the Queensland premier at 12:50pm today before taking a walk in the Botanic Gardens and visiting the Lady Cilento Hospital.

The United Nations says 34 people may have been killed on Sunday in attacks in Nigeria.

The attacks were carried out by Boko Haram in the Nigerian state of Bornio, an area which has been in conflict since 2009.

The UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Yassine Gaba, says attacks in the northeast of Nigeria are causing innocent civilians to suffer daily.