Work has commenced this morning on the second runway for Sunshine Coast Airport, tipped to generate 2 200 jobs and $4 billion in revenue for the region.

Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson said the new runway will accommodate larger aircrafts and open up direct access to the Sunshine Coast from Australian cities, and international markets in Asia in turn driving significant economic growth.

The new two-and-a-half kilometre runway built by the civil infrastructure giant, John Holland Group, will cost $225 million with completion due in 2020.

A film based on the Battle of Long Tan begins production in Queensland later this year.

The film, provisionally titled Danger Close, is produced by former special forces commando Martin Walsh.

It is expected to create around 860 jobs, and will employ approximately 200 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans as extras.

Danger Close’s Vietnam sequences will be principally filmed in areas near Kingaroy and Nerang.

Thousands of Venezuelans continue to flee the country every day seeking asylum in Colombia as the country’s economic collapse continues to worsen with stifling hyperinflation.

President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government continues to oppress his people following a decision to allocate $2 billion to bondholders rather than food imports.

Venezuelans face dire life and death decisions; Migrant Yeraldine Murillo said It’s migrate and give it a try or die of hunger there. Those are the only two options.

Civil-rights group the Council on American-Islamic Relations has labelled as “contrary to our nation's values” an Idaho bill banning the implementation of “foreign law” in the State.

The group says the bill, known as HB - 419, fits into a wider pattern of “unconstitutional” bills demonising Muslims by barring Sharia Law as similar legislation is considered in Montano, Oregon, and Wisconsin.

On Thursday the Federal Government launched a smart volunteering campaign, working alongside universities and state authorities to ensure students are not unintentionally visiting or volunteering in programs that exploit young children.

A UNICEF report released last year found that most orphans living in Cambodia were neither orphans nor abandoned and were at risk of being exploited to attract funding and donations from tourists, including being forced to beg, interact and play with visitors.

A group of American Astronomers have glimpsed the first stars of the Big Bang through a small radio telescope in Western Australia.

The Astronomers received a faint radio signal from 13.6 Billion years ago, which showed frigid temperatures and an unusually pronounced wave that could be elusive dark matter, which scientists have been hunting for decades.

Finding a signal from these early stars has been likened to “hearing the flap of a hummingbird's wing from inside a hurricane” said Peter Kurczynski from the National Science Foundation.

Brisbane and Gold Coast drivers will need to lower their speed by 10 kilometres per hour on the M1 from today or prepare to face hefty fines.

In an attempt to improve road safety ahead of the Commonwealth Games in April, the 110km/h speed limit on the busy motorway will be dropped to 100km/h and 100km/h dropped to 90km/h.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey says considering its extensive advertising there will be no grace period, the new speed limits will be enforced immediately and the Queensland Government are unapologetic for it.  

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey has accused Brisbane City Council of neglecting Western suburbs residents in their go-slow approach to upgrades for Jindalee’s Centenary Bridge and Indooroopilly’s Walter Taylor Bridge.

The RACQ told Fairfax Media on Monday both bridges must be duplicated within 10 years to stop adding “billions of dollars to the city’s congestion costs.”