The North Coast Connect rail project is looking develop a ‘Fast Rail’ 45 minute commute from Nambour to Brisbane.

Fairfax MP Ted O'Brien says 26 national rail submissions were lodged last year in a bid to share in $10 billion of federal funding to improve passenger rail connections between regional cities and towns.

The project is being supported by 26 Federal Coalition MP’s, however it is not yet known if the state Labor Government will support the proposal.

Brisbane City Council has overturned their decision to close Illaweena Street in Drewvale, south of Brisbane, after twelve hundred residents signed an online petition opposing the closure.

The council closed the street to allow the new Gateway Motorway bridges and a fauna arch crossing to get underway as part of the $450 million Logan Motorway Enhancement Project.

The closure added an extra hour to parents’ commutes dropping their kids off at the nearby Stretton State College.

A clinical trial using imported medical cannabis to treat children with epilepsy has been hailed a success by the Victorian Health Minister.

The treatment is reported to have significantly reduced the severity and frequency of participants seizures.

The Victorian State government has announced that it will fund 60 more treatments over the coming two years, and has called on the Commonwealth to fund any shortfall.

The New Zealand fisheries industry has asked the NZ Government to not release photos of fisheries bycatch, with fears that it will cause reputational damage to the industry.

Five seafood industry leaders have penned a letter expressing their concern over the New Zealand Government’s proposal to have video cameras installed on all vessels to monitor fisheries bycatch and practices.

Weather has been named the cause of the loss of almost 60 percent of the world’s saiga population back in May 2015 according to a recent study.

During an uncommonly warm and wet spell in Kazakhstan, it is believed the microbes in the animal’s large snout, that is similar to an antelope, turned poisonous because they were living in what was described as a foggy soup.

Once the disease hit a herd, other members died within a matter of days.

Health experts are concerned that the little known sexually transmitted infection mycoplasma genitalium, or MG for short, is fast becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Professor Suzanne Garland of Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital says MG can cause infertility and premature births in pregnant women, whilst showing no symptoms in infected persons.

However, Professor Garland says that a new test now covered by Medicare is soon to be rolled out across Australia and will assist will early diagnosis and identification of best treatments.

A group of divers have discovered two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico that are believed to be the biggest flooded caves on the planet.

They believe the discovery could help reveal more about the ancient Mayan civilisation.

The group of leading archaeologists said the caves could reveal a lot about the rituals, the pilgrimage sites and ultimately the great pre-Hispanic settlements of the area.

Three Australian citizens have been arrested in a Belgrade hotel stormed by armed Serbian police.

Police report that half a billion dollars worth of cocaine was seized in the raid along with European, Australian, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese banknotes.

The arrested men are suspected to be linked to the discovery of a cocaine shipment seized in Sydney last April.