British lawyers have called for Saudi Arabia to be removed from the United Nations Human Rights Council, arguing the kingdom detains political and free speech activists without charge.

A report details that more than 60 individuals were detained in September last year, most of whom were defenders of political freedom.

Lawyers said it is contradictory to have a country sitting on the council that has a systematic pattern of abuse for the very things the council stands to defend.

In a move to try and protect the world’s elephant population, Hong Kong has followed China’s lead and banned domestic sales of ivory.

The ban will be implemented in steps, with all sales to be prohibited by 2021.

Environmentalists said other countries with a ripe ivory trade must follow suit so traffickers don’t have anywhere to get or sell their products.

Results from one of the largest health studies carried out at a workplace have revealed the mental and physical health benefits of walking 10,000 steps a day for 100 days.

Annual global costs of mental health problems are estimated at 3.9 trillion dollars and expected to rise to 7.4 trillion dollars by 2030, putting mental illness costs above that of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

Prison inmates from the Alice Springs Correctional Facility competed against local club the Central Australian Redtails on Wednesday night, in the inaugural ‘No More’ football match against domestic violence.

Many of the prisoners in the team are serving time for family violence offences and hope that the match can raise awareness around what they have learnt about how reduce violence on and off the field.

Commonwealth games organisers will use the world stage to champion for gender equality in Queensland by exploring many of the issues faced by those working towards a gender equal world.

The Women of the World Festival will be held at the Brisbane Powerhouse in April as part of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games arts and cultural festival.

The last of South-East Queensland’s super high tides peaked at 8:30 this morning on the North and South Coasts.

The high-waters resulted as king tides associated with last night’s super blue blood moon, combined with the large swell produced by a distant offshore tropical cyclone.

Although beaches have reopened, authorities warn that only strong and experienced swimmers should enter the water as surf conditions remain rough.

50 low-income and 15 donor countries are meeting in Dakar, West Africa today to pledge financial commitments to fund primary and lower-secondary education for over 870 million children who live in low and low-middle income countries.

The meeting follows Human Rights Watch released data saying world-wide, 264 million children are going without primary and secondary education, with 80 percent of these children living in the 65 countries meeting today.

Time spent on Facebook is believed to have dropped by 50 million hours a day and as a result the company has taken a 4 percent hit on the stock market.

Mark Zuckerbeg said the reduction in time spent during the quarter reflected changes to show fewer viral videos to make sure people’s time is well spent.

These figures do not however include engagement with Facebook’s Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp products.