The Taliban has announced a new commission in an urge to purge ‘people of “bad character”’ from their ranks in what the group say is an effort to protect Afghanistan’s reputation.

The group which has operated as insurgent fighters for two decades says people of a bad character have been affecting Afghan’s vested interests. 

Reports on social media have alleged that people identifying themselves as Taliban members have continued to carry out a number of attacks on civilians and former members of security forces of the ousted government.

Griffith University has called on the Queensland Government to set a deadline to end mandatory COVID quarantine for fully vaccinated international students. 

Griffith’s vice-president Sarah Todd said she was worried that Queensland might lose students to interstate universities, with NSW and Victoria already abolishing quarantine for double-vaccinated overseas travellers. 

This concern also follows Australia’s loss of international students this year to universities in Canada and the UK. 

Queensland’s tourism towns are facing concerns of visitors potentially shying away from areas with poor vaccination rates this summer. 

With less than four weeks before border openings, the Queensland Tourism Industry council has released data showing holiday-makers will take health into consideration when choosing a destination. 

It was revealed areas such as Whitsunday and Mackay which are at 65% vaccinated, are experiencing loss bookings than normal. 

Climate Activist Eric Serge Herbet has been sentenced to 12 months in jail from stopping a coal train for five hours by climbing on top of the world’s largest coal port in Newcastle.

While on top of the coal train, Herbert posted a message of ‘taking our future back’ on facebook.

This protest followed the weeks of protest led by the Blockade Australia group which saw more activists blocking railway tracks near the port of newcastle. 

The 22-year-old was charged with hindering the working of mining equipment and assisting in obstruction of rail locomotive.

NASA’s one-way mission to deflect an asteroid is planned to blast off tonight. 

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test is set to begin  its 10-month journey to nudge a space rock out of its orbit.

The mission will be the first time NASA has trailed the ‘kinetic impact’ technique. 

NASA’s defence coordinator office has commented that while it is unlikely the asteroid will hit us during our lifetimes, it is important to test the real kinetic impact strategy for future incidents.

Overnight, Brisbane streets have recorded 140 millimetres of rainfall, with another 135 millimeters expected to fall over the next seven days. 

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that storm cells moving about parts of the south-east could bring further rainfall and flash flooding for the rest of the week. 

The SES has already attended to 11 calls for assistance with sandbagging and property repairs since Tuesday this week. 

Central Queensland is set to hit 100,000 COVID vaccination doses today as the region continues to get ready for the state’s borders to open. 

This news follows a gathering in Yeppoon last week, in which central Queensland small business owners expressed their concerns over the state’s impending tough COVID-19 restrictions for unvaccinated people. 

Minister for regional development, Glenn Butcher, has encouraged Queenslanders to keep up the good work, but advised that we can’t be complacent- with borders set to open in the next few weeks. 

The Greens have revealed a plan to make gender-affirming healthcare free under medicare.

The plan proposed yesterday involved investing $15 million annually to cover the out-of-pocket costs experienced by trans and gender diverse people in assessing gender-affirming healthcare. 

This new policy comes as the Green’s tabled a petition signed by 150,000 Australians in the House of Representatives yesterday evening. 

Greens Senator Janet Rice has said that Australia does not have a universal health care system until there is equal access to essential services.