The Ignite Brisbane Outdoor mini festival is back this Friday night on July 16th.

The festival which began in March 2018 is all about hard dance, rave music and hosting a wide variety of performers.

The event is held at The Brightside Outdoors in Fortitude Valley with tickets still being available on Eventbrite.com, though they are going out fast.

Students in Greater Sydney will resume school for Term 3 via online learning. 

New South Wales Education Minister, Sarah Mitchell said a decision to extend the home learning will be made in a day or two which last as long as a week. 

Due to concerns of the Delta strain transmissions, the New South Wales state government is relying on latest updates from state health authorities to make a decision.

Tasmanian businesses are urged to introduce menstrual, menopause leave to help remove stigma.

According to the Australian Medical Association, a menstrual leave policy could start to normalise menstruation and menopause, allowing women to operate more effectively.

Tasmania’s AMA spokeswoman Annette Barratt says there’s still a barrier from women who are reluctant to tell their employer they can’t come into work because their periods are awful or because they suffer from endometriosis, a condition that affects one in nine women in Australia.

Small businesses and market vendors of the Cotters Market in Townsville were hit hard by the recent lockdowns causing an estimated 2 week of lost trading after a woman in the regional town tested positive for Covid-19.  

Local fruit growers such as Matthias Fehrenbacher said that his status as a potential ‘close contact’ with the woman caused a ‘truckload of fresh produce to be dumped after being picked, as he was unable to sell due to needing quarantine for 2 weeks. 

The deadline looms for Brisbane’s Polish Club to repay a $150,000 loan by August 5. Due to community support, the struggling Milton Club has reached $90,000 in fundraising.

Club President Waldemar Duda said if the loan is not paid by the deadline then the clubhouse and land must be auctioned off to recoup costs. 

A further $50,000 is needed as the club calls for the community to help it survive.

A Brisbane court trial over the 2018 strawberry needle incident which caused national outcry was stalled on the first day. 

The accused woman My Ut Trinh was charged with 8 counts of contamination of goods with intent to cause economic loss. 

The delay comes as a new jury will be selected later today and the finalisation of new legal issues and concerns that have arisen pre-trial involving witnesses and evidence are under review.

AMP Capital’s chief economist Shane Oliver suggested Sydney’s lockdowns may cost up to $7 billion if the lockdown is to continue for another 4 weeks as planned. 

New South Wales accounts for one-third of Australia's output, and according to Oliver, the longer NSW remains in lockdown, the longer it will take for the national economy to recover.

Victoria on high alert as NSW covid outbreak breaches border.

Two new positive cases detected in a Melbourne family returning home from NSW with red zone permits and two members from a NSW removalist crew traveling through Victoria and SA also testing positive.

The cases come after Victoria recorded its 12th day of no locally acquired cases.

Victoria Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael Grainger says an extra 90 officers have been sent to the border on top of the 260 operating there since last week.

The United States government symbolically marked the end of the Afghan conflict as US general Austin Miller relinquished command and departed the country. General Miller is the last 4 star general to serve on the ground. 

This symbolic end marked the conclusion of America’s longest conflict which has lasted just shy of 20 years. While the official end is set for August 31, US generals will continue to support Afghan security forces from overseas. 

Taliban insurgents are currently regaining momentum capturing further territory.