MPs from both major parties will be allowed a conscience vote when "historic" proposed voluntary assisted dying laws are debated in Queensland Parliament later this year.

The state's draft legislation would allow eligible people who are already dying to choose the timing and circumstances of their death

Queensland's critically endangered white-throated snapping turtle is in the process of being brought back from the edge of extinction with the help of volunteers.

The species, native to the Burnett, Mary and Fitzroy River catchments along the central and southern Queensland coasts are having their eggs collected.

The volunteers then move the eggs into protective electrified cages to keep them safe from feral pigs, foxes and cattle.

Queensland man Dexter Kruger has officially become the oldest living Australian in history celebrating 111 years and 24 days of life at his home in Roma. Mr Kruger born in nineteen ten, celebrated the milestone with family and friends before Defence Minister Peter Dutton visited him asking for the secret to a long life. Mr Kruger says to find something you like and do it well. He set himself a goal when he was quite young and achieved it.

A new global study involving University of Queensland researchers has found more than half of adolescents are practising poor hand hygiene. UQ’s Institute for Social Science Research Doctor Yaqoot Fatima says that due to COVID-19 there is a renewed emphasis on adequate hand hygiene and results show that globally, adolescents practice poor hand hygiene. 354,422 adolescents aged 13 to 17 were examined by researchers who used data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey.

While most Queenslanders are returning to the office as COVID restrictions continue to ease, new Google mobility data shows Brisbane workers are staying home, with office visit numbers remaining well below pre-COVID levels. In contrast, the data shows the majority of Queenslanders are still avoiding public transport, with only Noosa, Townsville and Mackay’s bus networks back to normal levels. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the state government are trying to coax inner-city workers back into the office in a bid to revive the struggling CBD business ecosystem.

The skull of an 8 million-year-old crocodile found in the Northern Territory in 2009 is now thought to be part of a new extinct species scientists never previously knew existed. Dr Adam Yates, senior curator of Earth Sciences at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, says the fossil is the best specimen ever found of a crocodile from the extinct Baru genus. He also says the find, 200 kilometres from Alice Springs, also shows Central Australia once had a river system capable of supporting life.

The US Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban in a case which could set the precedent for other restrictions to abortion rights. The trial is set to examine whether a foetus is viable outside the womb at 15 weeks and therefore whether terminating it is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is currently stacked with conservative judges and this will be the first reproductive rights case heard by Justice Amy Coney-Barrett, who vocally opposes abortion.

Election watchdog The Asian Network for Free Elections says its observers have concluded Myanmar’s general election in November last year was free and fair. This contradicts the Myanmar military’s own claims the election was rigged, which they used to justify seizing power and arresting the country’s democratically elected government in a coup d’état in February. The Asian Network for Free Elections had four hundred observers at polling booths around the country in November and says the military’s refusal to accept the result of the election is “indefensible”