The City of Logan Volunteer Awards were held over the weekend, with locals and organisations being recognised for their continued service to the community.

Among the winners was not-for-profit The Muslim Charitable Foundation in Woodridge, who took out the Davida Steele Memorial Award for Outstanding Community Organisation for their work with homeless and disengaged youth.

Melanie McKenzie, founder of Harrison’s Little Wing, was also recognised with the Spirit of Logan Award for her work supporting people who have experienced prenatal or postpartum child loss.

The appeal hearing against the 2019 Supreme Court decision for the class action involving Queensland flood victims is scheduled to begin in New South Wales today. 

The New South Wales Court of Appeal will hear the appeal lodged by Seqwater, one of three defendants identified in the class action lodged in 2017, who was found to have contributed to the loss and damage suffered by the plaintiffs as a result of the negligent operation of the Wivenhoe and Somerset dams during the January 2011 floods in South East Queensland.

The trial is set to run for just over two weeks. 

A content warning on the next bulletin, which mentions death.

Three residential buildings in Gaza have been destroyed by an Israeli air assault over the weekend in another escalation in the deadly war between Israel and Hamas.

42 people were killed in the pre-dawn attack on Sunday, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza to 181, including 52 children, the Gaza Health Ministry reports.

In a televised address after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled there would be no end to the fighting.

A project by NASA is looking at how to effectively water plants in space. The space agency is a step closer to working out how to feed astronaut crews during long-duration missions, that could last anywhere between weeks and years in space.

Providing adequate hydration to plants' roots has proved an issue in zero gravity, with the NASA team trialling using hydroponics, meaning no soil was needed for the plants.

Officials in Denver have confirmed no injuries were sustained by the pilots and passenger of two planes that collided in mid air despite one plane suffering severe damage to its tail section.

The planes collided while coming in to land at a local airport. One pilot requested an emergency landing after the right engine failed without realising the plane had been almost torn in half. The second pilot and passenger deployed a parachute system to return safely to ground.

Scientists believe declining seal numbers on Phillip Island could be caused by chemicals used in fire fighting. 

A joint research project between the University of Sydney, the National Measurement Institute, and Philip Island Nature Parks, has studied the Rocks sea seal colony since 2006. They found the population numbers have dropped by 25% since 2007. 

An Environment Impact Statement released for the taxpayer-funded gas-fired power plant at the Hunter Valley has revealed the project may need to rely on diesel for the first six months of its operation due to having no gas connection.

Georgina Woods from the Lock the Gate Alliance says it is unacceptable to build a diesel-powered station in the Hunter Valley which already has elevated levels of particle pollution. 

The plant was proposed by the federal government in order to combat a shortfall in power generation when the local coal-fired power station closes in 2023.

The Sunshine Coast reported 78 cases of the rodent-borne disease leptospirosis following a mouse plague in the region.

A spokesman for Queensland Health, Professor Keith McNeil, said leptospirosis can cause flu-like symptoms but left untreated can develop into meningitis and kidney failure.

He said that agriculture workers are most at risk for catching the disease but it can also be transmitted by swimming in waters contaminated by the urine of infected animals.