ABC News: Top Stories

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has deferred its decision to place the Great Barrier Reef on the "in danger" list until 2014.

The State Government is finalising possible management options after a review of Queensland's extensive stock route network.

Raiders forward Josh Papalii and Manly half-back Daly Cherry-Evans will make their Maroons debuts in Origin II next week.

Wallabies winger Digby Ioane says he is fit for the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Brisbane on Saturday.

A police officer has been charged with obstructing and assaulting police after allegedly starting an altercation at a random breath test.

Mining billionaire and Palmer United Party founder Clive Palmer says The Australian has printed information that was stolen from his Brisbane office.

Mr Palmer says a laptop was stolen from his office in April and his computers were hacked.

The newspaper is reporting that Mr Palmer warned a Chinese company that 1,000 jobs will be at risk if it did not pay money it owes him.

Mr Palmer says he is not suggesting the newspaper stole the information but said it was a "bit of a coincidence" the media got hold of the information soon after he announced his Palmer United Party.

Nathan Merritt admits he had virtually given up all hope of ever playing Origin football before his NSW call-up on Tuesday.

Nathan Merritt admits he'd virtually given up all hope of ever playing State of Origin before receiving a phone call from Blues coach Laurie Daley on Tuesday morning.

South Sydney Rabbitohs prop George Burgess has been stood down by his club after being charged with two counts of wilful damage to a car.

The Mackay Regional Council in north Queensland says clear guidelines for the use of State Emergency Service (SES) facilities need to be developed, after claims of misuse by a councillor.

South Sydney Rabbitohs prop George Burgess has been charged with two counts of wilful damage to a car following an incident in Cairns, according to reports.

Police in central Queensland are appealing to anyone with information about a Rockhampton baby's murder to come forward.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched Federal Court action against a company it has accused of ripping off people in Indigenous communities, including Queensland's Cape York.

An historian who has studied the fate of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt says he has found some evidence of more trees marked 'L' in Queensland's west.

Health authorities are screening all children on Saibai Island in the Torres Strait, off far north Queensland, to try and contain a highly infectious skin disease outbreak.

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg is today attending a public meeting at Moura, south-west of Rockhampton in central Queensland, to discuss the future of the local hospital.

Police are waiting to interview a 40-year-old man who was shot in the stomach in central Queensland yesterday.

Police are searching for a man after a double stabbing on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Former Queensland Labor premier Peter Beattie says it is time Bob Hawke was called in to sort out what he has described as the party's federal leadership "saga".

Queensland's chief health officer Jeannette Young says new strategies will be rolled out over coming months to get more children tested for lead levels in Mount Isa in the state's north-west.