As it happened: Brisbane on Monday, December 9

This muggy, sticky start to summer could be the new norm for Brisbane as sea temperatures rise, the weather bureau says.

Brisbane’s humidity has reached 80 per cent in the past fortnight, conditions more akin to Cairns and Darwin than the River City. Today, the dew point temperature (a more accurate measure of the humidity) is above 23 degrees.

We asked Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Livio Regano what is driving this humid start to summer.

In short, it is hot air blowing in from the Coral Sea, he said.

“The Coral Sea is hotter than it should be and this may well be the new normal,” Regano said.

Read more here.

Underground blasts in the heart of Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast that sparked chaos and shut down part of the tourist hotspot yesterday were caused by an electrical fault, Energex has revealed.

The specific nature of the fault was still under investigation this afternoon, but Energex spokesman Danny Donald confirmed an electrical issue in a services pit caused the explosions.

“Something electrically has happened,” Donald said. “Exactly why, that’s what we’re looking at.”

A woman in her 20s suffered lower leg injuries when she fell into the services pit, or manhole, seconds after the first explosion outside a 7-Eleven store on the corner of Cavill Avenue and Orchid Avenue at about 5pm.

She was pulled from the manhole by bystanders before paramedics arrived to take her to Gold Coast University Hospital.

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A grieving community will say their final farewells today to a second teenager who tragically died overseas after consuming drinks laced with methanol.

Holly Bowles and her best friend Bianca Jones had been holidaying in Laos when they became unwell after consuming the drinks in the tourist town of Vang Vieng.

Bowles died in a Bangkok hospital on November 22, a day after Jones died in another hospital in the Thai capital.

A funeral service for the 19-year-old will be held at Beaumaris Secondary College on Melbourne’s bayside today.

Jones was farewelled in an emotional service attended by more than 1000 community members at Mentone Girls Grammar on Friday.

An American man, two Danish women and a British woman were among the six foreign nationals who died and at least eight people, believed to be hotel staff and management, have been detained.

AAP

Premier David Crisafulli has defended his government’s new youth crime laws after his own attorney-general conceded they would be a violation of human rights.

In documents tabled to Queensland parliament, and seized on by the United Nations, Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said the laws were “incompatible with human rights” but the state’s youth crime situation was “exceptional”.

As a result, the Queensland Human Rights Act would be overridden to pass the legislation this week.

Yesterday, as he released new police youth crime data in Ipswich, Crisafulli was asked how he was able to push through the laws, despite the admitted human rights issues.

“The knowledge that if we do early intervention and rehabilitation and purpose, we can turn the young lives around,” he said.

“Because of a failure to have consequences for actions, it’s caused an absolute sea of carnage for victims across the state, and they are first and foremost our priority – so, too, is making sure that we can turn the tide on those repeat offenders numbers.”

Read more here.

Nick Kyrgios is making his comeback at the Brisbane International this month before returning to the grand slam stage at the Australian Open in January.

Intrigued as anyone about how Kyrgios’ comeback goes, tennis great Pat Rafter says he won’t be surprised if the enigmatic former Wimbledon finalist makes the Australian Open semi-finals.

Nor will Rafter be shocked if Kyrgios flops and crashes out in the first round, after more than two years off tour with career-threatening wrist and knee injuries.

“You’d never write anyone off with the talent that Nick has. It’s pretty amazing,” Rafter said.

“I really don’t know what he’s done, though. A year and a half off the game ... so it’s going to be interesting. I have no expectations or no understanding about how he is going to go.”

Rafter added:

“He’s got a massive game. But then can he keep it together? Can his body hold up? Can his mind hold together?

They’re probably his really big hurdles, especially his body. If you don’t play competitively, God, it’s a completely different thing than to training. So I really don’t know what to expect from him. I think it’s all up in the air. If you go there to see him play, it will be interesting to see. I don’t know quite what the expectation is from the pundits but my expectation is there is none.

When I say there is no expectation, if he gets to the quarters, the semis, it wouldn’t surprise me. If he loses the first round, it wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t know.”

AAP

The official temperature might be 29 degrees right now, but it feels more like 34.5 degrees, according to the weather bureau.

The humidity in Brisbane is sitting at 70 per cent and the dew point temperature (a more accurate measure of the humidity) is 23.4 degrees, making for a sticky start to the week after a scorching hot Sunday.

Summer returned with a vengeance yesterday, following last week’s big wet. Crowds flocked to beaches and pools to get some reprieve from the searing temperatures, as Brisbane reached 34.7 degrees, Amberley hit 37.3 degrees, Archerfield 36.4 degrees and Coolangatta 33.3 degrees.

In Brisbane this morning, the temperature climbed to 30.1 degrees at 10.30am today, before dropping slightly, although that brought little relief from the humid conditions.

A universal experience for teenage girls, Brisbane sisters Daniella Dionyssiou and Natalia Suesskow couldn’t find anything in their closets they wanted to wear.

It was at that moment, at just 17 and 19 years of age, they decided to create their own dream clothing store.

Now VRG GRL (pronounced Verge Girl) has a combined following across Instagram and TikTok exceeding 1.2 million, and the likes of Ariana Grande, Kendall Jenner and Taylor Swift wearing their designs.

Read more here.