Queensland

Ukraine continues to try and find a way out of its political confrontation, but on Friday, police blundered into more trouble. They attacked a bus full of pro-government activists, mistaking them for the anti-government kind. Plus, an historic fireplace was discovered in Israel and, in the Pacific, a man comes ashore after spending, he says, 16 months at sea, in today’s Global Scan.

Australia’s Outback communities rely on the water in the Great Artesian Basin, deep underground, for their water supply. But some now worry the aquifer is being drawn down too quickly. If it ever went dry, it would leave a whole host of Outback communities without a nearby water supply.

Australia’s koalas are under threat from two different diseases, one of which is familiar to humans. Koalas are frequently being infected with chlamydia — and it may decimate the population. But new research, and a new vaccine, gives hope they may be saved.

A US-Australian military exercise called Talisman Saber figures in our Geo Quiz.

The Great Artesian Basin, which provides drinking water to many communities in the Outback, comes to the surface nearly boiling and stinking of rotten eggs, yet it is a life-giving resource in an unforgiving environment.