18:00:00 07/08/2015
The 10 leading Republican Party presidential candidates have held their first debate ahead of next year's US election. For over a month, the front-runner has been billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump. During the two-hour forum in Ohio, Mr Trump refused to take a pledge to rule out running as an independent if he doesn't win the Republican Party nomination. More
18:10:00 07/08/2015
Donald Trump was given the dominant position in the debate today because he's way out front in the polls of Republican voters. David Smith is a lecturer in American Politics and Foreign Policy at Sydney University's United States Studies Centre. PM asked him if those Republican polls reflected a broader popularity among the American population at large? More
18:15:00 07/08/2015
The Federal Defence Minister Kevin Andrews has reassured West Australia's ship building industry it's still in the running to supply Commonwealth patrol boats. Local politicians and industry groups are worried the state has been ruled out of the race before it's even begun after the Prime Minister Tony Abbott told a Melbourne radio station work on the new ships will 'most likely' start in South Australia, then potentially move to Victoria. More
- Christine Kearney
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18:19:00 07/08/2015
It's been proclaimed as 'Egypt's miracle and its gift to the world'. Egypt has opened a major expansion of the Suez Canal. It's designed to deepen the main waterway and increase traffic, providing ships with a parallel 35 kilometre additional lane. Egypt's government hopes the revenues will revive the economy, but analysts have questioned its projections. And it comes as militants allied to Islamic State have been waging a terror campaign in the area. More
- Elise Worthington
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18:25:00 07/08/2015
Australian depression researchers have been forced to shut off a promising clinical trial using the drug ketamine after struggling to attract funding. It comes after an unrelated chain of commercial ketamine clinics were shut down amid an investigation by the health watchdog into dodgy prescribing practices. Ketamine, known for it' use as a so-called party drug, has shown remarkable short term results for some types of depression but can have hallucinogenic side effects. More
18:30:00 07/08/2015
The Federal Government's right to send asylum seekers back to their country of origin regardless of their fear of persecution and death is under challenge in court again. More
- Mark Colvin
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18:35:00 07/08/2015
Politicians on both sides talk about closing the gap between the Aboriginal community and the rest of Australia, and the biggest gap may well be in health. So it's come as a big shock to the Jimmy Little Foundation, set up by the late singer and continued in his memory, that it's lost all its government funding, and has vainly spent the last year trying to get it back. More
18:40:00 07/08/2015
Australia's first national allergy strategy is being launched. More than four million Australians have an allergic disease, whether it be a food allergy, hay fever or drug or insect allergies, and the strategy is aiming to educate the entire community on the risks and treatments available. More
18:45:00 07/08/2015
While parts of the Tamar River near Launceston in Tasmania may be subject to silt and occasional raw sewage discharge, up near where the river spills into Bass Strait divers have found new species of coral. The researchers who made the discovery are now thinking of a name for the new coral. More
18:50:00 07/08/2015
In the 2011 Fukushima tsunami, the town of Ohkuma became a ghost town overnight. With the nearby nuclear power plant in danger of melting down, it was a huge upheaval for its people. Ohkuma and the NSW regional city of Bathurst have had a 25 year Sister City relationship, and a group of Ohkuma teenagers have been visiting this Bathurst this week. More