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| UpdatedOn Thursday's program: Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour steps down just weeks after a Senate committee lifted the secrecy over his $5.6 million dollar pay check; After the plane crash, residents living under the flightpath at Melbourne's Essendon Airport say they live in fear of another deadly accident and want the facility moved; And cafe workers express their anger after what they describe as an unfair decision by the Fair Work Commission to cut their Sunday penalty rates.
Topics: australia
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| UpdatedThere's a small ray of possible new hope for treating motor neuron disease. Motor neuron disease attacks the nervous system, often with frightening speed. Average life expectancy after diagnosis is one to five years. The advance comes in the form of a new urine test developed by experts from Flinders University and the University of Miami. The new test measures a key protein in the urine of MND sufferers as the disease progresses.
Topics: medical-research, health, medical-procedures, australia
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| UpdatedIt's morning in Iraq, and as we go to air the country's army is moving into a new phase of its bid to retake Mosul from the so-called Islamic State. A BBC reporter travelling with them has just tweeted a photo indicating that the army's begun its attempt to take Mosul airport, a key tactical goal. Up to 400,000 civilians, men women and children could be displaced.
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, australia, iraq
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| UpdatedAn Australian consortium has launched a world-first digital energy marketplace for rooftop solar. The Decentralised Energy Exchange, or deX, will allow consumers, businesses, communities and utilities to trade of energy generated by solar panels and stored in battery packs. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is funding it. It brings together network operators, an energy retailer and tech start-ups, with pilot projects in the ACT and Victoria planned for June.
Topics: solar-energy, alternative-energy, nsw, act
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| UpdatedOne of Australia's largest Indigenous corporations has been put into special administration after ongoing community concern that it's failing to deliver services. The corporation's also been under scrutiny this month about asbestos housing it brought into the town. The Aboriginal corporations watchdog says administrators will focus on restoring community confidence in the organisation.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, housing-industry, community-and-society, government-and-politics, housing, australia
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The plane crash that killed five people in Melbourne earlier this week has brought terrifying memories for residents who live near the airport. Four American citizens and their pilot were killed on Tuesday when the charter jet they were in suffered catastrophic engine failure only moments after leaving the runway at Essendon Airport. It's the worst aviation accident in Victoria in three decades and the fourth crash to have happened with a two kilometre radius of the airport. Residents say it's only a matter of time before history repeats itself again.
Topics: accidents, industry, disasters-and-accidents, air-transport, melbourne-3000, australia, vic
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| UpdatedAt the child sexual abuse Royal Commission five Australian Archbishops have agreed the Church's reaction to clerical sexual abuse has been a 'catastrophic failure'. They have told the Commission their priests, parishioners and the public would never let them get away with the autocratic behaviour of their predecessors.
Topics: royal-commissions, community-and-society, child-abuse, religion-and-beliefs, law-crime-and-justice, australia
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| UpdatedSmall business owners welcomed the penalty rates ruling, saying it could see them stay open longer and take on more staff. But retail and hospitality workers slammed it as unfair and disappointing, arguing it will make it harder to make ends meet.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, hospitality, retail, australia
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| UpdatedThe Federal Opposition is promising to use parliament and the courts to fight today's ruling which reduces Sunday penalty rates for some workers covered by retail, hospitality, fast food and pharmacy awards. The Fair Work Commission has acknowledged some workers will be worse off, and it'll hold a new round of hearings on transitional arrangements. The Government says the commission is independent, but it's confident the ruling will boost employment and the economy.
Topics: government-and-politics, business-economics-and-finance, hospitality, retail, federal-government, australia
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| UpdatedFormer treasury secretary Ken Henry says virtually nothing's been achieved to address Australia's economic future over the last 10 years, and he blame the modern political process. Observing how today's politicians now choose to frighten rather than explain, he's warning the living standards of all Australians are being threatened by inaction in Canberra.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, government-and-politics, canberra-2600, australia, act
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| UpdatedThe question of how much money company CEOs should be able to take home is as complex as it is controversial. Why should board members take home millions of dollars when ordinary wage earners are struggling for even the most basic of pay rises?
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, company-news, management, money-and-monetary-policy, australia
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| UpdatedThe CEO of Australia Post, Ahmed Fahour, has announced he will be resigning. It follows intense scrutiny over his $5 million plus pay packet. But the CEO says the debate surrounding his take-home pay has nothing to do with his move to step down.
Topics: company-news, business-economics-and-finance, australia
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| UpdatedAustralia Post's Managing Director and group CEO Ahmen Fahour has quit. He was in the spotlight earlier this month over the size of his salary at a government owned company.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, government-and-politics, australia
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| UpdatedThe question of whether there could be life in other parts of our universe may be a step closer to being answered. A team of American and European scientists has discovered the existence of seven small planets, each around the size of Earth, orbiting a star close to our own solar system. Three of the newly discovered planets are in what scientists call the Goldilocks zone, where life would be sustainable.
Topics: planets-and-asteroids, astronomy-space, space-exploration, united-states
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Three members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors have told the child sexual abuse Royal Commission that the body is struggling to function properly because of a lack of funding and administrative support from the Vatican.
Topics: royal-commissions, child-abuse, catholic, sexual-offences, australia
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| UpdatedAs the US-backed Iraqi forces make headway against IS, Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop meeting with her US counterpart, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Amongst other issues, the two will discuss what a victory against ISIS would look like. The World Today spoke to James Brown, a former Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who is now a policy analyst at the United States Studies Centre.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, terrorism, united-states, iraq
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| UpdatedUS-backed Iraqi forces continue to close in on Islamic State fighters occupying the western half of Mosul. The militant group was ousted from eastern Mosul last month. But the fight to take the western part of the city is expected to become more difficult as forces get closer to the labyrinthine inner city where Islamic State defences are believed to be strong. Roughly three quarters of a million civilians remain inside the city and have no clear escape route.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, terrorism, iraq
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| UpdatedJames Packer's Crown Resorts has announced a big financial hit today. The gambling and resorts company's profit has fallen around nine per cent to $191 million. This is the first financial result since 18 Crown employees were detained in China over allegations of illegal gambling.
Topics: gambling, business-economics-and-finance, community-and-society, australia, china
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| UpdatedAustralian airline Qantas has announced a 25 per cent fall in half year profit to $515 million. The company is back in the black just a few years after posting a record loss of almost $3 billion, but senior business correspondent Peter Ryan said Qantas is dealing with a number of one of costs, including selling terminal spaces, and redundancy pay offs.
Topics: air-transport, business-economics-and-finance, industry, australia
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| UpdatedThe Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell says small businesses are relieved by the Fair Work decision on penalty rates. She says more jobs will be generated as a result of the lower Sunday rates.
Topics: regulation, business-economics-and-finance, australia
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| UpdatedProtesters are outside the Fair Work Commission in Melbourne, as the decision is heard. Workers in hospitality and retail are to be faced with pay cuts as penalty rates reduce. Greens MP Adam Bandt tells the media he will fight the decision.
Topics: money-and-monetary-policy, australia
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| UpdatedTwo years after it was due, the Fair Work Commission has handed its decision on penalty rates, deciding to cut penalties for Sundays and public holidays for the retail, and hospitality industries. Former Labor MP Martin Ferguson says it's about the modernisation of the Hospitality Industry Award, and that it will actually lead to the reduction of casual employment, one of the objectives of the ACTU.
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Hundreds of thousands of workers are now facing a cut to their pay with the Fair Work Commission slashing Sunday penalty rates for some awards. In a long-awaited landmark ruling, the workplace relations tribunal acknowledged that its decision will cause hardship but said Sunday rates for fast food, retail and hospitality workers are too high. The unions are reacting angrily and vowing to campaign to get the Government to change the Fair Work Act. The Workplace Relations Minister says she's furious that a scare campaign has already begun.
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A group of young Australian singers is preparing for the musical trip of a lifetime - a performance in New York City. The Bendigo Youth Choir from central Victoria won silver at the World Choir Games in the United States a few years ago. Now the new group of talented singers is using songs to distract from the pressures of the modern world.
Topics: choral, bendigo-3550
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A row has erupted in Britain over who signed off on an estimated million-pound compensation payout to a former Guantanamo Bay detainee. Jamal al-Harith was released from Guantanamo Bay in 2004 after lobbying from the Blair Labour government, but is now thought to have carried out a suicide bombing for the Islamic State group in Iraq. A lawyer for his family says regardless of his actions since, Al-harith deserved compensation at the time
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, united-kingdom, iraq, united-states