PM

If you're in Australia's east and happen to look at the sky tonight, there is a good chance you'll see the moon at its largest in almost 70 years. The 'super moon', as it's known, is not such an uncommon occurrence, but tonight's moon will pass especially close to the Earth, making it seem even larger than ordinary super moons. Crowds of thousands are expected to gather in prime viewing spots, although the weather is threatening to obscure the spectacle in some of Australia's most heavily populated areas.

After over four years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange is set to be questioned by a Swedish prosecutor over allegations of rape and sexual assault. Assange has denied the claims and insists that they are politically motivated. Swedish prosecutors dropped the sexual assault probe last year after the five-year statute of limitations expired, but still want to question him about the allegation. The 45-year-old Australian sought refuge in the central London embassy in June 2012, after Swedish prosecutors issued a European arrest warrant against him. The London police operation to monitor Assange and prevent his escape from the embassy has so far cost GBP 11 million.

The South Australian Premier has not given up on the proposal to build a high-level nuclear waste dump in the state, announcing a referendum on the controversial issue. Jay Weatherill says the matter is one for the community to decide and that if broad social consent was achieved, the final right of veto would be given to local Aboriginal people. But any referendum would need bipartisan support, which the Liberal Opposition Leader has ruled out, leaving this latest plan all but dead.

Redundancies at Fairfax Media's Weekly Review magazine stable will leave a further gap in the provision of local news in Melbourne. The lifestyle and real estate magazine operates across nine regions in Melbourne and Geelong and owns some of the oldest mastheads in Victoria. The journalists' union is calling the demise of local media a 'growing crisis', but one expert says editors ignore local news at their peril.

With skateboarding's inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games, the City of Melbourne is getting on board the sport's rising popularity. Taking inspiration from skateboarding cities like Portland and Paris, Melbourne's council is devising a Skate Melbourne plan to better accommodate skateboarders alongside other city users.

The Queensland Resources Council has asked the State Government to fix gaps in the compensation scheme for coal miners diagnosed with black lung. But the union says those changes still won't go far enough and its lobbying for an entirely new scheme for those workers with the potentially fatal lung condition. Meanwhile another public hearing into apparent re-emergence of the health problem has revealed the disease was probably never actually eradicated, as had been previously thought.

Some of the world's largest companies including Google, Microsoft and Facebook are ploughing billions of dollars into Virtual Reality technology. VR is a computer simulation that can be interacted with using equipment like headsets and controllers. In 2014, Facebook bought VR headset manufacturer Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion. That effectively set off a boom in virtual reality investment that those in the industry warn may bypass Australia.

Dairy farms and hay fields are a long way from hip hop's gritty roots in New York City, but a rap revolution is happening across rural Australia. Scores of country kids are finding their feet in the genre, thanks to a grassroots rap battle movement. The events are designed to give young men and women a creative outlet they don't have back home and now, organisers are taking the project on the road.

The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has highlighted the economic differences between Australia and the United States, as his predecessor Tony Abbott warned that the US election result showed conservatives voters should not be ignored by mainstream political parties. Mr Abbott says similar disenchantment was seen at the federal election in July, but the Prime Minister says that disquiet dates back to Mr Abbott's first budget in 2014.

After a week of huge financial markets volatility, the share market a least quietened down a little bit today. But have we only seen a taste of what's to come?