Italy has approved plans to build the world's largest suspension bridge, to link the mainland with Sicily. The 13.5 billion Euro infrastructure project has been long delayed by debates over its scale, earthquake threats, environmental impact, and the spectre of mafia interference.

The Italian government forecasts the project will create 120,000 jobs a year, and boost southern Italy's lagging economy.  Thousands of locals have been marching in protest against the plan, vowing to stop the bridge from going ahead. 

This morning Trump and Putin will give a rare joint press conference, a coup for the Russian leader who has long been isolated by the West. 

But how did the Alaska meeting come about, and what promise does it hold?

Trump gained the ear of the Kremlin through an unlikely messenger, Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko. 

Time Magazine journalist Simon Shuster sat down with President Lukashenko in July this year to understand the role he has played in brokering Trump's summit with Putin.

The Federal Labor government is insisting it will not deviate from its election mandate when it comes to economic reform.

The government has instead asked others for big ideas to boost flagging national productivity and Australia's declining standard of living.

Plenty of practical ideas have been offered, but can this small summit with very divergent interest groups open up space for genuine reform?

Currently, only a small percentage of known marine fish species have had their genomes sequenced. 

Scientists from The Minderoo Foundation in WA and Parks Australia want to change that, and have been delving into the oceans depths to capture and record floating DNA, called eDNA (environmental DNA).

eDNA can reveal the presence of rare, cryptic, deep-sea or hard-to-observe species without needing to catch or see them. 

Scientists have discovered fish living in very unexpected places in Australian waters and have launched a public facing digital platform to show where each species were traced. 

Friday 15 August is the 80th anniversary of VP Day.

But the end of World War II didn't necessarily mean peace. It ushered in a new era of conflict and violence in many parts of Asia. 

Phil Craig's new book 1945: The Reckoning reinterprets the impacts of World War II in Asia, focusing on how it crystallised independence movements in colonies including India, Burma, Indonesia and Taiwan.

When President Trump meets Vladimir Putin today, he will be hoping to forge in person what he hasn't been able to accomplish by phone — a commitment to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

However there are concerns that Putin is coming to Alaska with a very different goal, aiming to keep in Trump's good graces while continuing to pursue his ambition of reasserting Moscow's dominance over Kyiv.

Professor Richard Scolyer is marking an incredible milestone this weekend.

The world renowned pathologist was last year's joint Australian of the year, and is running in the Sydney City to Surf despite dealing with the effects of an incurable, aggressive brain cancer.

He is participating with family and friends, and raising money for cancer treatment centre The Chris O'Brien Lifehouse.

The UK's National Theatre is now showing a hit production from one of Australia's most impactful playwrights, Suzie Miller.

Inter Alia is a searing examination of modern masculinity, motherhood, misogyny and the law.

It's something of a companion piece to her theatrical blockbuster Prima Facie, which won awards in London and Broadway, and had wide-reaching impacts on legal systems.

Poetry has the power to move, to inspire awe, and to irritate.

August marks National Poetry month, and we are debating whether the form is elitist or ordinary, timeless or pointless.

There was another loss in the war on truth this week when longtime fact-checker Glenn Kessler stepped down from his role at The Washington Post.

A pioneering fact-checker, Glenn Kessler describes how political culture and social media have fuelled the rise of unchecked falsehoods.