The World Today

Federal Coalition MPs say they're open to the idea of introducing fixed four-year parliamentary terms. But they also argue it's not a priority issue. The Labor Leader Bill Shorten is calling for a referendum on the proposal, saying the current system is stifling reform.

Ordinary Australians stand to get more control over their retirement nest eggs under superannuation reforms announced today. Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer says the reforms will give the regulator wider powers to intervene in funds. Ms O'Dwyer is also targeting life insurance that is automatically packaged into super funds to ensure consumers can opt out if they don't want it.

A new study shows there's been a doubling in the number of Australians aged 35 to 44 dying from pharmarceutical opioid overdoses in the past 10 years. The number of deaths from opioid overdoses is now higher than at the peak of the heroin epidemic in 2001 for those aged in their 40s and 50s. And researchers say that the deadly misuse of opioid painkillers could become more common as the population ages.

The White House has been sending mixed messages to the press over whether president Donald Trump will support fresh sanctions on Russia. The measure has the support of Congress, but could be blocked once it crosses the President's desk. Mr Trump says he's yet to be convinced that Russia attempted to influence last year's election.

US President Trump has hinted that he may be considering pardoning members of his family and even himself with regard to the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the US election campaign. Georgetown University Law Professor Susan Bloch says the President has wide-ranging powers when it comes to pardons, but pardoning himself may be a step too far.

A very small pilot program testing low doses of the drug ketamine on patients with treatment-resistent depression has produced 'astounding' results. The study by UNSW researchers at the Black Dog Institute is being followed up with a much larger long-term trial of the drug. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists says the research is encouraging, but much more needs to be known about the safety of ketamine before they will advocate for its use.

US authorities have vowed to do more to crack down on people smuggling rings after eight people were found dead in a truck in Texas - victims of heat stroke. A ninth person died in hospital. Police say it is a case of human trafficking, but they're yet to establish how many people were in the truck or where they had come from. The driver has been arrested, but it is likely he is part of a much larger organisation smuggling illegal immigrants into the US from Central America.

Syrian government forces and their allies have recaptured more territory from Islamic State. Under the banner of the Syrian Defence Force, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias has taken control of the countryside southeast of the stronghold Raqqa, a city under the control of IS since the beginning of 2014. The SDF is now turning its attention to re-capturing Raqqa, seen as a crucial step in the eventual defeat of Daesh.

Dozens of the BBC's highest profile female personalities have signed an open letter calling on the British broadcaster to take urgent action to close the gender pay gap. New transparency rules showed that the public broadcaster's male presenters earn five times as much as the best paid female presenter. But BBC management insists that the overall pay gap is only 10 per cent.

Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale was among supporters in Brunswick Heads on the far north coast of New South Wales on the weekend after what he describes as a 'terrible few weeks for his party'. The region is home to two Greens mayors, state MPs in the upper and lower house, and many local councillors. But even here, supporters are disillusioned by the loss of key senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlum, and concerned about the future.