The World Today

This week the ABC has been travelling throughout the Murray-Darling Basin, finding out how communities are faring since the Basin Plan was implemented five years ago. AM's Sabra Lane speaks to two scientists from the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre in Albury who are focussed on the basin's ecology. They have seen initial success in breeding numbers of native fish in the river system, but say that the plan is a complex, long-term program whose success will take years to determine.

Carp are experiencing excellent breeding conditions in the River Murray and in part, they've been helped along by the installation of a multi-million dollar regulator at Chowilla, north of Renmark, in South Australia. It was designed to give the surrounding salt-affected floodplains access to fresh water, but native fish haven't found it so helpful.

Paul Tatchell gave evidence to both the royal commission and Victorian parliamentary inquiries into child sexual abuse. He was raped by a Christian Brother in Ballarat in the 1970s. Mr Tatchell says Cardinal George Pell is entitled to a fair trial.

Government frontbenchers have accepted an apology from Christopher Pyne and are urging their colleagues to move on. Minister Pyne's remarks at a Liberal Party function last week have angered some conservative members. One Cabinet Minister is warning if the party doesn't unite, they could lose the next election.

After 14 years and nearly $3 billion, the Australian-led mission to restore law and order in Solomon Islands has come to an end, and locals are nervous about what the future will bring. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI, arrived in 2003 to rebuild the country after it was torn apart by ethnic violence.

The commander of more than 80,000 US Marines in the Pacific is urging Australia to join operations against 'Islamic State' militants in south-east Asia. Lieutenant General David Berger is here to check on readiness for the 'Talisman-Sabre' military exercises, which will soon take place off Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The United States is unveiling its tighter security measures for inbound flights. The Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says it'll be done in a way that won't inconvenience passengers. If airlines and foreign airports comply with the demands, the controversial ban on having laptops onboard some flights could be lifted.

Venezuelan security forces are hunting for a rogue police officer who stole a helicopter to launch an airborne attack on the government. In extraordinary scenes the chopper strafed the country's Supreme Court and a government ministry - in the capital Caracas. The attack marks a dramatic escalation in violence that erupted in March - as protests grow against the socialist President Nicolas Maduro and his government.

More than 3,000 Australian businesses have set up solely in China to try to meet the growing demand from the country's middle class for high quality goods and services. These companies are hoping to capitalise on what's been dubbed 'the foreign advantage', the perception that food and service standards are of a higher quality when they come from Australia. But there are some cultural barriers to overcome.

The Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison is heading to Western Australia and could be in for a less than warm welcome, with the state's depressed economy seemingly compounding anger about its dwindling share of the GST. Mr Morrison's visit coincides with the close of submissions for the Productivity Commission's inquiry into the GST carve up.