The World Today

It's traditionally known as a Chinese medicine, but now acupuncture has been tested in the emergency departments of Melbourne hospitals. The results of an RMIT study have shown the treatment is effective for acute pain when it's normally administered to relieve chronic pain.

From next month gun owners will be able to hand in unregistered firearms without the fear of prosecution. The amnesty will last three months and the Government says it's aimed at getting weapons off the streets amid the ongoing threat of terrorism. It will be the first nationwide gun amnesty since the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 and so far it's been welcomed by gun owners and retailers.

The Vice President of Gun Control Australia Roland Browne welcomes the national mass amnesty allowing a hand-back of guns. But Mr Browne says thousands of guns are being stolen and he wants to see tighter laws about how many guns can be kept on properties and how the guns are stored.

The banking sector has raised serious concerns about the proposed new major bank levy introduced as part of the May Budget. The chief executive of the Bankers' Association, Anna Bligh, was first up in front of the Senate Economics Committee for the Inquiry into the Major Bank Levy. Ms Bligh has given senators a shopping list of concerns about the new levy, but is most concerned that there is expiry date on the levy.

Footage of a speech the Prime Minister gave at the Mid Winter Ball has been leaked. Concerns were raised its content could upset US President Donald Trump. But Malcolm Turnbull, his colleagues and Labor MPs don't believe it will harm the relationship between the two countries.

Politics aside, how funny was Malcolm Turnbull's lampooning of Donald Trump anyway? Host of Planet America, Chas Licciardello, says the Australian prime minister made a pretty good attempt at mimicking the American president's mannerisms. And he urged people - including Mr Trump - to see the humour.

In London, fire investigators are still sifting through the ruins of an apartment block consumed by the inferno that has left at least 17 people dead. The tragedy has prompted questions about the safety of high-rise apartment blocks. In Melbourne, it's forced residents of the high-rise Richmond housing commission flats to take a long, hard look at their own precautions.

The father of a US student who was imprisoned in North Korea says his son was 'brutalised and terrorised' by the regime. Otto Warmbier was flown to a hospital in his home state of Ohio this week after a year and a half in custody and remains in a coma.

Donald Trump will lay out his new Cuba policy in a speech in Miami later today. It's anticipated that he will roll back parts of former president Barack Obama's 2014 relaxation of decades-old sanctions against the communist-ruled island. Barry Carr, a professor in Latin American studies, expects that the US President will renew Cold War rhetoric in his speech. He expects that diplomatic relations will remain open and that trade will continue, but that US companies will find it much more difficult to do business with organisations linked to the Cuban military.

The New South Wales Branch of the RSL will set up a whistleblower hotline, as it sets about trying to restore the league's reputation. The new president, James Brown, has told members that the problems in the branch are worse than previously thought. He's revealed there are several new cases being investigated, involving 'irregular financial transactions'. His message is being welcomed as evidence that the branch is changing.