The World Today

A new report has found a higher than expected number of children entering the National Disability Insurance Scheme is putting it under pressure. The Productivity Commission paper has found overall the NDIS is on track, cost-wise. But it's discovered most participants are under the age of 14 and many have autism or an intellectual disability.

The Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison says the Government is already acting on foreign donations and interference, as Labor intensifies its call for a new inquiry. The Opposition wants Parliament's joint committee on intelligence and security to hold a fresh inquiry, in the wake of revelations by Four Corners and Fairfax. That investigation raised questions about politicians from both major parties, but one Labor frontbencher says the inquiry is needed, despite any embarrassment it might cause colleagues.

There are fears that new rules being considered by the Parliament could lead some veterans to be unfairly denied their pensions. The Veterans Review Board is made up of three people, who consider appeals against department decisions to deny government payments to ex-servicemen and women. The changes would give one member of that panel new powers to summarily dismiss applications, before a hearing and without stating their reasons. Veterans organisations are urging the government to change the bill.

In the United States, the Attorney General has denied new claims that he colluded with Russian officials in the leadup to last year's election. Jeff Sessions also faced a grilling before the Senate Intelligence Committee over his role in recommending last month's sacking of FBI Director James Comey.

A former British conservative prime minister has issued a stark warning to Prime Minister Theresa May that her proposed deal to stay in government could have disastrous results. John Major, who led the UK Conservatives in the 90s, says May's deal to rely on the Democratic Unionists for votes puts the Northern Ireland peace process at risk. The deal hasn't yet been signed.

Australia's western Arnhem Land has some of the most significant rock art in the world, and in the small community of Gunbalanya, the ancient artworks exist alongside modern life. While the region is home to the world's longest continuous artistic tradition, artists in this community have decided not to paint new works in the surrounding hills out of respect for the elders who once lived there. Instead their focus is on preserving the art, and the stories, for future generations.

A giant, flying turkey, as tall as a kangaroo, is one of five extinct birds that researchers say once inhabited Australia. The Flinders University team say the largest of the birds weighed in at eight kilograms, and was around four times the size of a Malleefowl. The study sheds light on the diversity of bird life, and the number of species which became extinct in the relatively recent past.

On This Week in Tech: The World Today's Eleanor Hall speaks with entrepreneur and technology author Steve Sammartino about this week's major technology stories.

Many of the children living in Fitzroy's Atherton Gardens Public Housing Estate in inner Melbourne come from disadvantaged, often refugee families. When you're a kid living in a high rise building, there's not a lot of room for physical play. But since the early 1970s, a play space in the grounds of the estate has given young residents the chance to take risks, get dirty, and make new friends - and now Victorian sculptor Benjamin Gilbert has given it a modern, sustainable makeover.

China's Ambassador to Australia has launched a scathing attack on an ABC report about the Chinese communist party's influence in Australia. In a speech given in front of the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Canberra, the Chinese Ambassador Chen Jingye labelled the story fabricated and politically motivated.