The World Today

Families of the Kerang rail disaster victims have gathered in northern Victoria to remember the lives lost ten years ago. The mourners say they are still traumatised by what happened when a truck and a train collided, killing eleven people. One woman who lost her relative is still worried about the behaviour of motorists on the roads causing future crashes.

New research has found a dramatic decline in waterbirds in the Murray Darling Basin is directly linked to reduced water flow. The team from the University of New South Wales team has crunched three decades of data to find water bird numbers have dropped by 70 per cent in the basin.

The deluge of economic data expected this week has already began with evidence of weakness in the services sector. Later this week the nation's economic growth rate will be revealed. Some economists are warning GDP could come in negative, indicating the economy contracted in the first few months of the year.

A new report shows only a small percentage of Indigenous programs are being rigorously evaluated. The Centre for Independent Studies has examined about 50 reports on Government programs for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. It found only three of the evaluations used robust methodology, with most lacking data and relying on anecdotal evidence.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation says that ten mental health patients are waiting in the emergency room of the Royal Hobart Hospital because there are not enough beds in the hospital. The State Government says the problem will be fixed when renovations at the hospital are finished in two years time.

Melbourne researchers have established the Australian versions of four popular soft drinks have much higher glucose levels than those sold overseas. They fear this could put Australian consumers of fizzy drinks at even higher risk of developing diabetes and heart disease than their overseas counterparts.

Heart specialists say a new imaging technology has the potential to save some of the thousands of people who die each year from sudden cardiac arrest. Flinders University and the Heart Foundation are conducting a study using what's called STRAIN imaging technology.

It's often dismissed as a beauty pageant, but those involved in the agricultural showgirl movement across regional Australia are keen to counter that view. The organisers of the competition in the western New South Wales town of Gulargambone say it is being revived as a way to foster leadership among rural women.

European leaders say the Paris climate accord can't be re-negotiated, in the wake of Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the deal. Announcing his decision to abandon the 2015 agreement earlier today, Mr Trump has vowed to reach a new deal that would offer better protection for American workers, such as coal miners. The move has drawn condemnation and disappointment from around the world - and ironically, from some of the very workers the US President has claimed to represent.

The Prime Minister, Macolm Turnbull, says Australia remains committed to the Paris Accord. But already members of his backbench want him to reconsider that position. Labor says the Prime Minister must stand firm.