The World Today

Relieved passengers are resuming their travel plans after a man claiming to have a bomb disturbed a flight overnight. Authorities are trying to work out how the drama unfolded on a Malaysia Airlines plane bound for Kuala Lumpur. While the Federal Government says appropriate security measures are in place, one aviation expert has questioned the delayed police response.

Aviation expert Dr Matt Ebbatson from Swinburne University says the Malaysia Airlines incident shows post 9-11 procedures are working well. He believes police were right to keep passengers on the plane until it was clear there was no further risk.

The former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has again weighed in on national security policy. This time he's gone as far as accusing Australia of pussyfooting around what he sees as the Koran justifying terrorism. But senior liberal ministers, including fellow conservative and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, are not publicly endorsing his view.

Donald Trump will announce tomorrow whether he'll pull the US out of the Paris climate accord. That would see the US join Syria and Nicaragua as the world's only non-participants in the 195-nation accord. A US withdrawal could also deepen the rift between the US and its allies in Europe.

Jill Wine-Banks was deputy special prosecutor on the Watergate investigation into the Nixon Presidency. She says if the new Special prosecutor confirms allegations about obstruction of justice, Donald Trump may be on the path to impeachment.

There are more medical graduates in Australia than ever, but it hasn't solved the chronic shortage of doctors in rural areas. Two universities believe they've got the answer. Charles Sturt and La Trobe Universities want to build a new medical school in the Murray Darling regions of New South Wales and Victoria. The National Party backs the proposal, but one country MP fears members of his government want it dead.

Young Australians appear be heeding the health warnings about alcohol, tobacco and drugs. A major national survey has shown they're drinking and smoking less and using fewer illicit substances. But it's not all good news - older Australians are drinking at more risky levels than three years ago.

A global study into suicide by the University of New South Wales has found psychiatric patients are 100 times more likely than average to commit suicide shortly after they've been discharged from hospital. They're still 30 times more likely to kill themselves, up to ten years on. The study, which is the biggest of its kind, millions of patient records from multiple countries, dating back to 50 years. University of New South Wales Professor Matthew Large, who led the research, suggests limits in Medicare support for those patients should be lifted.

A major international study suggests the world's coral reefs may not be doomed after all. That's so long as the right precautions are taken now. But leading marine scientists say the days of being able to restore coral reefs to what they once looked like are gone, and it's now a matter of newer versions of coral taking over. There is hope that the new breed of corals will still provide the right environment for marine life to survive, and be attractive enough to retain tourism.

One of the largest ever icebergs is about to be created. A section of floating ice in Antarctica, bigger than Kangaroo Island, is about to break away. Scientists monitoring a large crack have found it's grown 17 km in the last week. When it goes, the ice shelf called Larsen C will become less stable and may disintegrate.