The World Today

There's a callout today for thousands of Australian men to volunteer their DNA for a large-scale research project into cancer. CEO Todd Harper told The World Today's Nick Grimm, any volunteers who come forward will gain the satisfaction of knowing they could be helping to beat cancers that might one day target them or their families.

The return of cold war rivalry between the United States and Russia has been laid bare today. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's been on a mission to Moscow with a message for Russia to rein in its middle east client state Syria. But president Vladimir Putin is not being persuaded by worldwide indignation at the suspected use of Sarin gas nerve agent on civilians by the Assad regime. Back in Washington DC the dispute has seen another U-turn in policy.

An analyst says the current strained relationship between the United States and Russia makes it difficult for the two countries to work together on areas of mutual interest, such as Syria.

Australia's unemployment rate has remained steady at 5.9 per cent. The Bureau of Statistics estimates almost 61 thousand jobs were created in March. For some analysis of todays' figures, I'm joined by Professor John Spoehr, Director of the Australian Industrial Transformation Institute at Flinders University.

The Defence Industry Minister and leader of the House, Christopher Pyne has urged colleagues to keep discussions about Budget proposals private. He says those advocating for young homebuyers to access part of their superannuation should know they won't achieve their goal by publicly raising it. He and the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton say the Prime Minister has rejected the idea. A key budget committee, more commonly known as the razor gang, is meeting in Sydney today.

The Reserve Bank today released its half yearly financial stability review and explicitly laid out just how vulnerable many households are. Despite interest rates sitting at record low levels, one third of Australian borrowers have little to no mortgage repayment buffer, leaving them exposed to an economic downturn or a rise in interest rates.

Health authorities in Melbourne are scrambling to pinpoint the source of an outbreak of legionnaires' disease in the CBD. Five people have been treated in hospital in the past couple of weeks. The Melbourne outbreak follows two outbreaks of the potentially deadly illness in Sydney last year.

The financial crisis facing the RSL's South Australia branch has come to a head, with administrators being called in. It's understood the branch was on the brink of insolvency, and has been in negotiations with the League's national leadership for weeks. The RSL has moved to assure its members and the public that ANZAC commemorations and services to veterans won't be disrupted. But the League's rank and file are concerned about the future of the organisation.

The Iraqi military says the Islamic State group now controls less than seven per cent of the country, down from the 40 per cent of territory it held in 2014. It's in western Mosul where Islamic State is defending its last stronghold against Iraqi troops. The fighting there has been going on for eight months and the scale of the humanitarian challenge is immense.

The political stoush continues between the Queensland and Federal governments over paperwork to release disaster relief funding for communities struggling to recover from Cyclone Debbie. Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says he'll keep people working over Easter to sift through the work the Queensland Government should have done. But the State Government says there's been a communication breakdown and is accusing Mr Joyce of trying to score cheap political points.