The World Today

The Federal Government is supporting all recommendations from an Ombudsman's report into Centrelink's automatic debt recovery system. The system has caused months of problems for the Government after thousands of people were contacted to repay debt they didn't owe.

Egypt's President has declared a state of emergency and deployed troops across the country to help police secure vital facilities after dozens of people were killed in bombings of Coptic Christian churches. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Lydia Khalil, director of Arcana Partners and a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute, says Islamic State is now a significant threat to the Egyptian Government.

Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop, says Iran and Russia must recognise they can no longer support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ms Bishop has called the Trump Administration's missile attack on a Syrian air-base a 'game changer'.

Was the Trump Administration's missile attack on a Syrian air-base a retaliatory strike or does it herald a major change in the US position towards regime change in Syria? International security expert Dr Max Abrahms says we can 'split the difference'. He says there is no imminent threat to Assad by the US, but he suspects the US Secretary of State will be urging Russia to 'transition Assad out'.

An urgent review of security classifications has been ordered by the Northern Territory's minister responsible for the Don Dale youth detention centre, Dale Wakefield. Two youth detainees were recaptured after two days on the run, one of whom had already escaped three times before. Six stolen cars were destroyed in the incident, and five police cars were damaged. Ms Wakefield said it was clear one of the escapees had been incorrectly classified as 'minimum security'.

Experts from Australia's prawn industry are trying to determine once and for all how the white spot prawn disease entered Australian waters last year and destroyed farms in south east Queensland. A Federal Senate inquiry is underway in Brisbane into the biosecurity risks associated with the importation of green uncooked prawns, which has been tipped as the primary reason behind the outbreak. It comes as the Federal Government considers a $36 million levy to help prawn farmers and the industry get back on its feet.

Marine scientists say it's the last thing they had wanted to see. They've been horrified to discover that widespread coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef is getting worse and the die-off has now spread to previously unaffected areas. After northern sections of the reef were badly damaged by excessively hot conditions in 2016, new aerial surveys have revealed that the bleaching has spread to the middle section of the reef this year.

After being mothballed for decades, a drive-in cinema in western New South Wales has re-opened for one weekend only to mark National Youth Week. Thousands of classic car lovers, families and retro movie goers converged on Dubbo to catch a flick under the stars.

The United States has launched military strikes against Syria in response to a deadly chemical attack that Washington blames on the Assad regime. Fifty Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from two US navy warships in the Mediterranean.

Dr Rodger Shanahan is a Middle East expert from the Lowy Institute for International Policy. He says the United States' missile strike in Syria was intended to send a 'firmer message' to Bashar al-Assad about the boundaries of what will be tolerated in the conflict. He says it's a one-off targeted attack, and no wider use of military force should be presumed, and thinks there is a low possibility of the US' actions inflaming tensions with Iran or Russia, Assad's allies.