The World Today

As pressure mounts against the Syrian Government in the wake of this week's chemical attack, the United Nations has not cast an expected vote to condemn it. The United States, Britain and France have proposed a resolution aimed at pressuring Syria to co-operate with international investigators.

A specialist in US defence strategy predicted that the Trump Administration would carry out a limited punitive attack on Syrian military assets. Michael O'Hanlon says such an attack would show that the US was deeply offended by this week's chemical attack. But he doesn't think the US will try to forcibly remove Syria's President Bashar al-Assad from power.

A Middle East expert says any US military strike in Syria will not weaken the Assad regime. Anthony Billingsley from the University of New South Wales says that would have to be done through a political solution and that Russia must be involved.

As the Liberal Party debates what went wrong in last year's election, Malcolm Turnbull is reminding his colleagues that the Coalition won. Former Minister Andrew Robb's review into the Liberal Party's performance at last year's poll has been handed over. Mr Turnbull says he takes responsibility for what happened but he points out that his team held onto Government, even though it was only by one seat.

The Tasmanian Government wants the state to become the ecotourism capital of the world but environment groups warn logging could harm some tourist ventures. Meanwhile the tourism and forest industries have signed their own agreement to work together.

For the first time, astronomers have detected an atmosphere around an Earth-like planet. The world 39 light years away, has a thick layer of gases surrounding it according to European research. While amateur astronomers in Australia have identified four new planets as part of a televised crowd-sourcing project.

The head of the panel investigating whether Russia aimed to influence the United States' Presidential election in favour of Donald Trump has temporarily stood down. Congressman Devin Nunes is under investigation for allegedly giving out classified information. The congressman says the claims are 'entirely false', but he's agreed to stand down so that his panel can continue its probe.

India says it no longer fears for the safety of its students studying in Australia. In 2009-2010, a series of attacks on Indian students, including one murder, prompted intense anger on the subcontinent, and accusations Australia wasn't acknowledging or combating racism. But just days ahead of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visiting India, that's no longer the case.

If you're a woman living in a city you might have higher chances of developing breast cancer according to a US study. Researchers from the University of Florida found that women who have higher exposure to fine particulate matter in the air are more likely to have dense breast tissue and that is a strong risk factor for breast cancer.

Pregnancy can be stressful for any woman, but new research shows Australian Indigenous women are much more likely to suffer mental illness. In a survey of 150 women, 40 per cent reported symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. The biggest contributors were the death of a loved one, overcrowding at home and difficulty getting a job. It has implications for child development and has researchers calling for better health services tailored for Indigenous women. Dr Beth Mah from the University of Newcastle is the lead author of the research and she spoke with David Coady.