The World Today

Victoria has harvested its first cannabis crop for medicinal use of people with epilepsy. The state has been manufacturing the drug at a secret location but it's still going through the testing phase. While patients in Victoria wait for access, NSW parliamentarians have been debating their own cannabis bill.

The AFL Women's series may have shattered a key participation barrier in the sporting world. But the question of equal pay for female sports stars remains. Now the organisation representing professional soccer players says it has a plan, and it's put a price tag on success.

There is evidence that the recent loss of full-time jobs is weighing on the emotions of Australian households. The latest private survey of consumer confidence fell for the third straight week, bringing it to its lowest value since December. The survey by the ANZ Bank shows householders' opinion about their current finances fell a sharp 7.5 per cent just last week, its lowest point since August 2014.

It was presumed lost more than half a century ago. Now a large watercolour by renowned artist Sir Hans Heysen has been returned to Australia from Germany. The work has just been unveiled in Adelaide, and experts predict it'll break records when it goes to auction.

The Labor party is accusing the Federal Government of hijacking the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to pay for coal. The Coalition says it is considering changing the rules governing the green energy fund to enable it to invest in what it is calling 'clean coal'. Under its current rules, the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation is banned from funding carbon capture and storage. But the Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the Government is considering introducing legislation to allow it to happen. The Opposition is scathing of the proposal, with the Shadow Climate and Energy Minister Mark Butler saying clean coal technology isn't economically viable.

An energy catastrophe is likely in Australia unless baseload power generation can be guaranteed, Bluescope Steel chief executive Paul O'Malley has warned. Mr O'Malley told the ABC that if coal fades as an energy supply then industry needs to use gas to ensure baseload energy

The reliability of renewable energy generators is the focus of a Senate select committee in Adelaide today. The committee, established after South Australia's state-wide black out last year, is looking at how the country's electricity infrastructure is adapting to the changing environment. More than a dozen stakeholders are giving evidence, including energy generators and energy storage providers.

Humanitarian agencies are scrambling to assist the thousands of Iraqi civilians preparing to take flight as the war against the Islamic State group moves to the west side of Mosul. US-backed Iraqi forces have begun a major new offensive to regain control there, now that they've successfully liberated Mosul's east. But with 750, 000 civilians trapped alongside thousands of Islamic State militants, providing food and shelter is a dangerous and difficult task.

US President Donald Trump has been asked to explain comments he made about an apparent security incident in Sweden. He has been ridiculed on social media for referring to a weekend incident which had not occurred, but now he has clarified his remarks.

The New York -based Committee to Protect Journalists is normally focused on reporters at risk outside the US. But its executive director Joel Simon says the committee is now diverting a lot more of its efforts onto media freedom within the US. He says President Donald Trump's accusations that the media are 'the enemy of the American people' have caused deep concern among those working to defend the rights of journalists, and echo the messages used in authoritarian states. He declares 'we're at a very dangerous moment.'

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Joel Simon, Committee to Protect Journalists