The World Today

Today is the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, when British troops on the island surrendered to the Japanese. At the time, Britain's Prime Minister said it was the 'worst disaster and the greatest capitulation in British history'. It also claimed the lives of 1,800 Australians, and thousands more became prisoners of war.

Christina Twomey is a Professor of History at Monash University who has written extensively about prisoners of war. She says it is important to recognise the battles that have occurred within our own region, with outcomes that were 'less glorious'.

North Korean agents are suspected to have killed a former heir apparent to the isolated country's Communist dictatorship. Kim Jong-nam died in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur after reportedly being poisoned. He's the son of Kim Jong-il, and at one stage he was being groomed to take over, before he fell out of favour and went into semi-exile. Now, speculation's mounting that the assassination was ordered by Kim Jong-nam's half brother - North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.

A council in Melbourne's inner city has voted to make the Indigenous 'acknowledgment of country' at the start of council meetings optional. The decision has been revealed only a day after Malcolm Turnbull presented the ninth annual Closing the Gap report on Indigenous disadvantage. The City of Boroondara says the decision will prevent the acknowledgement from being seen as tokenistic. But critics say it's a sign of disrespect.

A small town impacted by the Murray Darling Basin Plan, wants to reframe the debate over water buybacks. Dirranbandi, on the Queensland/New South Wales border has taken a serious socio-economic hit as a result of the water recovery process and had been calling for no further buybacks. But as Jodie Gunders reports, the community has decided to take a more pragmatic approach to Canberra this week.

Researchers have been analysing the DNA of witchetty grubs to discover the different species eaten by Indigenous people. The team travelled to remote communities across the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Victoria to collect the larvae. They're hoping the project will help protect traditional knowledge about the grubs and the plants they live in.

In Canberra, Indigenous leaders have expressed frustration over the latest confronting report card on Indigenous disadvantage. In the National Parliament, the Prime Minister tabled this year's Closing the Gap report which again shows slow progress to improve the health and wealth of Indigenous Australians. Of particular concern, some of the targets are actually going backwards. These include school attendance and literacy and numeracy levels. The report does note the importance of working together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander experts in the fields of health and education and the leaders of Indigenous peak bodies are pleading with the government to support their work.

SNAICC is the national non government peak body representing the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Its CEO is Gerry Moore.

The Federal Government is facing a tough period of negotiations with several cross bench Senators to try to secure passage of its package of welfare cuts, child care spending and paid parental leave changes. The Nick Xenophon team, the Greens and Labor have all declared they won't support the bill in its current form.

One of Australia's longest serving chief executives - Richard Goyder from Wesfarmers - has announced his retirement after more than twelve years in the role. He'll be replaced by insider Rob Scott later this year. Mr Goyder's decision to step down is significant given his national profile and commentary in major business issues such as the productivity debate and tax reform.