The World Today

Athletics Australia is about to host the first of a new series of events aimed at increasing the sport's exposure. It's created a teams event featuring track and field athletes from across the world - including sprinting superstar, Usain Bolt.

An Australian-trained accountant who allegedly tried to join the Islamic State group kept his goals secret from his Indonesian family. The sister of Triyono Utomo has spoken of her shock at her brother's actions.

Thailand's courts have again been criticised after repeatedly denying bail for a student activist who shared a BBC story about the country's new king. It is the sixth time the provincial court has extended the 25-year-old's detention.

The Federal Government says it's 'grubby' for Labor to suggest that the Prime Minister bought the election by donating a record $1.75 million to the Liberal Party. Labor says the money may have changed the result, but the Treasurer Scott Morrison says there was nothing improper about it. The stoush has taken attention away from the Prime Minister's renewed focus on coal fired power.

If you've paid any attention to the news over the past few years, you may have heard the term 'clean coal', but what exactly is it? The World Today puts that question to the people who should know. Representatives of the electricity companies say it's a technology that doesn't exist in Australia, and suggest there is no longer an appetite for the little black rock from within the industry. However, the Minerals Council of Australia says the technology does exist, it simply hasn't been invested in, in Australia yet. The Minerals Council says the coal industry is buoyed by the Government's change in attitude, which it believes could signal a whole new future for coal.

A senate inquiry has heard that unemployment is a major contributor to high rates of veteran suicide in Australia. Specialists have also given evidence that there's also no clear data about the exact number of Australian veterans who take their own lives each year. Frontline clinicians say there seems to be a lack of will to collate the figures.

The latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says expenditure on mental health services in Australia increased by $911 million from 2010-11 to 2014-15. But the peak body Mental Health Australia says the total expenditure of $8.5 billion doesn't necessarily give an accurate picture of what the money is being spent on. And more money needs to be directed to community based services rather than acute care n hospitals.

Despite the recent dissolution of the Indigenous Advisory Council, the Government insists the Prime Minister remains committed to having a forum to advise him on Indigenous issues. Professor Ngaire Brown is a Yuin nation woman and a health specialist from the University of Wollongong, who was a member of the Indigenous Advisory Council. She says the tenure of the first council was only ever going to be three years.

An association representing Australian lawyers has expressed concern about inconsistencies in the criminal law when it comes to child sex offences. The Australian Lawyers Alliance says the legal definitions of child exploitation material can be too broad and they change depending on where you are in the country.

The Washington Post newspaper has reported that the phone call between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was hostile and charged and ended significantly sooner than expected. The article suggests the men clashed over the deal for the United States to resettle refugees from Manus Island and Nauru, with Donald Trump describing it as 'the worst deal ever'. The ABC has confirmed the article is substantially correct. Mr Turnbull hasn't denied the details, but said he wouldn't provide a commentary about his phone call.