The World Today

Australian films have received a record 13 Oscar nominations. For the first time, an Australian film, Tanna, has made the best foreign language film category. In another first, two Australian films, Hacksaw Ridge and Lion are contenders in the best picture race.

The Sydney Sixers cricket team has had more than one reason during the Big Bash tournament to clear the boundary rope. For every six the team hits, thousands of dollars are donated to charity. It's all part of the Batting For Change initiative which is drawing close to its funding goal.

Big miner, Rio Tinto, has agreed to sell its Hunter Valley coal mines in New South Wales to a Chinese provincial government backed company. Yancoal plans to buy the Rio Tinto mines for $3.2 billion. But the deal first needs the approval of the Foreign Investment Review Board. A deal involving a Chinese government company buying New South Wales electricity network, Ausgrid, was rejected last year by regulators.

The Australian Government is now trying to try to salvage what is left of the TPP trade deal after the new US President signed the executive orders to kill off the 12 member agreement. Trade Minister, Steve Ciobo, is insisting that the remaining 11 countries try to come up with an alternative deal, and says he would be open to Indonesia or China joining the agreement.

Trade consultant Peter Gallagher says that ending the US' role as the leader of free trade globally, President Trump is ushering in an unprecedented opportunity for China.

As the US confirms it's quitting the TPP, President Donald Trump is talking up efforts to re-negotiate the country's other partnerships. The President says he'd like to have one-on-one deals with all trade partnerships, and is threatening that if the White House doesn't get what it considers to be a 'fair deal' it will abandon its other big trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A Federal Labor politician has spoken out about how politicians themselves could be the weakest link in Australian cyber security. Last week, the ABC revealed that over 3,000 Australian Government officials had been caught up in the latest Yahoo hack.

An international survey has named Sydney as the second most expensive city to live in the world. Indeed as many as five Australian cities have been ranked in the top 29 of the world's most unaffordable. International experts are calling for dramatic changes on how Australian council's are incentivised to release land for affordable housing. The calls come a day after the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejeklian, listed housing affordability as one of her key priorities.

A world-first study of the so-called 'autism epidemic' has found the sharp spike in cases is largely due to more children with less severe behavioural symptoms being diagnosed, and not because there are more children being born with the disorder. The prevalence of autism has increased 20-fold over the past 30 years. The study's findings provide the first evidence internationally of a reduction over time in the behavioural severity of individuals diagnosed with Autistic Disorder.

The new year has started well for the Murray Darling Basin system, with the River Murray returned to its best health in years. High flows over recent months has inundated floodplains and wetlands, revitalising parched flora and fauna. But experts warn, the waterway is far from 'fixed' and the environmental water promised under the Basin Plan, will only go some way to secure its future.