The World Today

Child protection advocates say they are outraged, but not surprised, that thousands of phone calls to a Child Abuse Report Line in South Australia are going unanswered. Statistics obtained through freedom of information by an upper house politician show that in the last 12 months, almost half the callers abandoned their attempts while one caller remained on hold for seven hours.

Families who lost loved ones in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 have won a significant concession today from the airline. After holding out for more than a year, Malaysia Airlines today agreed to give the families access to previously confidential documents, including the maintenance log books of the Boeing 777, and medical and personnel records of the captain and co-pilot. The airline has also acknowledged for the first time that it will have to deal with compensation claims from the families of those aboard the missing plane.

Crowds are building in anticipation of the Melbourne Cup race, which will be run later this afternoon. This year it will be broadcast to its biggest ever global audience, in part because all but one of the horses running has been bred overseas.

Just a week from the US election, the Democrat nominee for president is fighting back against the FBI's decision to take a new look at her emails. Hillary Clinton has declared that 'there is no case'. Her Republican rival Donald Trump has seized on the FBI review.

A national study has found that intimate partner violence is the highest risk factor affecting the health of Australian women. Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety has measured the impact of injuries and illnesses resulting from family violence. And the study found domestic violence is a higher risk factor than tobacco, illicit drug use or high cholesterol.

Julie Bishop did not say whether any exercises would be held within the 12-nautical mile zone of disputed islands, which could be particularly provocative to the Chinese. The Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed Australia is exploring joint patrols with Indonesia in the South China Sea. She has not said what form the exercises would take, but analysts say it's unlikely they will involve activity within China's claimed territorial waters.

Iraqi led forces are now barely two kilometres from the eastern outskirts of Mosul. The assault on the last remaining Islamic State controlled villages to the east of Mosul began overnight. Hundreds of troops in heavily-armoured Humvees - along with tanks and bulldozers - advanced on the village, supported by US-led coalition air strikes.

The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have defended former trade minister Andrew Robb who's accepted a job with the Chinese operator of Darwin Port. Two years ago he signed a landmark trade agreement with China.

The headmaster of The Kings School in Sydney has been questioned about the way the school handled allegations of abuse involving a student back in 2013. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been told that the boy was subjected to sustained bullying after an incident at the school camp.

The Prime Minister is today defending his Government's latest tough policy on asylum seekers who try to come to Australia by boat. The Government is proposing legislation to impose a lifetime ban on those found to be refugees on Manus Island and Nauru from ever being granted any kind of visa to come to Australia. Refugee advocates have condemned the proposal, describing it as punitive and unreasonable. But Malcolm Turnbull insists the legislation is not in breach of the UN's Refugee Convention and is challenging Labor to support it.