The World Today

In work that will inform the IPCC scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division will study the melting rate of the Totten glacier in Antarctica this summer. The season officially starts today with the icebreaker the Aurora Australis sailing from Hobart.

There is no sign of the pressure lifting on the dairy giant Murray Goulburn, with the results of an ACCC inquiry looming and agitation by lawyers. The firm heading up a class action on behalf of farmers says hundreds of suppliers are indicating interest in the case.

Police say it's 'a miracle' that two children survived the state's worst theme park accident. Forensic investigators are working with Dreamworld staff and management today to determine how four people died on a supposedly family friendly ride yesterday afternoon. Queensland Workplace health and safety is part of the coronial investigation and says the Gold Coast theme park's compliance will be a part of it.

The latest official data show inflation remains subdued, but the numbers do show a slight rise in the cost of living. Officially prices rose by 0.7 per cent in the September quarter, taking the annual inflation rate to 1.7 per cent. The most significant price rises for the quarter were for fruit and vegetables, electricity, and property rates and charges. Core inflation, which the RBA monitors, remains subdued, but probably not enough to prompt the Reserve Bank to cut interest rate sagain.

A senate inquiry heard today only a handful of dairy farmers have successfully applied for concessional loans from the federal government, despite hundreds falling deep into debt and thinking of leaving the industry. The Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce says he'll look into the issue, but is warning the government has already substantially loosened the criteria for dairy farmers to get the loans and there's a limit to government payouts for any social welfare program.

Bob Day has given his clearest indication yet, that he won't be resigning from the Senate anytime soon. The Family First Senator last week announced his intention to leave after his building business crashed. But on social media this morning he said there wasn't enough time to install a replacement before the end of the year and wanted his votes in the final sitting to be counted.

The Federal Opposition is calling on the Government to refuse to accept Bob Day's vote, if the Family First Senator doesn't immediately follow through on his intention to resign. It's questioned whether Senator Day is staying on to try to help the Government pass the bill to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The Government says the timing of Senator Day's resignation is a matter for him, and while he's in the Senate, he's entitled to vote.

For the first time an American writer has won the Man Booker Prize for fiction. "The Sellout" by Paul Beatty is set in a rundown Los Angeles suburb.

The UN has received reports of atrocities by Islamic State militants in the days since the battle to retake the northern city of Mosul began. The UN says there's evidence IS militants have massacred scores of civilians. But there are allegations too of human rights abuses committed by Kurds in the north-eastern city of Kirkuk.

As French authorities begin to dismantle the so-called 'jungle' migrant camp in Calais, welfare organisations have expressed concern about the safety of children who remain there. Crews are using sledgehammers to tear down the makeshift homes in the shanty town.