The World Today

Twenty-one of the more than 200 missing Chibok schoolgirls have been released after the Nigerian Government reached a deal with Boko Haram. The Nigerian Government says no militant prisoners were freed as part of the deal.

There is a serious shortage of locally trained mental health workers in rural and remote Australia. Rural men are amongst the biggest victims of suicide. For the past decade, Dr Jennifer Bowers has been travelling to remote areas in Australia to help train local people on mental health. In particular, she's travelled to mine sites, farms and Indigenous communities. It's a program she hopes other organisations working in rural areas will adopt.

Last night, Liberal Minister Kelly O'Dwyer made a 'procedural mistake' by inadvertently voting in support of an Opposition motion condemning the Government. Bill Shorten says the Government is not running the Parliament professionally and lays the responsibility at the feet of Leader of the House Christopher Pyne. Meanwhile, a second National Party backbencher has threatened to leave the Coalition Government over the same-sex marriage debate if a free vote is introduced.

Western Australian Nationals leader Brendon Grylls has defended his proposed mining tax against what he's seen as an attack by the Prime Minister at the Minerals Council's annual dinner in Canberra last night.

Advocates and users of medical cannabis say that new legislation to legalise the product in Queensland does not go far enough. The Queensland Government last night passed new laws allowing patients of any age and with a range of conditions to access legal medicinal cannabis products. Those who already use medicinal cannabis welcome the changes, but are concerned that making it a pharmaceutical product will distort the market and make it less effective.

In China, people have been rushing to buy properties as prices in major cities skyrocket. There are concerns that home ownership is becoming out of reach for some.

Henderson Group chief executive Andrew Formica has shrugged off concerns about Brexit and Donald Trump, as he sells the multi-billion dollar merger with the US funds giant Janus to investors. Speaking in Sydney, Mr Formica told The World Today he was more concerned about tighter regulation than Brexit, Trump and the falling British pound. The merger will create a US$6 billion funds giant company and between them Henderson and Janus will have US$320 billion of assets under management.

Techtopia is our weekly segment on the technologies that are set to disrupt our future and the sometimes unexpected questions we may need to ask about them. Today, perhaps our most challenging topic yet: the ethics of brain chips and neurotechnologies that offer the possibility of not only of reversing injuries but creating super-humans.

The Red Cross is calling for spending on disaster mitigation to at least quadruple. The agency says that relief costs are rising because of a lack of preparedness, and a change would save lives and money.

Days after saying he had never touched women without their permission and only engaged in what he called 'locker room talk', the Republican candidate has been likened to an octopus by a woman who is going public with her story.