The World Today

It's relatively cheap, easily accessible and highly addictive, and Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol workers say methamphetamine, or ice, is becoming entrenched in Indigenous communities across the nation, being used by entire family groups. In response, a national conference in Adelaide this week is focussing on prevention and treatment of what is a growing epidemic.

Australian women are proving their dominance on the world surfing stage yet again. 22-year-old Lennox Head local Tyler Wright has taken her maiden world championship title at a competition in France. She says it's been an emotional 12 months after the death of her uncle and her brother's efforts to overcome a serious brain injury. Former world number one Layne Beachley says Wright's new title bolsters Australia's standing on the surfing world stage and gives inspiration to a new generation of athletes.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has announced a major crackdown on the life insurance sector after identifying what it calls 'significant shortcomings' in the way claims are handled. While ASIC has not found evidence of system misconduct, it has revealed the highest level of rejected claims relate to total and permanent disability and trauma. ASIC's crackdown comes as it continues to investigate claims of unethical behaviour at the Commonwealth Bank's insurance arm, CommInsure.

Some residents of Salt Ash near the contaminated Williamtown RAAF base are concerned about how the big banks and valuers are dealing with their almost worthless properties. The town is in the 'red zone' because chemicals that were used on the Defence base have leached into the bore water. One resident says since his concerns were raised at last week's banking inquiry, his bank apologised for sending letters threatening foreclosure, saying it was an administrative error. As Katherine Gregory reports, local politicians are calling on the Defence department to step in and provide security to lenders.

A report from the Australian Cyber Security Centre has revealed new details about a devastating hack of the Bureau of the Meteorology. It reveals that the Bureau's computer systems were so badly infiltrated that evidence suggests that all passwords used on the network were compromised.

A Queensland man has been diagnosed with the first case of black lung disease in an open cut coal mine worker. Until now, all other cases were diagnosed in underground coal mine workers.

There's been a strong and surprising resurgence in the price of coking coal, sparking hopes that this could be the first shoots of an industry revival. Yet there are warnings that the price bounce may be short lived, with coking coal mines around the world already scaling up production once again. China has also a policy it introduced earlier this year, limiting the number of coal production days and quantity its mines could pump out. One analyst warns that Australia needs to learn form the past, and not flood the market.

The Federal Government will discuss what future projects BP will be considering investing in across Australia after it abandoned a massive oil project off the Great Australian Bight. The South Australian Government remains angry that the oil giant reneged on its promise to drill in the Bight which would have had an economic flow-on to that state.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he'd like to see protests outside the Russian embassy in London against Russia's actions in Syria. The Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile has cancelled a planned trip to Paris next week following suggestions by the French president that Russia may have committed war crimes in Syria. In Aleppo, activists say the city has been under the heaviest bombardment in days.

In an accidental discovery, researchers appear to have slowed the aging process in the brains of laboratory mice. The Queensland scientists used ultrasounds, or sound wave therapy, to stop the normal reduction in the structure of brain cells in the hippocampus - an important area for learning and memory. It's the same therapy proven to reverse Alzheimer's disease in mice and it now has potential to benefit both healthy and unhealthy brains.