ABC radio news and current affairs afternoon program reporting on Australia and the world.

The federal government has released draft laws that would change Australians' social media feeds and allow people to decide if they want an algorithm to determine what they see.

One Nation's plan to give Australians early access to their superannuation to help with the cost of living is being criticised by the super industry, the government and some economists.

Two men have been rescued from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, nine days after devastating floods hit the country.

Health groups have slammed the Coalition's plan to slash the tobacco tax by 80 per cent as a strategy to tackle the illicit tobacco market.

In Nepal and Tibet, the search for flood survivors continues with nearly 4,000 people still missing.

An Australian missing in the Himalayan flood disaster has been found safe in Tibet as more than one thousand people are confirmed to have died in the flash flood.

More than two-thousand-four-hundred people remain missing after last-week's flash floods in Nepal and Tibet including over 40 Australians.

PM covers a broad spectrum of issues relevant to all sections of Australia.

34 Australians are among more than one thousand people missing after devastating flash floods swept through central Nepal.

The federal government's proposed rules for AI data centre power use have been debated at a meeting of National Cabinet today.

The Australian Energy Market Operator is warning that data centres will put huge pressure on the national electricity grid over the next decade.

The Prime Minister has again promised not to change Western Australia's GST deal while he is running the country.

The captain of the Sydney Swans women's team is urging fans to stand by the club as it deals with the hotel scandal that has seen five male players suspended for the rest of the season.

The Australian government is furious with the decision of the Israeli military not to prosecute soldiers for the death of Australian aid worker, Zomi Frankcom.

The case of the convicted triple murderer Erin Patterson was back in court in Victoria today, as her lawyers seek to overturn her convictions.

Two Coalition MP's have crossed the floor of the parliament to vote against the federal government's gambling reforms.

The CEO of the Sydney Swans, Matthew Pavlich says the AFL club is "shocked and disappointed" by an alleged incident involving several players in Melbourne overnight.

An interim report from the Productivity Commission has found that Western Australia's GST deal has been a big mistake that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

Taxpayers are to fund a $2.5 billion bailout of Australia's largest aluminium smelter at Tomago in New South Wales.

The Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has referred the Labor Government's handling of its gambling ad reforms to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Reserve Bank has decided to leave interest rates on hold today, but the Governor is warning that inflation is still too high and if it does not come down another rate rise is inevitable.

The federal government body responsible for controlling air traffic in Australia has apologised for a near miss involving Jetstar and Qatar airways planes on the tarmac at Sydney airport.

Victoria is the first state to require poultry producers to keep their birds indoors as the H5 bird flu crisis worsens in Australia.

The Albanese government is facing a battle to get its gambling ad reforms through parliament with the Greens and the Coalition refusing to back the legislation in its current form.

Today's NAPLAN results are raising concerns for educators and parents with the latest figures showing a third of Australian students are not meeting expectations in literacy and numeracy.

At a Senate inquiry, gambling industry representatives have rejected allegations that problem gamblers have been offered drugs and sex workers to lure them into betting more.

A cluster of dead and sick birds found in South Australia is being described by the federal government as the nation's first "mass mortality bird flu event."

The US President, Donald Trump, is heralding a breakthrough in the peace process in Gaza, announcing that Hamas has agreed to disarm and hand over security control of the strip to an international force.

Australia's communications watchdog, ACMA, is suing Optus after last year's mass network outage that left customers unable to make emergency calls.

Today's inflation figures have come in below forecast but economists are divided over the prospect of a rate rise at the Reserve Bank's August meeting.

Victoria has a new Premier after Jacinta Allan resigned to make way for her deputy Ben Carroll, who immediately announced a Royal Commission into the construction sector.

The Federal Government is declaring the test of the new national emergency alert system a success after millions of mobile phones across the country turned into sirens this afternoon.

The United States has raised the tariff on Australian goods from 10 to 12.5 per cent on the basis the nation is not doing enough to counter modern slavery, a claim the Federal Government rejects.

In his speech to the ALP's 50th National Conference in Adelaide, the Prime Minister has attacked the credibility of One Nation and the Federal Opposition.

Organisations that work with migrants are concerned a new national emergency alert system will not be understood by people who cannot speak English.

In Darwin protesters have gathered outside the Northern Territory Parliament calling for new child protection laws to be rejected.

The former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has called for buffer zones to be set up, banning protests around synagogues and Jewish schools.

Telstra executives have admitted that last week's national outage could have been prevented at a Senate inquiry on triple zero service outages today.

One of the biggest strikes in Western Australia's iron ore industry this century is underway at BHP's operations at Port Hedland.

After years of procrastinating over the regulation of Artificial Intelligence, the Prime Minister has announced the introduction of mandatory standards for AI.

At the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, students and academics have told the inquiry institutions are failing to act on antisemitism complaints.

The adored New Zealand actor Sam Neill, who starred in films including My Brilliant Career, Jurassic Park and The Piano has died at the age of 78.