The chairman of BBC, Chris Patten, says the corporation needs a radical overhaul. It follows a resignation of director general George Entwhistle over what he called “unacceptable journalism standards”. The BBC flagship Newsnight programme wrongly implicated a former British political figure in a sex abuse scandal.

 

 

Police in Victoria hold grave fears for two women who've been missing since last week. Forty-five-year-old Sandra Pevitt was last seen leaving her home in Werribee in Melbourne's southwest on Wednesday morning. And 30-year-old Katie Dircks disappeared while catching a tram from south Melbourne on Friday night.

 

 

The Federal Government is facing growing pressure from Royal Commission into child abuse in the Catholic church. The Greens have joined several independent MPs to demand action. South Australian senator Nick Xenophon says he's prepared to move a private member's bill if the government fails to act. We'll be talking to senator Xenephon here in the studio in the next hour or so.

 

 

A study into the effects of foetal alcohol syndrome has revealed disturbing rates of intellectual disability in aboriginal children. It found that one in two school children in WA's Fitzroy valley suffers from the disorder.