The Productivity Commission has proposed raising the pension age to 70 to avoid a looming budget crisis. It says urgent and wide-ranging structral reforms are needed to cope with Australia's aging population. It's calling on the Federal Government to consider guranteeing reverse mortgages to cut age care costs and improve the quality of care. 

 

A senior Indonesian politian has accused of Mr Abbott of mishandling the spying crisis. Tubeiger Hasernuden is a senior member of the country's Foreign Affairs Commission. He says the prime minister has shown a lack of diplomacy and should apologize.

 

Reserve Bank governor Glen Steven says the bank may consider intervening in currency markets to lower the value of the Australian dollar. His mark(口误) remarks had an instant effect. The dollar dived half a cent before recovering slightly. 

 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has given his backing to a proposed security pact with the United States. He's urged a meeting of 2,000 Afghan elders to accept the deal. It will allow up to 15,000 foreign troops to stay in the country beyond next year.