The mayor of Kangaroo Island in South Australia has denied any plans to build a bridge connecting the island to the mainland.

The proposed four-lane, 14-kilometre-long bridge over backstairs passage was proposed by Universal Bridging Consortium and backed by SA best MP Frank Pangallo.

Mayor of Kangaroo Island Pete Clements said the community is trying to protect something very precious at Kangaroo Island and a new bridge would not protect this branding.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos welcomed former FARC rebels at the opening session of parliament as part of the peace deal reached in 2016.

The Farc is now a political party known as the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force with five seats in the Senate and five in the House of Representatives but the former rebels were not welcomed by many in Congress.

The Trump administration is proposing changes to eliminate automatic protections for threatened plant and animal species in the Endangered Species Act, making it easier for species to be removed from the list.

Officials say the change will streamline the regulatory process and is the latest efforts from the White House to remove environmental regulations.

Environmentalist groups have reacted negatively saying the proposed change could have disastrous lasting effects on at-risk species.

Bill Shorten and Annastacia Palaszczuk joined Susan Lamb at her campaign for the Longman by-election on Sunday, emphasising their commitment to increases in school and hospital funding.

Mr Shorten committed to more staffing at Centrelink centres in Caboolture and restoring the energy supplement, as a ReachTel poll puts Labor 49 per cent in Longman.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has attacked a Sunday Mail story claiming she was going to switch seats in the next state election as “total crap” and “fake news”.

The article stated the Labor party wanted to move Ms Trad to a safer seat as she only won her seat of South Brisbane by fewer than 500 votes, narrowly defeating Greens candidate Amy MacMahon.

The Global Obesity Centre at Deakin University is proposing children’s height and weight to be measured every two years at school to tackle Australia’s obesity epidemic.  

The proposal made to a Senate committee argues data could map childhood obesity to better target where the problem is at its worse.

GLOBE’s Steven Allender says trained clinicians instead of teachers would take measurements, names would not be recorded and parents are able to opt-out.

NSW barristers are calling on the state government to amend sexual consent laws so that a person who has an unreasonable but honest belief in consent is not guilty of a crime.

This comes after the government commissioned a review of sexual consent laws in May after the high-profile acquittal of Luke Lazarus after finding his belief in consent was reasonable.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned US President Donald Trump about pursuing hostile policies against Iran after Iran faces pressures from looming sanctions after President Trump withdrew from the 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear arsenal.

President Rouhani said America should know peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could be evicted from the Ecuador embassy in London which he has called home for the past six years.

The report from journalist Glenn Greenwald says Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno went to London on Friday to finalise a deal where the Australian National would be handed over to British Authorities.