The pendulum clock of Longitude hero John Harrison is tested and declared a masterpiece

One of Guinness World Records’ more unusual awards was presented at the National Maritime Museum yesterday. After a 100-day trial, the timepiece known as Clock B – which had been sealed in a clear plastic box to prevent tampering – was officially declared, by Guinness, to be the world’s “most accurate mechanical clock with a pendulum swinging in free air”.


It was an intriguing enough award. But what is really astonishing is that the clock was designed more than 250 years ago by a man who was derided at the time for “an incoherence and absurdity that was little short of the symptoms of insanity”, and whose plans for the clock lay ignored for two centuries.


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Michael Gunner says party will prioritise preventative health and early childhood education and work on regaining voters’ trust


The Northern Territory Labor party is heading to a “minor reshuffle” with no shadow portfolio expected for the former leader Delia Lawrie, who resigned on Sunday to focus on legal battles surrounding her involvement in a controversial union lease.


Lawrie announced her resignation in her home seat of Karama, just days into a leadership contest against the opposition whip and member for Fannie Bay, Michael Gunner, who became the opposition leader on Monday.


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Around 90 Australians are fighting for jihadist groups. Only some will be a risk when they return – and the Abbott government is learning how to deal with them


Jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, namely the Islamic State (Isis) and the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, have attracted foreign fighters from over 80 countries. Governments across the world are concerned about the potential terrorist threat from fighters returning home.


In earlier jihadist foreign fighter mobilisations, the overwhelming majority of people involved did not pose a threat on return, but the relative few who did proved extremely dangerous.


Related: Not all foreign fighters will pose a security threat to Australia, says expert


According to the most recent government estimates, around 90 Australians are currently fighting for jihadist groups


Related: Thugs wanted – bring your own boots: how Isis attracts foreign fighters to its twisted utopia


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Home and Away manages a rare moment of cultural theory while Gogglebox bows out, leaving only Periscope to satisfy your navel-gazing needs


I wouldn’t normally look to the old-fashioned television soap opera for restrained treatment of delicate and serious issues – I’d be more likely to find gold dust by dragging my beard across a beach.


Soaps are so adept at drawing epic tragedy out of the mundane that even the mere act of popping out to the shops for some cereal can turn into a fatal love tryst, complete with amnesia, drowning, resurrection, and everything spontaneously combusting, including the cereal.


Related: Deadline Gallipoli: Sam Worthington on why his Anzac drama is different


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  • ‘Nothing to report,’ says Titans-bound Cherry-Evans

  • Manly half-back ‘disappointed’ by media treatment


An angry Daly Cherry-Evans has quashed speculation that he may pull out of his agreement to join the Gold Coast from 2016 and criticised some media coverage of the rumours.


Reports emerged last Thursday that Cherry-Evans was having second thoughts about leaving Manly and could backflip on his move back to Queensland before the NRL’s round 13 cooling off period expires.


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The prime minister and Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet during Anzac ceremonies at Gallipoli this week


Tony Abbott will discuss how to secure Turkey’s borders to stop the flow of extremist fighters into Syria when he meets the country’s leaders this week.


Abbott is due to mark Saturday’s centenary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli alongside the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the New Zealand prime minister, John Key.


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‘We have said that we would work with Western Australia on a bilateral basis,’ says finance minister Mathias Cormann


The Western Australian treasurer, Mike Nahan, says his state will get a $600m payment from the federal government to make up for a shortfall in GST revenue.


The deal was reportedly sealed in Canberra last week despite the perception that the premier, Colin Barnett, had returned to WA empty-handed, the ABC reported.


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