A "super computer" has duped humans into thinking it was a 13-year-old boy to become the first machine to pass the "iconic" Turing Test, experts say.

Five machines were tested at the Royal Society in central London to see if they could fool people into thinking they were humans during text-based conversations.

The test was devised in 1950 by computer science pioneer and World War II code breaker Alan Turing, who said that if a machine was indistinguishable from a human, then it was "thinking".

SPIEGEL: What was the effect of US President Barack Obama not having done anything after poison gas was deployed in Syria; after the red line had clearly been crossed twice? Is America's unwillingness, or inability, to intervene a dangerous portent?

New figures show the number of road deaths in Australia has dropped by almost a quarter during the past decade.

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The Abbott government has ruled out using the term "occupied" when describing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, prompting suggestions about a shift in Australia's foreign policy.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi has criticised Cabinet minister Malcolm Turnbull's response to conservative columnist Andrew Bolt as "unwise", "inappropriate" and "too strident".