Latest Australian and International News

Earthquake shakes Indian islands
June 19, 2010 at 3:14 PM


A MODERATE 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit India's Andaman Islands today, causing damage to infrastructure on the archipelago.
 

Dalai Lama slams anti-whaling protesters
June 19, 2010 at 3:07 PM


THE Dalai Lama has criticised wildlife activists for staging what he said were violent protests over Japan's hunting of whales.
 

Nude Kiwis overcome Welsh challenge
June 19, 2010 at 2:52 PM


BALL skills were on display at a New Zealand oval as a couple of teams tackled a game of naked rugby in Dunedin.
 

Hip-hop band plays for Sapper's funeral
June 19, 2010 at 2:45 PM


THE funeral for an Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan has heard that as he lay dying, his sole concern was for his wife and young son.
 

Poll 'like climbing Everest' for Labor
June 19, 2010 at 1:49 PM


LABOR candidate John Thain was still "climbing Mt Everest" on polling day in a last ditch bid to win over voters in the Penrith by-election.
 

Biker clocks 178km/h without a licence
June 19, 2010 at 1:44 PM


A MOTORCYCLIST carrying a pillion passenger has been clocked doing 178 km/h on the Hume Freeway at Benalla, in Victoria' northeast.
 

Missing teen found at bottom of cliff
June 19, 2010 at 1:42 PM


A TEENAGER reported missing from her home on the NSW south coast has been found at the bottom of a cliff with head and spinal injuries.
 

US stocks brace for volatile week
June 19, 2010 at 1:16 PM


US stocks ended the week more than 2 per cent higher amid optimism over the global economic recovery, but as Wall St braced for a volatile week with a heavy dose of US economic data.
 

Rampage gunman's family attends funeral
June 19, 2010 at 12:54 PM


FAMILY and friends have attended a private funeral for Cumbria gunman Derrick Bird, who killed 12 and wounded 11 during a shocking shooting rampage.
 

Mining industry doom ads referred to ASIC
June 19, 2010 at 12:38 PM


THERE are fears the mining industry's ads against the super profits tax could "talk down" retirement funds.
 

Princess to wed her personal trainer
June 19, 2010 at 11:45 AM


SWEDEN'S future queen Crown Princess Victoria is set to wed her former personal trainer on Saturday in one of the largest public celebrations ever organised in Stockholm.
 

Hundreds join Black Saturday class action
June 19, 2010 at 11:41 AM


HUNDREDS of Black Saturday bushfire victims have signed up for a class action against an electricity supplier they allege was responsible for a blaze that killed 121 people and destroyed 1244 homes.
 

Missing children safe and back with mum
June 19, 2010 at 11:36 AM


TWO children taken from their Adelaide home have been found safe and well.
 

Israel issues blunt warning on blockade
June 19, 2010 at 11:24 AM


ISRAEL'S UN ambassador has urged the government of Lebanon and the international community to prevent a small group of ships from trying to break the blockade of Gaza, warning that it reserves the right to use "all necessary means" to stop the vessels.
 

Dollar could hit 90c again, say strategists
June 19, 2010 at 10:58 AM


THE Australian dollar looks set to break through US90c by the end of the year after punching above US87c for the first time in a month.
 

Exit fee 'rip-offs' face the firing line
June 19, 2010 at 10:29 AM


NEW laws mean families battling to pay off home loans will save hundreds of dollars in fees.
 

Car peeled from pole after horror smash
June 19, 2010 at 10:03 AM


THREE more young men have been killed in two separate road accidents in Victoria.
 

Stranger plunges knife into woman's back
June 19, 2010 at 10:00 AM


NSW police are searching for a woman believed to have stabbed another woman on a suburban street in the Hunter Valley.
 

One dead, three injured in fire
June 19, 2010 at 9:57 AM


GOLD Coast police have yet to identify a man believed to have died in a house fire in which three other people were injured.
 

Millions exposed to arsenic-tainted wells
June 19, 2010 at 9:54 AM


MORE than a fifth of deaths in a district of Bangladesh were caused by the country's notorious problem of arsenic-tainted well water, and even relatively low exposure to the poison was not risk-free, the medical journal The Lancet reports.
 

Amen: iPad Mass app hits the church altar
June 19, 2010 at 8:58 AM


AN Italian priest has developed an application that will see Mass celebrated with an iPad on the altar.
 

Millionaire ate rat poison in court 'stunt'
June 19, 2010 at 8:18 AM


MAN convicted of sexually abusing his step-daughter swallowed rat poison to avoid going to prison.
 

Coming soon: Olympic stadium in a box
June 19, 2010 at 8:09 AM


THE spectacular and expensive Water Cube and Bird's Nest stadiums were focal points of the Beijing games, but the future of Olympic architecture may well be found in a box.
 

NSW Labor braced for battering in Penrith
June 19, 2010 at 8:05 AM


POLLS have opened in the electorate of Penrith in western Sydney with Labor expected to take a battering.
 

Bomb-laden van threatened 'devastation'
June 19, 2010 at 8:02 AM


A VAN containing 136kg of explosives was left outside a police station in Northern Ireland and could have caused "complete devastation" if it went off, police say.
 

'I'm sad and disappointed': DJ's new boss
June 19, 2010 at 7:42 AM


PAUL Zahra got his 44th birthday present a day early, but hopes the circumstances taking him to the helm don't overshadow his reign.
 

Bullock's cheating hubby moves house
June 19, 2010 at 7:27 AM


MOTORCYCLE mogul Jesse James will be moving to Austin, Texas permanently, his lawyer has told People Magazine.
 

BP boss passes baton after horror week
June 19, 2010 at 7:22 AM


EMBATTLED BP boss Tony Hayward is handing over the daily management of the complex operation to cap the Gulf of Mexico spill, a day after a public mauling by US lawmakers.
 

BP fails to cough up on oil victims' claims
June 19, 2010 at 7:05 AM


THE US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee says data it has collected shows BP has paid less than 12 per cent of claims submitted by people and businesses arising from the Gulf oil spill.
 

Head-banging tunes smash odds of a date
June 19, 2010 at 6:59 AM


FRENCH researchers have provided scientific backing to would-be seducers who instinctively know they have to swap rap or heavy metal for Marvin Gaye to improve the odds for love.
 

Man dies alone in house blaze
June 19, 2010 at 6:50 AM


A man has died in a house fire at Lithgow, west of the Blue Mountains in NSW.
 

Stocks inch forward as Europe fears ease
June 19, 2010 at 6:45 AM


US stocks carved out modest gains on Friday in a tight range of trade amid easing eurozone debt concerns and a European Union pledge to publish the results of stress tests on banks.
 

Miracle whale flips a fin a swims again
June 19, 2010 at 6:35 AM


A WHALE stranded for three days on the edge of a Danish fjord has suddenly started swimming again, astounding rescuers and experts who had predicted it was on the edge of death.
 

Mice hair could repair spinal injuries
June 19, 2010 at 6:31 AM


A POTENTIAL treatment for spinal cord injuries has been found in the most unlikely of places - mice hair.
 

Lennon lyrics fetch $US1.2m at auction
June 19, 2010 at 4:27 AM


SALE of John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to A Day in the Life fetches twice the estimated price.
 

Death toll may be 2000 - Kyrgyz leader
June 19, 2010 at 3:30 AM


KYRGYZSTAN'S acting leader admits death toll from ethnic clashes is 10 times the current estimate.
 

Car bomb kills at least five in Iraq
June 19, 2010 at 1:23 AM


AT LEAST five people have been killed and more than 40 wounded in a car bombing in northern Iraq.
 

France's richest woman in tapes scandal
June 18, 2010 at 11:41 PM


L'OREAL heiress accuses her daughter of releasing tapes that reportedly reveal she conspired to evade taxes.
 

Three years in jail over false rape claim
June 18, 2010 at 10:20 PM


POLICE force failed to tell trial it knew complainant's credibility was suspect and that she enjoyed "police attention".
 

Jay-Z and Sudoku key to jailbreak plan
June 18, 2010 at 8:52 PM


DARING plot to escape jail hatched using Sudoku puzzles and invisible ink, timed with music festival.
 

Blues Brothers a must-see for Catholics
June 18, 2010 at 8:43 PM


THE Catholic Chuch has officially sanctioned the movie Blues Brothers a story of two musicians who redeem their thieving past, filthy mouths and bad attitudes.
 

Krispy Kreme in court fight over recipe
June 18, 2010 at 8:34 PM


DOUGHNUT company Krispy Kreme is suing the operators of its last remaining New York City store over a claim that they used their own recipe.
 

Britain makes birthday plea to Burma
June 18, 2010 at 8:14 PM


BRITAIN has called for Burma democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be immediately and unconditionally released as she prepares to mark yet another birthday in detention.
 

Man found with million child porn images
June 18, 2010 at 7:34 PM


AUSTRIAN authorities have arrested a man who hoarded more than a million child pornography pictures and videos.
 

Man 'kept a million child porn images'
June 18, 2010 at 7:34 PM


AUSTRIAN authorities have arrested a man who hoarded more than a million child pornography pictures and videos.
 

Smile, today's the happiest day of 2010
June 18, 2010 at 7:26 PM


ALGEBRAIC formula finds June 18 is the happiest day of the year, British number crunchers say.
 

Rudd just wants to be on TV - Downer
June 18, 2010 at 7:17 PM


FORMER foreign minister Alexander Downer says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is driven by a desire to be on TV.
 

Rudd just wants to be on TV - Downer
June 18, 2010 at 7:17 PM


FORMER foreign minister Alexander Downer says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is driven by a desire to be on TV.
 

Man wielding knife goes on rampage
June 18, 2010 at 6:58 PM


A YOUNG man wielding a knife attacked bystanders in southern China, killing one person and injuring 11, state media reported, in the latest random attack in the country.
 

Radioactive material used in Sydney
June 18, 2010 at 6:52 PM


AUSTRALIAN and American military forces reportedly used radioactive material during war training games across Sydney.
 

Actor pulls out of Bollywood Hitler film
June 18, 2010 at 6:44 PM


THE lead actor in Bollywood's proposed film on Adolf Hitler, which Jewish groups protested and historians condemned, withdrew from the project.
 

Chemical fire in Maryborough
June 18, 2010 at 6:32 PM


FIRE crews have contained the chemical fire that saw a Maryborough iron foundry evacuated this morning.
 

Father killed by teen son while sleeping
June 18, 2010 at 6:32 PM


A NSW teenager has been jailed for shooting his sleeping father dead on an "ordinary and unremarkable evening" after the family had shared a meal and watched television.
 

Experts cast doubt on stolen Banksy work
June 18, 2010 at 6:24 PM


Australian experts cast doubt Friday over claims that graffiti stolen from outside an underwear tycoon's home was by secretive British street artist Banksy.
 

DiPierdomenico says sorry for racism
June 18, 2010 at 6:20 PM


ROBERT DiPierdomenico says he feels 'ashamed' for using the word 'abo' and has apologised personally to Gavin Wanganeen.