French gay marriage law clears hurdle

FRANCE'S National Assembly has overwhelmingly approved the first and most important article of a controversial law that will allow gay couples to get married and adopt children. Deputies voted 249-97 in favour of article one of the draft legislation,...

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Illegal fireworks blamed for road collapse

A TRUCK that exploded and caused an elevated stretch of highway to collapse in central China, killing 10 people, was loaded with holiday fireworks that were illegally produced and transported, authorities say. Local authorities have shut down...

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Palestinians evicted from West Bank camp

PALESTINIANS and activists have been forcefully removed from a new camp near a West Bank village, after a third attempt at the novel form of protest against Jewish settlement. An AFP correspondent said the army used tear gas and violence on...

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Bones could reveal England's lost king

Men dressed as medieval knights pose for pictures in Leicester at a site believed to hold the skeleton of medieval king Richard III. Source: AFP THE fate of England's last king to be killed in battle will be decided this weekend when scholars...

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LNP threat to sue tobacco companies

Big tobacco has moved into the legal sights of the State Government, with Health Minister Lawrence Springborg saying smokers were "putting pressure on our already burdened system", and indicated legal action was possible. Source: The Courier-Mail...

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Scandal-hit Spain PM denies graft claims

SPAIN'S Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has denied allegations that he received undeclared payments from his ruling party, as he sought to douse a major corruption scandal. Rajoy vowed on Saturday not to resign despite the publication of documents...

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Iran rial hits all-time dollar low

IRAN'S currency has plummeted to an all-time low, registering a more than 21 per cent drop in a span of two weeks against the US dollar, currency tracking websites and money changers say. The rial was traded at between 39,000 and 40,000 per US...

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ALP vice-president savages NSW Right

SENIOR Labor figure Tony Sheldon has launched a scathing attack on one of the party's factions and says the organisation is in a potentially catastrophic situation. Mr Sheldon, who is the secretary of the Transport Workers Union and Labor's...

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Cabinet shuffle expected as Evans resigns

THE Gillard government faces a major cabinet reshuffle following senior federal Labor MP Chris Evans' decision to resign from the ministry. News of the Senate leader's departure comes just two days after Prime Minister Julia Gillard called the...

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French leader Hollande to visit Mali

PRESIDENT Francois Hollande prepared to visit Mali as French-led troops worked to secure the last Islamist stronghold in the north after a lightning offensive against the extremists. Hollande will visit Mali on Saturday with Defence Minister Jean-Yves...

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Turkish guard killed in US embassy blast

A TURKISH security guard has been killed and several people wounded in a suicide bombing at the entrance to the highly-fortified US embassy in Ankara, officials say. The force of the blast on Friday damaged nearby buildings in the upmarket Cankaya...

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US bunker standoff enters third day

MORE than three days after he allegedly shot dead a school bus driver, grabbed a five-year-old child and slipped into an underground bunker in the rural US, Jimmy Lee Dykes is showing no signs of turning himself over to police. Hostage negotiators...

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Huge storm front sweeps southeast

SEVERE storms battered southeast Queensland overnight, tearing through areas from Dalby to Brisbane and as far down as the New South Wales border. The weather bureau issued its first warning about 8.45pm and severe storms were still bearing...

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Santander writes off Spanish assets

SPANISH bank Santander says its net profit plunged almost 60 per cent in 2012 as it wrote off nearly 19 billion euros ($A24.94 billion) in dodgy loans and property assets. However, the charges left Santander's balance sheet looking more secure....

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Man stabbed to death at Logan

Police were called to an address on Darren Drive, Slacks Creek, after reports of a stabbing. Picture: Kris Crane Source: The Courier-Mail A MAN died in the third stabbing in 24 hours in Logan after allegedly being attacked by his housemate...

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Police charge man with west Sydney murder

A 26-YEAR-OLD man has been charged with murdering a 66-year-old woman in Sydney's west. Police said they were called to a home in Lucas Street, Emu Plains, where they found the woman unconscious and suffering head wounds, about 10am on Thursday....

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US stocks fall on weak earnings reports

FACEBOOK shares have fallen nearly six per cent on opening, leading the markets lower in starting trade also hit by poor earnings from Dow Chemical. Six minutes into trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 27.41 points,...

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HRW condemns Russian rights crackdown

HUMAN Rights Watch has condemned the Russian authorities under President Vladimir Putin for unleashing the toughest crackdown against civil society since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The repressions against critics come after Putin...

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US weekly jobless claims rise

NEW claims for US unemployment insurance benefits rose last week but were still in line with an improving trend in the jobs market, government figures show. Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, rose by 38,000 to 368,000 in...

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US consumer spending flat in December

US consumers held tight to their wallets in December, the key holiday shopping season, despite a rise in incomes, according to Commerce Department data. Household spending edged up 0.2 per cent from November, only half the growth of the prior...

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US man kills bus driver, kidnaps child

Residents look over the school bus where a shooting occurred near Destiny Church,  just north of Midland City, Alabama. Picture: Danny Tindell Source: AP POLICE, SWAT teams and negotiators are clustered at a rural Alabama property where...

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Boeing Q4 sales strong but earnings not

US aerospace giant Boeing reported a sharp fourth quarter fall in earnings as expected on Wednesday, as tax costs surged from a year earlier but operating earnings gained on strong sales growth. Meanwhile, the company's chief executive said the...

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Egypt opposition urge talks amid violence

EGYPTIAN opposition leaders are calling for urgent talks on the political crisis gripping the country, as a fresh eruption of violence killed two more people in Cairo. Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading figure in the National Salvation Front, called...

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US man kills bus driver, kidnaps child

A GUNMAN has boarded a school bus in the southern US state of Alabama, shot and killed the driver and kidnapped a young boy, police say. The area around where the hostage-taking occurred on Tuesday has been evacuated, said Sergeant Rachel David,...

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Dow, S&P fall slightly after poor US GDP

US stocks were mostly lower in opening trade after government estimates showed the economy shrunk in the fourth quarter last year largely due to a cut back in government spending. Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was...

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Israel hits Syria convoy near Lebanon

ISRAELI have forces carried out an air strike on a weapons convoy from Syria near the Lebanese border, security sources have told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. The attack came after Israel expressed concerns that Damascus's stockpile...

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German beer drinking hits new low

GERMANS are emptying fewer beer steins these days. Consumption of the national beverage fell by 1.8 per cent last year to the lowest level since West and East Germany reunified in 1990. The German government statistics agency reported on Wednesday...

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Queen not likely to abdicate any time soon

ONE European queen has announced her retirement. Any chance Europe's most famous queen - Elizabeth II of Britain - might join her? Not likely, experts say. The spectacle of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands stepping down in April at age 75 so...

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Pfizer profits jump on asset sale gain

THE world's biggest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, has reported a big jump in fourth-quarter earnings as cost-cutting efforts plus a gain from an asset sale helped offset the loss of exclusivity of a blockbuster cholesterol drug. Pfizer reported...

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Mozambique military on flood duty

MOZAMBIQUE'S military has been called in to help tackle severe flooding that has killed 48 people and is likely to spread to the country's central and northern regions, officials say. The armed forces have begun helping with clean-up operations...

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Ford earns $1.6b in 4Q, warns of Euro loss

FORD has earned better-than-expected profits in 2012 as record results in North America trumped losses in Europe. It will have to do even better at home this year as the losses in Europe mount. Ford earned $US5.7 billion ($A5.50 billion) for the...

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Smog again envelops huge swathes of China

RESIDENTS across huge swathes of northern China are battling through choking pollution at extreme levels, as Beijing was plunged into toxic twilight for the fourth time this winter. Visibility was reduced to around 200 metres in parts of the capital,...

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US stocks flat ahead of confidence data

US stocks are treading in place ahead of a key consumer confidence report, despite a series of better-than-expected company earnings. In the first five minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 10.75 points (0.08 per cent) at...

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Dangerous prisoner goes off GPS radar

A DANGEROUS prisoner is on the loose after removing his GPS tracking bracelet near Brighton, north of Brisbane. Setu Aloiai, 31, who served a nine year sentence for indecent assault with a circumstance of aggravation, assault occasioning actual...

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Japan relaxes US beef import restrictions

JAPAN is relaxing restrictions on US beef imports that have been in place due to fears of mad-cow disease. The Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that Japan and the United States have agreed that imports of beef from cows up to 30 months old...

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Japan PM points to beefed-up military

JAPAN faces a "diplomatic and security crisis", Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says, a day after his defence minister announced plans to strengthen the military amid a bitter dispute with China. The proposal to raise the defence budget by Y40 billion...

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Police arrest Brazil club owner after fire

AUTHORITIES have arrested one of the owners of a Brazilian nightclub where more than 230 partygoers perished in a blaze blamed by survivors on a band's pyrotechnics show. Two members of a musical group also were arrested, and a warrant was issued...

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Qld cops rising water as storm hits Sydney

THOUSANDS of homes are underwater in Queensland and NSW as ex-tropical cyclone Oswald closes in on Sydney. The weather front is beating a devastating path down the coast and authorities are ramping up for another day of evacuations while floodwaters...

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US stocks open higher

US stocks have opened higher as Caterpillar's positive forecast for 2013 helped overcome its fourth-quarter 2012 earnings disappointment and pushed up the Dow. Five minutes into trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 15.40...

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US durable goods orders higher

NEW US orders for durable manufactured goods surged higher in December, led by a jump in commercial aircraft orders, government figures show. Orders for durable goods - long-lasting products such as vehicles, computers and machinery - rose to...

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US woman swept away by 'sneaker' wave

A WOMAN has been swept out to sea by a large wave and drowned on a California beach in the third such tragedy in the region this winter, authorities say. The 32-year-old was walking with her boyfriend and dog on Sunday when the wave pulled her...

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Landslides leave 16 dead in Indonesia

THE death toll in two separate landslides triggered by torrential rain in western Indonesia has risen to 16, including five geothermal workers, officials say. The worst landslides happened in Tanjung Sani of Agam district in West Sumatra province,...

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Suu Kyi 'fond' of army that detained her

MYANMAR'S opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi remains "fond" of her country's army despite claims it has recruited child soldiers and used rape as a weapon. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was herself held under house arrest by the military for...

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Britain warns of threat in Somaliland

BRITAIN'S Foreign Office has urged its nationals to leave the self-declared nation of Somaliland, warning of a "specific" threat against Westerners in the northern Somali region. Britain had similarly warned of a "specific and imminent threat...

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No proof public funds paid for Zuma house

A GOVERNMENT inquiry into how a multimillion-dollar upgrade to Jacob Zuma's private residence was financed has found the South African president did not use public money for the works. "There is no evidence that public money was spent to build...

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Assad made grave error on reform: Medvedev

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad made a "grave, perhaps fatal error" by delaying political reforms, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev says. "He should have acted much more quickly and reached out to the peaceful opposition, which was ready...

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NSW land valuations to be examined

MORE than two million official land valuations in NSW will be examined by a new inquiry, prompted by concerns that property owners are overpaying land tax and council rates. The concerns have been sparked by reports indicating the system used...

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Mozambique flood toll rises to 40

THE death toll from heavy flooding in Mozambique has climbed to about 40 after four more bodies were discovered in the worst-hit southern town of Chokwe, its mayor says. "They found four bodies in the last 24 hours," Jorge Makwakwa told AFP, adding...

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