US Congress votes to re-open government
1:50pm America's economy has been pulled back from the edge of an abyss, with Congress approving a measure that should end the government shutdown and avert a potentially catastrophic default.
Latest world news
We'll be back: Iran talks to resume on Nov 7
Roy Gutman 2:04pm Western diplomats see cause for optimism after discussions with Iran's new government.
Sci-tech
Meteorite chunk lifted from Russian lake
12:00pm Russian divers have pulled from a murky lake a half-tonne meteorite said to have been part of a meteor whose shockwave hurt 1200 people in Chelyabinsk earlier this year.
Rhinos microchipped to combat poaching
11:36am Kenya will place microchips in the horn of every rhino in the country in a bid to stamp out a surge in poaching of the threatened animals.
Man's tribute to his son ends in tragedy
Jack Healy 2:22pm Joe Bell was killed as he was walking across America to raise awareness of the bullying that led to his gay son's suicide.
Man's 14-year-old bet pays $200K when grandson plays for Wales
Ben Priechenfried 10:59am A man won £125,000 ($200,000) on a bet placed almost 14 years ago that his grandson would play soccer for Wales.
London traffic warden books Hillary Clinton
11:53pm Hillary Clinton may be tipped as a future US president, but that did not impress a London traffic warden who slapped her vehicle with an £80 ($130) parking fine.
Iran gives ground on monitoring
Jonathan Tirone A timeline for compromises by Iran and reciprocal steps by world powers was the focus of Wednesday's second day of talks on defusing the decade-long conflict over Iran's nuclear program.
Clashes erupt at funeral for Nazi war criminal
12:32am Italy appears set to send the body of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke to Germany as it commemorated the 70th anniversary of a round-up of Jews from the historic Jewish quarter of Rome.
Melbourne woman killed in Nepal bus crash identified as Marina Muchnik
Mex Cooper 3:21pm A 32-year-old Melbourne woman has died after a bus she was travelling on plunged about 200 metres off a highway in Nepal.
Magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes near Solomon Islands
Daniel Fallon 2:51am Geoscience Australia has measured a 7.2-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea.
Haj numbers down over virus fears
About 2 million Muslims have converged on Mina in Saudi Arabia to symbolically stone the Devil, the final stage of the annual Haj.
Angry Sheriff rounds up bullies after suicide
Two teenagers have been forced to explain their actions, writes Lizette Alvarez.
Fatwa lets starving Syrians eat cats and dogs
Ruth Sherlock A Muslim cleric in a rebel-held district of Damascus has issued a fatwa, or ruling, allowing people to eat cats and dogs to ward off starvation after months of siege by the Assad regime.
Missouri rape: mother rejects police claims
Melinda Coleman has disputed authorities' claims that she and her daughter Daisy stopped cooperating with investigators.
50 missing as typhoon smashes island
At least 13 people are known to have died after a powerful typhoon lashed Japan's Pacific coast, police say. Typhoon Wipha, dubbed the strongest in a decade, caused landslides that buried houses.
Body of Singapore model found in Pakistan
A model and beauty queen from Singapore who went missing in Pakistan has been found dead in a ditch on the edge of Islamabad.
White House dismisses latest US shutdown offer by House Republicans
House Republican leaders on Tuesday floated a plan to fellow Republicans to counter an emerging Senate deal to reopen the government.
Book
Jackie Collins aims Confessions of a Wild Child at teenagers to distract them from porn
Rachael Jones Author Jackie Collins believes giving teenagers romance and relationship novels will help steer them away from online porn.
UK police foil Kenyan massacre copycat plot by British terrorists
British law enforcement agencies say they have averted a plot to orchestrate a large-scale terror attack similar to the assault on Kenya's Westgate mall.
North Korea used chemical weapons on political prisoners: report
Julian Ryall North Korea is using political prisoners held in its extensive gulag network as subjects for chemical weapons tests, according to a report in the United States.
Food facts
Bacon lowers sperm count, fish improves it
Laura Donnelly Just one rasher of bacon a day can damage a man's fertility, while eating a portion of white fish such as cod or halibut every other day can improve it, researchers have suggested.
Debt ceiling
'Tremendous progress' made on US debt deal
Democratic and Republican senators are working on a fiscal deal that would extend US borrowing authority at least through mid-February and provide funding until mid-January to end a two-week government shutdown.
Glimmer of hope for detained Australian woman Charlotte Chou
PHILIP WEN Rare retrial could see charges of embezzlement against Charlotte Chou overturned.
China uses US stalemate to urge end to world's reliance on dollar
PHILIP WEN As US politicians continue to argue about how to re-open its shuttered government and avoid a potentially damaging debt default, China's official news agency says the world should consider "de-Americanising".
UK police arrest man with knife outside Buckingham Palace
Police have arrested a man with a knife who tried to enter Buckingham Palace in London.
Nobel 'should have been mine': Assad
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly said as a joke that he should have been awarded the Nobel peace prize.
Iran sets own 'red line' for nuclear deal
Peter Foster Iran says it will not bow to demands to ship its uranium stockpile abroad before key talks over its nuclear program.
Russian police detain 1200 in anti-migrant raid
About 1200 people have been detained in an anti-migrant raid on a produce market where a riot took place at the weekend after the killing of an ethnic Russian, Moscow police say.
Trial deal on offer for Kenyan leader
Mike Pflanz The war crimes trial of Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta could be suspended for at least a year under a diplomatic deal to be put to the United Nations.
IRA killer reflects on what drove Kenyan gunmen
Katrin Benhold As a former gunman for the IRA, Sean O'Callaghan has a unique insight into what drove the gunmen who opened fire on shoppers in a Kenyan mall.
'Blacklisted' war hero William Swenson vindicated with top military honour
David Nakamura Four years after he survived a brutal firefight in a remote Afghanistan valley that claimed the lives of five Americans, retired US Army Captain William Swenson will finally be hailed as a hero.
Britain to revise 'colonial' attitudes to Chinese visas
Louise Armitstead British Chancellor George Osborne has announced a 24-hour "super priority" visa system for Chinese business visitors to Britain in a bid to remove bureaucratic barriers hampering trade.
US shutdown stalemate continues as senate leaders fail to broker a deal
Jonathan Weisman With a possible default on government obligations three days away, talks between the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate failed to break an impasse over the debt limit.
Kate and William break with tradition on godparents
Prince William and Catherine have broken with royal tradition by choosing childhood and university friends to be the godparents of their son, Prince George.
Red Cross workers abducted in Syria
Gunmen have abducted seven International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent staff in Idlib province, one of the main theatres of Syria's brutal war.
Baby Hope cold case: US police arrest man after 22 years
Michael Schwirtz It was a cold case that had eluded investigators for more than two decades. A little girl with no name had been stuffed into a cooler and left beside a Manhattan highway.
Images of McCann 'suspect' released
British police have reportedly arrested a man after he boasted of having recently seen Madeleine McCann.
Dozens killed in stampede at Hindu festival in India
A stampede on a bridge outside a Hindu temple in India has killed at least 60 people.
EU urged to act as boat death toll passes 400
Alvise Armellini Calls are intensifying for the European Union to prevent migrant deaths.
Cyclone havoc on Indian coast
Charlotte Turner Cyclone Phailin has left a trail of death and destruction along India's impoverished east coast.
African Union says heads of state shouldn't have to front court
Nicholas Kulish The African Union has called for the postponement of the trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
$12m fish statue flies in the face of China's new austerity push
Chris Buckley Chinese Communist Party leaders' vows of a new era of humble austerity in government may have met their most exotic adversary yet: a $12 million, 2100-tonne, 90-metre-long puffer fish.
Governor candidate turned on sirens when running late for football games
John Wagner Police say a US state governor regularly ordered those assigned to drive him to turn on sirens on the way to routine appointments.
God can't fix US's pear-shaped politics
PAUL SHEEHAN The permanent dysfunction in Washington is a symptom, not a cause, of something much deeper afflicting the US.
The gene scene: some just have a darker view
Meeri Kim What people observe in everyday life may depend on their genetic blueprint, scientists say.
US closer to deal on postwar presence
Anne Gearan The US and Afghanistan have agreed on a deal to keep some US forces in Afghanistan past next year.
Rabbis accused in violent plot to force divorce
Joseph Goldstein Two rabbis offered an unusual service to Jewish women who could not get their husbands to agree to a divorce, according to the FBI.
Syrian rebels accused of massacre
Gaziantep, Turkey: Syrian Islamist rebel groups have been accused of killing at least 190 villagers in the country's pro-government heartland and kidnapping hundreds more.
US confirms Taliban snatch
Kabul: US officials have confirmed their forces recently seized a senior Pakistani Taliban commander in eastern Afghanistan.
Peace prize an Assad 'victory'
Richard Spencer Syrian doctors and activists have condemned the award of the Nobel peace prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Nuclear commander gets marching orders
Craig Whitlock The US Air Force has fired a general in charge of America's land-based nuclear missiles for allegations of personal misconduct.
Indians evacuate as cyclone heads to coast
New Delhi: Tens of thousands of people in south-eastern India have been evacuated and the military placed on alert as a powerful cyclone over the Bay of Bengal moves towards the country's coastline.
US inches ahead but deal still elusive
Washington: The White House and the Republicans are painstakingly edging towards a deal to stave off a disastrous US debt default.
Dozens feared dead as boat sinks off Sicily
Rescuers have plucked 200 refugees from the sea after their boat capsized, killing 31 in yet another migrant tragedy and prompting Malta to warn the Mediterranean is turning into a cemetery.
Libyan leader: kidnapping was failed coup
Carlotta Gall, Marlise Simons Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan says his kidnapping by militia members was no different from a ''coup'' and had been orchestrated by opponents in the legislature who want to force him from office.
Ariel Castro may have died from auto-erotic asphyxiation
The sordid tale of Cleveland kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro has taken another lurid turn, with officials saying his death may have been caused by auto-erotic asphyxiation.
Space
Scientists find evidence of an apocalypse in another planetary system
John von Radowitz Evidence of an apocalypse in a planetary system similar to our own has been uncovered by astronomers studying a dying star.
Cricket
India celebrates Sachin Tendulkar
Ben Doherty, South Asia Correspondent Ever shy of the limelight and eternally a little old-fashioned, it was apposite that Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from Test cricket by letter.
Azerbaijan election result published before polling starts
Something funny happened the day before Azerbaijan's presidential election: the election commission announced the winner.
Edward Snowden's dad visits him in Moscow
Andrew Roth After winning temporary asylum in Russia, the fugitive National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, is getting a visit from his father.
Nobel prize winner
Alice Munro: the 13th woman to win Nobel literature prize
Canada's Alice Munro won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday for her short stories that focus on the frailties of the human condition.
Inquiry chief ducks debate over planned press changes
NICK MILLER Lord Leveson has urged the UK parliament to remember the public interest and the victims of media harassment – not just the self-interest of the press.
Kidnapped Libyan PM freed
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was released on Thursday several hours after being seized from a Tripoli hotel by former rebel militiamen, the foreign minister said.
Flesh-rotting, highly addictive drug makes its way into the US
A highly addictive drug from Russia - one that can destroy tissue and blood vessels, turning skin green and scaly - may be showing up in the United States.
Malaria death rate slashed with use of controversial DDT
South Africa has turned the tide on malaria, cutting mortality rates by 85 per cent over the past 12 years, and hopes to eliminate the disease soon, a new report shows.
Malala awarded $70k European human rights prize
Pakistan's teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban for fighting for girls' rights to education, on Thursday was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov human rights prize.
New Madeleine McCann suspect photo to be released by police: report
A new computer generated image of a possible suspect connected to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will be released by British police, a news report says.
Mursi to face trial for inciting killings
Richard Spencer Egypt's deposed president, Mohamed Mursi, is to go on trial next month accused of inciting the killing of protesters, a mirror image of the case against his predecessor Hosni Mubarak.
Russia's 110 richest people own a third of country's wealth
A staggering 35 per cent of household wealth in Russia is owned by just 110 people, the highest level of inequality in the world barring a few small Caribbean islands, a report by a major investment bank says.
Aircraft noise linked to heart disease
Naomi Kresge Two studies have linked aircraft noise to higher rates of cardiovascular disease, in results that may fuel debate about the effect airports have on their neighbours.
Greenpeace boat had drugs on board, Russia claims
Henry Meyer Russia claims it found drugs on a Greenpeace ship, warning that more serious charges may be added to a piracy case.
Fukushima plant clean-up workers exposed to radiation
Jacob Adelman Six clean-up workers at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant were exposed to radiation after a hose piping contaminated water was mistakenly detached, leaking seven tonnes.
