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World

Ice storm brings southern US to a grinding halt

Students camped out with teachers in school gyms or on buses and commuters abandoned cars along the highway to seek shelter after a rare snowstorm left thousands frozen in their tracks.

Top world stories

Syrian peace talks take a 'positive step'

Positive step: Louay Safi, spokesperson for the Syrian National Coalition, briefs reporters after peace talks.

8:38am After days of deadlock and dispute, Syrian peace talks appeared to inch forward when a spokesman for the opposition said the Syrian government had agreed to negotiate about a transitional government.

Science

'Grow your own' stem cells a breakthrough

Breakthrough: Researchers in Boston and Japan say they have created stem cells that can regenerate damaged organs.

8:22am In experiments that could open a new era in stem cell biology, scientists have found a simple way to reprogram cells back into an embryonic-like state that allows them to generate many types of tissue.

Australian charged with aiding terrorists

Facing trial ... al-Jazeera reporter Peter Greste is accused of collaborating with Egyptians to air false news.

RUTH POLLARD 2:46pm Egypt has intensified its media crackdown, charging 20 journalists from al-Jazeera, including one Australian, with collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

4:06am Former Norwegian minister nominates the fugitive US whistleblower for one of humanity's top prizes.

Dozens killed after Philippines peace deal

Philippine soldiers patrol a rice field during a clearing operation rebels in the Maguindanao province.

3:59am More than 40 people killed days after a landmark peace deal was struck with the largest Muslim insurgency group in the Philippines.

Libyan deputy PM survives gun attack

Survived: Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Al-Siddiq Karim speaks to the media after an attempt on his life in Tripoli.

6:53am Libya's deputy prime minister survived unhurt after gunmen fired on his car in Tripoli in an attack reflecting the violent chaos plaguing the North African nation two years after Muammar Gaddafi's fall.

'I'll break you in half': Congressman's threat

Threatened reporter on camera ... New York Representative Michael Grimm.

9:03am New York Representative Michael Grimm is defending his actions after he physically threatened a reporter at the Capitol after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

Angela Merkel takes swipe at US over spying

German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

9:04am Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken perhaps her sharpest swipe yet at pervasive US intelligence surveillance, saying that Washington had endangered its standing by violating the freedom of the individual.

Tiger claims eighth victim in India

(FILES) In this photograph taken on April 14, 2010 a tiger rests in its enclosure at the Zoological Park in New Delhi.   A wild tiger is believed to have claimed its eight victim in northern India, even as forest officials attempt to track down and kill the animal, an official said January 29, 2014.  AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA /FILES

A wild tiger is believed to have claimed its eighth victim in northern India, even as forest officials attempt to track down and kill the animal.

Winter Olympics

Sochi 'most secure venue on the planet'

Confident of venue's security ... Sochi 2014 Olympics President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko.

7:38am After all the talk of terror threats, corruption, overspending and anti-gay legislation, the head of the Sochi Olympics is determined to show the world the games will be a huge success.

'Supergrass' says Elle was on hacking list

Coulson 'heard' Sienna Miller affair message

Glass cage silences Mursi during Egyptian trial

North Korea, where meth is offered like tea

Indian court refuses to review gay sex ban

Betrayals, backstabbing to blame: Trierweiler

Former army leader Mladic slams UN court

US states consider old-fashioned executions

Ukraine PM resigns, anti-protest laws revoked

Syrian regime backs away from aid for Homs

Thai poll to go ahead despite threat of chaos

Nun must pay for damaging nuclear facility

Saudi money props up rule of generals

NSA spies on businesses: Snowden

Latest world news

Peanut therapy lets allergic children eat their first nuts

Child eating peanut butter.

12:33am Experimental trial using small amounts of peanut flour helps 80 per cent of children safely eat a handful of the previously worrisome nuts.

Verdict looms in Amanda Knox re-trial

Amanda Knox in 2008

Ella Ide 10:29pm American Amanda Knox's defence lawyer said her innocence was "rock-solid" on Thursday, as an Italian court prepared to issue a new verdict over the savage murder of her British housemate in 2007.

Scarlett Johansson quits Oxfam over Israeli firm advert

Scarlett Johansson

9:38pm US actress Scarlett Johansson has quit as global ambassador for Oxfam after the aid group deemed the role "incompatible" with her promotion of an Israeli firm that has a factory in the occupied West Bank.

Toronto mayor sued by brother-in-law

Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

8:40pm Rob Ford is being sued by his sister's former common-law husband, who alleges that the Toronto mayor arranged to have him beaten to keep him quiet about Mr Ford's drug use.

Twitter vents at Alabama weather man who blew forecast

Traffic at a standstill in Birmingham, Alabama after a winter storm that was wider and more severe than many officials expected.

1:36pm An American weatherman has been forced to make an apology after his wrong forecast left thousands of motorists stranded.

Tech

Demis Hassabis: the secretive computer genius with the $750 million brain

Demis

Tom Rowley 12:43pm What made Google dig so deep to buy out a shy and secretive computer mastermind from north London?

New Zealand looks to ditch the Union Jack from flag

Tino Rangatiratanga flag design for New Zealand.

11:10am New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has floated the possibility of having a referendum to change the country's flag.

Gay heiress Gigi Chao writes open letter to father over $114m husband offer

Open letter: Gigi Chao, right, is believed to have married her girlfriend of seven years Sean Eav.

8:35am The lesbian daughter of a Hong Kong tycoon, who offered more than $US100 million ($114.29 million) to find her a male suitor, has issued a heartfelt open letter urging him to accept her sexuality.

First conviction using drone evidence in US

Long arm of the law: a Predator drone of the type used in US border patrols.

Philip Sherwell 2:29pm In a case that could change the face of domestic law enforcement, a US citizen has been sentenced to prison for the first time with the aid of evidence from an unmanned aircraft operating over American soil.

Men more forgetful than women: study

New research suggest men are more forgetful than women.

11:50am Results of scientific studies as described by the researchers and their institutions.

Russia ramps up pressure on Ukraine

MPs argue at the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev.

Steve Gutterman 8:41pm President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine on Wednesday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $US15 billion ($17.1 billion) bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs.

NSA spying shows perils of Google Plus, Pinterest, Candy Crush

An activist protests the surveillance of US  citizens by the NSA outside the Justice Department  in Washington earlier this month.

Jordan Robertson 2:50pm Revelations that the National Security Agency is tapping smartphone applications to mine personal information highlight the risk millions take every day when they play games, schedule lunch or check the weather.

South Africa's opposition targets ANC vote with black candidate

Anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele (L) hugs opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party leader Helen Zille at a news conference in Cape Town. Ms Ramphele will run as presidential candidate for the DA in this year's South African election.

Amogelang Mbatha 4:21pm South Africa's main opposition party chooses Mamphela Ramphele as its first black presidential candidate in a bid to break the ruling African National Congress's grip on power.

Short people are most prone to feelings of inferiority, study finds

Tape

People who experience social situations from a lower height - in other words, short people - are more prone to feelings of paranoia, inferiority and excessive mistrust, according to new research.

Ukraine on the brink of 'civil war', former president Leonid Kravchuk says

Opposition calls for an end to Ukraine's crisis (Thumbnail)

Ukraine is on the brink of "civil war" as a result of the standoff between authorities and protesters across the country, its first post-independence president Leonid Kravchuk told parliament on Wednesday.

British police fly to Portugal to discuss Madeleine McCann arrests

Madeleine McCann

British detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have flown to Portugal reportedly to discuss possible arrests in connection with the inquiry.

Peter Greste: Journalist's second letter smuggled from Cairo prison

A screen grab from a BBC report by Peter Greste, an Al-Jazeera journalist who was arrested for aiding the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

RUTH POLLARD Cairo: He is just one man swept up in a tidal wave of thousands of arrests in Egypt, but for Australian journalist Peter Greste, the message of the military-backed government to those trying to report the news is clear and menacing.

State of the Union: Obama promises change, with or without Congress

Nick O’Malley US President Barack Obama has challenged Congress to work with him to reduce growing inequality, but reinforced his threat to use executive orders to act on his own accord if it fails to act, during an optimistic hour-long State of the Union address.

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    Paul McGeough reports on life as Australian troops prepare to pull out.