A plea from waterlogged Britain

Griff Witte 12:57am Rarely has Britain been as damp as it has been in the last couple of months. January was the wettest for a century and February is following suit.

Ukraine's adidas-clad, baseball-wielding thugs

Harriet Salem 2:16pm A group of young thugs is roaming the streets of Ukraine. Wearing balaclavas and Adidas striped pants, they attack demonstrators with baseball bats.

Could spaceships be built with artificial 'bone'?

Amina Khan 2:22pm The structure of natural materials such as bone and wood may be the key to making light, low-density products that are still extremely strong.

Hijacker fails in attempt to fly 'bomb' to Sochi

4:33am Man who claimed to have a bomb tried to hijack a plane from Ukraine and divert it to the Sochi Olympics.

Northern exposure

BEN DOHERTY Previously torn apart by tribal conflict, the remote state of Nagaland in north-eastern India is finding a new pathway to peace on its 50th anniversary, writes Ben Doherty.

Bosnian protesters storm government buildings

3:41am Protesters have stormed government buildings in Bosnia, setting them alight and smashing up furniture, as anger over the dire state of the economy boiled over.

Israel fights back as boycott movment gains strength

RUTH POLLARD The story of an actress and a drinks company highlights a growing movement against settlements.

SodaStream politics: Boycott cuts both ways in Israeli-Palestinian conflict

RUTH POLLARD Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson, a University of Sydney academic and a kitchen gadget that puts bubbles in water intersect in the debate over the boycott of Israel.

800,000-year-old footprints found in the UK

2:44am Footprints left by ancient humans 800,000 years ago have been found in the UK, the earliest evidence of such markings outside Africa, scientists say.

UN to evacuate civilians from Homs

10:25pm The United Nations began an operation on Friday to evacuate civilians from besieged rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Homs.

Hong Kong police dismantle 'biggest' World War II bomb

9:54pm Hong Kong police have successfully dismantled the largest World War II bomb yet found in the city after its discovery on a construction site prompted the evacuation of 2260 people.

Man-eating tiger claims ninth victim in India

Nishant Saxena 9:31pm A man-eating tiger on the prowl in northern India has claimed its ninth victim, defying hunters and wildlife officials who have been trying to gun down the animal, an official said Friday.

Front row, centre at the Schapelle Corby circus

JAMES ROBERTSON 6:07pm Since arriving on Monday more than 30 Australian journalists have gathered in the tiny carpark of Kerobokan prison, which has become so familiar over the duration of Schapelle Corby's sentence.

Tech

Facebook grants father's wish to see his dead son's personalised video

Lisa Maria Garza 12:22pm Facebook has granted a father's tearful request to unlock his dead son's social media page and give him access to a video he had been unable to view.

Tech

Xbox Kinect sensor guards North-South Korean border

12:09pm Microsoft's movement-recognition Kinect software has morphed from virtual shooter gaming to the real-life challenge of guarding the world's last Cold War border.

Italy's toxic 'Triangle of Death' probed

12:02pm Italy's premier has urged the swift implementation of a series of measures adopted to protect people living in a so-called Triangle of Death, where toxic mafia dumps are blamed for rising cancer rates.

Rave sickens 60 youths in Northern Ireland

11:51am Authorities say people made ill by drugs and alcohol..

Russians suspected in leak of US diplomats' private call on Ukraine

Peter Baker 10:34am After months of taking grief for snooping on foreign leaders, the Obama administration found itself on the other side on Thursday after a private telephone call between two US diplomats appeared on the Internet in a breach that the White House tied to Russia.

Meet the 90-year-old Australian 'Mother Teresa' in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize

Nicholas D. Kristof 10:39am We in journalism tend to cover aeroplane crashes, corrupt officials and loathsome criminals with gusto, but let's take a break and applaud a hero.

Toothpaste-bomb fears for Russia flights

1:34pm Airlines flying to Winter Olympics host Russia are being warned to watch for toothpaste tubes containing materials that could used by terrorists to make a bomb, according to a US law enforcement official.

Japan's Shinzo Abe eyes biggest military rule change since WWII

Isabel Reynolds 12:56pm Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pressed by China and seeking to strengthen ties with the United States, is considering Japan's biggest change in military engagement rules since World War II.