Family sentenced to death for 'honour killing' 

Four relatives of a pregnant woman who bludgeoned her to death outside one of Pakistan's top courts were sentenced to death on Wednesday for the crime.

Israel razes home after synagogue attack 

Israel on Wednesday demolished the home of a Palestinian behind a deadly car attack in Jerusalem, pushing ahead with a promised crackdown following a bloody assault on a synagogue.

Peter Hahn, Korean-American Christian aid worker, held in China

Philip Wen 10:00 AM   Chinese authorities have detained respected Korean-American Christian aid worker Peter Hahn on suspicion of embezzlement, amid a wider crackdown on aid groups along the North Korean border.

Ferguson protests: Missouri governor declares state of emergency ahead of grand jury report

Scott Malone 9:47 AM   Ferguson remains on edge as it awaits the imminent release of a grand jury report on the shooting of an unarmed black teen by a white policeman.

Carbon neutrality needed within lifespan of people born today, UN says

7:55 AM   Governments are far off track in combating global warming and should phase out net carbon dioxide emissions by 2070, well within the expected lifetime of people born today, a UN study said on Wednesday.

US poll finds most back limits on coal emissions even if power prices rise

Jim Polson 7:46 AM   A majority of Americans support tougher pollution limits on coal-burning power plants even if it means paying more for electricity.

Global warming not done and dusted by early US snowstorms

Chris Mooney 7:34 AM   Just because it's unusually cold in the US, the world remains on course for one of its hottest - if not the hottest - year on record.

Islamic State execution video: second Frenchman identified

7:29 AM   A second French militant in an Islamic State beheading video has been identified, a French prosecutor says.

Last British governor of Hong Kong to address US-China commission

David Brunnstrom 7:20 AM   The last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, is to address a US government commission about democracy hopes for the territory.

Snowstorm forces university basketball team to spend night on bus

Lindsey Bever 7:11 AM   "When we woke up, we realised it was snowing. Then we were stuck," a basketball team member said in an interview from the bus. "It was a little scary."

Twelve schoolchildren dead after Niger hippo attack

7:08 AM   Twelve children and a villager have been confirmed dead after a hippopotamus attacked a boat near the Niger capital Niamey earlier this week, officials said on Wednesday.

Bishop calls for UN envoy to deal with terror threat

Latika Bourke 6:27 AM   Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has used Australia's final presidency of the United Nations Security Council to call for a new envoy to be appointed to deal with the threat of modern terrorism which she says is "more dangerous than ever before".

Eleven kindergarten children killed in China bus crash

Megha Rajagopalan 2:52 AM   Eleven kindergarten children were killed when their packed bus crashed into a truck in eastern China, state media reported on Tuesday, in the latest of a series of accidents that have sparked anger over unsafe school transport.

Seven dead as 'historic' snowstorms bury north-eastern United States

Laila Kearney 9:53 PM   A massive snowstorm has stranded motorists, cancelled flights and left at least seven people dead in the north-eastern United States.

Japan arrests widow with seven dead partners

8:55 PM   A 67-year-old millionairess has been arrested on suspicion of poisoning her husband with cyanide as it emerged six former partners had already died, in Japan's latest apparent "black widow" case.

London bankers battle in 'white-collar boxing'

Jacques Klopp 8:26 PM   Gasping for breath and bleeding from a thick lip, Nick "Suicide" Seto exits the ring. But the pain of defeat will be forgotten tomorrow when he returns to work at a London bank.

Six dead after police storm Indian ashram

8:32 PM   Five bodies have been discovered after Indian police stormed the ashram of a wanted guru in the country's north.

Cuban doctor in Sierra Leone tests positive for Ebola

Daniel Trotta 8:21 PM   A Cuban doctor treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has tested positive for the disease and was being sent to Geneva for treatment, officials said, the first Cuban known to have contracted the potentially deadly haemorrhagic fever.

Journalist gives heartbreaking news to ailing father

Lindsay Murdoch 4:36 PM   Australian journalist Alan Morison, facing a possible long jail sentence over a contentious criminal defamation case, has told his ailing father he will not be able to travel to Australia to attend his 91st birthday, despite fears the news may kill him.

Uber exec threatens to dig dirt on critics

Nick O'Malley 11:39 AM   An executive of a car hire service which has risen from tech start-up to $US17 billion international giant in four years declared to a dinner table that the company should spend $1 million hiring private investigators to dig up dirt on journalists to silence them.

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Sydney man Tom Ricketson killed in Cambodian nightclub fire

Megan Levy 10:39 AM   Tom Ricketson, 32, was one of five people killed when an electrical fire tore through the Hip Hop Club in Siem Reap City about 2am on Tuesday, local time.

Synagogue murders push Jerusalem to the edge

Ruth Pollard 10:09 AM   In a city already deeply riven with sectarian tensions, the brutal slaughter of four rabbis in an ultra-Orthodox synagogue has pushed Jerusalem to the edge of what many fear could escalate into another Palestinian uprising.