Yemen moves closer to all-out civil war
Ruth Pollard 3:41 PM Yemen's Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen issues a call for Gulf countries to launch military intervention to halt Shiite fighters.
Top world stories
Utah governor allows death by firing squad
![Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a law approving the controversial method's use when no lethal-injection drugs are available.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/c/w/f/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6d55.102nzy.png/1427221439305.jpg)
Inmates on Utah's death row can now be executed by a firing squad, under new legislation signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert on Monday.
Most Brazilians want Rousseff impeached
![Brazilian demonstrator](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/0/1/j/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6cbo.102nzy.png/1427221439305.jpg)
A majority of Brazilians favour impeaching President Dilma Rousseff just five months after re-electing her, according to a new poll.
Israel spied on US-Iran nuclear talks
![Chilly: Relations between Obama and the government of Israel have been openly hostile since Netanyahu accepted an invitation from Republicans to address the US Congress.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/w/p/i/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6wpc.102nzy.png/1427221439305.jpg)
'Espionage' did not concern White House 'as much as Israel's sharing of inside information with US members of Congress and others to drain support' for a possible deal with Iran, according to report.
Latest world news
Germanwings Airbus A320 crashes in French Alps
![Germanwings airliner](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/v/m/y/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6vmf.png/1427222343998.jpg)
Daniel Fallon 5:58 AM A Germanwings airliner, carrying 150 passengers from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, has crashed in southern France.
Germanwings Airbus A320 crashes in French Alps
![A Germanwings Airbus A320](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/v/t/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6vie.png/1427222821514.jpg)
Nick Miller 5:47 AM An Airbus plane operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline crashed in southern France on Tuesday en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, police and aviation officials said.
German students, teachers weep for classmates on crashed plane
![Lit candles are placed outside the Josef-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in Haltern am See.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/w/v/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6wwt.png/1427219575169.jpg)
Kirsten Neumann 4:52 AM Students and teachers at a small-town German high school broke down in tears once they realised that 16 classmates and two teachers were on board a Germanwings airplane that crashed in France on Tuesday on a flight to Dusseldorf.
Mother accused of killing son cleared after 23 years on death row
![Debra Milke looks around the court room during a hearing on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona. Judge Rosa Mroz dismissed the murder charges and ordered a probation officer remove a monitoring device from her ankle.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/i/a/g/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6g2d.png/1427208585609.jpg)
1:49 AM A woman who spent 23 years on death row in the US over the killing of her young son has had her murder charge dismissed and the case closed.
Myanmar to invite Western observers for general election
![Onlye south-east Asian nations were allowed to observe the poll that brought democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament in 2010.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/h/v/6/9/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6pxs.png/1427208417943.jpg)
Aung Hla Tun 1:46 AM It's the first time in at least 65 years that the country will call in Western poll observers.
Saved by Twitter: Three abandoned children returned to mother after social media trend
!['Can someone help these helpless kids?': photo on Twitter goes viral.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/9/l/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m68lp.png/1427172993848.jpg)
Tom Decent 12:48 AM Three siblings abandoned by their father at a busy railway station in Delhi have been reunited with their mother thanks to a social media effort.
US to stop collecting phone metadata if Congress lets law expire
![Edward Snowden smiles during a presentation ceremony for the Sam Adams Award in Moscow, Russia.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/u/c/2/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m60z7.png/1427185843471.jpg)
Mark Hosenball 7:30 PM US intelligence agencies will stop bulk collection of data documenting calls by US telephone subscribers in June, unless Congress extends a law authorising the spying.
Lithuania backs the shirtfront on Russia
![A member of the US Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment shows a gun to a woman during the ''Dragoon Ride'' military exercise in Salociai, northern Lithuania. US troops will travel through Lithuania, the Czech Republic and on to Germany by April 1 to reinforce US allies in Eastern Europe.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/j/s/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6jwg.png/1427177227679.jpg)
Daniel Flitton 5:07 PM Tiny Lithuania, with a population less than Melbourne's, is muscling up to the mighty Russian superpower over the war in Ukraine and is happy for Australia's support in the "shirtfront".
Three workers killed in scaffolding collapse in North Carolina
![A section of scaffolding framework hangs from the side of the building.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/f/r/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6fl4.png/1427176433020.jpg)
Andrew Kenney and David Bracken 4:53 PM Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured late Monday morning when an exterior lift system tore from the side of an office building under construction in downtown Raleigh in North Carolina.
Yemen moves closer to all-out civil war
![Anti-Houthi protesters demonstrate in Taiz.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/3/6/a/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m62ar.png/1427172110850.jpg)
Ruth Pollard 3:41 PM Yemen's Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen issues a call for Gulf countries to launch military intervention to halt Shiite fighters.
White House chief demands end to 50 years of Israeli occupation
![At odds: US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in September 2010.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/i/i/v/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6990.png/1427171515101.jpg)
Doina Chiacu 3:31 PM US expects the next Israeli government to end nearly 50 years of occupation and clear the way for a Palestinian state, White House chief of staff tells Jewish Americans.
'A Rape on Campus': police find no evidence at Virginia fraternity
![Students protest at University of Virgina after gang-rape reports.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/4/8/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m63oc.png/1427208685322.jpg)
Owen Robinson and Sheryl Gay Stolberg 3:30 PM The story sparked a national debate about sexual assault on campus, now police say they can't prove or disprove the brutal gang rape of a University of Virgina student.
British police hunt thieves who stole 38 pythons
![An Oenpelli Python in captivity](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/7/3/m/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m60ze.png/1427167477321.jpg)
Michael Holden 2:24 PM British police are hunting for thieves who broke into an apartment in northwest England and stole 38 Royal Python snakes.
Belgium's foreign minister Didier Reynders criticised for blackface dress up
![Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders posted an image online of himself dressed in blackface.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/f/b/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m6142.png/1427166558450.jpg)
Ishaan Tharoor 2:09 PM Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has been heavily criticised for upholding a 133-year-old tradition and dressing up in blackface.
Ancient Rome as we've never seen it
![A LiDAR image shows the outline of structures of the two smaller forts, (A) Grociana piccola and (B) Montedoro.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/5/m/t/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m5lr6.png/1427159819869.jpg)
Nicky Phillips 12:15 PM A new technique has turned archaeology on its head, unearthing the oldest known ancient Roman fort without a sod being turned.
Yik Yak: the anonymous app that undermined Ted Cruz's presidential party
![US Senator Ted Cruz after he announced his candidacy for president during an event at Liberty College.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/2/a/o/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m61e1.png/1427157211142.jpg)
Josephine Tovey 11:33 AM Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz's campaign launch party has been spoiled by the app Yik Yak, an anonymous social media network that has exploded in popularity with college students in the US.
After Ted Cruz, who will be the next to launch a US presidential campaig
![Hillary Clinton seems to be eyeing an official campaign announcement in the coming weeks.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/4/0/o/g/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m613h.png/1427157081177.jpg)
Jose DelReal 11:31 AM Republican Senator Ted Cruz's presidential announcement signals the start of the next stage of the 2016 US presidential election, with hopefuls making final preparations to formalise their White House bids.
Divisive and extreme, Cruz wears outsider status as a badge of honour
![Republican Senator Ted Cruz.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/5/j/3/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m61r9.png/1427152609610.jpg)
Nick O'Malley 7:58 AM In his speech declaring his presidential run, Ted Cruz asked his audience to imagine a president who would abolish Obamacare and the Internal Revenue Service, ramps up border security, one that was pro-life and who would "uphold the sacrament of marriage" and the right to bear arms.
Amanda Knox case back in Italian courts
![Amanda Knox was found guilty again in January 2014.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/1/h/k/2/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m612g.png/1427141627453.jpg)
Ella Ide 7:13 AM Italy's top court is set to review American Amanda Knox's conviction in the murder of a British student, potentially opening the door to a fierce extradition battle.
Cruz announces run for US president
![Ted Cruz is due to announce his run for president.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/5/h/g/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m5f2y.png/1427139399303.jpg)
Nick O'Malley 6:36 AM Ted Cruz, a charismatic conservative senator from Texas, is the first Republican to officially announce his candidacy for the party's presidential nomination, effectively starting the 2016 primary race.
Tunisia PM fires police commanders after attack on Bardo Museum
![Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid visited the Bardo Museum and "took note of several security failures there".](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/5/z/z/n/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m5zxw.png/1427139318670.jpg)
6:35 AM PM fires six top police officials after he visited the museum 'and took note of several security failures'.
Netanyahu apologises for comments about Israeli Arabs
![Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was sorry for his comments.](/web/20150324190127im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/4/f/r/i/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m60xx.png/1427139213459.jpg)
Jodi Rudoren 6:33 AM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologised for warning last week that Arab citizens were voting in "droves", comments that have been denounced by world leaders and many Israelis as anti-democratic, race-baiting and fear-mongering.