Co-pilot seemed to 'want to destroy' plane
Nick Miller 1:07 PM The co-pilot 'voluntarily' initiated the descent of the Germanwings flight that crashed into the French Alps, the lead investigator says.
Top world stories
The plight of Myanmar's Kokang refugees
![The future is unclear for members of Myanmar's Kokang minority, caught in a conflict between the government and rebels.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/b/w/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m95pg.102nzy.png/1427432823485.jpg)
Philip Wen 3:06 PM For nearly two months, the Myanmar military has been locked in a nasty war right on China's doorstep, and it shows no sign of ending.
Friendship forged in agonising vigil
![Sabine Atlaoui, the wife of French man Serge Atlaoui, at the beach in Cilacap, the closest town to Nusakabangan Prison. Nusakabangan Island is in the background.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/a/o/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8byq.102nzy.png/1427437559400.jpg)
Jewel Topsfield 5:25 PM Sabine Atlaoui and Angelita Muxfeldt are living a nightmare few can comprehend. Both have loved ones on death row in Indonesia.
Case delaying Bali nine executions rejected
![Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso maintains she was deceived by an acquaintance and did not know the drugs were in the lining of her suitcase.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/t/o/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8tge.102nzy.png/1427432823485.jpg)
Jewel Topsfield 12:33 AM The case review was expected to take up to three months, buying time for those on death row, but the request has been rejected.
Latest world news
Ukraine monitors find 'catastrophic' damage in Donetsk towns
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Daryna Krasnolutska 8:39 PM International monitors uncovered "catastrophic" damage in areas previously inaccessible to outside patrols.
Pilgrims killed in stampede at Hindu festival
![Hindu devotees worship in the River Brahmaputra in 2004.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/p/0/n/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m9oqn.png/1427447700906.jpg)
8:15 PM At least 10 Hindu pilgrims were killed at a stampede as they prepared for ritual bathing during a Hindu festival.
Captain tried to force way through door with axe: reports
![Rescue helicopters from the French Gendarmerie and the Air Force are seen in front of the French Alps during a rescue operation next to the crash site of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes, March 24, 2015. An Airbus plane operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline, en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, crashed in a remote snowy area of the French Alps on Tuesday and all 150 on board were feared dead. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/6/w/i/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m9oda.png/1427446971646.jpg)
8:02 PM The captain locked out of the cockpit of the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps reportedly used an axe to try to force his way back in.
Iran nuclear deal: President Rouhani argues case in Twitter posts
![Iran's President Hassan Rouhani took to Twitter to talk about a letter he sent to world leaders.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/f/3/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m98d1.png/1427441878634.jpg)
Michael R. Gordon 6:37 PM While American negotiators maintained tight secrecy at the nuclear talks here, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took to Twitter to describe a letter he sent to US President Barack Obama and other world leaders justifying Iran's positions.
Shiite militias quit siege of Islamic State over US role
![Iraqi security forces prepare to attack Islamic State extremist positions in Tikrit on Thursday.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/v/p/3/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8uq2.png/1427438280129.jpg)
Rod Nordland 5:37 PM Three major Shiite militia groups have pulled out of the fight for Tikrit, immediately depriving the Iraqi government of thousands of their fighters on the ground.
Few precedents seen as Germanwings investigation points to deliberate crash
![Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz: police are investigating a personal-life crisis.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/y/k/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m95xr.png/1427437443504.jpg)
Erica Goode 5:24 PM If Andreas Lubitz, Germanwings flight 9525's 27-year-old co-pilot, was determined to kill himself, he would not be the first to use an airplane as a tool for self-destruction or to kill others in the process.
Germanwings plane crash: police find 'clue' at home of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz
![Deep crisis: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/y/k/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m985c.png/1427437360856.jpg)
Josie Ensor 5:02 PM Officers testing items from his house near Dusseldorf they say could be a 'significant' discovery
Germanwings plane crash: Murder-suicide usually involves psychopathy or psychosis: experts
![Deep crisis: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/y/k/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8ygt.png/1427437360856.jpg)
Rachel Olding 4:45 PM A homicidal-suicide involving the murder of innocent strangers must involve an overwhelming desire for revenge, psychologists say.
Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen as fears grow of a land invasion
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Ali al-Mujahed 4:21 PM Saudi jets pound Yemen and Egyptian warships steam toward its coast in what has become a showdown between the major powers in the Middle East.
Indonesian President too busy to talk to Abbott on Bali pair
![Preoccupied: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/k/a/m/m/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8cgp.png/1427353697379.jpg)
David Wroe 4:00 PM Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been too busy to return Tony Abbott's phone call about the fate of the Bali Nine pair on death row, Jakarta's envoy in Australia has said.
North Koreans subvert laws preventing access to movie and TV shows with $60 device
![A Chinese-made portable media player, which North Koreans call "Notel".](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/e/p/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m99hc.png/1427431276894.jpg)
James Pearson 3:41 PM People are exchanging South Korean soaps, pop music, Hollywood films and news programs, all of which are expressly prohibited by the North Korean regime.
Americans line up for biggest legal marijuana giveaway
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Aaron Davis and Perry Stein 3:32 PM Washington DC witnessed a massive, public drug deal on Thursday - and for those involved, it was quite a bargain.
Pilot 'rocked by personal crisis'
![Deep crisis: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/y/k/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m94qw.png/1427437360856.jpg)
Rachel Olding and Miriam Steffens 3:30 PM The co-pilot who crashed Germanwings Flight 49525 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board, was rocked by a deep personal crisis following relationship problems with his girlfriend, according to a German media report.
Melbourne's blast from Antarctica? If only
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Peter Hannam 3:05 PM To call this week’s wintry chill across southern Australia a “burst from Antarctica” would be doing a disservice to parts of the frigid continent.
Germanwings plane crash: how the cockpit door lock works
![Airbus cabin door lock procedure.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/1/c/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8z7n.png/1427427303769.png)
2:35 PM How the aircraft crew is supposed to lock and unlock the cockpit door, based on a video by Airbus.
Two US men arrested in plot join Islamic State, attack Illinois military base
![The Illinois Army National Guard facility where Hassan Edmonds was assigned.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/a/9/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m90zw.png/1427425981143.jpg)
2:13 PM A US Army National Guard soldier and his cousin have been arrested on charges of conspiring to support Islamic State in a plot that included an attack on a military installation in Illinois, the US Department of Justice said
Technology another faultline in tight Nigerian election
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Yinka Ibukun 1:52 PM Nigeria's electoral commission believes biometric cards will improve voters' experience. The ruling party wants them banned.
US drug agents had sex parties funded by drug cartels: watchdog
![A plane sprays coca fields with weedkiller in Colombia in 2006 to eliminate plants that are the source of cocaine.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/6/e/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m911p.png/1427423680772.jpg)
Lindsay Dunsmuir 1:34 PM Drug cartel members gave US law enforcers money, expensive gifts and weapons, an arm of the US Justice Department says.
Germanwings Airbus A320 crash: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz seemed to 'want to destroy' plane
![A picture from Facebook of a man believed to be 28-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/t/j/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8tb1.png/1427415604282.jpg)
Nick Miller 1:07 PM The co-pilot 'voluntarily' initiated the descent of the Germanwings flight that crashed into the French Alps, the lead investigator says.
Germanwings crash: French jet scrambled when plane lost contact
![An Airbus A320 flown by the Germanwings airline.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/t/d/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m9291.png/1427416259514.jpg)
1:06 PM France's air force said it scrambled a Mirage fighter jet to the area when the Germanwings flight lost radar contact, but arrived too late to help.
Germanwings: Pilot breakdown six years ago offers clue
![Andreas Lubitz](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/v/3/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8wuq.png/1427413854639.jpg)
Patrick Sawer 1:02 PM In Andreas Lubitz's home town, the sense of disbelief was palpable. Everyone who had encountered the 27-year-old, who grew up dreaming of becoming a pilot, described him as quiet, polite and "normal".
How the deliberate crashing unfolded
![Deep crisis: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/8/y/k/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8yd9.png/1427437360856.jpg)
Gordon Rayner 12:59 PM As they climbed towards their cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, the conversation between Captain Patrick Sonderheimer and his co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was the sort of banter that goes on in any cockpit on a commercial flight.
Explosion and fire tears through building in New York's East Village
![Firefighters on the scene at in Manhattan's East Village.](/web/20150327095401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/9/6/7/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.1m8v9u.png/1427421269265.jpg)
Josephine Tovey 12:54 PM A massive explosion has torn through a building in New York City, sparking a huge fire and emergency response and possibly sparking a building collapse.