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China 'building airstrip' in disputed South China Sea territory
Australia reportedly uses navy ship to return asylum seekers to Vietnam
Germanwings flight 4U9525 relatives to attend memorial service in Cologne
Asmara's Fiat Tagliero service station: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 18
Alaska Airlines bans cargo worker after plane took off with him asleep in hold
Rio Tinto: we'll thrive on lower iron ore prices while others suffer, says boss
Gao Yu and Document No 9: China jails journalist for leaking state secrets
The big men of netball: the giants helping to grow the men’s game – video
Baby echidna nursed back to health after bulldozer encounter – video
William Tyrell's parents plead for his return as home video of toddler released - video
Syriza can't strike Riga deal and keep poll promise
Frozen movie ringtone interrupts Senate hearing - video
Scott Walker says he doesn’t talk foreign policy abroad – then tweets about it
World Water Forum needs to be more than just a trade show for privatisation
Kenyan TV documentary on EPO use reinforces doping claims, says Wada
Obama urges Democrats to back new trade bill and 'support more American jobs'
Judges raise doubts over challenge to Obama's climate change rules
The nerve! New York woman charged for filling in as dentist
White House keeps quiet on DEA chief in wake of sex party scandal – video
Abbott government gives $4m to help climate contrarian set up Australian centre

China 'building airstrip' in disputed South China Sea territory

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 01:08 AM PDT

Satellite images show rapid progress in building of runway suitable for military use on reclaimed parts of Fiery Cross reef in the Spratly archipelago

Australia reportedly uses navy ship to return asylum seekers to Vietnam

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 12:44 AM PDT

Media reports indicate up to 50 asylum seekers were on board the HMAS Choules on Friday and due to arrive in the port of Vung Tau

Germanwings flight 4U9525 relatives to attend memorial service in Cologne

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 12:14 AM PDT

About 500 relatives of victims expected at service along with senior politicians, rescue workers and airline employees

Hundreds of mourners are expected to attend a national memorial service at Cologne Cathedral for the 150 people who died when Germanwings flight 4U9525 crashed into the French Alps.

About 500 relatives of victims are due to attend the ecumenical service at midday on Friday, with hundreds more expected to gather outside to watch on large screens outside the cathedral and in a neighbouring church. During the service 150 candles are to be lit to mark each of the lives lost.

Asmara's Fiat Tagliero service station: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 18

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 12:00 AM PDT

Mussolini's Italy brought death from the skies to East Africa in the 1930s – but left behind a striking futurist building in the Eritrean capital

Alaska Airlines bans cargo worker after plane took off with him asleep in hold

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 09:13 PM PDT

Man still employed with contractor Menzies Aviation but airline says he is 'permananently banned from our operations' after Seattle drama

A contract baggage handler who became trapped in the belly of an Alaska Airlines jet taking off from Seattle has been banned from all future work at the airline, a company spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The employee of Menzies Aviation, which is contracted to provide ground services for Alaska Airlines, was an unintended stowaway on Flight 448 when he woke up from a nap inside the sealed baggage area and realised the plane was airborne.

Rio Tinto: we'll thrive on lower iron ore prices while others suffer, says boss

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 09:07 PM PDT

Chief executive Sam Walsh has defended his decision to boost production, which has led to falling prices and threatens to put some competitors out of business

Gao Yu and Document No 9: China jails journalist for leaking state secrets

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 08:12 PM PDT

Guilty verdict and seven-year sentence appears to confirm formal Communist party policy on curbing press freedoms and civil society

A Beijing court has sentenced a veteran Chinese journalist to seven years in prison after convicting her of leaking a document detailing the Communist party leadership's resolve to aggressively target civil society and press freedom as a threat to its monopoly on power.

The document that Gao Yu, 71, was convicted of leaking, deemed a state secret, underpins a clampdown under the administration of the Communist party leader, Xi Jinping.

The big men of netball: the giants helping to grow the men’s game – video

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 08:00 PM PDT

Meet Junior Levi, 219cm tall (that's seven feet and two inches) and one of the undoubted rising stars of men's netball. The 'men's and mixed' game is on the rise in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific nations like Samoa, and Australia just held the biggest men's tournament to date. So why does the head of the international netball federation 'make no apologies' for not promoting the sport as a men's game? Continue reading...

Baby echidna nursed back to health after bulldozer encounter – video

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 06:35 PM PDT

A baby echidna is being nursed back to health at Sydney's Taronga zoo after being seriously injured. The echidna's burrow was dug up by a bulldozer near Coonamble in New South Wales just before Christmas. Named Newman after the beady-eyed character from the TV show Seinfeld, it was taken first to Dubbo zoo's wildlife hospital before being transported to Sydney Continue reading...

William Tyrell's parents plead for his return as home video of toddler released - video

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 05:32 PM PDT

The parents of a three-year-old boy missing from the New South Wales mid-north coast have pleaded for his safe return. William Tyrell disappeared last September and has not been seen since. In a video released by police in a bid to locate him, his parents say 'if somebody has him, and if he is alive, I want him to be safe, I want him to be feeling loved'. Police also released home movie footage of William eating a cake Continue reading...

Syriza can't strike Riga deal and keep poll promise

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 04:48 PM PDT

Germany seems prepared to take the risk on Greece leaving the eurozone – but the consequences of a Grexit for the single currency's survival are impossible to predict

Frozen movie ringtone interrupts Senate hearing - video

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 04:20 PM PDT

Senator Pat Roberts's ringtone from the popular children's movie Frozen interrupted a Senate finance committee hearing on Thursday. The Republican later posted on Twitter: 'Somebody had to tell the Obama Administration to "Let it go" #forthegrandkids', in a reference to the movie's song. Continue reading...

Scott Walker says he doesn’t talk foreign policy abroad – then tweets about it

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 04:11 PM PDT

Wisconsin governor and Republican presidential hopeful criticizes Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's 'failed foreign policy' while he visits Europe

World Water Forum needs to be more than just a trade show for privatisation

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 04:01 PM PDT

With inequality blunting progress on the human right to water, countries must stop lining the pockets of private firms at the expense of ordinary people

Kenyan TV documentary on EPO use reinforces doping claims, says Wada

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 03:57 PM PDT

• Poisoned Spikes shows apparent ease with which EPO can be bought
• Wada says documentary 'corroborates' previous doping allegations
• Kenya bans agents of Dennis Kimoto pending doping investigation

A Kenyan television documentary purportedly showing a man being offered an injection of the blood booster EPO in a shop for $100 (£67) "corroborates" previous doping allegations in the country, the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Thursday.

Poisoned Spikes, a documentary aired by Citizen Television, was concerning and "adds to" many of the findings of a 2012 German TV programme that initially uncovered doping problems in Kenya, the Wada director general David Howman said in a statement.

Obama urges Democrats to back new trade bill and 'support more American jobs'

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 02:33 PM PDT

New bill introduced in Congress claims to 'avoid the mistake of the past' amid fierce opposition from Democrats who say trade deals are too secretive

Judges raise doubts over challenge to Obama's climate change rules

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 02:05 PM PDT

Two of three judges seemed to agree with lawyers defending the EPA that the lawsuits are premature because the agency has not yet made rules final

The nerve! New York woman charged for filling in as dentist

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:57 PM PDT

Valbona Yzeiraj faces charges of assault, unauthorized practice of a profession and reckless endangerment for allegedly pulling teeth and doing injections

White House keeps quiet on DEA chief in wake of sex party scandal – video

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:51 PM PDT

The White House sidestepped questions on Thursday about whether President Obama retains confidence in the chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration after an investigation found DEA agents took part in sex parties with prostitutes in Colombia Continue reading...