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Japan to pledge 20% CO2 cut – reports
Tony Abbott says government won’t ‘succumb to cries of human rights lawyers’ - video
Boston declares Riot Grrrl Day to inspire its young women
Greece's €459m debt payment to IMF due on Thursday
The best books on Chile: start your reading here
Summer in Ukraine's Soviet-style island resort – in pictures
China may build rail tunnel under Mount Everest, state media reports
Police arrest suspect in murder of teacher Stephanie Scott – video
Car is towed from Melbourne lake as locals lay flowers at makeshift memorial – video
Garden centres urged to drop bug killer to protect bees
Inside the Kremlin’s hall of mirrors
Offstage drama at talk of leading role for Tate boss at Berlin's Volksbühne theatre
Tony Abbott declares only the Coalition strong enough to stop the boats
UN urged to ban 'killer robots' before they can be developed
From the archive: April 9, 1990: Nepal king bows to protests
The human cost of ending money transfers to war-torn countries
Mother charged after daughter falls to her death in Hong Kong
French TV network TV5Monde hijacked by pro-Isis hackers
Norway to pay reparations to Roma for racist policies and suffering under Nazis
NFL hires its first woman to officiate games full-time

Posted: 09 Apr 2015 12:47 AM PDT

Target of cutting emissions 20% by 2030 on 2005 levels would be much lower than other major developed economies due to post-Fukuhsima uncertainty

Tony Abbott says government won’t ‘succumb to cries of human rights lawyers’ - video

Posted: 09 Apr 2015 12:37 AM PDT

Tony Abbott says only his government is effective in stopping asylum seeker boats and people smugglers. Asked about the degree of government knowledge of sexual abuse in offshore processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island, Abbott says he is 'confident that the Nauruan government is doing its job, that the PNG government is doing its job'. Without the Coalition in power, he said, people smugglers would start again, as would the loss of lives at sea Continue reading...

Boston declares Riot Grrrl Day to inspire its young women

Posted: 09 Apr 2015 12:22 AM PDT

Massachusetts city declares 'girls need to see other girls picking up drumsticks, basses and microphones'

Greece's €459m debt payment to IMF due on Thursday

Posted: 09 Apr 2015 12:09 AM PDT

Eurozone country is close to running out of cash and the ECB, the EU and the IMF have frozen further aid until they reach an agreement with its left-wing government

The best books on Chile: start your reading here

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 11:00 PM PDT

Our literary tour of Chile explores political repression under Pinochet through fact and fantasy, and magic realism's merging of the two

Summer in Ukraine's Soviet-style island resort – in pictures

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 11:00 PM PDT

After stumbling on Kiev's Hydropark, London-based photographer Freya Najade felt compelled to return to capture beach life from a bygone era

China may build rail tunnel under Mount Everest, state media reports

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 10:56 PM PDT

Chinese expert says tunnel under consideration in bid to link China with Nepal by rail

A railway between China and Nepal that could include a tunnel under Mount Everest is under consideration, Chinese state media said Thursday, as Beijing builds links with a country India regards as firmly within its sphere of influence.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway already links the rest of China with the Tibetan capital Lhasa and beyond, and an extension running as far as the international border is already being planned "at Nepal's request", the China Daily newspaper reported, quoting an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Police arrest suspect in murder of teacher Stephanie Scott – video

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 10:48 PM PDT

NSW police have arrested a man over the murder of bride-to-be Stephanie Scott, although they are yet to find her body. The teacher's car was reportedly found about 7km from the town of Griffith, NSW, and police are said to have found blood and a photo of what is believed to be a burnt body Continue reading...

Car is towed from Melbourne lake as locals lay flowers at makeshift memorial – video

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 10:29 PM PDT

Police divers help tow a submerged car that crashed into Lake Gladman, in Melbourne's west, killing three young children on Wednesday afternoon. The Toyota Kruger remained submerged in the lake at Wyndham Vale overnight. Later, a woman lays flowers at a makeshift memorial at nearby Wyndham Vale.

Still images: Julian Smith, EPA Continue reading...

Garden centres urged to drop bug killer to protect bees

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 10:01 PM PDT

Nine garden centre chains including B&Q and Homebase stock product containing neonicotinoid linked to bee declines, says Ethical Consumer

Inside the Kremlin’s hall of mirrors

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 10:00 PM PDT

Fake news stories. Doctored photographs. Staged TV clips. Armies of paid trolls. Has Putin's Russia developed a new kind of information warfare – fought in the 'psychosphere' rather than on the battlefield? Or is it all just a giant bluff?

Offstage drama at talk of leading role for Tate boss at Berlin's Volksbühne theatre

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 10:00 PM PDT

Speculation that Chris Dercon could take over as artistic director at the famous 'troublemaker' has caused outrage in Germany's theatre world

Berlin's Volksbühne, one of the most storied ensemble theatres in the German-speaking world, has built a towering reputation on the demolition of canonical works of literature. Now it is having its own foundations shaken by speculation that its artistic director, an ageing iconoclast who has been in charge for more than 20 years, could be replaced by the director of the Tate Modern, Chris Dercon.

The culture ministry has refused to either confirm or deny reports that the head of the emblematic London gallery is being headhunted to replace Frank Castorf, telling the Süddeutsche Zeitung only that "negotiations are ongoing". For his part, Dercon told the Guardian last week that he was "flattered" by the suggestion. "But my mind is at and with the Tate," he added.

Dercon is great for the Tate gallery, completely wrong for the Volksbühne

Tony Abbott declares only the Coalition strong enough to stop the boats

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 09:16 PM PDT

The prime minister says other governments 'would succumb to the cries of the human rights lawyers' over asylum seekers

UN urged to ban 'killer robots' before they can be developed

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 09:03 PM PDT

Fully autonomous weapons should be banned by international treaty, says a report by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School

From the archive: April 9, 1990: Nepal king bows to protests

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 09:00 PM PDT

King Birendra's absolute rule in the Himalayan kingdom to come to an end

The human cost of ending money transfers to war-torn countries

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 08:29 PM PDT

High school fees, food, housing – Australian Somalis tell of despair that payments to family have stopped with Westpac's decision to exit industry

Mother charged after daughter falls to her death in Hong Kong

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 07:57 PM PDT

Partner of Briton Nick Cousins charged with one count of 'ill-treatment and neglect' after 15-year-old fell from 20th storey of apartment block

The partner of senior British insurance executive has been charged with neglect after their daughter plunged to her death from an apartment block in Hong Kong.

Police said there was "no suspicious element" in the 15-year-old girl's fatal fall, but arrested both her parents on suspicion of "ill-treatment or neglect of a child or a young person".

French TV network TV5Monde hijacked by pro-Isis hackers

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 07:56 PM PDT

Company says it was unable to broadcast any of its channels and lost control of its websites and social media sites, where threats against soldiers were posted

French television network TV5Monde says it was hacked by individuals claiming to belong to Isis, bringing television broadcasts to a halt and taking over its websites and Facebook page.

The Paris-based company was able to partially resume television broadcasts by 1am Thursday (0000 BST) after a three-hour blackout, the network's director general, Yves Bigot, said, but its systems had been "severely damaged" by an "unprecedented attack".

Norway to pay reparations to Roma for racist policies and suffering under Nazis

Posted: 08 Apr 2015 07:32 PM PDT

Prime minister Erna Solberg apologises for discrimination which led to dozens of Roma dying in Nazi death camps after being denied re-entry into Norway

Prime Minister Erna Solberg has apologised for discrimination against Norway's Roma population before and after the second world war, calling it a dark part of the country's history, and promised to pay reparations.

The Scandinavian country's small Roma minority, of around 500, have campaigned since the 1990s for compensation for their mistreatment.