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• Flight MH370: Chinese relatives arrive in Malaysia to demand answers
• Coalition keen to sell 'budget repair job' as focus shifts to Western Australia
• China seizes $US14.5bn assets linked to ex-spy chief Zhou Yongkang - report
• Jewish community must speak out on race act changes, says Shorten
• Washington mudslide: number of missing falls from 90 to 30
• Flight MH370: former Australian defence chief to co-ordinate search
• $115m federal boost for homeless
• Earth Hour around the world in pictures
• Tanya Plibersek: we would give spies more tools to fight domestic terror
• Vitali Klitschko adds heavyweight support to Ukraine's chocolate king
• Julie Gayet's 15,000 payout is actually a lot in French money
• Hamid Karzai's tangled legacy: inept failure or anti-Taliban hero?
• French Front National eyes real power after startling gains in local elections
• Disguised Taliban fighters die in attack on Afghan election HQ
• Animals 'live a good life' at Copenhagen zoo, where culling comes naturally
• Artificial islands off New York and New Jersey proposed as storm protection
• Washington mudslide: 90 missing and 27 presumed dead as search continues
• Girl's plea to Pope Francis results in father's release from US detention
• New York City council passes bill to protect unpaid interns' rights
• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lawyers seek to pin Boston bombing blame on brother
• NSA listed Merkel among leaders subject to surveillance report
• Kerry to meet Russia's Lavrov for Ukraine talks in Paris on Sunday
• Erdogan's name and face dominate as Turkey heads to the polls
• Taliban attack Afghan electoral commission HQ in Kabul

Flight MH370: Chinese relatives arrive in Malaysia to demand answers Posted: 29 Mar 2014 11:58 PM PDT Two dozen family members fly into Kuala Lumpur to meet 'highest officials' as huge search continues to draw blanks More than two dozen Chinese relatives of passengers on Flight 370 arrived in Malaysia on Sunday to demand to meet top officials for more information about what happened to the airliner that has been missing for more than three weeks. Two-thirds of the 227 passengers aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared 8 March en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur were Chinese, and Beijing has urged Malaysia to be more open about the investigation.

Coalition keen to sell 'budget repair job' as focus shifts to Western Australia Posted: 29 Mar 2014 11:47 PM PDT Despite agreeing to big ticket budget items of the NDIS and Gonski reforms, the Coalition says it is working towards curtailing spending to ensure a sustainable budget is delivered in May Finance minister Mathias Cormann is pointing to efforts to curtail spending as the government intensifies its May budget preparations arguing that outlays for signature programs like the National Disability Insurance Scheme must be efficient and well targeted. With national politics about to shift west for the next few days in the lead-up to the critical senate by-election in Western Australia next weekend, both the prime minister and the finance minister were talking up budget sustainability on Sunday.

China seizes $US14.5bn assets linked to ex-spy chief Zhou Yongkang - report Posted: 29 Mar 2014 11:16 PM PDT Gold, paintings and property confiscated, and 300 relatives and allies held or questioned in huge investigation into corruption Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90bn yuan ($US14.5bn) from family members and associates of retired domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, who is at the centre of China's biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades, two sources said. More than 300 of Zhou's relatives, political allies, proteges and staff have also been taken into custody or questioned in the past four months, the sources told Reuters.

Jewish community must speak out on race act changes, says Shorten Posted: 29 Mar 2014 09:41 PM PDT Labor leader calls on influential group to help defeat plans to water down the law as campaigning begins in WA state election Labor leader Bill Shorten has urged the Jewish community to make its influential voice heard in the debate over watering down the current legal protections against racist hate speech but he has also urged combatants to desist from inflammatory rhetoric. In a speech to the Zionist Federation of Australia on Sunday before flying out to campaign in Western Australias senate by-election due April 5, the Labor leader reiterated his opposition to the Abbott governments contentious overhaul of the Racial Discrimination Act, and told his audience there was now six weeks to persuade the Coalition to change course.

Washington mudslide: number of missing falls from 90 to 30 Posted: 29 Mar 2014 07:50 PM PDT Cross-checking eliminates dozens from list of potential victims in disaster as search teams continue to battle harsh conditions The number of those believed missing following a deadly mudslide in Washington state has plummeted to 30 after many people were found safe, authorities said late Saturday. Officials previously set the number of missing people at 90, but said they expected that figure to drop dramatically as they worked to find people and cross-referenced a list that included partial reports and duplicates.

Flight MH370: former Australian defence chief to co-ordinate search Posted: 29 Mar 2014 07:34 PM PDT Angus Houston will head a joint agency coordination centre in Perth to oversee efforts to find debris from Malaysia Airlines flight Former Australian defence force chief Angus Houston will co-ordinate international efforts to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, ahead of a fresh attempt to locate the aircrafts debris. Tony Abbott said Houston, a retired Air Chief Marshal, will head a new joint agency coordination centre, based in Perth, which will oversee the efforts to find the plane.

$115m federal boost for homeless Posted: 29 Mar 2014 06:41 PM PDT Social services minister Kevin Andrews pledges funds for 180 projects providing shelter, food and support for homeless The federal government will fund a national network of homelessness initiatives for a further year, promising $115m towards the scheme. Kevin Andrews, the minister for social services, said the funding will provide certainty for people and organisations involved in the national partnership agreement on homelessness program, which has been extended by a year.

Earth Hour around the world in pictures Posted: 29 Mar 2014 06:15 PM PDT Lights were switched off at famous landmarks in cities across the globe for an hour on Saturday night to mark Earth Hour

Tanya Plibersek: we would give spies more tools to fight domestic terror Posted: 29 Mar 2014 06:15 PM PDT Deputy leader is happy to see telcos collect metadata for the intelligence community, who 'do a good job' protecting Australia Labors deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, has signalled she is open to giving intelligence agencies more tools to deal with a possible increase in domestic security threats from Australians being radicalised in the Syrian conflict. Plibersek on Sunday gave a strong signal she was comfortable with telecommunications companies collecting and storing intercepted data for longer periods in order to assist intelligence agencies in their domestic anti-terror investigations.

Vitali Klitschko adds heavyweight support to Ukraine's chocolate king Posted: 29 Mar 2014 06:05 PM PDT Ex-boxer backs billionaire Petro Poroshenko for president in an attempt to prevent the return of former leader Yulia Tymoshenko Former world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, considered a strong contender to become Ukraine's next leader, upended the country's presidential race Saturday by announcing he will throw his support instead behind a billionaire chocolate maker. Klitschko told his UDAR party that he plans to run for mayor of Ukraine's capital city, Kiev, paving the way for current presidential favourite, businessman Petro Poroshenko, in the May 25 vote.

Julie Gayet's 15,000 payout is actually a lot in French money Posted: 29 Mar 2014 05:12 PM PDT The damages Closer magazine has to pay to François Hollande's mistress look low but only by inflated UK standards Though the President's mistress (mark two) won her privacy case against Closer, instant wisdom says she really lost it because the magazine had to pay her just 15,000. What François Hollande and Julie Gayet (right) might call a no-score draw. Are the French really so tough on extra-marital gossiping after all? Rather more reflective wisdom produces a second opinion: 15,000 is getting close to the top European tariff for cases that balance article 10 of the Strasbourg convention (your right to know) against article eight (your right to be left in the dark). It's only UK civil law, with our bewigged friends trading in hundreds of thousands of pounds, that makes Gayet's result look puny. Even the French don't value privacy as ripely as they like to in the Strand.

Hamid Karzai's tangled legacy: inept failure or anti-Taliban hero? Posted: 29 Mar 2014 05:12 PM PDT A look at the extraordinary career of the Afghan president, the leader first hailed by the west who is now widely attacked for his perceived weaknesses, as he prepares to give up power Amid the dust and traffic of today's Kabul, three things remain almost as they were a decade or so ago. In winter, and when the wind clears the smog that is a side-effect of years of economic boom, the blue sky above the snowcapped peaks that ring the city is as impressive as ever. Then there is the Arg, the sprawling palace at the city's centre and the apparently calm eye of a turbulent storm of a country. The complex is home to the third element that has remained constant since the end of the Taliban's grim regime in 2001: Hamid Karzai, now in his 13th year of power. However, Karzai, 56, will soon be gone. He is constitutionally barred from contesting next weekend's elections and soon this theatrical, mercurial, complex man will have to find a new occupation. Many, particularly in Washington, will be relieved.

French Front National eyes real power after startling gains in local elections Posted: 29 Mar 2014 05:12 PM PDT The FN already has a new mayor and could end up in control of five towns or cities after a strong showing at the polls, with Marine Le Pen declaring 2014 'year zero' for French politics The historic city of Avignon is up for grabs. So is Perpignan, as is Fréjus on the south coast. In local elections on Sunday, Marine Le Pen's Front National (FN) is hoping to snatch up to 15 towns and cities from the ruling Socialist party or the opposition centre-right UMP, validating its claim to be the third force in French politics. Across Europe, where Eurosceptic, anti-immigration parties are on the rise, the results will be taken as a sign of things to come. In Britain, Ukip's Nigel Farage will be watching with interest.

Disguised Taliban fighters die in attack on Afghan election HQ Posted: 29 Mar 2014 03:57 PM PDT Gun and grenade attack in Kabul as insurgents try to disrupt presidential ballot on 5 April Taliban fighters who were disguised under burqas stormed the heavily fortified headquarters of Afghan election organisers on Saturday the second suicide attack in Kabul in less than 24 hours, as the country prepares for a crucial but much threatened election. At least three men took over a campaign office of the presidential candidate Gul Agha Sherzai, and used it to fire guns and rocket-propelled grenades over the security forces protecting the Independent Election Commission.

Animals 'live a good life' at Copenhagen zoo, where culling comes naturally Posted: 29 Mar 2014 02:21 PM PDT Copenhagen zoo caused horror when it killed a healthy giraffe and fed it to the lions. Now it has put down four lions. But staff and visitors say it's just doing what's needed to stop inbreeding Even the first sunshine of spring is not enough to prevent the lion enclosure at Copenhagen zoo from looking forlorn. One female lion lounges on a branch basking in the rays, while the other lolls on the dusty ground beneath her. Otherwise the pen is empty. "They're shifting around the pack a little that's why those females are here alone," explains Martin, a young zookeeper passing by with a tray of fruit. "We have a new male lion in the holding facility and before we can introduce him to our females, they need to get comfortable."

Artificial islands off New York and New Jersey proposed as storm protection Posted: 29 Mar 2014 12:50 PM PDT US Housing Department receives proposal for $12bn plan to build islands as bulwarks against major storms like Sandy A string of artificial islands off the coast of New Jersey and New York could blunt the impact of storm surges that proved so deadly during Superstorm Sandy, according to a new proposal. It's a big proposal one that would cost up to $12bn but it's also the kind of innovative idea that federal officials requested as they consider how best to protect the heavily populated east coast from future storms.

Washington mudslide: 90 missing and 27 presumed dead as search continues Posted: 29 Mar 2014 12:24 PM PDT Rescuers observe moment of silence as relatives brace for rising death toll and teams struggle with debris Families and friends of the 90 people still missing in the Washington state mudslide are bracing for a rise in the official death toll, as searchers entered another day of slogging through mud-caked debris. On Saturday, crews searching for victims in the tangled debris field halted their work for a moment of silence to honour those lost. Governor Jay Inslee had asked people across Washington to pause at 10.37am on Saturday. The huge slide that destroyed a neighbourhood in Oso, 55 miles northeast of Seattle, struck at that time on 22 March. It was one of the deadliest landslides ever in the United States.

Girl's plea to Pope Francis results in father's release from US detention Posted: 29 Mar 2014 11:11 AM PDT Relative sees 10-year-old girl on television asking for pontiff's help and helps post bond for man facing deportation After a 10-year-old California girl traveled to the Vatican to plead with Pope Francis for help as her father faced deportation, the man was released Friday on bond from immigration detention. Mario Vargas was freed from a detention facility in Louisiana after he posted $5,000 bond. A relative who saw the girl on television pleading with the pope during a public audience helped with the funding, said his wife, Lola Vargas.

New York City council passes bill to protect unpaid interns' rights Posted: 29 Mar 2014 10:44 AM PDT Bill would guard against sexual harassment and discrimination Mayor Bill de Blasio expected to sign into law this week On Wednesday, the New York City council unanimously approved a bill that seeks to protect unpaid interns against sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. The bill, sponsored by councilman James Vacca, expands the citys Human Rights Law to afford unpaid interns the same protection accorded to paid employees. It is currently awaiting Mayor Bill de Blasios signature, which is expected in the coming days.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lawyers seek to pin Boston bombing blame on brother Posted: 29 Mar 2014 10:23 AM PDT Defence: Tamerlan Tsarnaev behind marathon attack Younger brother faces death penalty if found guilty Defence lawyers for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are looking for ways to show that his deceased older brother was mostly responsible a move that, if successful, could save their client's life. The lawyers on Friday asked a judge to order federal prosecutors to turn over any FBI evidence related to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, hoping they can use it to build the case that the older brother was the main instigator behind the 15 April 2013 attack, which killed three people and injured more than 260.

NSA listed Merkel among leaders subject to surveillance report Posted: 29 Mar 2014 09:35 AM PDT Special databank said to hold 300 reports on chancellor Der Spiegel and Intercept cite document supplied by Snowden The National Security Agency appears to have included Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, on a list of world leaders subject to surveillance. The news, the latest extracted from documents supplied to media outlets including the Guardian by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, was reported on Saturday by the German magazine Der Spiegel and The Intercept, a website set up by the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald with the support of the founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar.

Kerry to meet Russia's Lavrov for Ukraine talks in Paris on Sunday Posted: 29 Mar 2014 09:25 AM PDT Top diplomats discuss Ukraine and agree to meet in Paris Vladimir Putin calls Barack Obama late Friday Halfway home from Saudi Arabia, US secretary of state John Kerry has abruptly changed course. He will now stay in Europe for talks on Ukraine. The news followed reports from Russia that Kerry had spoken to the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, by phone, a day after President Vladimir Putin called President Barack Obama. The Russian foreign ministry said Washington had initiated the call between Kerry and Lavrov, adding that they discussed Ukraine and plans for further contact.

Erdogan's name and face dominate as Turkey heads to the polls Posted: 29 Mar 2014 09:08 AM PDT The prime minister is not even standing in Sunday's local elections, but in the divided capital the talk is of no one else Turkey may be in turmoil and the vast city of Istanbul in ferment, bridling at the antics of a government struggling to cope with scandal and sleaze, but in Kasimpasa quarter, the prime minister's troubles raise barely a shrug. A conservative, lower-middle-class district bordering the Golden Horn and predominantly inhabited by Turks from the Black Sea coast, Kasimpasa loves Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the powerful prime minister increasingly reviled across Turkey and tarnished internationally.

Taliban attack Afghan electoral commission HQ in Kabul Posted: 29 Mar 2014 08:52 AM PDT Five Taliban fighters killed during four-hour gun battle in latest in spate of attacks ahead of 5 April presidential election Five Taliban fighters were killed after they launched an assault on the Kabul headquarters of the Afghanistan's independent election commission (IEC) headquarters on Saturday, the latest in a spate of attacks before next week's presidential vote. Two police officers were injured in the ensuing four-hour gun battle.

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