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Bali Nine: Indonesia suggests that legal appeals have put executions on hold
Is Amitabh Bachchan's shock revelation paying off in India's battle to control TB?
Isis extremists bulldoze ancient Assyrian site near Mosul
Harrison Ford hospitalised after crashing plane on golf course
Parents sent their boys to Knox Grammar to get the best start in life. Instead some were abused – and it went on for decades
China knife attack suspect shot dead after wounding nine people
Death penalty in Indonesia: an executioner's story
Thai court jails 15 Red Shirt activists
Archaeologists find two lost cities deep in Honduras jungle
Chinese premier cuts country's growth target
Chelsea Manning: court order bans US military from referring to soldier as 'he'
Bali Nine: executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran may be delayed
Top al-Qaida leader killed in air strike, says militant group in Syria
US ambassador Mark Lippert ushered away from scene of attack – video
Washington DC takes part in illegal sledding at the Capitol – in pictures
Indigenous Peruvians win Amazon pollution payout from US oil giant
Reddit CEO Ellen Pao to testify at sexual discrimination trial
Plane skids off snowy runway at New York's LaGuardia airport
PLO leadership votes to suspend security cooperation with Israel
Hillary Clinton email scandal: five burning questions that need answers

Bali Nine: Indonesia suggests that legal appeals have put executions on hold

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:52 AM PST

Attorney general HM Prasetyo appears to have revised his position that continuing legal efforts would not delay firing squad

Is Amitabh Bachchan's shock revelation paying off in India's battle to control TB?

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:04 AM PST

Mumbai doctors struggling with the high number of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases say Indian cinema star's intervention is crucial to reducing its stigma

Isis extremists bulldoze ancient Assyrian site near Mosul

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 11:48 PM PST

Statement from Iraq's ministry of tourism and antiquities says militants 'defy will of world and feelings of humanity' but does not state extent of damage

Islamic State fighters have looted and bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, the Iraqi government said, in their latest assault on some of the world's greatest archaeological and cultural treasures.

A tribal source from the nearby city of Mosul said the jihadis, who dismiss Iraq's pre-Islamic heritage as idolatrous, had pillaged the 3,000-year-old site on the banks of the Tigris river.

Harrison Ford hospitalised after crashing plane on golf course

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 11:44 PM PST

Actor known for roles in Indiana Jones, Blade Runner and Star Wars films reportedly conscious and breathing after crashing small plane on golf course in California

Harrison Ford has been injured and hospitalised after crashing a small plane onto a golf course near Los Angeles.

The 72-year-old actor suffered "moderate" injuries after crashing the vintage two-seater plane he was piloting on to the green at Penmar golf course near Santa Monica's municipal airport on Thursday afternoon.

At the hospital. Dad is ok. Battered, but ok! He is every bit the man you would think he is. He is an incredibly strong man.

Parents sent their boys to Knox Grammar to get the best start in life. Instead some were abused – and it went on for decades

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 09:46 PM PST

For two weeks, an inquiry has heard how a 'paedophile ring', as one victim described it, sexually abused scores of children at one of Australia's most prestigious private schools. Why was it allowed to go on so long?

When Dr Ian Paterson, the man who presided over three decades of child sexual abuse at one of Sydney's most prestigious schools, took to the stand at the royal commission into child sex abuse, he said he came to say sorry – sorry that scores of boys put into the care of Knox Grammar school were sexually abused over decades, sorry it happened under his watch, and also sorry that he did not know.

"As headmaster I am responsible for all that occurs during my headmastership; there were matters that I knew about and other matters that I did not. However, without doubt I should have known and I should have stopped the events which led to the abuse and its tragic consequences for those boys in my care and their families," the 81-year-old said in the stand, reading from a prepared statement.

An apology seems totally inadequate but I do so with an awful feeling of uselessness in my heart

I thought you said you loved me, why do you want me to do that?

China knife attack suspect shot dead after wounding nine people

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 09:41 PM PST

Two assailants slashed people at train station in southern city of Guangzhou before police killed one and captured the other

At least two assailants armed with knives have attacked people at a train station in southern China, injuring nine before police fatally shot one of the suspects, officials said.

The second suspect was captured, police in the city of Guangzhou said in a statement. The incident was still under investigation and a motive had not been determined, police said.

Death penalty in Indonesia: an executioner's story

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 07:47 PM PST

A police officer who has been part of an Indonesian firing squad tells how he and his prisoners prepare for the death sentence, and how he hopes those who are killed find their peace

As Indonesia prepares to execute up to 11 prisoners, including two Australians, a Brazilian and a Nigerian national, amid international uproar, the spotlight has been thrown on the use of the death penalty in the country. There are dozens more prisoners on death row and the government has declared there will be no mercy for those convicted of drug offences, meaning more executions are likely.

The Guardian has spoken to a police officer who has been part of the firing squad which operates on the prison island, Nusa Kambangan. His story is one that reveals the grim reality of Indonesia's justice system but also the conflicting emotions of those responsible for upholding it.

Thai court jails 15 Red Shirt activists

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 07:33 PM PST

Supporters of former PM Thaksin Shinawartra convicted of inciting riot after hotel hosting regional summit was overrun in 2009

Archaeologists find two lost cities deep in Honduras jungle

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 04:30 PM PST

Archaeological team say they have set foot in a place untouched by humans for at least 600 years in a site that may be the 'lost city of the monkey god'

Archaeologists have discovered two lost cities in the deep jungle of Honduras, emerging from the forest with evidence of a pyramid, plazas and artifacts that include the effigy of a half-human, half-jaguar spirit.

The team of specialists in archaeology and other fields, escorted by three British bushwhacking guides and a detail of Honduran special forces, explored on foot a remote valley of La Mosquitia where an aerial survey had found signs of ruins in 2012.

Chinese premier cuts country's growth target

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 02:39 PM PST

Li Keqiang warns 'the difficulties we are to encounter in the year ahead may be even more formidable than those of last year'

China's premier Li Keqiang cut the nation's growth target to "around" 7% on Thursday, reiterating the need to pursue reform as development slows and the likelihood of tougher times ahead for the world's second largest economy.

Systemic, institutional and structural problems have become 'tigers in the road' holding up development.

Chelsea Manning: court order bans US military from referring to soldier as 'he'

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 02:29 PM PST

Court order banning military from referring to Manning using masculine pronouns marks another advance towards army soldier's gender transition goal

Chelsea Manning, the US army soldier serving 35 years in prison for leaking a huge stash of state secrets, has won a small but significant victory in her bid to transition to living as a woman.

Manning has taken on the might of the US military, challenging its ongoing refusal to refer to her as a woman, and won. A court order from the US army court of criminal appeals instructs the military to refer to the soldier in all future official correspondence either using the gender neutral "Private First Class Manning" or employing the feminine pronoun.

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Bali Nine: executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran may be delayed

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 01:34 PM PST

Death sentences cannot be carried out this week, says Indonesian attorney general, but president rejects Australian foreign minister's prisoner swap offer

Top al-Qaida leader killed in air strike, says militant group in Syria

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 01:22 PM PST

US-led coalition spokesman denies air strikes were conducted in past 24 hours
Nusra Front announced that Abu Humam al-Shami died in bombing

Al-Qaida's official Syrian wing, the Nusra Front, announced on Thursday the death of its top military commander, who insurgent sources said fell victim to a blast targeting a high-level militant meeting.

Abu Humam al-Shami, a general military commander and veteran of Islamist militant fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, was the senior-most member of the group to die in the Syria war, an insurgent source said.

US ambassador Mark Lippert ushered away from scene of attack – video

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 01:12 PM PST

US ambassador Mark Lippert walks away from the scene of his attack, after he was slashed in the face by a Korean nationalist at a breakfast forum in Seoul on Thursday. Lippert underwent two and a half hours of surgery, receiving 80 stitches in his face. Doctors say his condition is stable Continue reading...

Washington DC takes part in illegal sledding at the Capitol – in pictures

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:53 PM PST

Sledding on the grounds of the US Capitol has been forbidden since 9/11, but that didn't stop a few dozen Washington residents from taking their sleds for a whirl

Indigenous Peruvians win Amazon pollution payout from US oil giant

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:26 PM PST

Out-of-court settlement ends long legal battle for compensation for deaths, birth defects and environmental damage allegedly caused by Occidental's pollution

Members of the indigenous Achuar tribe from the Peruvian Amazon have won an undisclosed sum from Occidental Petroleum in an out-of-court settlement after a long-running legal battle in the US courts.

Reddit CEO Ellen Pao to testify at sexual discrimination trial

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:24 PM PST

Woman who has accused Silicon Valley firm of passing her over for a promotion because of her gender will take the stand on Thursday

The woman who has accused one of Silicon Valley's most prestigious venture capital firms of sex discrimination will take the stand on Thursday in a case that is shining a harsh light on the treatment of women in the tech community.

Ellen Pao is suing for $16m she says she lost when she was passed over for promotion at legendary tech investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Pao claims she was not promoted because of her gender.

Plane skids off snowy runway at New York's LaGuardia airport

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:20 PM PST

Delta plane appears to have made crash landing on day where travel woes caused by a winter storm are plaguing the US from the south-east to New England

A plane skidded off the runway at LaGuardia airport in New York on Thursday, the latest example of travel woes plaguing the US from Texas to Connecticut as a major storm stretched across the country.

Laguardia Airport: 131 passengers/crew on plane. 24 non-life-threatening injuries, 3 of whom transported at this time pic.twitter.com/UlvDtcuHUF

We just crash landed at LGA. I'm terrified. Please...

We have all been evacuated. Everyone is safe. Thank you for your prayers. God is good.

PLO leadership votes to suspend security cooperation with Israel

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:13 PM PST

Palestinian president reportedly supports central committee decision that blames 'Israel's systematic and ongoing non-compliance with its obligations'

The leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation has voted to suspend all security co-operation with Israel, insisting that Israel – as occupying power – should assume all responsibilities for the Palestinian territories under international law.

A statement issued by the PLO's central committee on Thursday night announced it was calling for the suspension of "all forms of security coordination given Israel's systematic and ongoing non-compliance with its obligations under signed agreements, including its daily military raids throughout the State of Palestine, attacks against our civilians and properties."

Hillary Clinton email scandal: five burning questions that need answers

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 11:54 AM PST

How many pages were not handed over? Were state secrets at risk? Was privacy a conscious manoeuvre? These are just a few of the issues still unresolved