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Islamic State will be forced out of Tikrit, says top US general
French and Belgian nationals among five dead in Mali shooting
Bali Nine lawyers say signals Jakarta will delay execution are encouraging
Politicians face investigation in Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal
MH370 search chief says he is still optimistic missing flight can be found
Sydney's Mardi Gras isn't just a night out to Christine Milne. It's personal
International Women's Day: Grassroots women's groups going it alone, despite rhetoric on gender
The Makha Bucha Day ceremony for Buddhist monks – in pictures
Sanctions target backers of Islamic State and Assad regime
White House urges supreme court to end state bans on same-sex marriage
CIA to make sweeping structural changes with focus on cyber operations
Tanzania police arrest 32 witch-doctors over ritual albino killings
Frozen bodies found on Mexican peak may be long-buried avalanche victims
Merkel wants a braver Germany. But will the German people let her have it?
So long, suckers: octopus caught leaving tank not escaping, says Seattle aquarium
Top Sierra Leone athlete arrested after he was found living rough in London
Palestinian vote to halt to security coordination with Israel worries UN
Police failed us, say families of girls feared to have gone to Syria
Seven people hospitalised after New York apartment fire – video
Paraguayan radio journalist shot dead in Brazilian border city

Islamic State will be forced out of Tikrit, says top US general

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:37 PM PST

A force of Iranian-backed militia and Iraqi government troops are set to overwhelm the militant group in Saddam's birthplace, says Martin Dempsey

French and Belgian nationals among five dead in Mali shooting

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 08:42 PM PST

The pair were gunned down along with another European, a police officer and security guard in a restaurant in the country's capital Bamako

Bali Nine lawyers say signals Jakarta will delay execution are encouraging

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 08:22 PM PST

Lawyers for Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran welcome signs Jakarta will wait for legal appeals of prisoners scheduled for execution

Politicians face investigation in Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 08:00 PM PST

Court approves inquiry into dozens of senior leaders, including former president Fernando Collor, over kickbacks from the state-owned oil company, Petrobras

MH370 search chief says he is still optimistic missing flight can be found

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:04 PM PST

As the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 nears the one-year mark, Australia's Angus Houston remains hopeful of a breakthrough

Sydney's Mardi Gras isn't just a night out to Christine Milne. It's personal

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 05:30 PM PST

For the Greens leader and her son, the festival of pride is a social justice issue with deeply personal roots

International Women's Day: Grassroots women's groups going it alone, despite rhetoric on gender

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 05:00 PM PST

There is growing awareness of investing in women and girls, but it hasn't translated into funding women's organisations

The Makha Bucha Day ceremony for Buddhist monks – in pictures

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:53 PM PST

Buddhist monks at Wat Dhammakaya temple in Pathum Thani province, Thailand, perform the Makha Bucha Day ceremony

Sanctions target backers of Islamic State and Assad regime

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:39 PM PST

Foreign secretary reveals clampdown on businessmen and companies supporting the shabiha militia and Syrian regime

White House urges supreme court to end state bans on same-sex marriage

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 03:00 PM PST

Justice department brief attacks laws that 'send the inescapable message that same-sex couples and their children are second-class families'

The Obama administration on Friday asked the US supreme court to rule that states cannot ban gay marriage.

The Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief in four cases in which the court is due to hear oral arguments on April 28.

CIA to make sweeping structural changes with focus on cyber operations

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 01:23 PM PST

Spy agency will incorporate digital innovations into intelligence gathering and follows major shifts in the CIA's role and operations in the years since 9/11

CIA director John Brennan on Friday announced a major organizational overhaul of the intelligence agency, including the creation of an entirely new fifth wing to be known as the "directorate of digital innovation".

The changes were designed to improve handling of cyber threats and the use of digital technology, streamline management, enhance recruiting and training and encourage intra-agency information sharing, Brennan said in a memo posted on the CIA website and in a briefing with reporters.

Tanzania police arrest 32 witch-doctors over ritual albino killings

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:53 PM PST

Activists say at least 75 albinos have been killed since 2000
Seventeen people convicted of murders already on death row

Frozen bodies found on Mexican peak may be long-buried avalanche victims

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:40 PM PST

Member of ill-fated 1959 expedition says one of the well-preserved bodies near summit of Pico de Orizaba is probably that of climbers' guide

A Mexican mountain rescue team will make a second attempt on Friday to recover a pair of well-preserved bodies – possibly those of climbers buried in an avalanche more than half a century ago – that were discovered embedded in the ice on the slopes of a volcano.

The first body was discovered when a climber attempting to ascend the 5,610-metre Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest peak, slipped and spotted a mummified human head and arm protruding from the snow not far below the summit.

Merkel wants a braver Germany. But will the German people let her have it?

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:32 PM PST

Crises in Greece and Ukraine have forced the chancellor to rethink her country's role in Europe

Take a stroll down Berlin's Unter den Linden avenue, heading towards the Brandenburg Gate, and history will ambush you. First, you pass by the Willy Brandt Forum, paying homage to the German chancellor who from 1969 to 1974 invented Ostpolitik, Germany's overture to the East and to the Soviet Union. You also pass near Russisches Haus, a German-Russian cultural centre currently commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of what the Russians call the great patriotic war. A short walk away, the beautiful modern glass dome built on top of the Reichstag building comes as a reminder that it was only 15 years ago that the German parliament moved from Bonn to Berlin – shifting Europe's centre of gravity eastwards.

German power is now mostly seen in economic terms. Given its 20th century past, the dream of simply being a bigger Switzerland still holds a strong appeal to the German public: a country without any serious external security concerns, focused on prosperity and wellbeing.

Countering Europe's fragmentation has become the key objective in Merkel's third term

So long, suckers: octopus caught leaving tank not escaping, says Seattle aquarium

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:26 PM PST

Video of the would-be jailbreak went viral but spokesman says the naturally inquisitive mollusk was simply learning to embrace its new home

Top Sierra Leone athlete arrested after he was found living rough in London

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:09 PM PST

Jimmy Thoronka, who vanished after Commonwealth Games, says he can't go home because Ebola has wiped out his family

Sierra Leone's top sprinter, who vanished after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last summer, has been arrested after he was found in an emaciated state, living rough on the streets of London.

Jimmy Thoronka, 20, his country's number one 100m sprinter, and tipped by some for a big sporting career, disappeared at the end of the Games last August. Along with several other athletes he failed to return to Sierra Leone, and until now his whereabouts had been unclear.

Palestinian vote to halt to security coordination with Israel worries UN

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:07 PM PST

Ban Ki-moon pushes for peace deal as move, prompted by Israel's freezing of $127m of Palestinian tax revenues, could threaten stability in West Bank cities

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon expressed concern on Friday at a decision by Palestinian leaders in the West Bank to halt security coordination with Israel and called for the international community to push for a Middle East peace deal.

The Palestinian Central Council, whose votes are usually binding on the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, said on Thursday it made the decision because Israel had breached bilateral agreements, including withholding tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

Police failed us, say families of girls feared to have gone to Syria

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 12:00 PM PST

Letters home from police about fellow London pupil joining Islamic State were given direct to schoolgirls, who hid them from parents before leaving for Turkey

Seven people hospitalised after New York apartment fire – video

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 11:46 AM PST

Officials say seven people are hospitalised and one person unaccounted for after a fire ripped through an apartment building near Schenectady's city hall in upstate New York Continue reading...

Paraguayan radio journalist shot dead in Brazilian border city

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 11:42 AM PST

Fifth to be killed since the start of last year while working along porous and crime-ridden border: 'In this area it's normal to silence journalists with gunshots'