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International Women's Day: the battle for better maternal health care in Uganda
The great escape that changed Africa’s future
MH370 report: underwater locator beacon battery had expired a year before
Russia detains two men in Boris Nemtsov murder inquiry
'Slowly, change is coming': life for women in the post-Soviet world
China hints Japan will be invited to war memorial parade
'We want a voice': women fight for their rights in the former USSR
MH370 search zone will have been covered by end of May, says Australia
'Talk less and do more', Greek PM urges finance minister Yanis Varoufakis
Bali Nine: Tony Abbott says he is still waiting for 'final call' on fate of pair
Australian women in uniform: then and now – in pictures
Colombia government and Farc rebels agree to remove landmines
India accused of ‘misguided’ ban on rape documentary
Win or lose Tikrit, Isis can only be defeated in Iraq by the Sunni
Madison police chief says officer shooting of unarmed man has similarities to Ferguson
Sinn Féin drops opposition to abortion at Derry congress
Obama in Selma: Ferguson report shows civil rights 'march is not yet finished'
Obama: Selma helped determine nation's destiny - video
Climate summit’s pledges on carbon cuts ‘won’t avert global disaster’
Barack Obama speaks in Selma 50 years after 'Bloody Sunday' – in pictures

International Women's Day: the battle for better maternal health care in Uganda

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 12:52 AM PST

Jackie Tumuheirwe is a citizen reporter in Uganda determined to hold her government to account over promises on better health for women and newborns

The great escape that changed Africa’s future

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 12:30 AM PST

In 1961, with Portugal in the grip of a ruthless dictator, 60 brilliant students were smuggled out of the country to safety. Ruaridh Nicoll tells their dramatic story – and reveals how many went on to become Africa's most respected and influential leaders

MH370 report: underwater locator beacon battery had expired a year before

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 11:54 PM PST

On first anniversary of plane's disappearance, Malaysian authorities release detailed report but it sheds little light on the mystery

The first comprehensive report into the mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has revealed that the battery of an underwater locator beacon had expired more than a year before the plane vanished in March 2014.

Apart from that anomaly, the detailed report released on Sunday devoted pages after pages to describe the complete normality of the flight, shedding little light on aviation's biggest mystery.

Russia detains two men in Boris Nemtsov murder inquiry

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 11:34 PM PST

Two men from North Caucasus region detained in connection with February killing of Russian opposition leader

Russian authorities have detained two men in connection with the murder of the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.

The pair were named as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadayev, both from the North Caucasus, a volatile region of southern Russia plagued by insurgency. One of the men was a former police officer, according to Russian news agencies on Sunday.

'Slowly, change is coming': life for women in the post-Soviet world

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 11:00 PM PST

From bride kidnapping to the gender pay gap, women in the 15 countries that emerged from the ashes of the USSR describe the challenges they face today

'We want a voice': women fight for their rights in the former USSR

China hints Japan will be invited to war memorial parade

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 10:41 PM PST

Foreign minister says all nations will be invited to the WW2 commemoration 'as long as they come in sincerity' and without the 'baggage of history'

'We want a voice': women fight for their rights in the former USSR

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 10:00 PM PST

Campaigners have their work cut out in the patriarchal societies that dominate the region, especially where the Kremlin's family values agenda holds sway

'Slowly, change is coming': life for women in the post-Soviet world

MH370 search zone will have been covered by end of May, says Australia

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 08:04 PM PST

On the one year anniversary of the disappearance, the search agency says the priority area will have been searched in the next three months

'Talk less and do more', Greek PM urges finance minister Yanis Varoufakis

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 07:43 PM PST

Alexis Tsipras appeared to confirm reports that he told his flamboyant minister to keep a lower profile in the run-up to crucial Eurogroup talks on Monday

The Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis – who has become a media phenomenon since Greece's radical government came to power – has been warned by his own prime minister to talk less and do more.

Alexis Tsipras appeared to confirm reports he had ordered Varoufakis to keep a lower profile in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday.

Bali Nine: Tony Abbott says he is still waiting for 'final call' on fate of pair

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 07:32 PM PST

Australian prime minister says he has asked to speak to his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, after the transfer of Chan and Sukumaran

Australian women in uniform: then and now – in pictures

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 06:39 PM PST

To celebrate international women's day, Chrissie Cotter gallery in Marrickville in Sydney's inner west has curated photographs of women in uniform, from civilian nurses in the first world war to women today working for the community – showing off the town's long and proud tradition of women at work

Colombia government and Farc rebels agree to remove landmines

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 05:25 PM PST

After two years of negotiations in Cuba and a 50-year civil war, both parties agree to provide information about the location of mines and other explosives

India accused of ‘misguided’ ban on rape documentary

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 04:05 PM PST

Director of film about fatal attack on a student in 2012 hits back at her critics Continue reading...

Win or lose Tikrit, Isis can only be defeated in Iraq by the Sunni

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 04:04 PM PST

The battle for the Iraqi city is the first serious attempt to dislodge Islamic State from a stronghold Continue reading...

Madison police chief says officer shooting of unarmed man has similarities to Ferguson

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 03:40 PM PST

Tony Terrell Robinson Jr, 19, shot dead by officer on Friday night
Chief: 'I can't very well distance myself from that brutal reality'

Sinn Féin drops opposition to abortion at Derry congress

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 02:45 PM PST

Party votes to support terminations in limited cases, such as pregnant women with fatal foetal abnormalities, in both Irish Republic and Northern Ireland

Sinn Féin has dropped its historic opposition to abortion at its annual congress held in Derry.

The party voted this weekend to support terminations in limited cases, such as pregnant women with fatal foetal abnormalities. This involves women whose babies will be born dead and who have to either go full term in Ireland or seek abortions across the Irish sea in Britain.

Obama in Selma: Ferguson report shows civil rights 'march is not yet finished'

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 02:27 PM PST

President delivers passionate speech on 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday
One group in thousands at Edmund Pettus Bridge protests police shootings

Barack Obama delivered one of the most poignant speeches of his presidency on Saturday, using the backdrop of Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge to call for an end to the discrimination he said still casts "a long shadow" over America.

Obama: Selma helped determine nation's destiny - video

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 02:25 PM PST

President Barack Obama was in Selma, Alabama on Saturday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of events that sparked the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Obama was introduced by US representative John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia who marched in Selma 50 years ago. The president spoke at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where police and state troopers used violence and tear gas against peaceful marchers advocating against racial discrimination at the voting booth. Obama said the bridge joined sites such as Gettysburg that helped determine the nation's future. Continue reading...

Climate summit’s pledges on carbon cuts ‘won’t avert global disaster’

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 01:38 PM PST

Government targets leave emission levels too high to prevent a big temperature rise, warns team of experts led by economist Nicholas Stern

Pledges at this year's climate summit to cut carbon emissions are likely to fall far short of the targets needed to avoid heating the planet by more than 2C. That is the stark conclusion of a report by a team led by British economist Nicholas Stern.

The group, based at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics, concludes that action planned by countries – in particular the European Union, the US and China – will still leave the world emitting 10bn tonnes of carbon a year in excess of levels needed to prevent global warming from having devastating consequences.

Barack Obama speaks in Selma 50 years after 'Bloody Sunday' – in pictures

Posted: 07 Mar 2015 12:59 PM PST

The president was one of thousands commemorating the civil rights marchers who in 1965 defied the power of the state to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge across the Alabama river in pursuit of equal voting rights