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Suicide car bomber kills at least three after ramming foreign convoy in Kabul
New to nature No 141: Porophryne erythrodactylus
Beware the not-so-smartphones that eat your data while you sleep
Australian woman fulfils dying wish by marrying gay partner in New Zealand
Prince Harry: being in the army kept me out of trouble
Barnaby Joyce defends threat to put down Johnny Depp’s dogs
Ireland days away from gay marriage equality according to latest polls
UN voices concern about over-representation of Maori in prisons
The Nepalese and foreigners united in grief over the earthquake
The man who feeds the developing world’s children from a garden shed
Burma’s boatpeople ‘faced choice of annihilation or risking their lives at sea’
Lib Dems' Tim Farron regrets abstaining in gay marriage vote
Salma Hayek, Aishwarya Rai and Parker Posey hit back at gender inequality
'Dark and dangerous times': GOP 2016 hopefuls focus on Islam at Iowa summit
'Shell no': Hundreds take to boats in Seattle to protest Arctic drilling
The secret life of Australia's top chef
Andy Burnham: My campaign is ‘heart of Labour’. I am not into factional politics
US drone kills five militants at Taliban site in Pakistan, officials say
French winegrower risks jail to protect his grapes
Shellfish species shrinking as rising carbon emissions hit marine life

Suicide car bomber kills at least three after ramming foreign convoy in Kabul

Posted: 16 May 2015 11:54 PM PDT

European Union police mission says it believes its vehicles were involved amid reports 18 others, including women and children, have been injured

New to nature No 141: Porophryne erythrodactylus

Posted: 16 May 2015 11:00 PM PDT

This newly classified frogfish, which inhabits the subtidal waters of New South Wales, has two quite distinct colour phases and an atypical defence strategy

Beware the not-so-smartphones that eat your data while you sleep

Posted: 16 May 2015 10:59 PM PDT

Mobile users are being hit with massive bills as their handsets access networks and services even when not in active use Continue reading...

Australian woman fulfils dying wish by marrying gay partner in New Zealand

Posted: 16 May 2015 07:47 PM PDT

Unable to legally marry in Australia, the couple travelled to New Zealand with the help of money raised on a crowdfunding website

Prince Harry: being in the army kept me out of trouble

Posted: 16 May 2015 06:50 PM PDT

He hopes his nephew and niece, George and Charlotte, one day join the armed forces too

Barnaby Joyce defends threat to put down Johnny Depp’s dogs

Posted: 16 May 2015 06:24 PM PDT

Depp's Yorkshire terriers, Boo and Pistol, jetted out of Australia on Friday night just before a 50-hour deadline from Joyce was due to run out

Ireland days away from gay marriage equality according to latest polls

Posted: 16 May 2015 05:45 PM PDT

Irish Times poll shows 2-to-1 margin in favour of introducing marriage equality in referendum

UN voices concern about over-representation of Maori in prisons

Posted: 16 May 2015 05:21 PM PDT

Committee against Torture makes 13 recommendations to improve human rights in New Zealand, including use of solitary confinement

The Nepalese and foreigners united in grief over the earthquake

Posted: 16 May 2015 04:05 PM PDT

The beautiful Langtang valley was almost obliterated when the second quake hit last week, reducing a popular trekking village to rubble

The only way Yasmine Habash can describe the Langtang valley is "tragically beautiful". Even in a country that has seen so much devastation and so much personal heartbreak, what happened to the village of Langtang is in a different league. Moments after the earthquake struck, a massive expanse of ice fell thousands of feet, creating an avalanche that wiped out a community where 400 people lived and where, at that moment, nearly 100 foreign trekkers are believed to have been.

In a matter of seconds, Langtang village was wiped off the face of the Earth and, in Kathmandu this week, Habash described what it was like to visit the place where it used to be: "It's so stunning up there. But I just couldn't look at the beauty of it because it hurt knowing that so much pain is in that area."

The man who feeds the developing world’s children from a garden shed

Posted: 16 May 2015 04:05 PM PDT

A conversation with an Italian priest launched Mary's Meals, a remarkable project that today feeds nearly one million in schools across four continents Continue reading...

Burma’s boatpeople ‘faced choice of annihilation or risking their lives at sea’

Posted: 16 May 2015 04:05 PM PDT

Thousands of members of the Rohingya, a Burmese minority group, are now adrift in the Andaman Sea, with aid groups fearing 'boatloads of corpses'

They were carried or staggered ashore, some paralysed by malnutrition, others little more than walking skeletons, burnt and dazed from weeks at sea on boats the UN has called "floating coffins".

Manu Abudul Salam, 19, had watched her brother die when desperate fighting broke out after the captain of their wooden boat fled on a speedboat, leaving more than 800 passengers adrift with dwindling food and water. "If I had known the boat journey would be so horrendous, I would rather have just died in Myanmar [Burma]," she told journalists shortly after being towed ashore by Indonesian fishermen, one of a few hundred allowed to land.

Lib Dems' Tim Farron regrets abstaining in gay marriage vote

Posted: 16 May 2015 04:03 PM PDT

Favourite to succeed Nick Clegg promises 'mother of all fightbacks' to rebuild party after general election losses

Salma Hayek, Aishwarya Rai and Parker Posey hit back at gender inequality

Posted: 16 May 2015 03:30 PM PDT

At a summit in Cannes, the stars and key female producers have shared their own experiences of industry sexism and called on studios, audiences and journalists to demand change

Salma Hayek, Parker Posey and Aishwarya Rai were among those leading a call for greater gender equality in film at Cannes on Saturday. Speaking at the forum organised by trade magazine Variety and UN Women's HeForShe campaign, the actors spoke of their own experiences of institutional sexism and called on studios, audiences and journalists to alter the discourse.

"Cinema undermines women's intelligence," said Hayek, who appears in Matteo Garonne's competition entry The Tale of Tales. "They don't see us as a powerful economic force. It's incredible ignorance. Hollywood doesn't have this business vision."

'Dark and dangerous times': GOP 2016 hopefuls focus on Islam at Iowa summit

Posted: 16 May 2015 03:26 PM PDT

Trump, Jindal, Cruz and Santorum address rightwing event
Organiser attacks Clinton adviser, warns of 'civilisational jihad'

'Shell no': Hundreds take to boats in Seattle to protest Arctic drilling

Posted: 16 May 2015 03:06 PM PDT

Donning wetsuits and lifejackets, 'kayak-tivists' gather at a city park for 'Paddle in Seattle' as company's drilling rig sits blocks away

Hundreds of activists decked out in neoprene wetsuits and life jackets took to the waters of Elliott Bay on Saturday. In kayaks, canoes, paddleboards and other vessels, they sent the message that Royal Dutch Shell should cancel its plan to drill in the Arctic Ocean.

The secret life of Australia's top chef

Posted: 16 May 2015 03:00 PM PDT

Ben Shewry's Melbourne restaurant Attica is admired all over the world over – but success did not make him happy, and he nearly walked away from the kitchen. Until he was saved by a fisherman, his love for basketball and his family

Andy Burnham: My campaign is ‘heart of Labour’. I am not into factional politics

Posted: 16 May 2015 01:12 PM PDT

In his first major interview since declaring, the frontrunner in the Labour leadership contest speaks frankly about defeat and the EU referendum Continue reading...

US drone kills five militants at Taliban site in Pakistan, officials say

Posted: 16 May 2015 01:08 PM PDT

Missiles reportedly hit compound in North Waziristan tribal region
Three Uzbeks and two Pakistanis said to be killed

Pakistani intelligence officials say missiles fired from a US drone struck a compound in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border, killing five militants.

The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters, said three of the militants killed Saturday were Uzbeks and the other two were Pakistanis. They say the compound had been used by the Pakistani Taliban.

French winegrower risks jail to protect his grapes

Posted: 16 May 2015 12:48 PM PDT

Owner of Burgundy vineyard could face six-month sentence for refusing to 'ruin' his soil with pesticide

One of France's most venerated winemakers, whose vineyards supply leading restaurants, including those owned by Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay, will this week risk a six-month prison sentence or a large fine for the sake of both his grapes and, he says, future generations who will want to enjoy the fruit of his soil.

Thibault Liger-Belair, an organic wine producer, is defying orders to spray a pesticide on his vines because of an outbreak 40km from his Burgundy and Beaujolais vineyards of flavescence dorée. The disease, which kills young vines and damages the productivity of older ones, is spread by an insect called the leafhopper.

Shellfish species shrinking as rising carbon emissions hit marine life

Posted: 16 May 2015 12:39 PM PDT

Biologists warn that hundreds of species could die or weaken as growing levels of CO2 make oceans more acidic and disrupt shell formation

Sea creatures are set to shrink as the world's oceans become more acidic. That is the startling warning given by an international group of biologists who have charted the likely impact of rising carbon dioxide levels on marine life.

The group reveals that not only are hundreds of marine species likely to be wiped out as more and more carbon dioxide is dissolved in the Earth's oceans but also that creatures that do survive – in particular those with shells, such as clams, oysters and snails – will be left puny and shrunken as a result.