TOP STORIES

Survivors of the ferry tragedy escape to life rafts. [ABC]

PNG ferry search continues

Last Updated: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:31:00 +1100

Staff at a hospital in the PNG city of Lae say only three of the survivors of the ferry accident have serious injuries.

The State Emergency Service says floodwaters have isolated more than 10,000 people across New South Wales. [ABC]

Queensland floods a 'major emergency'

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:47:00 +1100

The leader of the Australian state of Queensland says the flood situation is deteriorating rapidly in the state's southern inland and south west.

Journalists listen to a hearing from the UN-back war crimes court in Cambodia, where a leader has been handed a life jail sentence. [ABC]

Life sentence for Khmer Rouge leader

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:46:00 +1100

A former Khmer Rouge jailer who oversaw the deaths of some 15,000 people will spend the rest of his life in jail, Cambodia's UN-backed court ruled in a final appeal verdict.

China mine blast kills 11

Last Updated: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:41:00 +1100

Eleven people have been killed and six injured in a gas explosion at a Chinese coal mine.

Protesters clash with security forces in Cairo. (Reuters)

New clashes as anger in Egypt boils over

Last Updated: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:09:00 +1100

Egyptian protesters clashed with police for a second straight day on Friday as anger against the ruling military boiled over amid fury at the deaths of 74 people in football-related violence.

The Philippines military have prepared for a possible retaliation after the air strike. (ABC)

Philippines raises terror alert after air strike

Last Updated: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:57:00 +1100

The Philippines has raised its terror alert in Sulu province after a military air strike against the terror groups Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf on Thursday.

Sri Lanka has been criticised for appointing a military officer to a peacekeeping body.[ABC]

Sri Lanka backs general for peacekeeping role

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:08:00 +1100

Sri Lanka has defended appointing a military officer to a UN advisory body on peacekeeping.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says her leadership is safe. [ABC]

Gillard laughs off leadership rumours

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:27:00 +1100

The Australian Prime Minister, the man she ousted from the job, and senior Labor ministers have publicly laughed off or dismissed suggestions of a leadership coup, but there is no escaping speculation that Julia Gillard's prospects in the job are terminal.

Peter O'Neill speaks at a press conference in PNG. On Thursday he announced the suspension of the country's top judge. [ABC]

Top PNG judge hits back at suspension

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:41:00 +1100

Papua New Guinea's Chief Justice, Sir Salamo Injia was denied access to office by armed policemen following his suspension by the government this week.

A Syrian soldier secures a checkpoint in Homs. [ABC]

River runs red in Syria

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:42:00 +1100

Residents in the central Syrian city of Hama have defiantly painted roads red and staged a general strike in memory of a massacre carried out by the regime there 30 years ago.

Mitt Romney has won Donald Trump's seal of approval. [ABC]

Trump backs Mitt's run

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:55:00 +1100

US business mogul Donald Trump has re-injected himself and his wealth into the United States Republican presidential race by endorsing frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Microscope shows malaria parasites in action. [ABC]

1.2 million malaria deaths in 2010

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:09:00 +1100

A new study suggests that malaria kills twice as many people around the world as previously thought.

If convicted, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani faces a six-month jail term and being disqualified from public office. [AFP]

Pakistan PM to face contempt charges

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:57:00 +1100

Pakistan's Supreme Court has confirmed it will charge the country's prime minister with contempt of court, in a move that threatens to bring down the government.

Gail Kelly addressed a banking conference. She has announced 550 Australian jobs are to be cut. [ABC]

Westpac cuts 550 Australian jobs

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:11:00 +1100

Australian banking giant Westpac Friday confirmed it will axe up to 550 jobs with more cuts not ruled out as slowing global growth hits hard.

Stephen Smith said he understood international forces would have an ongoing presence in Afghanistan until the end of 2014. [ADF]

Australia's Defence Minister rejects early Afghan withdrawal reports

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:35:00 +1100

Australia's Defence Minister Stephen Smith has rejected reports that the United States will end its combat role in Afghanistan by late next year.

Three days of mourning have been declared for the victims of the violence. [Reuters]

Egypt football leadership sacked over soccer carnage

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:34:00 +1100

Egypt's prime minister has announced the entire leadership of the country's football association, including its director and management board, has been sacked.

Social media site Facebook helped two twins track each other down, 29 years after being separated. [ABC]

Woman uses Facebook to find lost twin

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:53:00 +1100

Twins born in Indonesia and put up separately for adoption, have been reunited after finding each other on Facebook, living just 40 kilometres apart in southern Sweden, three decades later.

Men drinking kava in Tonga. An Australian festival has banned kava drinking. [ABC]

Kava ban for Australian multicultural festival

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:25:00 +1100

The Pacific Islander community in the Australian capital Canberra is angry city health officials have rejected the use of kava at next week's multicultural festival.

Julian Assange's supporters believe the case is politically motivated and relates to his website's release of sensitive diplomatic and military documents. [AFP]

Wikileaks founder awaits verdict in extradition appeal

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:03:00 +1100

The British Supreme Court is expected to take weeks to decide on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's appeal against his extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Luge event. A Tongan official is still hopeful for one of the country's young athletes. [ABC]

Slippery tale of Banani the Tongan sledder

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +1100

The story was that a Tongan athlete was trying to get to the Winter Olympics to compete in a sled event, the luge. It sounded too good to be true.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has been in detention since New Zealand police raided his Auckland mansion last month. [AFP]

Megaupload's Kim Dotcom to appeal bail ruling

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:31:00 +1100

Lawyers for Megaupload boss, Kim Dotcom, say he's planning to appeal against a ruling which has kept him behind bars in New Zealand, as US officials seek his extradition for alleged copyright piracy.

No alert after Vanuatu quake

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:11:00 +1100

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake has struck the pacific ocean east of Vanuatu according to the US Geological Survey.

Philippines marines march out Manilla on their way to Jolo to search for Abu Sayyaf terrorists. [ABC]

Philippines' military blasts terror camp

Last Updated: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:31:00 +1100

The Philippine army said it killed three senior leaders from the Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah militant organisations in an air raid on a remote southern island.

Middle ground. Police block the path to Government House in Port Moresby last month. [AFP]

Journalists threatened in PNG

Last Updated: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:09:00 +1100

Two of the journalists covering the political upheaval in Papua New Guinea - including one from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - have been threatened with violence.

Chris Bowen has confimed a boat carrying asylum seekers has sunk. [ABC]

Eight people reportedly dead in asylum boat tragedy

Last Updated: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:58:00 +1100

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has confirmed that an asylum seeker boat has sunk off the coast of Malaysia.

Anti-Lynas demonstrators hold banners during a protest outside the Australian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in May 2011. (AFP)

Australian Government supports Lynas Malaysia plant

Last Updated: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:52:00 +1100

Malaysia has approved a controversial rare earths plant being built by Australian mining company, Lynas, despite fears it could produce harmful radioactive waste.

Japan's annual dolphin hunting season is about to begin. [ABC]

Fight to end Japan's dolphin slaughter

Last Updated: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:00:00 +1100

While there has been much attention on Japan's renewed hunt for whales in the Antarctic, another hunt for marine mammals is in full swing along Japan's own shores.

An injured fan is carried across the pitch. [Reuters]

73 dead in Egypt soccer riot

Last Updated: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:02:00 +1100

At least 73 people have been killed in a riot at a soccer stadium in the Egyptian city of Port Said. Hundreds were injured.

CIA Director Leon Panetta has set a new withdrawal date for US troops in Afghanistan. [ABC]

US out of Afghanistan in 2013

Last Updated: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:33:00 +1100

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has announced his country will end its combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2013, bringing forward the deadline to end America's longest war.