'VatiLeaks' embarrass the Holy See

Elisabetta Povoledo Leaked documents have exposed power battles within the church.

Arrests after seizure of phoney US bonds

Rome Italian police have arrested eight people on charges related to the seizure of $US6 trillion in fake US Treasury bonds, in a mysterious scam that stretched from Hong Kong to Switzerland to the southern Italian region of Basilicata.

Rio's revellers thank their lucky stars

RIO DE JANEIRO: Showered in confetti and flanked by sequined samba queens, Rio's mayor symbolically relinquished control of the city to its rotund Carnival king to kick off the five-day festivities, a time of joyous excess when the streets fill with roving percussion bands and throngs of dancing, drinking revellers.

Stray dog foils prison breakout

ASUNCION, Paraguay: A stray dog is getting credit for thwarting a prison break in Paraguay. Officials say three dangerous inmates dug a tunnel about 8 metres from their cell to the street, and were about to break free when the dog began to bark and alerted a guard.

Autism detected at just six months old

Liz Szabo CHANGES in brain development have been detected in autistic babies as young as six months old - half a year or more before parents typically begin to notice symptoms of the condition, researchers have found.

Honour for Houston

CHRIS CHRISTIE, the Governor of New Jersey, has defended his decision to have flags lowered to half-mast for Whitney Houston.

Bird flu research to be vetted

GENEVA: Bird flu experts have ruled that controversial research on a mutant form of the virus potentially capable of being spread among humans should be made public.

Capitol bomb plot foiled, says FBI

WASHINGTON: A Moroccan man who believed he was working with al-Qaeda has been arrested near the US Capitol as he was planning to detonate what he thought was a suicide vest, given to him by undercover operatives.

Death threat in email to lover

Yeardley Love was killed after confronting her boyfriend, write Bonnie Winston and Tom Schoenberg.

Iran agrees to talks as sanctions pain bites

Rick Gladstone, Steven Lee Myers WASHINGTON: The United States and the European Union have signalled negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program could soon resume for the first time in more than a year, even as a telecommunications network vital to the global banking industry prepared to expel Iranian banks.

Obama's geeks v GOP billions

NEW YORK: Barack Obama's re-election team is building a vast digital operation that, for the first time, combines a database on millions of Americans with the power of Facebook to target individual voters to a degree never seen before.

Vatican properties to be taxed

ROME: The Vatican, which previously enjoyed an exemption, must now pay taxes on its commercial properties, the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, has announced.

Parting clouds at The Sun

John F. Burns and Ravi Somaiya IN A gesture aimed at restoring morale in his battered newspaper empire in Britain, Rupert Murdoch has walked the floor of his flagship British tabloid, The Sun, with his son Lachlan, ended suspensions of reporters and editors who have been arrested in a Scotland Yard corruption scandal and announced a new Sunday edition.

Sun rises on Sunday as Murdoch placates his troops

Martin Daly, London Rupert Murdoch has again changed the face of British media after he flew to London to appease enraged staff - who were in open rebellion against his empire - and announced that far from closing their newspaper, he would give them another.

Talks offer eases nuclear fears

Joby Warrick, Washington United States and European officials have cautiously welcomed a letter from Iran proposing talks about its nuclear program, a request that appeared to spark a flicker of hope for resuming long-stalled diplomatic engagement with Iranian leaders.

Analysis

Tehran's bark may be worse than its bite

Ian Black Iran watchers have had their work cut out making sense of attacks on Israeli diplomats in Asia, confusion over a ban on oil sales to European Union countries, a vaunted advance in the country's nuclear program and a cleverly formulated offer of a new round of talks on that contentious issue.

Comment

When artists tell tales of rape and war

Slavenka Drakulic Fictionalising war will always attract controversy.

Dolphin activist released from jail

Steve Jacobs 12:58am A Dutch environmentalist has been ordered to be released from a Japanese jail pending a judge's verdict in the case against him.

Murdoch: No defence for tabloid wrongs

11:35am News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch has warned staff at his scandal-hit British tabloid The Sun that he won't protect reporters found to have broken the law, but pledged unstinting support to the title he claimed is among his proudest achievements.

Moroccan accused of Capitol Hill bomb plot is held after FBI sting operation

Jon Swaine 10:03am A Moroccan man allegedly poised to attack the US Capitol was arrested in Washington on Friday night carrying what he is said to have believed was a vest packed with explosives.

Dutch prince critically ill after being buried in avalanche

2:45pm A delegation of Dutch royalty has arrived in Austria after the second son of Queen Beatrix was injured in an avalanche while skiing in the resort of Lech.

Kim Jong-il's playboy son kicked out of casino

Peter Simpson in Beijing 10:03am The playboy eldest son of the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has been kicked out of a five-star hotel in the Chinese gambling territory of Macau after his credit card was cancelled, according to reports.

Honeymoon murder trial: drowned woman's heart problem cured, says doctor

9:22am An Alabama woman had a heart condition that was diagnosed and fixed two years before she drowned during a honeymoon diving trip in Australia, a doctor has testified as prosecutors tried to head off defence claims that medical problems caused her death.