A group of women infected with hepatitis C after being treated at a Melbourne clinic are taking legal action against the medical regulator.

Are farm efficiency and bigger yields changing dietary habits and promoting rising obesity among Australians?

Steve Jobs' life will be brought to the big screen by Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin in a movie based on Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography of the enigmatic co-founder of Apple.

British tourists are finding their holiday money going further not just in the eurozone but in many other destinations as well, according to a survey.

US President Barack Obama has up to $1 million in a JPMorgan Chase checking account, and total assets of up to $10 million.

Brazil truth commission faces delicate task

A $1 million police operation to protect the interests of Woodside Petroleum against anti-gas hub protesters in Western Australia's remote Kimberley was an "overeaction", according to the state's Opposition.

A SENIOR Vanuatuan official has appeared briefly in court over fraud allegations.

STEADY wages growth add up to a vindication of last week's big interest rate cut.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS are angry and commercial fishermen fearful after the federal government revealed plans for expanding oil and gas exploration in Australian waters.

THE RSPCA has had to euthanase a baby wallaby shot through the neck with an arrow and found dying in suburban Brisbane.

The father of six siblings who lost their lives in a suspected arson attack on their home is expected to speak about the tragedy.

A man who said alien voices told him to kill has been found not guilty of murder in a Sydney court.

TWO alleged Rebels bikie gang members will face court on charges of illegally using an empty industrial unit as a clubhouse.

TWENTY years after Serb forces unleashed a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, their military commander General Ratko Mladic is finally going on trial on charges of masterminding atrocities throughout the country's devastating 1992-95 war.

Japan's biggest banks expect a tough year ahead, with two of the top three forecasting falls in profits as domestic demand for loans dampens.

The Bank of England is to paint a gloomier view of the UK's recovery in its first assessment on prospects since the return to recession.

FURY erupted yesterday over plans to give tens of thousands of civil servants the chance to work from home for seven weeks because of the Olympics.

An Indonesian team finds the cockpit voice recorder of a Russian Sukhoi Superjet plane that crashed last week and searches for the flight data recorder.

AN application to place the Health Services Union (HSU) east branch into administration should be heard urgently by the Industrial Court of NSW, lawyers say.

PROTESTERS evicted from an Aboriginal tent embassy have marched to Queensland's parliament.

Experts from the Department of Public Health at Oxford said a tax of around 20 per cent - roughly equivalent to extending VAT - could lead to a drop in obesity-related diseases.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng tells the US Congress of "a pattern" of harassment against his relatives, in a second telephone conversation.

With Greece's political and economic future teetering on the edge, two economists take a look at what could happen to everyone's money if Greece pulls out of the eurozone.

THE electoral commission is seeking an explanation from the Health Services Union and NSW Labor about more than $17,000 in election spending relating to MP Craig Thomson.

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says a union leader's defamation case against him is a "blatant political try on".

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea today, but no tsunami warning was immediately issued.

The Australian Federal Police are investigating the leaking of a video showing Kevin Rudd swearing during his time as prime minister.

The victims of a Black Saturday bushfire in Victoria's north-east have won a $32.5 million compensation settlement.

JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon narrowly defeats a move to curb his powers, as the investment bank faces an FBI investigation into its shock $2 billion trading loss.

Banksy's parachuting rat stencil has been accidentally destroyed by a builder in Melbourne.

The Pentagon issues further safety procedures for its most advanced fighter jet, following complaints by pilots about oxygen shortages during flights.

The home secretary is "on the precipice of destroying" a police service admired throughout the world, she is to be warned by rank-and-file officers.

US President Barack Obama has up to $1 million in a JPMorgan Chase checking account, and total assets of up to $10 million.

Over-the-counter HIV tests, which would allow people in the US to check in the privacy of their homes if they have the virus, move a step closer.

The Obamas hold assets worth between $US2.6 and $US8.3 million, according to financial disclosure reports released by the White House.

THE Australian Federal Police says it will investigate the leaking of damaging video footage of former prime minister Kevin Rudd swearing and banging a desk.

THE World Bank will give Indonesia with a $2 billion loan, a backstop against a potential debt crisis in one of Asia's fastest growing economies.

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, but no tsunami warning was immediately issued.

Lord Justice Leveson has asked Downing Street to explain whether Mr Coulson's predecessors underwent full DV - developed vetting - checks.

THE victims of a Black Saturday bushfire in Victoria's northeast have won a $32 million compensation settlement.

A BRISBANE court has begun hearing a last-ditch appeal on behalf of four young sisters trying to avoid being sent back to Italy amid a bitter custody dispute.

Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic intended to "ethnically cleanse" Bosnia, the opening day of his war crimes trial hears.

There are 3,900 overseas convicts currently on bail. The scale of the problem was revealed in a letter to MPs by Rob Whiteman, pictured, chief executive of the UK Border Agency.

The BBC has been flooded with complaints from viewers after one of its flagship cooking shows The Great British Menu featured foie gras.

The project has gone ahead thanks to £370,000 from charities and philanthropists after Mr Gove was forced to deny earlier this year that funding was a problem.

Jules Brown, 25, pictured, kept watch as a member of a rival gang was lured to the quiet Oslac Road in Catford, South London on the pretext of a drug deal.

A list of book club rules has been drawn up by the influential Middle Class Handbook website to help with a harmonious event. Top of the list is to avoid George Eliot's classic at all costs.

A DEFENCE analyst has accused the Gillard government of committing funds to military commemorations that would be the envy of pharaohs.

CONSUMER confidence has posted a modest rise after the central bank provided a large cut to the cash rate on May 1.

A TRUCK driver charged with the manslaughter of a man and his parents was allegedly under the influence of methadone at the time of the head-on collision.

Jonathan Djanogly appeared to announce a major climbdown on controversial plans to extend secret justice - but it turned out he had misheard a question.

With nursing standards coming under increasing scrutiny, critics of the profession are likely to ask why such basic guidance should be necessary and why a caring approach is not ingrained in all health workers.

The gap in life expectancy between the least and most deprived areas in England has grown, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Two major banks, Lloyds and Santander, are refusing to pass on the benefits of a government-backed scheme to make £20billion worth of cheaper loans available.

Reporters, protesters and onlookers used their smartphones to cover the shutting down of an Aboriginal tent embassy in South Brisbane.

Millions of union members across the country could be slugged with a new levy to pay for a fighting fund at the ACTU.

Iran has hanged a man it claimed was an agent for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, over the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist in 2010.

The Federal Government will contribute $100 million a year for three years to support the Afghan National Security Forces beyond the transition process.

Steve Hooker believes hitting rock bottom six months before London was the best thing that could have happened for his Olympic hopes.

Scientists have found that dieters seeking to stay at their new weight needs to eat 300 fewer calories a day less than a non-dieter of the same weight.

Theresa May is being urged to reform the controversial Public Order Act which bans 'insulting words or behaviour' amid mounting evidence that it is strangling free speech.

Greece faces an election nobody wants with no clear way ahead

Police have dragged away some protesters after moving in to break up their Aboriginal tent embassy at Musgrave Park in South Brisbane.

French President Francois Hollande's first day in office yesterday was beset by disaster as he was drenched on a parade along the Champs Elsyees.

THE NZ First party wants a total ban on synthetic cannabis and says products are still being sold despite government moves to stamp them out.

Joan Collins yesterday joined the attack on Britain’s shambolic border controls after getting stuck in a queue of ‘thousands’ of travellers at Heathrow.

Mothers will receive one-to-one care from a named midwife during labour and birth as part of Government plans to combat postnatal depression.

MINISTERS yesterday axed a contract with a firm delivering the Government's welfare-to-work programme following fraud allegations.

MILLIONS of older workers face -poverty in retirement as they look set to have less than the minimum wage as their pension.

SIMON Cowell unveils pop star Britney Spears as the newest judge on the US version of his ITV show the X Factor.

SUMMER holidays will be up to 25 per cent cheaper in some of the most popular destinations thanks to the soaring value of the pound.

A drug for advanced prostate cancer, which can extend life by more than three months, is likely to be approved for NHS use in England and Wales after the medical watchdog reverses an earlier decision.

How the war crimes suspect revealed his 'dream of peace'

These tiny tawny owlets are among a soaring number of animals left orphaned or abandoned after the wettest April on record. They have been taken in by staff at HART Wildlife Rescue near Alton, Hampshire.

Daniella Jackson, from Aspley, Nottingham, was diagnosed with a tumour in her left lung shortly before discovering she was pregnant with her second child. She is now cancer free.

The 33-year-old victim described her horror as John Norrish, 67, had sex with her in his car in Chawleigh, Mid Devon.

A HOUSTON stripper was behind bars yesterday on a charge of capital murder, for allegedly leading a man to his death in a robbery attempt.

The awesome show of force came from a Merlin helicopter which flew from the decks of HMS Westminster, which is bolstering security off the coast of Africa.

A BOMB targeting former Colombian interior minister Fernando Londono has killed two people and wounded 38 others in Bogota.

The foreign ministry said Monday’s meeting between the exiled Tibetan leader and the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister had ‘seriously interfered with China’s internal affairs’.

SCIENTISTS have developed a technique to generate power with harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity.

The Office for National Statistics said the average number of sick days taken by workers has dropped to the lowest number since records began in 1993.

Greenpeace has been warned against encouraging anti-social behaviour after an ad asked supporters to sponsor the painting of a power station chimney.

NEW French President Francois Hollande yesterday discovered it never rains but it pours when his aircraft was struck by lightning shortly after he was drenched in an open-top motorcade.

THE euro crisis deepened last night when the latest attempt to form a national unity coalition government in Greece collapsed.

WATER firms in areas with plentiful reserves were told yesterday to share supplies with parts of the country hit by drought.

BRITAIN was shivering in a late winter blast which brought two inches of snow to parts of the country yesterday.

THREE out of four English people want the Queen to remain head of the Church of England, an opinion poll revealed yesterday.

THE Queen was forced to shelter from a hailstorm yesterday - before giving her own pithy verdict on British's shivering, soggy spring.

PUBLIC sector workers are 63 per cent more likely to take time off work sick than private sector employees, official figures revealed yesterday.

FURY erupted yesterday over plans to give tens of thousands of civil servants the chance to work from home for seven weeks because of the Olympics.

RADICAL left-winger John Cruddas was promoted to the Labour front bench last night in a mini-reshuffle by party leader Ed Miliband.

A note posted around Brasenose College states: 'This practice evinces a failure to distinguish between public and private spaces in college.'

CABINET minister Simon Crean says Labor should not preselect Craig Thomson for the next federal election unless the MP is cleared of any wrongdoing.

POLICE have broken up an Aboriginal protest in a Brisbane park, arresting 31 people amid claims excessive force was used.

CASUAL workers should be given annual leave while bosses should be banned from keeping workers in unstable work long-term, an ACTU report recommends.

A CENTURIES-old diamond passed down through generations of European royalty fetched nine million Swiss francs ($A9.77 million) at auction in Geneva.

GEORGE Osborne's plans to strip child benefit from more than a million middle-class families would be a "disaster", accountants warned yesterday.

FORMER News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks is the victim of a Scotland Yard "witch hunt," her furious husband declared yesterday after she was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

THE endless queues blighting Britain's airports aren't just the fault of our border controls - it is the wind that is as much to blame, the Immigration Minister said yesterday.

HER haughtily cocked head, pursed lips and glower behind the sunglasses say it all about the mood of Joan Collins yesterday.

JANICE ATKINSON-SMALL: Defence Secretary Philip Hammond attacked ‘whingeing’ business leaders yesterday, saying that they needed to do more to help kick-start the economy.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's global fan base

Patients are being denied potentially life-saving drugs for years because the rationing body NICE is too bogged down in other tasks, doctors and charities have warned.

A 35-carat diamond passed among Europe's royalty for four centuries, the Beau Sancy, sells for twice its reserve at auction in Switzerland.

Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao claimed the meeting 'seriously interfered' with China's internal affairs. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader met with Cameron yesterday.