The government has insisted that bloggers and posts on social media would not be caught by a new system of press regulation, but campaigners warned the new rules could be open to interpretation.

The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling fleet docked in Australia Wednesday claiming victory over Japan, as Canberra indicated fugitive founder Paul Watson would not face arrest if he came ashore.

The government gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for the first of a planned new generation of nuclear power plants.

The government sent a Royal Air Force plane to crisis-hit Cyprus on Tuesday carrying one million euros in emergency loans for British military personnel, the defence ministry said.

Newspapers railed against a new system of press regulation agreed by political leaders, which the biggest media groups have warned raises "deeply contentious issues".

The government was Wednesday set to unveil plans to grow the country's recession-threatened economy, despite insisting on greater state savings as it struggles to meet its deficit-reduction target.

Britain's government was Wednesday set to unveil plans to grow the country's recession-threatened economy, despite insisting on greater state savings as it struggles to meet its deficit-reduction target.

At least 27 people were killed by landslides caused by heavy rains in a mountainous area of the Brazilian sate of Rio de Janeiro, authorities said.

Speculation intensified Wednesday that Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard could be toppled by her party within days, with one report saying ex-leader Kevin Rudd was five votes from victory.

A French hostage has been executed in Mali, a man claiming to be a spokesman for Al-Qaeda in North Africa told Mauritania's ANI news agency.

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt went on trial on genocide charges over the killing of almost 1,800 indigenous people during the dark days of his country's civil war.

US President Barack Obama left Andrews Air Force base en route to Israel at the start of a four-day trip to the Middle East.

North Korea on Wednesday condemned training flights by nuclear-capable US B-52 bombers over the Korean peninsula as an "unpardonable provocation" and threatened military action if they continue.

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan met with Pope Francis in St Peter's Basilica on Tuesday in a first taste for the new pontiff of a long-running dispute that pits the island against its giant neighbour China.

Barack Obama departed en route to Israel for a four-day trip to the Middle East, a journalist traveling with the US president said.

FBI director Robert Mueller warned that the sharp budget cuts affecting all US agencies, including the federal police force, threaten crucial counter-terrorist operations.

US lawmakers dropped an effort to include a ban on assault weapons in a broader gun control package Tuesday, conceding the difficulties of passing such legislation through Congress.

Eurozone finance ministers said Tuesday they still stood ready to help Cyprus after the island's parliament voted down a debt bailout accord which included an unprecedented bank deposit levy.

Seven US Marines were killed and seven more wounded when a mortar round exploded while still in its launch tube during a training exercise in Nevada, the military said Tuesday.

The number of detainees on hunger strike at Guantanamo military prison has nearly doubled since last week, officials at the detention center confirmed Tuesday.