An Australian woman has died after falling 300 metres off a mountain in New Zealand's Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park.

A satellite to measure the heights of the oceans was launched successfully on Sunday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Sri Lanka's cricketers seal the one-day series against England with a 90-run win in the sixth match at Pallakele.

The US has a new Christmas tradition. Wealthy "secret Santas" are popping up across the country and paying off toyshop bills to spread festive cheer and help struggling families.

US President Barack Obama not only made a little news at his annual year-end news conference on Friday, he appears to have made history.

Rio de Janeiro's governor has declared a state of financial emergency and requested federal funds to help fulfil obligations for public services during the 2016 Olympic Games which start on August 5.

A senior official with the Syrian opposition has blamed the government and its allies for cease-fire violations that killed more than two dozen people, warning it will be difficult to resume peace talks next month.

In telling other peoples' stories, 60 Minutes prides itself on being front-footed.

Negotiators in Peru are struggling to reach agreement and Australia has been accused of "creative accounting" in the dying hours of the United Nations climate change talks.

One of the United States' top universities mistakenly told applicants they had been accepted and later had to correct itself.

As Pakistan begins to bury the dead after militants rampaged through an army-run school in Peshawar, killing more than 130 children images of the assailants have emerged, along with a warning of more slaughter to come from the Pakistani Taliban.

More than 100 institutions controlling almost $1.1 trillion in funds worldwide have opted to make new divestments of at least some of their fossil fuel assets in the 10 weeks running up to the Paris climate summit, two campaign groups say.

An American pastor jailed in Turkey for 'spying' appears to have become a pawn in a power play between the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

WikiLeaks head Julian Assange has hinted he may run for the UK parliament in June's snap election.

First there's a point on the horizon, then you start making out bodies, then you start making out faces.

With global warming opening northern routes, it is believed “Wally” became lost and swam into the Atlantic via the Arctic.

The infamous Jakarta rat now has a hefty price on its head, as the city outsources its vermin eradication program to the populace.

The same weapons were used in attacks on the Israeli embassy in Athens on Friday and on the German ambassador's residence a year ago, Greek authorities say.

Two American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by a Taliban bomb on a NATO convoy near the US Bagram Airbase north of Kabul, a US defence official says.

Three teenagers and a 20-year-old man were shot and wounded on Friday outside a Portland, Oregon, high school when a gunman thought to have gang ties opened fire following a dispute.