ABC Breaking News

US stocks have risen for a second consecutive session and the Australian dollar has rallied to its highest level since April, after the release of better than expected economic news.

A 31-year-old man will appear in a Townsville court in north Queensland today charged over an incident in which a rock was thrown at a vehicle.

US Marines have rescued a German-owned ship seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia after hijackers vainly sought the crew which hid in a secret compartment.

Police say they have yet to formally identify the body of a man found in a flooded river in central Queensland overnight.

French police have raided the offices of president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Iran is to free Sarah Shourd, one of three American hikers who have been detained for more than a year since they strayed across the border from Iraq.

The European parliament has criticised France for its expulsion of Gypsies, also known as Roma, labelling the practise racially discriminating.

The US administration is considering making a direct appeal to the pastor of a tiny Florida church who has threatened to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

A new report has found more than half of all adult Australians were not vaccinated against swine flu by February this year.

An Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan last month will be laid to rest in Brisbane today.

A suicide car bomber has killed at least 16 people and injured more than 100 at a crowded market in the Russian Caucasus city of Vladikavkaz.

Nobel peace-winner Shirin Ebadi has called on world leaders to fight to end the practice of death by stoning in Iran.

Two men have been taken to hospital with face and head injuries after a knife fight in Melbourne's south overnight.

As Florida officials worried about public safety surrounding a small church's plan to burn the Koran, US President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition to the church's intention to burn copies of Islam's holiest book.

A major flood warning has been issued for the lower Goulburn River in Victoria's north.

Federal independent MP Rob Oakeshott is expected to announce today if he will accept a regional affairs ministry in the Gillard Government.

A 26-year-old man has been charged with murder after a woman's body was found in a bush reserve on the NSW south coast this morning.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told her Labor colleagues there will be a serious review of the party's direction in light of the federal election result.

A British-Pakistani journalist abducted by suspected Islamist militants in Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun tribal areas in March has been freed, the British High Commission said.

A British watchdog has hit Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs with a fine of 17.5 million pounds ($29 million) for information failures tied to US fraud charges.