THE price of gold reached a record high of $US991.47 an ounce in London overnight after the dollar plunged to a record trough against the euro, dealers said
SAUDI authorities beheaded a Yemeni by the sword after he was convicted of murdering a compatriot in the southwestern town of Jizan, the interior ministry said
OPEC agreed to maintain its oil production target, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said, following a meeting at which the cartel had been under pressure to increase output
TURKISH warplanes and artillery fired on targets inside the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, a spokesman for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) said
CHINA will stick with its strict family planning rules, Premier Wen Jiabao says, in an apparent rebuttal to officials who raised the possibility of changes to the one-child policy
A FIRE at a coal mine in northeastern China killed 17 people, state media reported, in the latest deadly accident to strike the nation`s hazardous mining industry
CHINA`S special envoy to Darfur said Beijing was ready to work with Western powers for a peaceful end to the bloodshed, but remains opposed to sanctions against the regime in Khartoum
THE Carlton faithful will be rejoicing after coach Brett Ratten confirmed captain Chris Judd will play in this weekend`s AFL practice match against the Western Bulldogs at Princes Park
Property price ... a house goes under the hammer in Sydney.