International

• Sunday, December 31st 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Aussies usher '07 with Sydney fireworks

  

  Wind-swept revelers gathered around London's Big Ben to watch the fireworks, and thousands of Japanese climbed Mount Fuji and other peaks to watch the first sunrise of the New Year. But the Thai capital sent celebrants home after a series of evening bombs

• Saturday, December 30th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Saddam Hussein Is Executed

  

  Two years after U.S. forces in Iraq pulled him from the hole in which he was hiding near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein has been executed.

• Saturday, December 30th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  British research robot to trawl depths of Antarctica

  

  The mysteries of the Antarctic deep will be probed in mid January by a new robot vessel capable of plunging 6.5 kilometer down, reports the BBC. Isis, the UK's first deep-diving remotely operated vehicle (ROV), will be combing the sea-bed in the region in its inaugural science mission.

• Friday, December 29th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Saddam execution '6am Baghdad time'

  

  A top Iraqi official says Saddam Hussein will be executed before 6am on Saturday, Baghdad time, 3am GMT.

• Friday, December 29th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  British woman makes polar history in Antarctica

  

  British adventurer Hannah McKeand, 33, made polar history on Thursday when she became the fastest person ever to reach the Geographic South Pole solo and unsupported.

• Friday, December 29th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Huge ice shelf adrift in the Arctic, reports Canada

  

  An ice island the size of a small city is adrift in the Arctic after breaking free from one of Canada's largest ice shelves, reported on Friday Canadian scientists.

• Thursday, December 28th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Euro becomes the world's favourite currency

  

  The US dollar bill's standing as the world's favourite form of cash is being pushed aside by the five-year-old euro with the value of Euro notes in circulation totaling 614 billion compared to the equivalent 588 billion Euros in greenbacks.

• Wednesday, December 27th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  New homes sales figures boost Wall Street to record high

  Sales of new homes in United States picked up in November following a big drop in October, while the backlog of unsold homes on the market became somewhat smaller, according to the latest report from the Commerce Department released Wednesday.

• Wednesday, December 27th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Asian communications collapse following Taiwan earthquakes

  Telephone lines and Internet service collapsed across much of Asia on Wednesday after two powerful earthquakes off the southern tip of Taiwan damaged undersea cables used by several countries to route calls and online traffic.

• Wednesday, December 27th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  After six years Morocco and EU agree on fisheries

  Morocco's parliament unanimously ratified this week the fisheries agreement with the European Union which entitles 119 EU fishing vessels to operate in the North African country's waters.