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Eight Children Found Dead at Home in Cairns, Australia
Eight children, the youngest of them only 18 months old, have been found dead at a suburban home in the northeastern Australian city of Cairns in a case that the country's Prime Minister has called "an unspeakable crime."
A woman who the police believe is the mother of the seven of the children is in a hospital suffering from serious injuries.
The discovery of the bodies added to a traumatic week for Australia after a deadly hostage-taking in Sydney only days ago.
Police said they were called to the property in the Manoora area of Cairns on Friday morning after reports of an injured woman.
Pakistan Militants: Children's Massacre was to Avenge Army Strikes
As Pakistan started three days of national mourning Wednesday, the Taliban said they targeted a school that mostly admits soldiers' children because the students aspired to follow in their fathers' footsteps and target militants.
Terrorists ambushed the school in Peshawar on Tuesday, explosives strapped to their bodies, and burst into an auditorium filled with students taking exams.
They sprayed bullets rapidly, killing 145 people. Of those, 132 were children, authorities said.
In an email, the terror group warned Muslims to avoid places with military ties, saying it attacked the school to avenge the deaths of children allegedly killed by soldiers in tribal areas.
It accused the students at the army school of "following the path of their fathers and brothers to take part in the fight against the tribesmen" nationwide.
The Army Public School and Degree College is home to about 1,100 students and staff, most of them sons and daughters of army personnel from around Peshawar. The public school admits children whose parents are in the military, but its classes are not restricted to future soldiers.
A day after the massacre, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a moratorium on the death penalty for terrorism cases.
Cuba Releases American Alan Gross in Prisoner Swap
U.S. contractor Alan Gross, held by theCuban government since 2009, was freed Wednesday as part of alandmark deal with Cuba that paves the way for a major overhaul in U.S. policy toward the island, senior administration officials tell CNN.
President Obama is expected to announce Gross' release at noon.
Gross' "humanitarian" release by Cuba was accompanied by a separate spy swap, the officials said. Cuba also freed a U.S. intelligence source who has been jailed in Cuba for more than 20 years, although authorities did not identify that person for security reasons. The U.S. released three Cuban intelligence agents convicted of espionage in 2001.
President Barack Obama is also set to announce a broad range of diplomatic and regulatory measures in what officials called the most sweeping change in U.S. policy toward Cuba since the 1961 embargo was imposed.
Taliban Storm Pakistan School, Kill Mostly Children
For the latest numbers and updates go to CNN.com.
7:51amEST – The Taliban stormed a military-run school in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, gunning down at least 126 people – most of them children – in one of the volatile Asian nation's deadliest attacks.
Hours after the attack, Pakistani troops were still exchanging gunfire with the militants inside the Army Public School and Degree College in the violence-plagued city of Peshawar, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the country's capital, Islamabad.
Two explosions were also heard.
By around 4 p.m. (6 a.m. ET), the Pakistani military had pushed the attackers back to four blocks of the school, military spokesman Gen. Asim BajwaI tweeted. BajwaI over an hour later said that six assailants had been killed.
It was unclear, by then, how many of the hundreds of students at the co-ed school – which is for children of army personnel and has a capacity of 1,000 – were still inside, not to mention how many more were dead or alive. More than 100 people were injured, ministers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said.
"2 more children, 2 teachers rescued," BajwaI wrote around 5:15 a.m. "6th terrorist killed in last block. IEDs planted by terrorists hamper speed of clearance."
Congress Poised to End Where it Started
This Congress is going out just the way it began: in complete disarray.
Fourteen months after tea party conservatives ignored Republican leaders and forced a two-week government shutdown, another one came close to happening - this time because liberals were blowing off President Barack Obama's pleas to support a government funding measure.
For weeks, legislative leaders insisted another shutdown wouldn't happen. And it didn't. But the House was just two hours away, and the Senate might not cast its final votes until this weekend.
Protesters Flood California Highway, Throw Explosives at Officers, Police Say
From the streets of California to the shopping malls of New York, protesters are making sure no one forgets the case of Eric Garner.
But some are choosing to do so more violently than others.
Demonstrators flooded a highway in Oakland, California, prompting a heated standoff in the freeway between protesters and California Highway Patrol.
Some threw explosives, bottles and rocks at officers, authorities said.
Family Pleads for American Hostage's Life
The family of Luke Somers, the American hostage being held in Yemen, have taken to the internet to ask for his release.
"Luke is only a photojournalist, and he is not responsible for any of the actions the U.S. government has taken," says Jordan Somers, Luke's brother.
Luke's mother Paula Somers goes on to ask for mercy, saying Luke "is all that we have."
Inside Kobani, Scenes of Devastation on Every Side
When violence swallows a city as wholly as it has Kobani, as in so many of Syria's mottled cities, the fight becomes about who wins, rather than what is left for the victor.
Its streets have been so ground down to the bone, that the prize - so small but so intensely fought over - is now unrecognizable.
Every time you open your eyes in Kobani, you see the damage.
There are people still there, but it is hard to gauge how many. Food is scarce, as is fuel for heat. And day and night, indiscriminate, homemade mortars rain down on Kurdish homes - ISIS borrowing a technique, it seems, from the Syrian regime, and using domestic gas canisters and junk metal to kill or maim civilians.
March 17 Date Expected for New Israel Elections
New elections will likely be held on March 17, the speaker of Israel's parliament said Wednesday, a day after the Prime Minister sacked two senior members of his coalition Cabinetfor criticizing government policy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called for Parliament to be dissolved, with lawmakers expected to vote on that shortly.
Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein told reporters the party heads were informing their members of the proposed election date and that there would then be an official announcement.
Hong Kong Protest Leader Says Hunger Strike 'Only Way'
Hong Kong's teenage protest leader Joshua Wong has begun a hunger strike with two members of his youth activist group Scholarism in his latest attempt to secure talks with the government to demand democracy.
"I know it is really harmful to my body, however it is the only way to give pressure to the government to get a meeting with us," Wong told CNN.
"If the government can have a proper meeting with Scholarism to discuss whether political reform will be launched immediately, we will stop the hunger strike."
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