The death toll from floods sweeping through north-eastern China has risen to 37, according to state media, as authorities raced to intercept 12 heavy vessels hurtling down a major waterway.

Investigators searching the site of an airliner crash near Pakistan's capital Islamabad in which 152 people died have found the plane's black box, a civil aviation official said.

Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets in a bid to subdue garment workers who rioted for a second day in protest against low pay as unrest spread to areas outside Dhaka, police said.

Prosecutors say there is no evidence to back a woman's claims that she was assaulted by former United States vice president Al Gore.

The New South Wales Teachers Federation is concerned school maintenance will suffer if funds are diverted to replacing unflued gas heaters.

The Australian Beef Association says the New South Wales Government has bowed to pressure from supermarkets about new meat labelling laws.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has discredited the energy star rating system used to assess new houses.

The Electrical Trades Union says workers' lives were put at risk on Melbourne's train network during Tuesday's power outage.

The chief executive of the New South Wales Cancer Institute has echoed the concerns of North Coast doctors about an alternative breast screening service.

The AMA says it is unacceptable the SA Government plans to curtail vital breast screening.

Anecdotal evidence has suggested the 'unnatural' stance caused by high-heel shoes changes the muscles and tendons around the ankle.

Research backs widely-held belief access to technology has blurred boundaries between work and home life.

The Australian Homeopathic Association says a Perth practitioner who told a patient she could cure cancer, was acting outside the industry's code of conduct.

In an Australian first, Western Australia's Commissioner for Children is set to conduct an independent inquiry into the mental health of young people.

The Electrical Trades Union says the emergency communications system on Melbourne's rail network is dangerously inadequate.

New research suggests people living in the Northern Territory drink more alcohol than other Australians and are also more likely to die from it.

Residents of Papua New Guinea's sinking Carteret Islands are known as the world's first climate change refugees but international attention has not translated into relief from their plight.

A businessman has signed a deal with the Papua New Guinean government to look at piping water 3,000 kilometres to south-east Queensland.

Papua New Guinea is mourning the death of one of its most prominent businessmen: a Queensland man who created a retail empire.

Fiji's interim prime Minister Frank Bainimarama says he has the backing of a several Pacific Island leaders, despite a rift with Vanuatu over his leadership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.