Almost 100 people are reported to have died after a ferry sank in the Tigris river in Iraq's city of Mosul.

Most of the victims were women and children, the interior ministry said. It is thought nearly 200 people were on board.

The ferry was heading towards a tourist island as part of new year celebrations. Mosul's civil defence agency reportedly said most on board could not swim.

At least 19 children and 61 women were among the 94 people said to have died, and 55 people were rescued.

EU president Donald Tusk has confirmed that British Prime Minister Theresa May has accepted an offer of two options for short delays to the date of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

EU leaders agreed to offer British Prime Minister Theresa May two options to delay Brexit to avoid a damaging "no deal" on March 29, two European sources said.

If the British parliament agrees May's divorce deal in the next few days, the delay would be until May 22 to give MPs time to ratify the text, a source in the French presidency told AFP.

Melbourne’s 2019 Design Week has offered new sustainable proposals to help the city reclaim its ‘most livable city crown.’

In 2018, Melbourne was toppled from the coveted position of "world's most livable city" after a seven-year reign.

At a time when the city's demography is shifting so quickly and environmental concerns are mounting, improving infrastructure is only part of the solution.

At least six men were involved in a wild punch-up after Thursday night’s season-opening game between Richmond and Carlton at the MCG.

In disappointing scenes for the AFL, a brawl broke out on the ground level of the Great Southern Stand after the Tigers posted a 33-point win.

The incidents follow a number of violent clashes during the 2018 season, including one after a Geelong-Melbourne game that had the managers of the Cats’ home ground discuss segregating fans.

Two of Queensland’s rural communities are a hive of activity as hundreds of workers from across the state move into makeshift flood recovery camps.

Housing and Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni says the camps have been established after exhausting all existing accommodation options in the towns of Richmond and Julia Creek.

Almost 185,000 jobs have been created in Queensland since January 2015, with 4000 new full time jobs being created in February.

Data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the trend unemployment rate for February fell from 5.8% to 5.7%.

Facebook has confirmed it left millions of user passwords readable by its employees for years, after a security researcher posted about the issue online.

By storing passwords in readable plain text — as opposed to a scrambled form, which makes it almost impossible to recover the original text — Facebook violated fundamental computer security practices.

President Donald Trump has overturned decades of US policy by saying it is time to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in 1967.

In a tweet, Mr Trump declared that the plateau was of "critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and regional stability".