Media group APN News & Media, in which Independent News & Media has a 41.8% shareholding, today announced a record interim after-tax profit of AUS$72.1m (€43m) for the six months ended June 30 2006, up 9% on the same period last year.

A man armed with a bayonet hijacked a light plane and forced its pilot to make a 90-minute flight across eastern Australia, prompting authorities to swing into anti-terror mode, officials said today.

A British tourist has apparently become the first person in the world to die from the sting of the peanut-sized Irukandji jellyfish.

A tourist was in a critical condition today after he was stung by a potentially deadly peanut-sized jellyfish off Australia’s northeast coast.