City News

Police are hunting a knifeman after a home invasion north of Brisbane . The intruder allegedly forced entry into an Aspley home about 9.45pm on Friday before he threatened a family with a knife. Police said he ended up fleeing the scene empty-handed. READ MORE: Expert warning about Aussie teens becoming radicalised No one was physically injured. "It's absolutely terrifying this has happened," homeowner Pauline Bartz told 9News. "We've been here 20 years and nothing has ever happened like that."  "The knife was pretty scary...he kept saying 'come on, come on'," husband Jeff said. Police said investigations are ongoing. 

Police are bracing for a second day of protests after pro-Palestinian supporters stormed a Victorian Labor conference yesterday. Dozens of demonstrators entered Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne's north-west where key speeches were delivered by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan yesterday. MPs were locked behind a door inside the venue after pro-Palestinian CMFEU members and activists managed to get inside the pavilion. READ MORE: Australian tourist injured in deadly Afghanistan shooting Union members shouted "free Palestine" via megaphone and some went up to help reinforce the door while police officers escorted Allan out of her seat. No arrests have been made and police yesterday said the group left without incident. Day two of the conference is set to resume this morning. Extra resources including police and security guards have been called into the venue as protests are set to reconvene.

At the beginning of last year, Tasmanian architect Jiri Lev was a novice builder, with no hands-on experience in construction. Yet, in the space of six months, he was able to build his own home for the modest price of $150,000, about a third of the cost of a standard new home. Lev is on a mission to prove that housing can still be accessible and affordable in Australia.  READ MORE: Why 'shouses' are surging in popularity He designed the plans for his northern Tasmanian home himself, with simplicity and ease of construction in front of mind.  Now, he's made the plans free and accessible to all as open source documents, with the hope others will share in his vision. Lev's 120-square metre home was built with simple materials - about 90 percent of which were sourced from within the state - including hardwood for the floors, pine wood and Australian BluScope steel. "You will save money and lead time if you use local," Lev said. Building the home with no

The Vatican has tightened up its guidance on recognising supernatural phenomena such as apparitions of the Virgin Mary and seemingly blood-soaked crucifixes. The new guidelines replace rules drawn up in 1978 and say that bishops should no longer act independently over such sightings but instead consult the Vatican. The changes made by the Vatican's doctrinal office (DDF) aim to to bring the church up to date in responding to the swift spread of claims of apparitions online. READ MORE: Israeli military finds bodies of three hostages in Gaza According to the document released by the Vatican on Friday, the new procedure will allow for "faster decisions while respecting popular devotion" when it comes to assessing claims of supernatural phenomena, which could include the appearance of stigmata and other purported miracles. Under the previous guidelines, a local bishop could rapidly declare a phenomenon's supernatural nature, the Vatican said, "only for the H

Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a two-day visit to China on Friday, emphasising the countries’ burgeoning strategic ties as well as his own personal relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they sought to present an alternative to US global influence. Putin praised the growth in bilateral trade while touring a China-Russia Expo in the north eastern city of Harbin. He met students at the Harbin Institute of Technology, which is said to work closely with the People's Liberation Army. READ MORE: Bronco star's father arrested in the Philippines over alleged drug smuggling plot Harbin, capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, was once home to many Russian expatriates and retains some of that history in its architecture, such as the central St. Sophia Cathedral, a former Russian Orthodox church. Underscoring the personal nature of the relationship, Putin said the Harbin institute and his alma mater, St. Petersburg State University, will open a joint school

Power outages could last for weeks in the Houston, Texas area of the USA after a destructive complex of storms tore through the area, killing at least four people and crumpling critical power infrastructure. More than 900,000 homes and businesses lost power in Houston's Harris County during the peak of the storm's violent winds, and more than 650,000 remained in the dark Friday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. "For some folks, the luckier ones, (power restoration) might be days, not hours. For many, many people, it's going to be weeks and not days," Harris County Judge Lina Hildago said in a Friday news briefing. READ MORE: Kim's sister denies North Korea has supplied weapons to Russia  Hidalgo said the weeks-long restoration timeframe was for homes and businesses tied into the 10 steel power transmission towers downed in the state, seven of which were in Harris County. It's unclear which areas are tied into the transmission lines, she said

A man is on the run after abducting a woman and her baby from a shopping centre car park in Melbourne's south-east last week. Police said the pair were not physically injured after they were approached by the offender at Stud Park Shopping Centre supermarket car park in Rowville about 6pm last Friday. Detectives believe the woman was approached by the man who threatened her with a knife, forcing her into the driver's seat of her silver Suzuki S Cross. READ MORE: The Melbourne café that still sells coffee for $2.50 Police said the man sat in the back seat with her infant child, before forcing her to drive to electrical stores on the South Gippsland Highway, Cranbourne and Frankston Dandenong Road, Dandenong. He demanded her to purchase Apple MacBooks at several stores, while he remained in the car with her baby. Detectives said the man drove from the Dandenong store, while the victim was forced to remain in the back seat with her child. He exited the car and fled th