SIx In The Morning Wednesday May 7

7 May 2014 Last updated at 07:54

Syria conflict: Rebels 'evacuating Old City of Homs'

The evacuation of rebels from their last stronghold in the Syrian city of Homs is under way, activists say.

Within the past hour, buses have begun leaving the Old City under a deal brokered by the United Nations.

At least two buses have arrived in rebel-held territory to the north, carrying a number of armed fighters.

It marks the end of any rebel presence in the heart of the major city once dubbed the "capital of the revolution" against President Bashar al-Assad.

'World failed us'

The BBC's Paul Wood in Beirut says the rebel fighters and their families are sad and bitter as they say goodbye to a place they swore they would never leave.

They buckled finally, our correspondent adds, after two years of siege - the government's forces following a tactic of what some Syrian army officers called "surrender or starve".

Australia shark cull: Government destroys 50 sharks in trial programme – but fails to catch a single great white blamed for fatalities

Opponents of scheme say it is hurting the wrong shark species and doing nothing to protect beachgoers

ADAM WITHNALL Wednesday 07 May 2014

More than 170 sharks have been caught and 50 destroyed as part of Australia’s controversial culling policy, government figures have revealed.

Officials said the programme was “successfully restoring confidence” among beachgoers in Western Australia, but opponents have been critical after it emerged that the animals caught did not include a single great white – the species most often blamed for fatal attacks.

The trial scheme involved placing drum lines along seven of the state’s most popular beaches, and while tiger sharks were the most commonly caught there were also five protected makos, four of which were either killed or found already dead on the line.

Ukraine on brink of civil war as crisis deepens

Diplomatic initiative flounders as Russia insists rebels should be included

Harriet Salem,Howard Amos and Shaun Walker

A day after intense fighting in eastern Ukraine, the region remained on the brink of civil war as a diplomatic initiative to end the confrontation floundered, with Russia insisting the rebels holding much of the south and east of the country should be included in talks on equal terms with the Kiev government.

French president François Hollande warned that “chaos and the risk of civil war” were looming in Ukraine, while the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said: “We are not far from a military confrontation.”

The Ukrainian army’s attempts to regain control of the east of the country, termed an “anti-terrorist operation”, are partly meant to prevent a referendum on secession from going ahead on Sunday in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but have already led to casualties on both sides in Slavyansk, the most fortified rebel stronghold.

How DNA forensics could identify lost Nigerian girls

Sapa-AFP | 07 May, 2014 10:06

Forensic DNA technology could help identify and reunite with their families the more than 200 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped by Islamist militants, scientists told AFP Tuesday.

Software already exists to match missing people with their relatives, and it has been used worldwide to identify and return more than 740 children who were trafficked, some across international borders.

Most of all, forensic scientists in the United States and Spain say they are ready to help, free of charge. All they need to get started are DNA samples from family members of the lost schoolgirls.

"We would do this absolutely for nothing," said Arthur Eisenberg, chairman of the department of molecular and medical genetics at the University of North Texas (UNT).

World Cup city Manaus: Brazil's 'Paris' in the Amazon?

The opulent Teatro Amazonas opera house still stuns visitors to Manaus. It's a legacy of the rubber boom and the region’s short-lived monopoly on worldwide production.

By Stephen Kurczy, Correspondent

MANAUS, BRAZIL

Nearly 115 years before a multi-million dollar soccer stadium was plopped down in the middle of the Amazon for next month’s World Cup, this city had another idea for world-class entertainment. 

Building an opera house in the world's largest rainforest was a Herculean task. For 12 years, workers had to haul all the materials – gold from Brazil; iron from Scotland; chandeliers from France and Venice; marble from Portugal and Italy – 1,000 miles up the Amazon River. By 1896, their job was done, and the Teatro Amazonas opened. 

A legacy of the rubber boom, the opulent theater still stuns visitors to Manaus. The main hall boasts four levels, 686 seats, 90 boxes, and a grand ceiling painted to resemble the underbelly of the Eiffel Tower. It’s as if one were seated at the center of Europe’s cultural capital instead of on the banks of a piranha-filled river.

Five things to know about Alibaba

By Charles Riley  @CRrileyCNN May 7, 2014: 3:51 AM ET

The tech company behind the largest and most-anticipated IPO of the year doesn't trace its roots to Silicon Valley, a Harvard dorm room or MIT lab.

Alibaba was founded 15 years ago in the modest Hangzhou, China apartment of Jack Ma -- a former English teacher who started the company with an initial investment of $60,000 kicked in by 18 friends.

The company has since evolved into the dominant force in China's e-commerce industry, a market with so much potential that Alibaba's IPO may be the largest ever by a tech company -- surpassing even the record $16 billion raised by Facebook.