Embattled Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull narrowly survived a leadership challenge as discontent with his rule boiled over
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he will step down as Labor leader because voters punished the party for internal warfare.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called a September 7 general election on Sunday, barely six weeks after he toppled former leader Julia Gillard.
A teary-eyed Julia Gillard conceded to her Labour Party rival Kevin Rudd, and talked about what her term as prime minister might mean for other women.
The resignation of Australia’s Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has stoked speculation the country’s government could be plunged into a new crisis.
A year after she ousted previous Labour leader Kevin Rudd, only one in four Australians say they would vote for her.
It was Kevin Rudd’s downfall in Australia, now the ANC takes a hard look.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday said the US, not WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was to blame for the leak of secret cables.
Wales-born lawyer Julia Gillard became Australia’s first woman prime minister on Thursday after the once-popular Kevin Rudd fell to a party coup.
Australia’s plan to hit mining projects with a new tax might have upset resource companies, but it could prove popular with voters.
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/ 19 November 2009
Australian prime minister considers inquiry into Scientology after senator tables allegations including forced abortions, assault and blackmail.
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/ 20 September 2009
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Sunday said he would not apologise for using swearwords in front of his colleagues.
Prime ministers Kevin Rudd and John Key have made a friendly bet tied to the outcome of the Tri-Nations rugby Test between Australia and New Zealand.
Australia announced a -million package for isolated Aboriginal communities on Friday, after a new report revealed shocking levels of child abuse.
Kevin Rudd on Wednesday needed just two four-letter words, and the odd shorter word, to convey his view of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
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/ 13 February 2009
Australian authorities charged a man on Friday with arson causing death in connection with one of a swarm of wildfires that killed hundreds of people.
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/ 8 February 2009
At least 93 people have been killed and entire towns razed in the worst wildfire disaster in Australian history.
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/ 10 December 2008
Australia’s government on Wednesday agreed to spend millions of dollars to back the country’s bid as host nation for the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
Australian soldiers are ashamed of their low-risk missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and are scorned by troops of other nations, two officers charged in comments published on Tuesday. ”The restrictions and policies enforced on infantrymen in Iraq have resulted in the widespread perception that our army is plagued by institutional cowardice,” Major Jim Hammett said.
Aboriginal leaders used national ”Sorry Day” on Monday, the day Australia acknowledges past injustices to Aborigines, to renew calls for compensation for their past mistreatment. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to Aborigines in February, but his government, which came to power in November 2007, has stopped short of offering compensation.
Protesting pensioners brought traffic to a standstill in Australia’s second-largest city on Friday when some stripped to demand more money from the government. The scantily clad seniors braved the autumn weather in a 150-strong protest against this week’s federal budget, which offered them little despite a Aus$21,7-billion surplus.
Burma will accept foreign aid but distribute relief itself, an official newspaper said on Friday, after a disaster rescue team from Qatar that arrived in Rangoon on an aid flight was turned back. Outside frustration is mounting at delays by the generals in giving visas to aid workers and landing rights for flights.
Aid was trickling in on Wednesday for an estimated one million victims of Cyclone Nargis in military-ruled Burma, with the death toll of more than 22 500 expected to mount. France has suggested invoking a United Nations ”responsibility to protect” clause and delivering aid directly to Burma without waiting for approval from the military in Rangoon.
Police began an unprecedented security crackdown in Australia’s national capital, Canberra, on Wednesday to protect the Olympic flame from protests during the latest leg of the torch’s troubled journey around the world. China had hoped the torch’s progress would be a symbol of unity in the run-up to the Beijing Games.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai declared himself the clear winner on Saturday of a presidential election and accused Robert Mugabe’s ruling party of preparing for a "war" against the people. "The result is known, that the Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] won the presidential and parliamentary election," Tsvangirai said.
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave a gloomy report on Saturday on prospects for the world economy to a dozen leaders debating how to respond to global financial turmoil. Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a high-powered forum that most of the downside risks to the world economy feared six months ago had now become reality.
Foreign diplomats demanded unfettered access in Lhasa Saturday after authorities allowed them to visit the riot-torn city amid debate in Europe on a possible boycott of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Diplomats from 15 embassies, including those of the United States, Britain, France and Japan, arrived in the Tibetan capital for a hastily arranged one-day tour.
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/ 27 February 2008
South Africa’s early democracy after 1994 reached out too far with a policy of reconciliation at the expense of transformation, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Wednesday. ”We focused too much on reconciliation in the first years of our democracy,” said SAHRC chairperson Jody Kollapen.
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/ 20 February 2008
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd revealed on Wednesday that he is battling the bulge, while his deputy, Julia Gillard, was stunned to be voted one of the country’s sexiest women. Rudd said it is difficult to maintain a fitness regime while coping with the responsibilities of office.
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/ 13 February 2008
Australia apologised on Wednesday for the historic mistreatment of Aborigines, moving many Aborigines to tears and prompting cheers from huge crowds gathered in cities across the nation. ”Today, the Parliament has come together to right a great wrong,” said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
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/ 12 February 2008
Aborigines playing didgeridoos and smeared with white body paint overturned hundreds of years of British tradition in Australia on Tuesday by taking part in the official opening of the nation’s new parliamentary session. The ceremony came a day before Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivers an historic apology to Aborigines for past policies.
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/ 11 February 2008
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta is "out of danger" and "recovering" following treatment in Australia after being shot in the stomach by rebels, the speaker of the country’s Parliament said on Monday. "According to the information we have, the president has been operated on and the bullet that was in his lung has been removed," Fernando de Araujo said.