Kevin Rudd is quitting politics after twice winning and losing the leadership of Australia’s government during the past six years.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned that all refugees who arrive in the country by boat will be resettled on the island nation of Papua New Guinea as his government struggles to stem an influx of asylum seekers.

An Indonesian court has sentenced a British grandmother to death for smuggling cocaine worth $2.5m (€1.9m) in her suitcase onto the resort island of Bali — even though prosecutors had only sought a 15-year sentence.

A Japanese Second World War submarine wreck has been found partially buried in the seabed of a Papua New Guinea harbour.

Australia’s government has revealed the world’s toughest anti-tobacco bill, preventing companies from displaying their distinctive colours, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs in a bid to make smoking less attractive to the young.

Australia’s Parliament would apologise to Aborigines for “profound grief” and “the indignity and degradation” caused by the policies of past governments, under a motion proposed today by the prime minister.

An Australian judge today banned the company that conducts Japan’s whale hunt from killing the animals in a large part of its regular hunting grounds off Antarctica.

Taliban foot soldier David Hicks described Osama bin Laden as “lovely” and trained with al-Qaida a month before the 9/11attacks on the US, police told an Australian court today.

A powerful, deadly earthquake struck Japan early today, killing a 52-year-old woman and injuring 80 others as it shook buildings and triggered a small tsunami that hit the coast.

Australia’s Parliament today lifted a ban on cloning human embryos for stem cell research despite opposition from the prime minister and other party leaders.

Australia’s government today rejected accusations it had humiliated an Outback Aboriginal community with a demand that indigenous children wash their faces twice a day to promote public health if the town is to be given a petrol pump.

Australia’s government is ready to unite with its impoverished Aborigines to tackle the chronic health and social problems that afflict their communities, a prominent indigenous sportsman says, after a meeting with the prime minister.

Australia’s High Court has thrown out an appeal against the Australian government’s refusal to allow Muslim asylum seekers to land on Australian soil.