Australia's High Court has disqualified the country's deputy prime minister and four senators from sitting in Parliament in a unanimous ruling that could cost the government its slender majority.

An Australian senator who a month ago provoked an angry backlash by wearing a burka in Parliament has urged politicians to ban full-face Islamic coverings in public places.

Australia's ruling party has rejected a push to allow politicians to decide whether the country should recognise gay marriage.

One of four men arrested in Australia over an alleged plot to bring down an airliner has been released without charge.

An Australian woman who called 911 to report an assault was shot dead by a Minneapolis police officer after his partner was startled by a loud sound near their car.

The Australian government has proposed a new cybersecurity law to force global technology companies to help police by unscrambling encrypted messages sent by suspected extremists and other criminals.

Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has said his country wants to seal a free trade agreement with the UK "as soon as possible" after Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

The Saudi team officials said the tradition was not in keeping with Saudi culture, but that their players would respect the custom from the side of the field.

A gunman who killed a man and took a woman hostage before dying in a police shoot-out had been acquitted of plotting a terror attack at a Sydney army base years earlier, Australian police said.

Latest: The Queen of England has expressed her "deepest sympathy" to all those affected by the Manchester bomb attack, adding that "the whole nation has been shocked by the death and injury".

The president has discarded the US’s traditional foreign policy by antagonising allies, cosying up to enemies, and then flip-flopping on a whim, writes John Lloyd.

Irish people hoping to travel to work in Australia have been told the door is still open to them, despite the scrapping of the popular 457 visa programme.

Australia is to scrap a temporary visa for skilled overseas workers, thecountry's Prime Minister has said, arguing that Australians must be given priority over foreigners for local jobs.

Politicians from around the world were quick to react on Twitter to news of the US strikes on Syria.

Residents of Australia's cyclone-battered tropical north east have emerged from their homes to find roofs lying in their yards, boats flung on to rocks and roads blocked by tangles of fallen trees and power lines.

World leaders have condemned the bloody terror attack outside the British Houses of Parliament that ended in the deaths of four people and left up to 40 injured.

Here's your evening bulletin.

Since the Rubberbandits introduced the nation to the thoughts of Jean Baudrillard the other night the level of debate has surely risen a few notches, particularly when it comes to our awareness of what is and isn’t real. Or maybe we’ve just been conditioned to think that way (see what I mean?). For instance, forget whether anyone can hear a tree falling in an empty forest: if an Irish team doesn’t win on Irish television has it really claimed victory?

A man charged with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a man in Sydney was inspired by the Islamic State group, police said.

A plan to hold a popular vote on whether Australia should allow same-sex marriage has suffered a setback after a political party announced it would not support the proposed public vote.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has recommended that a vote on whether to allow same sex marriage be delayed, but a spokesman for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said no decision had been made.

Australia’s first online census is in disarray after being targeted by a series of cyber-attacks.

Australia's prime minister has ordered a sweeping investigation into claims that teenagers were abused at a juvenile detention centre in the country's north.

Australia’s prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has at last claimed victory in a dramatically close national election that has left the country in limbo for more than a week.

USA: Police say a central Pennsylvania man beat his friend for refusing to eat ramen noodles.

The Australian government has said it will review a planned tax hike for foreign travellers working in the country, which would have had a major impact on Irish people travelling in the country. 

Under the pressure of the migrant crisis countries across Europe have closed their borders, while xenophobic parties thrive. TP O’Mahony reflects on a new book which captures the unravelling of the EU’s liberal dream. 

Troubled R&B singer Chris Brown will be banned from touring Australia in December because of his criminal conviction for assaulting pop star Rihanna, a government minister has signalled.

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has said she is “absolutely delighted” that the Egyptian president has pardoned two journalists for Al-Jazeera English.

There are hopes that this is a watershed moment in Australia’s politics but Malcolm Turnbull, the fifth prime minister in just eight years, will need to tread cautiously, writes Gareth Evans

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Australia will get its fifth prime minister in eight years after the ruling Liberal Party voted out Tony Abbott in favour of long-time rival Malcolm Turnbull, following months of infighting and crumbling voter support.

THOUGH they have a long way to go before they reach the dizzying heights – or depths – of Italian post-war political instability, Australians can be forgiven if they have become a little confused by the musical chairs in their prime minister’s office. 

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott could face a second challenge to his position this year after a senior minister called for a vote on his party leadership.

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has brought forward a challenge to his leadership to tomorrow in the interests of ending uncertainty about his government’s direction.

The fight over conservative Australian prime minister Tony Abbott’s leadership broke out into the open today, with a member of his party triggering a potential challenge next week.

A freed Al-Jazeera English reporter and his family have called on Egypt to release his two colleagues who remain behind bars, in a case widely condemned as a sham by human rights groups.

An inquiry into the Australian print media will examine increasing regulation but will not go as far as breaking up the nation’s largest newspaper empire owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, a government minister said today.