Australia’s Parliament defeated legislation to set up a greenhouse gas emissions trading system today, throwing a central plank of the government’s plans to combat global warming into disarray.

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised today to the thousands of British migrants who were abused or neglected in state care as children.

A United Nations representative is visiting Australia to investigate complaints that a government crackdown on child abuse in Outback settlements is violating Aborigines’ human rights.

Australian police say an email that challenged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s honesty and prompted calls for his resignation appears to be a forgery.

Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his treasurer are rejecting opposition calls to resign over their relationship with a car dealer which commentators say has created the 19-month-old government’s biggest political crisis.

Torrential rains and strong winds left one man dead and forced thousands to flee their homes on Australia’s eastern coast, officials said today.

AUSTRALIA’S prime minister yesterday denounced people smugglers who set hopeful refugees adrift in rickety boats as “scum” and pledged to step up efforts to thwart them, after one vessel exploded at sea and killed three people.

MORE ministers will be staying at home this St Patrick’s Day with the economic difficulties being cited as the primary reason behind a halving in the number of foreign trips.

Authorities searching for answers to the carnage from Australia’s worst-ever wildfires said today they would rethink current policies of allowing residents to decide for themselves whether to evacuate their homes.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the world faces a repeat of the current economic turmoil unless the Group of 20 countries tackles the need for financial regulation reform.

Stock markets in Europe and Asia have made further gains today following the latest efforts by world leaders to tackle the global financial crisis.

Australia’s central bank cut its official interest rate by a bigger-than-expected 1% today to ease credit concerns amid a global financial turmoil, cheering investors around the region.

The carnage on Wall Street reverberated across Europe today after US politicians rejected a $700bn (€487bn) bank rescue plan.

POPE Benedict XVI met victims of sex abuse by priests before flying out of Australia yesterday, wrapping up a visit marked by his historic apology for the scourge of paedophilia in the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI lauded the Australian government today for apologising to the country’s indigenous Aborigines for past injustices, saying it offered hope to all the world’s disadvantaged peoples.

The head of the Roman Catholic church in Australia says he expects Pope Benedict XVI to express regret for sexual abuse by church officials when he visits the country next week.

Australia is considering launching a case in the International Court of Justice against Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for inciting violence against Israel, prime minister Kevin Rudd said today.

China agreed today to meet an envoy of the Dalai Lama following growing calls for talks in the wake of Tibetans’ anti-government protests, which threaten to tarnish this summer’s Beijing Olympic Games.

The Chinese “thugs in blue” seen guarding the Olympic torch on its journey around the world will not be allowed to run alongside it in Australia.

Tibet has ordered travel agencies to stop arranging trips for foreigners in order to secure safe passage for the Olympic torch relay to Mount Everest next month, tour operators said today.

Prime minister Kevin Rudd, who is meeting the Queen today, has renewed his commitment to making Australia a republic – but said he was in no hurry to make it happen.

THE Irish Government will not boycott the Olympic Games in China in protest against events in Tibet but may, like many other EU countries, stay away from the opening ceremony, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said yesterday.

The president of East Timor was seriously ill in an Australian hospital today after being shot during a failed coup.

Rebel soldiers shot and badly wounded East Timor's president and opened fire on the prime minister in what was said to be a failed coup in the recently-independent nation.

New Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today urged America to follow his country’s climate change lead and agree to limit its greenhouse gas emissions.

ELEVEN days of talking about reducing CO² emissions, involving 15,000 politicians and officials from 180 nations began in Bali yesterday.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his team were formally sworn in as Australia’s new government today, nine days after sweeping to power in elections that ended more than 11 years of conservative rule.