Professor John A Murphy has called on the Government to honour Daniel O’Connell, whom he deems the father of democracy in Ireland, with a national holiday.

Minister Jimmy Deenihan will travel to Sydney, Australia to lead the ceremonies for the 2013 International Commemoration of the Great Irish Famine.

An Australian politician has apologised to South Africa’s high commissioner for incorrectly announcing that Nelson Mandela had died.

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard says she still has enough support to lead the government despite growing speculation that foreign minister Kevin Rudd plans to seize power.

A clash between protesters and Australian police that forced bodyguards to rush prime minister Julia Gillard out of an event appears to have been set off by information released by one of Ms Gillard's own aides.

Supporters of indigenous rights have burned an Australian flag on the steps of the nation’s Parliament House.

Among the newly elected politicians congregating for the first time today at Parliament House were Australia’s first Muslim MP, its youngest-ever at 20 years old and the first Aboriginal in the House of Representatives.

FORGET the prime minister. Real political power in Australia right now is being wielded by a maverick in a cowboy hat and his two colleagues. A week after national elections ended on a knife edge, the unlikely trio of lawmakers have emerged as kingmakers.

A sudden revolt within Australia's ruling party gave the country its first woman prime minister, who today promised to safeguard her government's reforms in education, health and industrial law.

Indonesia’s president said a top-ranked Southeast Asian militant wanted for planning the 2002 Bali bombings was identified as the man shot dead by police in a raid on the island of Java.

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

Canberra, Australia’s capital, has a problem – too many kangaroos.

A new conservative government has been sworn into office in New Zealand, with Prime Minister John Key indicating the economy is his top priority by leaving almost immediately for a Pacific Rim leaders’ summit to discuss the global financial crisis.

THE Junior Certificate science papers gave students plenty of topics to choose from, according to Gerry King from the Teachers’ Union of Ireland.

The Olympic flame reached Australia today for the next leg of the troubled torch relay, and was whisked away to a secret location to avoid potential trouble from anti-China protesters.

Scores of Australian troops were today flying to the Solomon Islands in the Pacific to restore peace after rioters and looters laid waste to much of the capital Honiara’s Chinatown neighbourhood in protests sparked by the election of a new prime minister.

US President George Bush, greeted with a huge outpouring of affection in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, expressed strong support for the fledgling democracy today and said: “You’ve got a solid friend in America.”

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.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard attended a solemn commemoration today for victims of the nightclub bombings two years ago on Indonesia’s Bali island, which claimed the lives of 88 Australians.

Trade and terrorism topped the agenda for US President George Bush’s talks with the leader of Australia, a nation he dubbed his ”sheriff” in the US-led war on terror.

A former military officer and decorated war hero was sworn in today as the Queen’s new representative in Australia.

Anglican bishops joined calls for the Queen’s representative in Australia to resign today, only hours after prime minister John Howard met the monarch in London.

More than 50 bush fires are raging around the state of New South Wales today, including one only miles from Parliament House in Canberra.