Leading the news this morning: Greens MP Adam Bandt has forced Parliament to begin debating the issue of same sex marriage. Hes introduced a motion, calling on MPs to talk to their constituents about their views on gay marriage. Both major parties op...
Freed Burmese Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has offered an olive branch to the countrys military junta. She says shes willing to talk to the regime about ways to establish democracy in the country. She says she also wants to speak to western lea...
And a cloud band stretching from the tropics to the southeast in a trough is causing widespread rainfall and a few thunderstorms. Patchy low cloud over the Queensland coast in onshore winds is causing scattered showers. In Queensland, showers and thu...
Ireland's government has indicated it doesn't need help from Europe with its latest financial crisis. The European Union yesterday said it would support the country as the bond markets hit new highs. But the Irish finance minister says his country is...
Australia's Defence Force is facing a shortage of doctors, and this is affecting its overseas missions. An ABC online investigation has found that low morale is forcing many medical personnel out of the military. A reservist doctor says medical profe...
The man dubbed the 'Honeymoon Killer' has been released from jail in Queensland. Gabe Watson is now off to a detention centre, awaiting deportation back to the United States. The Federal Government has asked Watson to sign a document acknowledging th...
Qantas's reputation takes another battering. The European Commission has fined the airline $11 million for price fixing. It's one of 11 airlines that had been charged with fixing the price of air cargo between 1999 and 2006. In total, more than $1 bi...
Julia Gillard's popularity has taken a dip in the latest Newspoll. The Prime Minister's approval rating is 49 per cent. That's down four points. She still leads Opposition Leader Tony Abbott though he's increased his rating by two points, rising to 3...
Defence ties in Afghanistan will be under discussion on Hillary Clinton's final day of her Australian visit. The US secretary of state and the Defence Secretary Robert Gates will meet their Australian counterparts Kevin Rudd and Steven Smith this mor...
A cloud band is pushing across South Australia with a front and trough bringing areas of rain and storms. Cloud over eastern Victoria and New South Wales in a series of troughs is triggering storms along the ranges and scattered showers on the coast....
US President Barack Obama has cautiously praised the country's latest jobs figures. The unemployment rate remained steady at 9.6 per cent in October, but the government says 151,000 positions were created. The jobless rate matched the expectations, b...
The European Aviation Safety Authority issued a warning in August about Rolls-Royce engines used in some A380 planes, saying that they were potentially unsafe. Now it's not known whether that warning was acted upon, but engine maker Rolls-Royce says...
President Barack Obama says he understands voter discontent with the state of the economy. The Republican Party has had a sweeping victory in the mid-term elections, winning control of the House of Representatives. The Democrats are clinging to a sli...
The Federal Government is working on a plan to improve competition between the banks. It's likely that package will include a number of the Coalition's ideas. The Treasurer Wayne Swan says he'll announce a range of policy changes next month to try an...
Fifty-two people are now known to have died during an operation to free worshippers held by gunmen inside a Baghdad church. One hundred and twenty people were held in the Catholic church for at least four hours. When Iraqi security forces stormed the...
