Japan's Infrastructure Ministry has announced that the country's elevators may soon have a surprising new feature: Toilets.

Little more than six months are left before France is supposed to steer the world to the most demanding and complex deal on climate change ever attempted.

Like other Western nations, Australia has been grappling with the challenge of how to deal with radicalised Muslims who travel to Iraq or Syria to fight with Isis, writes Kathy Marks.

It's that time of year again, when politicians' thoughts turn to knifing their leader. Almost exactly five years ago, Julia Gillard ousted Kevin Rudd.

It was "a moment bigger than politics", declared the Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, introducing his same-sex marriage bill to the federal Parliament yesterday.

Labour has no regrets about questioning the federal government over correspondence Attorney General George Brandis received from Sydney siege gunman Man Haron Monis.

A policy document by the state council, or Cabinet, said China faced a "grave and complex array of security threats", justifying the change.

The American Defence Secretary, Ashton Carter, could not have been blunter in his assessment of the Iraqi Army.

NZ's contingent of military training specialists have barely arrived and the folly of this military (mis)adventure is already becoming apparent, writes Armstrong.

Greece will be unable to find the 1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) sum it is due to hand the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month, one of the country's ministers has admitted.

US Defence Secretary Carter warned that Iraqi troops would not be able to defeat Isis until they developed a "will to fight", reflecting surprise after the collapse in Ramadi.

In one of her last gigs on the paid lecture circuit, Hillary Clinton addressed an eBay summit aimed at promoting women in the workplace, delivering a 20-minute talk that gave her a US$315,000 payday from the company.

A poll in March found Bill Clinton is America's most popular politician, outranking subsequent Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, - and his wife, Hillary, who is running for the presidency in the 2016 race.

Investors yawned at the news that five of the world's biggest banks agreed to plead guilty in a currency-rigging probe.

Yesterday, as the Senate began public hearings into conditions in the Australian-funded detention centre, those words seemed not too far from the truth.

A Budget full of giveaways for families and small businesses has achieved what seemed impossible barely three months ago.

With just days to go before Ireland's historic referendum on the legalisation of gay marriage, a bitter row has broken out between supporters and opponents over the funding of their respective campaigns.

Egyptian Islamists have warned that the world should brace itself for a backlash after the country's first freely elected President Mohamed Morsi was given a death sentence.

Last Thursday we saw a tale of two biotech companies. If you need evidence investing in medical research stocks is a lottery, this is the story for you, writes Christopher Niesche.

Australia and New Zealands' Budgets speak volumes of the strength of their respective economies and their citizens' state of mind.

Yesterday, at a campaign-style stop in Tempe, Arizona Jeb Bush declared that he would not have authorised the 2003 invasion of Iraq had he known about the intelligence failures at the time.

A poll in March found Bill Clinton is America's most popular politician, outranking subsequent Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, - and his wife, Hillary, who is running for the presidency in the 2016 race.

The election fate of Britain’s Lib Dems is similar to failed coalition partnerships in New Zealand, writes John Roughan.

Earlier this week, Tony Abbott and his senior ministers accused new mothers who benefit from a government as well as a private parental leave scheme of committing a "rort" and "basically fraud".

Most incoming governments take charge of divided countries, that's the nature of democracy. And the UK is really no more divided now, writes Paul Thomas.

In Europe, cosmetic firms are required to put expiry dates on products with a lifespan of less than 30 months. Similar consumer protections might be worth applying to federal politicians in Australia.

Letters from Prince Charles to government ministers were finally published after a 10-year legal battle to keep them from public view, opening debate on whether the Prince overreached into political affairs.

Ed Miliband did a really good job of keeping the UK Labour Party united, writes Josie Pagani. They still lost, proving there is more to winning elections than having everyone singing

Australia has a Budget crisis and a debt that will crush generations to come. Or does it? It depends on who's in government, and how badly they want to save their own skin.