The beast is back. Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born naturalised American media billionaire, is out to get Labor with a sledgehammer.

He claims to be the underdog, but as one of Queensland's most popular Premiers, Peter Beattie has the best chance of winning the marginal seat of Forde.

Editorial: Australia is set for an interesting election in less than a month, with polls giving an indication of just how close Sept 7's federal election will be.

Fonterra said it had been fined $900,000 following the conclusion of a review by Chinese authorities into the pricing of dairy products in the people's republic.

It used to be dodgy pamphlets and misleading how-to-vote cards.

China will not tolerate another slip-up from Fonterra, with the dairy giant caught up in its third contamination scare there since 2008, says a marketing expert.

Some worried and confused parents are taking their babies to doctors, fearing the worst in the infant formula contamination scare.

Sydney's irrepressible tabloid, the Daily Telegraph, is not known for its subtlety.

'It's about who is more fair dinkum.' Opposition leader Tony Abbott says he's ready for Australia to decide on September 7, election day.

Like a conscientious schoolboy, Kevin Rudd has spent the past month working through a list of Things To Do Before Calling An Election, writes Kathy Marks.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has thrown doubt on the likelihood of a September 7 election, saying he has made "no determination whatsoever" about the date and that he intends to attend a G20 meeting just days before.

Now that Silvio Berlusconi's tax fraud conviction and four-year prison sentence have been upheld by Italy's highest court, key questions remain about what will happen next to the former Italian premier. Here are some answers.

Labor has locked in its last major policy priority before the coming election, clearing the decks for a poll that could be held as early as the first week of September.

Two spectres haunt Tony Abbott, the man who may yet cement the first two decades of the century as a Liberal golden age.

Counting is under way in Zimbabwe's tightly fought election, amid high turnout and accusations of rigging by President Robert Mugabe's allies who wish to extend his 33-year rule.

The Defence Force may have a legitimate role in maintaining the military strength of the nation but since when was its job to suppress information?

He is the face of the military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi and engineered the crackdown on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Japan's association with TPP marks a remarkable sea-change in Japanese policy and is full of consequence for New Zealand.

This week Anthony Weiner, a candidate for mayor of New York and former Democratic Congressman, publicly admitted he's been sending lewd messages to strange women online.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has played to the politics of fear and xenophobia with his plan to exile asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea, writes Greg Ansley.

In Australia the issue has become what humanitarian issues should never be - a political football kicked around by politicians desperate to win an election, writes Grant Bayldon.