Only Australians call it a "spill". However peculiar their coinage to describe the triggering of a party leadership vote, it's gloriously apt, writes Toby Manhire.

Kevin Rudd has urged fellow lawmakers to be "a little kinder and gentler" toward each other following the internal coup that ousted Julia Gillard.

Kevin Rudd has been sworn in again as Australia's prime minister, as it appeared likely the country will go to the polls earlier than planned September 14 election.

Labor has finally made the decision it ought to have taken long ago, but the counter-revolution has been extremely bloody and there are bodies all over the place.

Kevin Rudd will be sworn in as Australian prime minister - again - by the governor-general this morning following Julia Gillard's ousting as Labor leader.

Australians could be forgive who would be running a country of 22.3 million people and a A$1.5 trillion economy by breakfast today, writes Kathy Marks.

Australia wakes this morning to a new Prime Minister and a dramatic change in the political landscape that could breathe new life into the ailing Labor Government.

A Samoan cabinet minister has come under fire for using the word "pusi" while referring to women during a vote in Parliament.

Kevin Rudd has won the Australian Labor Party leadership vote, defeating Julia Gillard by 57 votes to 45.

It's unlikely belated Western military aid will help moderate rebels attend peace talks as equals, Instead, Washington should orchestrate an accommodation.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister said his country was "analysing" a request for asylum by fugitive United States intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

With an election due in September, Australian voters can only hope that there is much less talk about sexuality and nether-regions and more about policy, writes Irfan Yusuf.

The family of Nelson Mandela spent the day at his bedside as it emerged that his health is now "critical" for the first time since he was rushed to hospital.

Gillard has been the victim of appalling levels of sexism, writes Marian Sawyer. With some justification she has made her gender a political issue.

The Chinese Communist Party is notorious for the ruthlessness with which it pursues its opponents.

Syrian state media had announced that "Operation Northern Storm" would retake Aleppo "within days" after regime forces captured Qusair at the beginning of June.

The ousted former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd must make a final, desperate bid for the leadership of the Labor Party within days.

Regime change would geographically isolate Hizbollah from critical Iranian support, significantly weakening Iran's influence in the region, writes Chris Mahony.

The resounding victory by moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani in the Iranian presidential election was a welcome surprise.

A former head of Czech military intelligence has admitted following the wife of the country's Prime Minister on the orders of a female aide at the centre of a sex and corruption scandal.

Opposition fighters in Syria are preparing for a major onslaught by government forces in their northern strongholds around Aleppo.

Two years ago, at the beginning of the violence in Syria, I was asked to write a blog in the British Medical Journal on behalf of Medecins Sans Frontieres.

The Australian Parliament continues to sit in a surreal session in which policy still takes second place to a leadership spill.

Israel is worried about continued arms supplies to the Syrian regime from Russia.

The danger is that the techniques devised today by NSA data miners to track potential terrorists may tomorrow be employed by private sector, writes Gehan Gunasekara.

The British Government has been battered by claims over spying and Syria as the G8 summit begins in Northern Ireland.

The surprise victory of reformist candidate Hassan Rowhani in the Iranian presidential elections triggered a predictably harsh reaction yesterday.