Julia Gillard has survived as Australian Prime Minister after ousted predecessor Kevin Rudd refused to stand against her in a sudden leadership spill.

Speculation over Prime Minister Julia Gillard's leadership has reached a new pitch after a sudden shift among MPs dismayed at the state of the Government and the looming defeat of a key media reform package.

A decade after Australia joined the invasion of Iraq, demands are still being made for an inquiry into the decision to go to war amid fears the nation could again be dragged into a future conflict in Asia or the Gulf.

"Who should bear which liabilities in the event of a banking collapse?" asks Bryan Gould. "The NZ proposal is an astonishing assault both on the property rights of depositors and on confidence in the banking system."

The joint US-South Korean military exercises known as "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" have got under way, and so far the heavens have not fallen.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and New Zealand ambassador to the US Mike Moore will speak in Washington next week about protecting the Antarctic's Ross Sea.

After an immensely long labour, Australian Communication Minister Stephen Conroy has produced a media policy mouse with a modest roar.

Prime Minister John Key has wrapped up his tour of Latin America with a meeting with Brazil's "Iron Lady".

Parliament has condemned the torture of Fijian detainees and urged the Fijian Government to find those responsible.

Movie hardman Ray Winstone has come under fire for likening rising taxes to rape, with a British politician branding the actor's remarks "very upsetting and hurtful".

Christian communities across Pakistan have launched angry protests after a Muslim mob set fire to a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore.

Prime Minister John Key says he will raise the possibility of Brazilian energy company Petrobras returning to New Zealand when he meets the country's President.

Christian community leaders in Lahore say the violence unleashed on the Pakistani city's Joseph colony erupted after a drinking session involving two friends, one Muslim and the other Christian.

Life is about to get even tougher for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, already burdened with enough bad news to all but guarantee her defeat in the September 14 election.

It is known throughout the Vatican as the Relatio (Narration). It is contained in two stiff, unmarked red folders and runs to around 300 pages.

Kadom al-Jabouri became the face of the fall of Baghdad but the "sledgehammer man" furiously regrets the symbolism of what he was involved in 10 years ago.

Pakistan is ripping itself apart, one minority at a time, says Irfan Yusuf.

International criminal court indictee Uhuru Kenyatta was officially declared the winner of Kenya's presidential election yesterday.

A Chilean farmer has given those on the Prime Minister's tour of Latin America an entertaining insight into farming in the country.

Prime Minister John Key begins the second leg of his Latin American tour today, stopping off in Bogota for a historic visit - the first by a New Zealand leader to Colombia.

When taxi driver Ricardo is asked about Mexico's new president, he provides an amused theory on how Enrique Pena Nieto won the election last July.