Julia Gillard admits she gave Kevin Rudd “false hope” about allowing him more time as leader at their fateful meeting in 2010. Mr Rudd’s then-deputy confirmed she would stand for the party’s leadership at the meeting in his office, witnessed by Labor stalwart John Faulkner. About two hours into the meeting, Mr Rudd proposed a compromise. “If come the time ...

Syrian Kurdish fighters say they have taken control of the Islamic State-held town of Tal Abyad, cutting off a major supply route for the jihadist group. Reinforcements are being sent by the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) to help secure the main road south to Islamic State’s headquarters at Raqqa. The fighting has prompted thousands of civilians to flee to ...

The U.S. launched airstrikes in eastern Libya targeting a terrorist leader who was behind a 2013 attack on a gas plant in Algeria that killed at least 38 hostages, including three Americans, the Pentagon said Sunday. The airstrikes against veteran Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar were carried out by U.S. aircraft Saturday, said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. The Libyan ...

Cash payments have been made to members of Indonesian people-smuggling rings by Australian intelligence officials for at least the past four years – including under the former Labor government, Fairfax Media has learnt. Multiple sources have said that such payments have been part of successive governments’ tactics, though not always as part of boat turnbacks, which were not used by the ...

JOHANNESBURG: A South African judge barred Sudan’s indicted president from leaving the country Sunday, in a deepening rift between Africa and the West over what Pretoria called anti-poor country bias in the International Criminal Court. President Omar al-Bashir, visiting South Africa for an African Union summit, stands accused in an ICC arrest warrant of war crimes and crimes against humanity ...

  SANAA: A delegation of Yemeni rebels headed Sunday for U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva as their forces gained ground by seizing a provincial capital near the border with Saudi Arabia. After repeatedly delaying their departure, the delegation left from capital Sanaa aboard a U.N. plane for the Swiss city, where the talks are due to start Monday, a day ...

AKCAKALE, Turkey: Kurdish forces advanced Sunday to the gates of a Syrian town and clashed with ISIS jihadis in an upsurge in violence that saw Turkey open its border to fleeing civilians. Backed by Syrian rebel fighters and U.S.-led airstrikes, the Kurdish militia pressed its offensive on the town of Tal Abyad, a strategic supply route from Turkey to ISIS’ ...

The Future Movement and Hezbollah will hold a new round of talks Monday amid renewed tension and an escalating verbal feud between the two rival parties over local and regional issues, including the resistance party’s fight against jihadis on the outskirts of Arsal. “Monday’s dialogue session will discuss all key issues, including the latest Cabinet crisis, the subject of military ...

Syrian opposition factions will gather in the Egyptian capital for talks aimed at forming a new coalition as an alternative to an exiled Western-back alliance. More than 200 figures from the armed and civilian opposition factions are to attend the June 8-9 gathering and discuss a roadmap aimed at ending the four-year war in Syria. The new grouping would offer ...

The Supreme Court struck down a disputed law Monday that would have allowed Americans born in Jerusalem to list their birthplace as Israel on their U.S. passports in an important ruling that underscores the president’s authority in foreign affairs. The court ruled 6-3 that Congress overstepped its bounds when it approved the law in 2002. It would have forced the ...