Opposition accuses Australia prime minister of abusing power

October 3rd, 2009 SYDNEY - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was Saturday accused of kowtowing to China over his decision not to meet the Dalai Lama when the exiled Tibetan leader visits Australia in December. Rudd braved Beijing's displeasure and met the Dalai Lama in 2007 when he was leader of the opposition Labour Party but has kept him at bay since taking office after the November 2007 election.

August 7th, 2009 Chaku Cairns (Australia): Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday assured, the visiting Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna that all steps would be taken to ensure the safety and security of Indian students in his country.

July 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi has been issued with a writ following his attacks on the newspaper group, which published a series of audiotapes made by a prostitute of her alleged meetings with the Italian Prime Minister at his residence. The business tycoon's personal life came under the limelight when the publishers of La Repubblica announced that it was suing him for attacking it as "subversive", reports The Times.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Australian government is aware of the "real and deep concern" in India about the attacks on Indian students, Australia's Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Evans said here Wednesday. He said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was likely to visit India later this year.

July 13th, 2009 Japan opposition parties send no-confidence motionTOKYO — Japan's main opposition party says it submitted a no-confidence motion to parliament against the prime minister and his Cabinet. Democratic Party of Japan spokesman Toshiaki Oikawa says the motion was submitted together with other opposition parties.

June 17th, 2009 Canada avoids summer electionTORONTO — Canada's prime minister reached a deal Wednesday with one of three opposition parties allowing him to avoid early elections. The opposition Liberals had been threatening to join two other opposition parties in toppling Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government on Friday if Harper didn't unveil planned changes for unemployment insurance.

June 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday asked the media to be objective and cautious while reporting the attacks on Indian students in Australia, and assured that he understood the anxiety of their parents. "I wish to request the media to be mindful of the fact that there are over 200,000 Australian citizens of Indian origin," the prime minister said during a debate in the Lok Sabha on President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint session of parliament.

June 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd had assured him that racial attacks on Indians in that country would be "strongly dealt with". "I have already spoken to the prime minister of Australia and he has assured me that any racial attack would be strongly dealt with," Manmohan Singh said in parliament, while replying to the debate on the president's address.

June 3rd, 2009 WELLINGTON - Indian students based in Australia may opt to go to neighbouring New Zealand if the racially motivated attacks Down Under don't stop. Education New Zealand chief executive Robert Stevens said he had been in touch with the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise office in India yesterday, urging the office to market New Zealand and Australia as "totally different societies".

June 1st, 2009 SYDNEY - The government was in damage control Monday after a spate of attacks on Indians studying in Australia. "I speak on behalf of all Australians when I say that we deplore and condemn these attacks," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the parliament in Canberra.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Monday said that India was in touch with Australia over protests by Indian students alleging racist attacks and expressed the hope that their problems will get "sorted out".

May 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Sol Trujillo, former boss of telecommunications company Telstra, has said that being in Australia was like "stepping back in time" as it was a racist country. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, after a four-year stint as Telstra CEO which earnt him about 31 million dollars, Trujillo has been quick to pour scorn on the Rudd Government since leaving Australia 10 days ago.

April 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday made light of the escalating war of words with the opposition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and said it was par for the course. 'Nok jhonk to hoti rahti hai (Potshots happen),' the prime minister told Times Now television in response to a question on relations between the ruling Congress and the opposition.

February 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has accumulated huge wealth by misusing power, his rival and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief N.

January 24th, 2009 SYDNEY - The aboriginal academic voted Australian of the Year for 2009 said after accepting the award Sunday that it was offensive to indigenous people that the nation's most important public holiday marked the start of white colonisation in 1788. 'To most indigenous Australians, it (Australia Day) really reflects the day on which our world came crashing down,' Mick Dodson, a professor, said after being conferred the honour by the prime minister.