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*Live: Kevin Rudd to be sworn in as PM*

*US Supreme Court delivers wins for gay couples*

*Australia takes on Japanese whaling at UN court*

*Nelson Mandela on life support*




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*Live: Kevin Rudd to be sworn in as PM*


Kevin Rudd will complete his dramatic comeback to the prime ministership when he is sworn in by the Governor-General in Canberra this morning.

Last night he defeated Julia Gillard in a ballot for the Labor leadership, reclaiming the job he lost in 2010.

A total of 45 of Ms Gillard's colleagues stuck with her, but 57, including factional heavyweight Bill Shorten, turned back to Mr Rudd believing he can deliver them more votes.

Look back at how the story unfolded yesterday

The ballot means Australia's first female prime minister will quit politics at the next election, and has triggered an avalanche of senior departures from Labor's ranks.

Mr Rudd has promised to unite the Labor Party and take the fight to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in the upcoming election.

"I simply do not have it in my nature to stand idly by and to allow an Abbott government to come to power in this country by default," Mr Rudd said.

Former deputy leader Wayne Swan has been replaced by Anthony Albanese.

Mr Abbott says it should have been up to the people to make the decision and "not the faceless men of the Labor Party".

He is demanding Mr Rudd announce when he will call an election.

Read the story here and follow our blog for rolling updates, images, video and analysis

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*US Supreme Court delivers wins for gay couples*


Supporters of gay marriage in the United States are celebrating after the Supreme Court overturned a law that denies government benefits to same-sex couples, as well as clearing the way for gay marriage in California.

In a 5-4 decision, the court first struck down the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal benefits to married gay and lesbian couples by strictly defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

"DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment" of the Constitution, said the majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

US president Barack Obama hailed the decision.

"We are a people who declared that we are all created equal - and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well," Mr Obama said.

Anthony Romero form the American Civil Liberties union said when the decision came, there was celebration and relief.

"We are thrilled at the prospects before us, we truly stand at a tipping point today for winning the struggle for LGBT equality," he said.

Defence secretary Chuck Hagel said spouses of gays in the military would get the same benefits as their straight counterparts "as soon as possible".

And former president Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA into law but later called for its reversal, applauded the ruling.

"Discrimination towards any group holds us all back in our efforts to form a more perfect union," he said.

Same-sex marriage in California

The court also said a case on Proposition 8 - a 2008 voter initiative in California that prohibited same-sex marriage in the nation's most populous state - was not properly brought before them.

That 5-4 decision enabled the justices to dodge the thornier issue of whether same-sex marriage is a constitutional right throughout the United States.

Twelve US states plus the District of Columbia now recognise same-sex marriage, but about 30 states have decreed marriage can only exist between a man and a woman.

"Now we will be married and be equal to every other family in California," said Kris Perry, a plaintiff in the Proposition 8 case, alongside her partner Sandy Stier on the Supreme Court steps.

"Thank you to the Constitution ... but it's not enough," Ms Stier added.

"It's got to go nationwide. This can't wait decades" for marriage equality to be legalised in all 50 states.

California governor Jerry Brown indicated that same-sex marriages could resume in a matter of weeks.

"After years of struggle, the US Supreme Court today has made same-sex marriage a reality in California," he said.

Congratulations and criticism

windsor pic

Mr Obama is the first serving US president ever to come out publicly in favour of marriage equality.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president telephoned 83-year-old Edith Windsor, the plaintiff in the DOMA case, and "congratulated her on this victory, which was a long time in the making".

The fight against DOMA was spearheaded by Ms Windsor, a New Yorker hit with a $US363,000 estate tax bill after the 2009 death of her lifelong partner, Thea Spyer, who she had married in Canada.

Mr Obama also called Chad Griffin, head of the Human Rights Campaign, the leading LGBT civil rights group in the United States, and the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case to congratulate them on a "tremendous victory".

But there was outrage among social conservatives.

"The DOMA ruling has now made the normalisation of polygamy, paedophilia, incest and bestiality inevitable," said Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis at the American Family Association.

"Today's decision is certainly a setback for the traditional values that make up the backbone of our country," said Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives judiciary committee.

"They (the decisions) do not change the Biblical or timeless truth of the nature of marriage as between a man and a woman," Reverend Rob Schenck from the evangelical Church alliance said.


ABC/AFP


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*Australia takes on Japanese whaling at UN court*


Australia argued that Japan's whaling program is untenable and dangerous in its opening address to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

The Government launched the legal action in 2010 and now it has come down to submissions by both sides over three weeks.

When the court hands down its decision later this year, there will be no appeal, so the stakes are high for all parties.

Bill Campbell QC, who has advised the Government on international law for more than 30 years, told the court Japan erroneously asserts the program for scientific research.

"Japan seeks to cloak its commercial whaling under the labcoat of science. It simply isn't science," he said.

"What Japan is doing in the Southern Ocean is patently for commercial purposes.

"The amount of catch they're taking, which in the case of minke whales, they can take up to 935 minke whales a year.

"They also sell the product into various places in Japan."

Mr Campbell told the 16 presiding judges that the court has a genuine opportunity to decide what does and does not constitute scientific activity.

He told the court that if each of the 89 countries signed up to whaling regulations made the same decisions as Japan, the consequences would be disastrous.

Australia says more than 10,000 whales have been killed since 1988 as a result of Japan's programs.

It alleges that puts the Asian nation in breach of international conventions and its obligation to preserve marine mammals and their environment.

Australia's address will last for three days, while Japan makes its first submission next week

Japan defends 'sustainable' practice

Japan says the research is conducted to "better understand the sustainability of whale stocks" and it does not exclude a push for commercial whale hunting to be authorised in the future.

It says that the number of minke whales it hunts is much less than their birth rate and is therefore sustainable.

Nori Shikata, spokesman for the Japanese government on the case, says Japan will rely on the provision for scientific whaling in its case.

"We are abiding by the specific provision under the convention... which allows contracting governments to engage in research whaling for scientific purpose," Mr Shikata said.

"Japan is conducting both non-lethal and lethal research program. Some of the data cannot be obtained by non-lethal means."

Japan's deputy foreign minister Koji Tsuruoka says "Australia's claim is invalid".

"Japan's research whaling has been conducted for scientific research in accordance with international law," he told the court.

"[Japan is] proud of its tradition of living in harmony with nature, and utilising living resources while respecting their sustainability."

Hearings are set to last until July 16. New Zealand is supporting Australia's case and will also be making a submission.

A ruling is not expected for several months.

Established in 1945, the International Court of Justice is the United Nations' highest judicial body and settles disputes between nation states.

It is the only one of five principal UN bodies not located in New York.

ABC/AFP


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*Nelson Mandela on life support*


Former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is on life support, an elder from his clan says.

Napilisi Mandela confirmed that Mr Mandela was using life support machines to assist his breathing.

"Yes, he is using machines to breathe," he told AFP after visiting Mr Mandela in hospital.

"It is bad, but what can we do."

The news comes as South African president Jacob Zuma cancelled a scheduled trip to Mozambique after he found Mr Mandela to be "still in a critical condition", a statement from the presidency said.

Emotional crowds have gathered outside the hospital where Mr Mandela remains in a critical condition.

Mr Mandela, the hero of black South Africans' battle for freedom during 27 years in apartheid jails, was rushed to hospital on June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

Despite intensive treatment at Pretoria's Mediclinic Heart Hospital, the 94-year-old's condition appears to have dramatically deteriorated.

A group of preschoolers and their teachers sang the South African national anthem and chanted Mr Mandela's name as they rallied at the main entrance.

A prayer was read out by a South African archbishop to wish the anti-apartheid icon a "peaceful, perfect end".

The archbishop's prayer seemed to echo a growing feeling of inevitability about Mr Mandela's condition that is increasingly voiced by South Africans.

"Grant Madiba eternal healing and relief from pain and suffering," the prayer said, referring to Mr Mandela's clan name.

"Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect end."

Photo

Proteas, the national flower of South Africa, and red and yellow roses were also placed at the bottom of a wall decorated with messages wishing Mr Mandela well.

"We have been so united - blacks and whites together. That's the thought of Mandela in us," said Lerato Boulares, 35, who was singing hymns at the entrance of the hospital.

Journalists from across South Africa and around the world remain camped outside the hospital waiting for any further news on his condition.

Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994, is due to celebrate his 95th birthday on July 18.

He has been hospitalised four times since December, mostly for the pulmonary condition that has plagued him since his time in an apartheid jail.

Mr Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to his time at the windswept Robben Island prison camp near Cape Town.

He was released in 1990 after 27 years behind bars and went on to serve as president from 1994 to 1999.

Although Mr Mandela has long since left the political stage and has not been seen in public since 2010, he remains a towering symbol in South African public life.

ABC/AFP


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