BARACK Obama will address a special sitting of federal parliament in Canberra on March 23, and Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono will give a speech next week.

THE GROUNDING of 63,000 flights over four days has saved 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than the annual emissions of many countries.

TONY Abbott has thrown his first major policy punch, proposing a $2.7 bn tax on big companies to fund a universal paid parental leave scheme.

ALMOST half the crisis funding intended to raise literacy and numeracy standards for struggling students has been distributed among NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

AUSTRALIAN Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu will plead guilty to bribery charges in China, the lawyer for another defendant in the trial said today.

THE pedophile priest scandals rocking the Catholic Church have cast a pall over pre-Easter celebrations as Pope Benedict XVI avoided direct references to the crisis.

HUNDREDS are feared dead after a massive earthquake struck Haiti, destroying the presidential palace, the UN mission HQ and other buildings.

MAGGIE Beer, paté queen and adored home cook, has been named the Senior Australian of the Year, squeaking in at the sprightly age of 65.

ECONOMISTS are fairly sure the RBA will lift rates tomorrow, but they think global worries might just stay the central bank's hand.

THE demise of the dinosaurs was caused by a huge asteroid colliding with Earth and not by volcanic activity, a review by 41 scientists has concluded.