8:45 AM AEDT | A SIX-MONTH scheme of paid parental leave and plans to extend to nannies similar pay and conditions as childcare workers are at the heart of a Coalition policy being designed to woo family and female voters.

8:47 AM AEDT | BEIRUT: In a possible move to deflect attention from Iran's political woes, the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has ordered the nation's atomic energy agency to begin enriching uranium from 3.5 per cent to 20 per cent purity to serve as fuel for a Tehran medical reactor.