The Pakistani Taliban is claiming responsibility for assassinating Pakistan's only Christian minister. Shahbaz Bhatti was the country's minister for minorities and an opponent of the controversial blasphemy law. Gunmen sprayed his car with bullets outside his mother's home in Islamabad.

 

The Prime Minister is facing an internal revolt over same-sex marriage. A group of Labor MPs is angry at the Government for supporting a Greens bill to water down the Commonwealth's power to veto territory laws. Now they fear it could lead to new same-sex marriage laws in states and territories. 

 

A senior Indigenous leader is calling for Aboriginal town camps to be closed down. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda has told the Australian the camps should be phased out and plans to build new housing there scrapped. Mr Gooda says the camps have become communities of "fringe dwellers" plagued by social problems and high crime rates. 

 

And Julian Assange has officially lodged his intention to appeal against a British court order to extradite him to Sweden. The Wikileaks founder is taking his fight to Britain's High Court of Justice. Mr Assange is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Sweden. He denies those claims.