Malcolm Turnbull

Less than an hour after White House press secretary Sean Spicer offered assurances the US would uphold a deal to take in 1,250 refugees from Australia, Trump continued to fume about the agreement, which had sparked the heated conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this weekend.

The President again cast doubt on whether the US would uphold the agreement, while Turnbull scrambled to reassure Australians that Trump had promised in their phone call to honor the agreement, negotiated by the Obama administration.

Malcolm Turnbull, a former investment banker, made his contribution in the final weeks before the July poll.

His donation has been criticised by opposition Labor MPs, who said he "got out his wallet" to win the election.

But Mr Turnbull's colleagues have described it as "the purest donation of all" because there could be no suggestion of outside influence.

The prime minister disclosed the sum in a televised interview, ending recent speculation.

Trump's apparent dispute with Turnbull on Saturday came on the same day that he held phone calls with four other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Australia is an intimate ally of the United States, with the two countries joining three other English-speaking nations in an intelligence sharing arrangement known as the "Five Eyes."

Refugee deal

This is to comply with the PNG Supreme Court ruling of April 26, 2016, that the centre was unconstitutional.

According to PNG Industry News O’Neill met with Turnbull and Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton, this week to discuss the closing of the centre.

“Further technical consultations will take place at the start of 2017 to move to the next level of this process. Our co-operation on this policy has saved countless lives of children, women and men who would otherwise have attempted to cross the Indian Ocean in unsafe boats,” said O’Neill.

And so it was when Australian Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull gave A$5 (£3) to a beggar on Melbourne's streets.

On his way to give a major economic speech on Thursday, Mr Turnbull stopped to shake the man's hand and slip some money into his coffee cup.

But this minor act of generosity quickly turned into a major talking point on social media, where people were keen to criticise the PM from multiple angles.

The Federal Government has not ruled out seeking compensation over the failure of the website, which IBM was contracted to run on behalf of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The website was shut down after numerous denial of service (DoS) attacks, along with hardware failure, prevented millions of Australians from filling out their census forms online on Tuesday night.

The former prime minister addressed a Young Labor function in Brisbane on Saturday, a day after being told the Federal Government would not endorse his bid to become the next secretary-general.

He said it was part of the "collective scar-tissue" of life.

"Sometimes, it will turn to shit," he said.

Mr Rudd released the letters on Friday night, after Mr Turnbull revealed he had decided not to nominate him for the role as the world's top-ranking diplomat.

In the three letters, dated earlier this year, Mr Rudd wrote that Mr Turnbull had previously told him he would support his bid.

Mr Rudd made a last-minute dash to Sydney this morning in the hope of lobbying Mr Turnbull to nominate him as secretary-general of the United Nations.

But on arrival the Prime Minister called him and said the Government would not be backing him.

On Friday evening a spokeswoman for Mr Rudd released three letters which Mr Rudd had sent to Mr Turnbull about the issue.

In a Cabinet meeting that went well over time on Thursday, Mr Rudd's case was pushed by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and supported by Attorney-General George Brandis.

The backing of some other ministers who spoke in favour has been described as lukewarm.

But many spoke against nominating Mr Rudd, including Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Treasurer Scott Morrison and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who argued he was unfit for the role.

In the end it was left to the Prime Minister to make the call with the undertaking the leadership will support his decision.