Tony Abbott will outline his own defense plan for Australia, in a speech to RSL National Congress today. The opposition leader will commit a coalition government to pulishing a new defense white paper within 18 months of taking office. It's promising a real growth in defense spending of 3% a year.

 

The prime minister Julia Gillard has withdrawn from several speaking engagements in New York today because of illness. She and the foreign minister Bob Carl are at the United Nations on a four-day diplomatic visit. Ms.Gillard did manage to attend one in event with the U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

 

Four Australians are recoverying in hispital after a rockslide in Italy. It happened on a popular hiking trail on the western coast. The rescuers say one person had to be dug out from under rocks, another was thrown over a protective barrier.

 

And a former Israeli prime minister has been fined and given a one year suspended jail sentence for corruption. In July, Ehud Olmert was found guilty of granting political favors to a business associate when he was a government minister.