Rudd and Gillard camps deny leadership spill afoot

1. Twitter went into overdrive this afternoon after Christian Kerr of The Australian claimed a Kevin Rudd leadership spill was imminent.

There have reportedly been cameras outside Rudd‘s office but no evidence from other senior sources that there is anything in it.

The rumours were promoted by a  delegation of senior ministers reportedly approached the Prime Minister’s office together this afternoon. Similar small but high level meetings were held ahead of the the Kevin Rudd spill in 2010.

Gillard and Rudd’s camps have both said there is no leadership spill about to happen.

In an interview with 2GB’s Ben Fordham political commentator David Speers denied anything was happening, but News Limited’s Peter van Onselen wrote on Twitter: “Something is afoot”.

Watch this space.

2. The new pope has been announced as Argentinean Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He will take the name of Francis. White smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel early this morning signalling the new pope’s election. Jorge Mario Bergoglio is 76 years old and the first Latin American pontiff. He was the runner up when Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005. Bergoglio reportedly opposes gay marriage, abortion, and euthanasia.

3. It was the tracking of Jill Meagher‘s mobile phone that lead police to her alleged murderer, Adrian Bayley. Court documents have revealed police were able to establish that Meagher’s phone travelled through City Link on the night she disappeared, and that information was then matched to Bayley’s car which was also travelling on the road at the same time. In court this week, Bayley pleaded guilty to one count of rape but not to two other counts of rape and one count of murder.

4. Greenland has elected its first female Prime Minister. Aleqa Hammond‘s democratic Siumut party  party won 42.8 per cent of the vote to form a coalition.

5. The Speaker of the House of Representatives has decided against a Twitter ban in the house – but she said MPs should be careful. Anna Burke said yesterday: “To prevent tweeting would necessitate a blanket restriction on all electronic and communication devices in the chamber… I do acknowledge that public communications emanating from the chamber is a recent phenomena which could impact on deliberations.” The decision comes in the wake of a request from the opposition to place a ban on offensive tweets.

6. . New Zealand’s gay marriage bill has passed its second reading with an overwhelming majority and looks set to become law. Members of parliament voted 77-44 in favour of the bill on Wednesday night. The bill needs to pass one final reading before it can officially become law. Louisa Wall, who drafted the bill, said: “The role of the state in marriage is to issue a license to two people who love each other and want to commit to one another formally. That’s what this bill does.”