Around the world: Australian PM announces general election in August

She told reporters today the election would allow voters to choose their prime minister.

Her Labour Party elected her three weeks ago after dumping her predecessor Kevin Rudd.

Opinion polls point to Labour winning a second three-year term.

Ms Gillard said she was honouring a pledge she made after she grabbed power to quickly allow voters to choose the prime minister and government they want.

"Today, I seek a mandate from the Australian people to move Australia forward," she told reporters at Parliament House.

"I'll be asking Australians for their trust so that we can move forward together ... with plans to build a sustainable Australia," she added.

Analysts are expecting a tight contest against a resurgent Conservative opposition led by Tony Abbott although Ms Gillard leads in the opinion polls.

Ms Gillard was previously Mr Rudd's deputy. Mr Rudd became a Labour Party hero when he led it to a crushing election victory in November 2007 after 11 years in opposition.

Police arrest World Cup bomb suspect

KENYA: Police in Kenya arrested a suspect in connection with the Uganda bomb attacks that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final on television.

SOUTH KOREA: South Korea has developed a long-range cruise missile capable of hitting all military targets in North Korea. The Hyunmu-3C missile has a range of 1,500 kilometres (932 miles), which could reach nuclear facilities and missile sites in North Korea.

Lohan moves into rehab

Lindsay Lohan has moved to a substance abuse facility and signed legal papers hiring celebrity lawyer Robert Shapiro to represent her as she prepares to head to jail for violating probation in a 2007 drug case. Mr Shapiro was a key figure on OJ Simpson's legal "dream team".

Russian spy's degree revoked

HARVARD University revoked a degree in public administration it gave to a man who turned out to be a Russian spy.

Andrey Bezrukov, who went by the name of Donald Heathfield while in the US, was one of 10 Russian agents deported as part of a spy swap with Moscow.

Militants kill 16 passengers

Militants armed with assault rifles killed at least 16 bus passengers in an ambush in northwest Pakistan.

Local government official Nasim Khan said several people were also injured in today's attack in the Kurram region.

The passengers were heading to the city of Peshawar when they were ambushed despite a security escort.

Kurram has witnessed scores of such attacks, robberies and kidnapping in the past three years.

Two more die in Typhoon

A TYPHOON that left a trail of destruction and dozens dead in the Philippines killed two people in southern China as it moved toward northern Vietnam.

A falling billboard killed a motorcycle rider last night. Another toppled and buried a security guard under debris.

Firefighters have extinguished a fire that raged for more than 15 hours after two oil pipelines exploded in the port of Dalian in northeast China.