Scott Morrison is to be Australia’s new Prime Minister after Malcolm Turnbull was forced out by party rivals in a bruising leadership contest.
Mr. Turnbull had been under pressure from poor polling and what he described as an “insurgency” by conservative MPs.
Mr. Morrison, the treasurer, won an internal ballot 45-40 over former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton – who had been Mr. Turnbull’s most vocal threat.
The outgoing prime minister did not stand in the leadership contest.
Mr. Turnbull is the fourth Australian leader in a decade to be ousted by internal rivals.
“It has been such a privilege to be the leader of this great nation. I love Australia. I love Australians,” he said on Friday.
“We have so much going for us in this country. We have to be proud of it and cherish it.”
He had been staring down calls for his resignation as leadership speculation crippled his government.
He agreed to hold the ballot after a majority of party MPs signed a letter calling for it to take place.
Mr. Morrison is a former Tourism Australia managing director who has held ministerial portfolios including immigration and social services.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was also in the running for the leadership, but did not make it to the final round.
The ballot on Friday ended one of the most dramatic weeks in Australian political history.
On Tuesday, Mr. Dutton narrowly lost a challenge against Mr. Turnbull.
Mr. Morrison and Ms. Bishop entered the race after Mr. Turnbull lost key backers, effectively making his leadership untenable.
Mr. Dutton offered his congratulations to Mr. Morrison on Friday.
“My course from here is to provide absolute loyalty to Scott Morrison, and make sure we win the election,” he said.
Mr. Morrison, Mr. Turnbull and Ms. Bishop did not immediately comment after the vote.
The past decade in Australian politics has been marked by a series of leadership coups, with three other sitting prime ministers deposed by party rivals.
Not a single leader in recent times has succeeded in serving a full three-year term as prime minister.
Scott Morrison is seen as Social conservative who appeals to the moderate elements of the Liberal party.
He rose to national prominence as immigration minister in Tony Abbott’s government and has built a reputation as a tough operator in enforcing Australia’s hardline “stop the boats” policy.
He is also seen as a pragmatic, ambitious politician who has long eyed the job.
He is a leading religious conservative and opposed last year’s same sex marriage bill.
Mr. Morrison drew criticism over the controversial asylum seeker policies and offshore detention centres.
Jeff Sessions: US attorney general hits back at Trump
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has responded to Donald Trump’s latest attack on him by insisting that the justice department he heads will not bend to political pressure.
The apparent rebuke of Mr. Trump came after the president said Mr. Sessions was not in control of his department.
Mr. Trump has been vociferous in his criticism of the Department of Justice.
He has been particularly riled by its handling of the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mr. Sessions, an early supporter of Mr. Trump’s campaign, has stepped aside from that inquiry to avoid a potential conflict of interest and handed control to his deputy, Rod Rosenstein.
That decision by Mr. Sessions, and the ongoing progress of the inquiry under special counsel Robert Mueller – which is also reportedly now looking into whether Mr. Trump has attempted to obstruct justice – have provoked frequent outbursts from the president, both in person and on his Twitter feed.
The president remains insistent that there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russian government, and denies he has attempted to obstruct justice.
After the latest exchanges, two key Republican senators signalled that they would support Mr. Trump if he were to fire Mr. Sessions after the November mid-term elections.
However, other Republicans told Politico they thought this would be a bad move and said they were standing by the attorney general.
“I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in,” the attorney general said in a statement.
“While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.
“I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action.”
He added: “No nation has a more talented, more dedicated group of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the United States.
“I am proud to serve with them and proud of the work we have done in successfully advancing the rule of law.”
Previously, Mr. Sessions had been largely non-committal following criticism of him by the president, who appears to believe that Mr. Sessions should have shown him greater loyalty instead of recusing himself from the Russia inquiry.
In an earlier interview with the Fox and Friends programme, Mr. Trump said: “I put in an attorney general that never took control of the justice department. Jeff Sessions never took control of the justice department and it’s a sort of an incredible thing.”
Turning to the Russia inquiry, the president said: “Jeff Sessions recused himself, which he shouldn’t have done. Or he should have told me [before I appointed him].
“Even my enemies say that Jeff Sessions should have told you that he was going to recuse himself, and then you wouldn’t have put him in. He took the job and then he said I’m going to recuse myself. I said: ‘What kind of a man is this?’
“You know the only reason I gave him the job? Because I felt loyalty, he was an original supporter. He was on the campaign. He knows there was no collusion.”
Hurricane Lane: Hawaii hit by flooding and landslides as storm nears
Hawaii has been hit with strong winds and torrential rain as Hurricane Lane approaches the US state, causing flash flooding and landslides.
Schools and offices were closed as residents took shelter from the storm, which was downgraded to category three strength on Thursday.
As the hurricane neared the islands of the Aloha state, it brought winds of 125 mph (200 km/h) and heavy rainfall.
President Donald Trump earlier declared a state of emergency for Hawaii.
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The White House said that federal authorities were on standby to provide support and supplies to local and state emergency response efforts.
While the storm has been downgraded, the situation remains “dangerous” and severe flooding is a “major concern,” the National Weather Service (NWS) tweeted.
Meanwhile United Airlines said it had cancelled all Friday flights to and from the main airports on Maui, the second-largest island.
On the Big Island, where a hurricane warning was earlier issued by the NWS, more than 12in (30cm) of rain fell on Thursday.
Roads were closed due to the landslides and images of cars attempting to tackle the deep waters were posted on social media.
Residents in other areas of the Big Island, such as Hilo, were caught out by the flash floods with several vehicles becoming trapped.
A member of staff at a local service station in Haleiwa, on the north shore of Oahu island, told AFP news agency that motorists had been “constantly filling” their vehicles.
“Everybody is in a panic mode right now, everyone is filling up gas, gas cans, propane cans,” he said.
A hurricane watch was also issued by the NWS for the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai.
Hawaii Governor David Ige urged residents to set aside supplies of water, food and medicines as a precaution and to avoid driving if possible.
Dozens of evacuation centres were also set up throughout the day as Mr. Trump urged Hawaiians to hunker down and prepare for the worst.
According to NWS, only four named storms have made landfall in Hawaii since 1959 – and only two of those storms were hurricanes.
Hawaii generally sees about one storm strong enough to earn a name pass within 60 miles of the islands every four years.
Ex-Argentina president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s homes raided
Police in Argentina have begun searching properties belonging to the former president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, as part of a major corruption investigation.
Forensic scientists, dogs and firefighters helped carry out the raids on two houses in Patagonia and one apartment in Buenos Aires.
It comes after Judge Claudio Bonadio asked to partially lift Ms Fernández’s immunity as he investigates bribery allegations during her presidency.
Ms Fernández denies any wrongdoing.
In a defiant speech on Wednesday, the senator – who has immunity from imprisonment, but not prosecution – described the investigation as “shameless.”
She told senators she regretted “nothing” – apart from “not having been intelligent or open enough to convince and persuade people that what we were doing – with its mistakes and successes – improved the lives of millions.”
She also complained about becoming “the first elected senator to be searched.”
However, on Wednesday, she still voted for her immunity to be lifted to allow the search of her three properties to go ahead – and instructed her colleagues to do the same.
Thursday’s search relates to the so-called notebook scandal, which relates to a batch of records kept by Oscar Centeno, a driver for a public works official, over a 12-year period.
In the notebooks, Mr. Centeno writes about delivering bags of cash from construction bosses to government officials, which prosecutor Carlos Stornelli says totalled some $160m (£125m).
Mr. Centeno’s notebooks include a reference to money exchanging hands at the home shared by Ms. Fernández and her late husband, Néstor Kirchner, as well as the presidential residence and government headquarters.
However, none of this has been proven.
More than a dozen people, including businessmen and former government officials, were arrested after the notebooks were handed to authorities by La Nación newspaper earlier this year.
Ms. Fernández is also under investigation in another five cases.
She denies all allegations, and says she is the victim of a political witch hunt.