Wall Street suffered its worst losses in more than two months on Friday after crude oil prices spiked over $138, an increase of nearly $11, and the unemployment rate rose more than expected. 

All 30 of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrials took a hit as the index dropped nearly 400 points on fears that high energy prices will extend and deepen an economic slowdown. 

As the prospective presidential nominees ponder choosing their running-mates, the spectre of Vice President Dick Cheney looms large. 

The Planning Minister, Frank Sartor, hit back after an outcry against the Government's controversial planning reforms - which passed through the Legislative Assembly at 2am yesterday - by calling the state's peak local government bodies 'dumb'.

In response, the president of the Shires Association of NSW, Bruce Miller, said sections of the Government were 'malicious and dishonest'. 

France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, reveals today that she fell in love with the President for his good looks and his 'five or six brains'. 

In a book containing Mme Bruni-Sarkozy's first extensive interviews on her high-profile, whirlwind, power romance, the pop singer says her attraction to the President at a 'blind date' was 'immediate'. 

The ugly side of science — the one we fought Adolph Hitler, amongst his other nasties, to stop his radical medical experiments — was defended by scientists but thankfully exposed by a revolted reporter. Even long aware of the crap that's going on behind the sterilised doors, I nearly spewed too...  

The United States is operating "floating prisons" to house those arrested in its war on terror, according to human rights lawyers, who claim there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of detainees. 

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin compared the United States to a "frightening monster" on Friday and urged France to distance itself from its American ally. 

"How can one be such a shining example of democracy at home and a frightening monster abroad?" Putin said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde transmitted live to journalists in Paris. 

Such is the relentlessness of Tony Blair's public immersion into matters of faith these days that Alastair Campbell's 'we don't do God' assertion in Downing Street has now been fully exposed for what it was: a skilful piece of diversionary spin. 

For years, scientists have had a straightforward idea for taming global warming. They want to take the carbon dioxide that spews from coal-burning power plants and pump it back into the ground. 

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan continued to press his case Thursday that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, and responded to a growing chorus of criticism from other former administration officials.

As President Bush’s press secretary, Scott McClellan was a dutiful practitioner of the swift, efficient and highly coordinated strategy the White House typically employs to take on Mr. Bush’s critics.  

International Space Station astronauts are eagerly awaiting the arrival of shuttle Discovery - it is bringing a new pump to mend their broken toilet. The station's urine collection unit, as opposed to its solid waste unit, has been malfunctioning for several days.  

NASA said it thought a separator pump was at fault, and the three male crew members were operating it manually.  

Does Kevin Rudd have a butler?

Poor is the new rich. 

So 'Bare-Arse' Brendan Nelson and his shadow treasurer, Malcolm 'Totally Broke' Turnbull, did everything they could yesterday to expose Kevin 'Rolling In It' Rudd and Wayne 'Squillionaire' Swan as mean and out of touch. 

Federal Liberal frontbencher Joe Hockey says petrol prices will always be lower under a Coalition government.

Mr Hockey says Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's pledge to cut fuel excise by five cents a litre will guarantee lower prices for motorists. 

Former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer says he is still to make up his mind about his political future. 

Mr Downer was widely expected to retire by the next election, but newspaper reports today suggest he has told his colleagues he is considering staying in Federal Parliament with an eye on Malcolm Turnbull's current job as treasury spokesman.