A beautiful mosaic pilfered from the Palestinian front during World War I now hangs in Canberra’s Australian War Memorial, shoved awkwardly behind a newly built wall, testament to a growing national embarrassment. The mystery of Australia’s Elgin Marbles.

It was supposed to lay the foundation for a huge Free Trade Agreement, but the East Asia Forum has exposed a rift between ASEAN nations over control of the South China Sea, writes Damien Kingsbury.

Current escalations aside, on November 29, the Palestinian Authority is scheduled to bring on a vote at the United Nations to determine whether it can be recognised as a "non-member observer state".

The day I saw 248 girls suffering genital mutilation

It was Christmas Eve, 2008, and the New South Wales government was ''putting the garbage out''.

''It is hoped that by announcing the decision at that time (on the cusp of the biggest holiday of the year) it will not be afforded any media or other attention,'' says a leaked cabinet in confidence report on the process prepared by Clayton Utz.

Australia’s Cardinal George Pell gave the worst media performance of his career at his press conference in Sydney on Tuesday. It was lazy, half-hearted and a complete waste of everyone’s time. He looked more than ever like yesterday’s man.

Until this year, if one were to rely on the parliamentary record to form a view about Eddie Obeid, he might be described like this: A 69-year-old politician who had a moderate interest in business until he joined the NSW Legislative Council in 1991 when he became solely dedicated to his duties as a public official.

But this year, that edifice has been torn down. First by a series of investigative reports in the Herald, and now by a probe by the Independent Commission Against Corruption billed as its "most important" in its 25-year history.

from Crikey …..

Coal mine concerns