The government has accused Tony Abbott of being in bed with big tobacco after the fitness fanatic and former health minister backed away from supporting plain packaging for cigarettes.

After saying begrudgingly a year ago he supported plain cigarette packets with very graphic warnings, the Opposition Leader said yesterday he was unconvinced the changes would help reduce smoking.

The Nationals declared it would not support the move to plain packaging.

The Liberal Party accepts donations from tobacco companies, and the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, implied this was behind Mr Abbott's reluctance.

The Greek tragedy that is now befalling Strauss-Kahn is the latest in a series of similar cases of sex-related scandal that over the past few years have also involved former World Bank boss Paul Wolfowitz and former Malaysian finance minister (and close friend of Wolfowitz) Anwar Ibrahim.

The Queen arrived in the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday to start the first visit by a British monarch in a century.

Accompanied by Prince Philip, she touched down at Casement Aerodrome, south-west of Dublin, at 11.55am local time to start the historic four-day visit, which is taking place amid a huge security lockdown.

The jet taxied with the sovereign's standard, which bears an Irish harp, flying from the cockpit window. Two lines of troops formed a guard of honour either side of the red carpet at the aerodrome.

When Obama defended his military actions in Libya, he said "Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different." Two weeks later, the Arab League asked the Security Council to consider imposing a no-fly-zone over the Gaza Strip in order to protect civilians from Israeli air strikes. But the United States, an uncritical ally of Israel, will never allow the passage of such a resolution, regardless of the number of Palestinian civilians Israel kills. This is a double standard.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is enjoying a big jump in popularity after last week's federal budget and the Government's asylum seeker deal with Malaysia.

A Herald/Nielsen poll has Mr Abbott's approval rating above Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the first time.

He rose three points to 45 per cent, while Ms Gillard slipped two points to 43 per cent.

Ms Gillard, however, has maintained her lead as preferred prime minister, 47 to 42 per cent.

About six in 10 voters polled are against the asylum seeker-swapping deal with Malaysia, while about eight in 10 said it would not make any difference to boat arrivals.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand.

The Colombians had entered the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers. In fact, they were soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom.

If you're earning $150,000 a year, are you living on Struggle Street? Should we be outraged for you if some government decides you don't need family benefits?

No. Taxation statistics imply that only 3 to 4 per cent of Australians earn $150,000 a year. Compared with other Australians, they're not struggling.

Far more Australians have household incomes over $150,000. Updating the latest household income data from the Bureau of Statistics, 17 per cent of households, or one in six, have pre-tax incomes of more than $150,000.

The illegal eavesdropping on famous people by the News of the World is said to be Rupert Murdoch's Watergate. But is it the crime by which Murdoch ought to be known? In his native land, Australia, Murdoch controls 70 per cent of the capital city press. Australia is the world's first murdochracy, in which smear by media is power.

Tony Abbott invoked the ghosts of Robert Menzies and Ben Chifley as he reached out last night to Australia's ''forgotten families'' and workers with the promise that he would lower their cost of living.

In a speech that was strongly critical of the government, deliberately short of new policies, and avoided taking positions on measures in the budget, the Opposition Leader said taxes and interest rates would be lower if he were elected.

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has hit back at criticism from the retailer Gerry Harvey over claims the government subsidy for pensioner set-top boxes is too costly.

After Mr Harvey claimed he could provide and install set-top boxes for less than half the average cost of the government's scheme, Senator Conroy yesterday challenged Mr Harvey to put his money where his mouth is and bid for the work.

Under the program, the government is offering to pay for certain households, including pensioners, to be connected to digital television at an average cost of $350 a household.

The fourth horseman thundered across the financial landscape yesterday, a discreet distance behind his three compatriots, who each paid their respects last week.

While they have yet to openly portray themselves as harbingers of the Last Judgment, there's no denying each of our big four bankers are making profits of biblical proportions.

Sir Ralph Norris is an affable kind of fellow ordinarily, except when his salary is mentioned in the newspaper, and probably would take great exception to being likened to the Pale Rider, or Death, as he is known in the Book of Revelation.

Tony Abbott's budget attack is shamelessly contradictory. He slams the $2 billion saving from family benefits as ''class warfare'' that will hit ''struggling families'', but he is also blaming the government for looming interest rate rises because he says it is spending too much.