The UK, which recently said it could launch a preemptive nuclear strike “in the most extreme circumstances,” runs the risk of being “wiped off the face of the Earth,” the deputy head of a Russian upper house committee said

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison wants Australians to think of the country's debt as either "good debt" or "bad debt", and will change the way it is reported in the budget.

Mr Morrison will use a speech to the Australian Business Economists to make the case for distinguishing between the types of government spending.

Greens senator Nick McKim will use a trip to Manus Island next week to "get to the bottom" of what sparked a shooting at the Manus Island detention centre on Good Friday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will meet US President Donald Trump on board an aircraft carrier in New York next week, in the pair's first face-to-face encounter.

We humans tend to believe that our cognitive skills are unique, not only in degree, but also in kind. The more closely we look at other species, however, the clearer it becomes that the difference is one of degree. Krupenye et al. show that three different species of apes are able to anticipate that others may have mistaken beliefs about a situation (see the Perspective by de Waal). The apes appear to understand that individuals have different perceptions about the world, thus overturning the human-only paradigm of the theory of mind.

Tougher citizenship rules announced by the Prime Minister today will require applicants to prove their allegiance to Australia and its values and demonstrate stronger English language skills.

Mr Turnbull says his government is doing migrants a big favour by raising the required English language standard. But the Greens argue a harder test will exclude people who would otherwise make good citizens.

Labor's given initial backing to the Government's proposals. But it says the Government is only making the changes because of divisions within the coalition. 

“We are fighting in Korea so we won’t have to fight in Wichita, or in Chicago, or in New Orleans, or in San Francisco Bay.”

-  President Harry S Truman, 1952

It’s a lazy Sunday. There’s not much on. Rain is falling on corrugated roof creating a rhythm of thought-provoking questions that are not easily put aside. The word democracy keeps insinuating itself upon me. I know I have written about it unendingly but the political person who lives within me tells me I must incessantly return to it. Our democracy is in an unholy mess and my desire, before my candle extracts its last breath, is that it is rescued from its dank demise.

The real kicker in the long run is Shorten and Turnbull supporting the insane Von Trump family who are intent on running the US middle class and poor into the ground while saving themselves by joining the inner circle of US war mongers driven by an out of control Military Industrial Complex. He is not simply “Clinton Light” … he is now Clinton’s clone.