President Vladimir Putin has delivered a robust defence of Russia's actions in Crimea, saying he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia has [quite] enough national parks and he will set up a new Forest Advisory Council to support the timber industry.

Speaking at a timber industry dinner in Canberra overnight, Mr Abbott said too much forest is currently locked up in Tasmania.

Tonight,  on Channel Ten "The Project",  the presenting crew had a segment with a forceful mum complaining about a photographer having dared to offer to retouch her kid's school pictures...  Oulalah It hurts... But?

Prince William, Kate, baby George confirm tour stops for April visit to Australia, New Zealand

"Foreign minister Julie Bishop will officially summon the Russian ambassador, Vladimir Morozov, in Canberra on Monday morning for an explanation of his country’s actions in the Ukraine.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Sunday called on Russia to “back off” from its military escalation in the semi-autonomous region of Crimea."

In political economist Mancur Olson's path-breaking book, The Rise and Decline of Nations, published in 1982, he argued that a country's economic stability ultimately leads to decline as it becomes increasingly dominated by organised interest groups, each seeking to advance their interests at the expense of others.

more to come...

I"ll give you the first couple of verses- if you want to read it to it's end and sign, I'd be eternally in your debt.  There are two weeks till the South Australian election.  Every signature to this will make a difference to the Park's survival!  The end of the poem is here: Garden

Waltham, September 11, 2011: Three men, throats slit, cash and drugs left on the bodies. Two years later, two dead suspects: Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and a friend who the FBI says was about to confess. One haunting question: Could solving this case have prevented the Boston Marathon bombings?

Un-Australian and unhinged, and not doing well in the three big states, the Liberals are seeing the doom of their house, writes Bob Ellis.

What is rent? You don't make it past the elementary economics class unless you know that's a trick question. In economics there are two kinds of rent: common or garden rent and ''economic rent''.

from mike carlton ….

Hate to say I told you so, etc, but the crystal ball gazing in my first column for this year is already coming good.

A French organic winemaker could face a prison sentence and a hefty fine after refusing to spray his vines with pesticide.

Two doves — released by the Pope in a call for peace in Ukraine — have been attacked by two larger birds, in what many interpreted as an ominous sign for the country.