If there were a prize for the world's sulkiest state, it would surely go to Russia. 

Enter the Kremlin, and you get an overwhelming sense of a great power that has been deeply offended. 

from Crikey ….. 

New Attorney-General just like the old one 

Greg Barns writes: 

The secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says the Liberals' backflip on Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) means very little. 

The Coalition had said that WorkChoices was dead, but it would fight to keep AWAs in place. 

Every year in mid-February, tens of millions of Americans take the Monday off in celebration of the presidency.

And while the average civics teacher will tell you that we do not appreciate our national political heritage nearly enough, the typical American is not only too respectful of the presidency on this day; he is far too enamored of the institution all year round.  

Senior federal Liberals "spilling their guts" about the Howard government's downfall is degrading, outspoken former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett says. 

Mr Kennett said he would not watch tonight's ABC television Four Corners program, in which senior Liberals tell of the former Howard government's final weeks. 

Kevin Rudd has again been forced to defend his past contact with disgraced former WA premier Brian Burke.

The federal opposition has accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of having a 'chatty, intimate' relationship with disgraced former Western Australian premier Brian Burke. 

To some extent, I feel for our "Aussie Tony"...  

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday. 

The US military conducts regular focus groups in five Iraqi cities. In December, right before Christmas, the Washington Post reported what the military was finding: 

President George Bush cited the London July 7 bombings in an interview broadcast last night to justify his support for waterboarding, an interrogation technique widely regarded as torture. 

In an interview with the BBC he said information obtained from alleged terrorists helped save lives, and the families of the July 7 victims would understand that. Bush said waterboarding, which simulates drowning, was not torture and is threatening to veto a congressional bill that would ban it. 

President Bush says Africa has been one of his foreign policy priorities. 

US President George W Bush has defended his decision not to send troops to the Sudanese region of Darfur, despite what he calls a genocide taking place there. 

The Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, has denounced the handling of the war in Afghanistan and says the allies are disunited, lack a clear plan and have failed to deal with the drug trade. 

In a scathing assessment of the progress of the war, Mr Fitzgibbon yesterday laid out a string of failures and warned that a new strategy was required to ensure the Australian contribution was not 'for nil'. 

Tens of thousands of troops are fanning out across Pakistan in an effort to improve security before next week's parliamentary elections. VOA Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Islamabad that security forces are also searching for Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, who disappeared while traveling by road through a volatile tribal region.

Interior Ministry spokesman Jawed Iqbal Cheema says Pakistani troops are mobilizing and moving nationwide to provide security during the election. Cheema says the soldiers will not be stationed at the more than 64,000 polling stations across Pakistan.

The Prime Minister's plan for a 12-month pay freeze for federal politicians has been labelled a stunt by some in the Coalition even though Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson supports it. 

Kevin Rudd announced today that MPs would refuse the next pay increase proposed by the remuneration tribunal, meaning they would not receive a pay rise until the middle of next year at least. 

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the Republican presidential race last week, endorsed front-runner John McCain today despite their bitterly-fought race. 

He would 'give my full support to Senator McCain's candidacy,' Romney told a news conference with McCain at his side.