Greens Leader Bob Brown has accused Family First Senator Steve Fielding of inexperience for killing off the luxury car tax bill before it could be further debated. 

Senator Fielding sided with the Opposition this morning to oppose the bill, which would have raised taxes on cars over $57,000 from 25 per cent to 33 per cent. 

The world arrived here more than a century ago with the gold rush and later the railroad. Yet one aspect of American life did not come to town until 1996, the year Sarah Palin ran for mayor and Wasilla got its first local lesson in wedge politics. 

Palin's daughter is pregnant, get over it. 

The 17-year-old daughter of Alaska governor Sarah Palin is pregnant. If not for the fact that Senator John McCain has chosen Palin to be his running mate, would we care? I doubt it. 

Russia's conflict with Georgia is the sign of a 'weak' Russian nation, not a newly assertive one, and Moscow now has put its place in the world order at risk, the top U.S. diplomat for relations with the country said in an interview yesterday. 

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone is to work as a consultant for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. 

Mr Livingstone, who has long been a supporter of Mr Chavez, will advise pro-government mayors in the capital Caracas on urban planning. 

Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain introduced first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential choice here Friday at a raucous rally before thousands of his supporters, saying she is the "running mate who can best help me shake up Washington.'' 

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson today said he'd be 'very happy' if Peter Costello sought the leadership. 

The battle for the Liberal's top job continues following comments by Liberal frontbencher Tony Abbott, who declared Mr Costello the party's 'best political asset'. 

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There were three simultaneous tasks awaiting her when she walked out on stage in her tangerine pants suit. 

She had to dispel any notion that she was not now solidly with Barack Obama. Any sign of doubt would fuel efforts by the Republicans to chip away at his support and legitimacy as the Democratic nominee. 

National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce has called for Peter Costello to make a return to the frontbench or conclusively end speculation about his future. 

Today's Newspoll shows Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson failing to make any ground against Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, with Mr Rudd leading Dr Nelson by 65 per cent to 14 per cent in the approval ratings. 

US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has introduced veteran Senator Joe Biden as his running mate at a rally in Springfield, Illinois. 

Mr Obama hailed Mr Biden as a 'man with a distinguished record and a fundamental decency'.

Can anyone seriously argue that Chinese treatment of Tibetans, who have not been subject to either genocide or ethnic cleansing and of whom the vast majority continue to live on their ancestral lands, compares unfavourably with the treatment accorded to Native Americans by the European settlers in North America or the treatment accorded (and continuing to be accorded) to the indigenous Palestinians by Zionist settlers in Palestine?

Can anyone seriously argue that it is even in the same league of evil and injustice?

US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has announced that Joe Biden will be his running mate in November's election. 

Mr Obama's choice, confirmed on his website, comes ahead of next week's Democratic Party convention. 

The credit crisis has created the most challenging economic and monetary policy environment in recent memory, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve has admitted.

Ben Bernanke presented a downbeat assessment of the economic effects of the unfolding crisis when he addressed the US central bank's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, yesterday. 

On the steps of the bombed-out Parliament building Thursday, down the street from a neighborhood in ruins, the black-suited maestro prepared to lead a concert he aptly called a requiem, or composition for the dead.