Nikita Khrushchev said the Soviet Union would bury us, but these days, everybody seems to think that China is the one wielding the shovel.  

The People's Republic is on the march - economically, militarily, even ideologically. 

Can you enjoy the benefits of exercise without the pain of exertion? The answer may one day be yes — just take a pill that tricks the muscles into thinking they have been working out furiously. 

Liberal MPs are denying that Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's job is under threat after his apparent backdown on emissions trading at yesterday's shadow cabinet meeting.

Last week Dr Nelson foreshadowed he would push for a tougher policy on a carbon trading scheme, in direct opposition to leadership rival Malcolm Turnbull. 

Congressional negotiators agreed yesterday to a ban on a family of toxins found in children's products, handing a major victory to parents and health experts who have been clamoring for the government to remove harmful chemicals from toys. 

An ill-timed trial of a new baggage check-in system is being blamed by angry passengers for chaotic scenes at Qantas's Sydney domestic terminal.

Flights were delayed,  passengers said they were queueing for more than an hour, and scores of passengers found themselves waiting in line at the time their planes were due to take off today.

Nodding his head to the disco music blaring out of his car's nine speakers, Zhang Linsen swings the shiny, black Hummer H2 out of his company's gates and on to the spacious four-lane road. 

Running a hand over his closely shaved head, Zhang scans the expanse of high-end suburban offices and villas that a decade ago was just another patch of farmland outside of Shanghai.

Sen. Barack Obama was in Berlin today, for a lofty speech to throngs of people about the roots of American-German cooperation and the development of freedom in the world.

Barack Obama, who in a recent trip to Israeli said their nation was a 'miracle', has convinced Arabs and Iranians he will put Jewish interests first if he becomes U.S. president, leading many Arabs to say 'tell me something I don’t know.' 

Here in the ancient Tasmanian forest, the world's tallest hardwood trees rise 250 feet from the valley floor. These are the Eucalyptus regnans - the king of the eucalyptus - and some have been growing for more than 400 years. 

For Senator Barack Obama, who came to Europe once in the last four years, making a stop in London on his way to Russia, the response of many Europeans to his potential presidency has been gratifying - emotional, responsive, replete with the sense of hope he seeks to engender about a more flexible, less ideological America. 

European governments and politicians are not so sure. 

Italy's parliament has given its final approval to a controversial immunity bill put forward by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government. 

The Catholic Church has defended its handling of a secret Mass involving the Pope and four victims of sexual abuse early yesterday amid criticism that the sunrise meeting excluded hundreds of abuse survivors, their families and support groups. 

At 7am, hours before he flew out of Sydney, the Pope conducted a private Mass in a chapel attached to St Mary's Cathedral. 

The best thing about being in Sydney over the past week was seeing so many happy people.  

The pilgrims. I'm told by a senior police officer that crime was down in Sydney during the faith extravaganza. So much has been written about the papal visit I will move on, and address an issue of morality and faith that we have to live with every day: corporate honesty. 

The co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, today responded to a question about Cardinal George Pell's handling of a sexual abuse case by saying people are 'dwelling crankily ... on old wounds'.

And this afternoon Cardinal Pell did not respond to reporters' questions about Bishop Fisher's remarks.