The US Marine Corps is once again in damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS - a special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others.

The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable, but the marines in the photograph taken in September 2010 would not be disciplined because investigators determined it was a naive mistake.

Labor's leadership issue must be resolved - but no one knows when or how.

Kevin Rudd was active on the Syrian crisis this week, reporting to Parliament and calling in that country's senior diplomat. But there was no press conference; nor did the Foreign Minister hit the airwaves.

Tony Abbott has the experience in government to be Prime Minister - the rest of his team might struggle to pass the same test

The Leader of the Opposition has passionate critics and defenders. While I accept some of their insights, neither group convinces me.

The passionate critics, including Susan Mitchell in her book, Tony Abbott: A Man's Man, describe him as a danger to women and to democracy, especially secular democracy.

The passionate defenders, including several senior media commentators, dismiss any criticism of his social policies as anti-Catholic sectarianism.

Former clerk of the Senate Harry Evans says Mr Slipper should just get on with the job"You can't recreate a tradition once it's dead, and I think it was well and truly dead in Australia and has been well and truly dead for a number of years," he said.

The UBS banking analyst Jonathan Mott has started 2012 with a bang - telling us first the banks were about to slash thousands of jobs and, this month, that the poor dears are likely losing money on new mortgages.

Robocop has come to London, and civil liberties groups – and residents – are not happy about it. An automated talking CCTV camera which warns passers-by that a communal garden is a "restricted area" has been dubbed "police state" technology. 

South Africa mulls imposing sanctions on apartheid Israel.

Offshore Everywhere 

How Drones, Special Operations Forces, and the U.S. Navy Plan to End National Sovereignty As We Know It

A year of political and financial upheaval across the world has helped contribute to a global decline in confidence in government and CEOs, according to a recently-published study of public trust.

The Home Office clashed openly with judges on Monday when it criticised a decision to free on bail within days the radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, who is accused of posing a grave threat to British national security.

The decision by Mr Justice Mitting will see Abu Qatada, once described as Osama bin Laden's righthand man in Europe, walk out of Long Lartin maximum security prison in Worcestershire after more than six and a half years in detention without trial - the longest period in modern times.