The risk of a new era of east-west confrontation triggered by Russia's invasion of Georgia heightened yesterday when Moscow reserved the right to launch a nuclear attack on Poland because it agreed to host US rockets as part of the Pentagon's missile shield. 

After years of claims and counter-claims, new figures show cotton became the thirstiest crop in the whole Murray-Darling Basin two years ago, guzzling 20 per cent of all the water used for agriculture in region. 

The US and the Europe today demanded that any settlement of the conflict in Georgia had to be based on recognition of the small Black Sea country's territorial integrity. But after overrunning Georgia in five days with troops, tanks, and bombers, Russia rejected the terms. 

Russian behaviour in Georgia has 'called into question the entire premise' of relations between Washington and Moscow, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday, even as the Bush administration appeared willing to let Russia take its time removing its forces from disputed areas inside the former Soviet republic. 

Consigliere of the Bushit Crime Family, Dick Cheney, called Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to express US solidarity in the conflict with Russia & told him "Russian aggression must not go unanswered," the war criminal’s office said on Monday. 

World oil prices, which have plunged from recent record heights, could spike higher again should the market be rocked by new supply-side shocks, according to industry experts.

Oil Prices Risk New Rises On Supply Shocks, Analysts Warn

Russia has continued air raids deep inside Georgia, after it rejected Tbilisi's announcement that it had called a ceasefire and wanted talks. 

Jets bombed targets near Tbilisi, including the airport, and Russia said its warships had sunk a Georgian boat that approached and tried to attack.

Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago.  

This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area.  

Collaborating with torturers or conducting torture in Australia or abroad could be made a separate criminal offence by the Federal Government. 

In a new hardline approach against torture, the Government will also ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture — an extra treaty that allows United Nations or domestic inspectors to visit prisons and detention centres. 

from Crikey ….. 

Time for Wong to come clean on the Coorong 

Now that military officers selected by the Bush Pentagon have reached a split verdict convicting Salim Hamdan, a onetime driver for Osama bin Laden, of supporting terrorism, but innocent of terrorist conspiracy, do you feel safe?

Or are we superpower Americans still at risk until we capture bin Laden’s dentist, barber, and the person who installed the carpet in his living room?  

CNN's Barbara Starr, in a Thursday report, examined what the US military is calling 'segregation boxes': small, wooden crates being used in Iraq to hold prisoners, which the US military insists are 'humane.'  

Measuring 3 feet square and about 6 feet tall, the military claims that prisoners isolated in the chambers are checked frequently, but the practice is raising concern among human rights advocates. 

Opposition treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Government of making tough economic times tougher and undermining confidence in the Australian economy.

Yesterday the Reserve Bank kept interest rates steady at 7.25 per cent after figures pointed towards a sharp slowdown of the economy. Economists have now predicted there could be an interest rate cut as early as next month. 

In the immediate aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, White House officials repeatedly pressed FBI Director Robert Mueller to prove it was a second-wave assault by Al Qaeda, but investigators ruled that out, the Daily News has learned. 

There is now a growing discomfort about the role of speculative finance in the US, the capital of global finance. In an open letter addressed to all airline customers, leaders of airlines in the US have recently requested the passengers to join them in pushing legislation to add more transparency and disclosure in the oil markets.