Yesterday, as the Senate began public hearings into conditions in the Australian-funded detention centre, those words seemed not too far from the truth.

A Budget full of giveaways for families and small businesses has achieved what seemed impossible barely three months ago.

With just days to go before Ireland's historic referendum on the legalisation of gay marriage, a bitter row has broken out between supporters and opponents over the funding of their respective campaigns.

Shia militia groups have converged on the Iraqi city of Ramadi to help wrest it back from Isis (Islamic State) fighters, who seized it in a three-day blitz.

Macedonians staged a rally, flooding Skopje’s sprawling boulevards and alleyways and demanding the immediate resignation of a government embroiled in a wiretap scandal.

Egyptian Islamists have warned that the world should brace itself for a backlash after the country's first freely elected President Mohamed Morsi was given a death sentence.

Last Thursday we saw a tale of two biotech companies. If you need evidence investing in medical research stocks is a lottery, this is the story for you, writes Christopher Niesche.

Australia and New Zealands' Budgets speak volumes of the strength of their respective economies and their citizens' state of mind.

Yesterday, at a campaign-style stop in Tempe, Arizona Jeb Bush declared that he would not have authorised the 2003 invasion of Iraq had he known about the intelligence failures at the time.

Earlier this week, Tony Abbott and his senior ministers accused new mothers who benefit from a government as well as a private parental leave scheme of committing a "rort" and "basically fraud".

Most incoming governments take charge of divided countries, that's the nature of democracy. And the UK is really no more divided now, writes Paul Thomas.

In Europe, cosmetic firms are required to put expiry dates on products with a lifespan of less than 30 months. Similar consumer protections might be worth applying to federal politicians in Australia.

Letters from Prince Charles to government ministers were finally published after a 10-year legal battle to keep them from public view, opening debate on whether the Prince overreached into political affairs.

Ed Miliband did a really good job of keeping the UK Labour Party united, writes Josie Pagani. They still lost, proving there is more to winning elections than having everyone singing

Australia has a Budget crisis and a debt that will crush generations to come. Or does it? It depends on who's in government, and how badly they want to save their own skin.

Joe Hockey's and Tony Abbott's budget is top-heavy on sweeteners for small business and families, without the sour taste of a Medicare co-pay or easing back on age pensions.

The defining image of this year's Budget, which is widely viewed as pivotal to the electoral future of Tony Abbott's Coalition Government, is the almost complete absence of Hockey in the run-up to today's announcement.

Business leaders are preparing to fight to keep Britain in the European Union after David Cameron's election triumph set the stage for a referendum on membership of the bloc.

Tanks growled across Red Square and fighter jets streaked overhead as Russia celebrated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II with a mass-ranked display of military might.

Amal Clooney, the barrister wife of the Hollywood actor George Clooney, will meet with nine men who are bringing a legal action against the UK Government.

Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg carried out their final duty as party leaders hours after they were humiliated in the most unexpected election result in decades.

Boris Johnson has succeeded in his bid for a Commons comeback after winning the seat for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London.

Scotland has become a virtual one-party state following an astonishing performance from the SNP that saw the party win an astonishing 56 of the 59 seats available in the country.

The Liberal Democrats were trounced in the United Kingdom elections but have a sympathetic ear in New Zealand in the form of United Future leader Peter Dunne.

Ed Miliband stood down as leader of the British Labour Party last night, saying he took "absolute responsibility" for the poor result.

David Cameron last night returned to Downing Street as Prime Minister after securing a shock election victory which looked set to deliver an overall majority for the Tories.

Two questions will dominate and define David Cameron's second term as Prime Minister: Will the United Kingdom survive in its current form? And will the UK remain a member of the European Union?

Neither of the two serious contenders for No 10 has had the nerve to copy John Major's gamble from the 1992 campaign, which saw him standing on a soapbox in the street with a loudhailer, attracting abuse but also respect.

After a bitter, bruising and fragmented six-week election campaign, British voters voted overnight, knowing only one thing with near certainty: nobody is going to win.

It may well be that NZ on the Security Council has to pick its battles, or choose the lesser of two evils when it is deciding who to support, writes Dita De Boni.