He was caught with his trousers down and stripped of credibility, but Craig Thomson remained defiant yesterday after being jailed for stealing union money to pay for sex with prostitutes.

Concern is growing that Western pressure, including a suspension from the G8, has failed to dent Russian President Vladimir Putins military ambitions.

The far-right National Front (FN) has sent shockwaves through France's political establishment.

It is unfortunate that some Government sloppiness about business relationships has clouded the coverage of John Key's trip to China, writes Liam Dann.

Selling tea to China might not be a good business proposition, but Northland professional golfer Gareth Winslow expects selling a good tee shot will be a different story.

Jolted by a sense that history has changed course, Western leaders meet this week to ponder a strategy for neutralising the threat of virulent Russian nationalism.

Russian armour smashed into a base of Ukrainian troops yesterday in the first serious military action in the confrontation over Crimea.

New Zealand's modest travel sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine are largely symbolic, says Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

Ukraine warned its conflict with Russia had entered a "military stage" and authorised its troops to open fire in self-defence after suffering the first casuality since Crimea was seized.

Moscow extended US$415 million ($485 million) in assistance to the Crimean Government yesterday.

The corruption that fatally afflicted New South Wales' former Labor government has crossed both state and political borders.

An American-style pursuit of wealth has finally defeated the British obsession with social class, claims author Martin Amis.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott faced tough questioning from a group of smart high school students about the carbon tax, gay marriage, immigration policy and his women’s minister.

There has been much water under the Bridge of Sighs since Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Venice, ending 1100 years of independence in the city state.

With a sweeping Liberal victory in Tasmania and another hanging in the balance in South Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott faces two more major tests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's Crimean gamble will face its biggest test tonight, when the EU and US ready sanctions to punish him for a land-grab.

Just imagine what would happen if Labor's Bill Shorten proposed a referendum to change Australia's flag.

Australia is set to outlay billions of dollars on new long-range drones, maritime patrol aircraft and stealth fighters despite plans to slash federal spending.

The CIA illegally searched Senate computers as part of a shadowy campaign to conceal details of its "brutal and un-American" torture programme, a senior senator claimed yesterday.

A coalition of Caribbean countries has unveiled its demands for reparations from Britain and other European nations for the enduring legacy of the slave trade.

Socialist Michelle Bachelet has promised to tackle inequality as she returned to power in Chile after four years.

France's cash-strapped Socialist Govt approved Dominique de Villepin's return to the diplomatic service for one day after an absence of 20 years so that he could retire with a €100k payoff.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Coalition Government continues to trail Labor in the polls as job losses mount.

Vitaly Klitschko, the former boxer turned Ukranian presidential hopeful, has been forced to cancel a rally in the eastern city of Donetsk.

Australia's newly elected Abbott Government applied secret diplomatic pressure to undermine a NZ-led push towards nuclear disarmament, newly released documents show.

Mitt Romney's election campaign description of Russia as America's "Number One" geopolitical foe suddenly doesn't seem so silly after all, writes Jack Tame.

Note to Scott Walker: take more care with your communications.

Russia's President is deserving of respect - the kind you would show if you were in close proximity to a hissing cobra, writes John Armstrong.