This week Viktor Yuschenko was declared the winner of the re-run Ukranian presidential elections, but the newly defeated candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, is refusing to accept the election's outcome.

Events and debates in recent weeks have brought to a head a central theme in the Iraq occupation and in the Irish "peace process", but it's a theme that the media can't seem to get their heads around. Admittedly, it's a tough one: when does "resistance" become "criminality"?

Falluja has been a test of the media's independence and honesty. With sad predictability, most outlets have dismally failed.

IT'S 10.30am ON A THURSDAY morning, any Thursday morning, in the Dail. There's a scattering of the usual Deputies around the Chamber, their eyes gleaming, teeth biting at the bit. It's their last chance to hit the headlines before they close shop for the weekend and they know it.

The hereditary peer who opposes the hereditary system, the pacifist who has sought out wars and revolutions, he has written a book about his experiences as a wartime pilot.