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His Finance Minister was referred to as Peter w----er Costello minister for the rich stomping the

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His Finance Minister was referred to as "Peter (w----er) Costello, minister for the rich, stomping the poor and wrecking the economy". But both have become burning issues in the run-up to the country's general election on 3 October. As campaigning enters its second week, the opposition Labor Party has gone into damage control while federal police investigate how the ruling Liberal Party's official Internet site was allegedly sabotaged and linked to hard-core pornographic sites. Soon after Prime Minister John Howard called an early election last week, visitors to his party's website were shocked by what they found as they searched for mundane information like policy statements.They saw the party leader described as "The Dishonourable John Howard, prime minister for pain, suffering and inequity". But to do that, it will need more international support - a figure Moscow estimates at $15bn. Getting extra funds in the current climate, let alone such a large amount, is going to be extremely difficult.But without the money the plan is wishful thinking. While roubles are churned out, Mr Chernomyrdin's proposals will collapse under the weight of other problems: insolvent banks, unsafe nuclear stockpiles and bases (the biggest Russian submarine builder has sent its employees on compulsory holiday for fear of social unrest), a waning president and political in-fighting.The list of woes grew even longer yesterday in an unstable area that Moscow regards with anxiety - Russia's southern flank. Interior Ministry troops were rushed into Dagestan, which borders Chechnya, after a car bomb killed 17 people and injured more than 80 others.The worry is that Moscow - overwhelmed by the burden of a collapsing economy and deep social strife - will have another explosion in the Caucasus..

AUSTRALIA'S political leaders are not normally associated with sex and pornogarphy. The naked version, a closely observed work, shows the first example of pubic hair in the history of European painting.Critics fear not so much that the works might be stolen - there would be no market for such renowned pieces - but that they might suffer damage, either through the rigours of travel upon aged and fragile fabric or, especially in this case, through the unforeseen hazards of political upheaval.The loan was "a rash imprudence in present circumstances, with Russia so unstable," fumed Francisco Nieva, a member of the Spanish Academy.The furore echoes one last year over a proposal to move Picasso's Guernica from Madrid's Reina Sofia museum to the new Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. The Reina Sofia said the painting was too fragile to travel, but disappointed Basques in Bilbao were convinced Madrid was just being dog-in-the-manger.The Reina Sofia's director Jose Guirao is more relaxed about the Goyas: "In my experience, the security of Russian museums is very good - even if other aspects of Russian life don't work.". A Prado spokesman said: "Of course the Goyas are worth much more than this, but with institutions of confidence such as the Hermitage, it is common practice to insure masterpieces for a symbolic amount, simply to facilitate the movement of the works."The two paintings, although matching, were painted at different times between 1797 and 1800, and the brushwork on each is quite distinct. The pair were reputed to form an erotic game, whereby the clothed one could be moved to reveal the secret naked version beneath. They were considered very risque at the time, although the clothed version is thought by many to be the more seductive.Unconfirmed legend says the model is the Duchess of Alba, reputed to have been the artist's mistress, whom he painted on many occasions. A FIERCE row has shaken the Spanish art world following the disclosure that Madrid's Prado museum has lent two priceless Goya masters, The Naked Maja and the Clothed Maja, to the Hermitage in St Petersburg, insured for what critics condemn as a ridiculously small sum.

The Goyas - two of the finest in the Prado's vast collection - form the focus of an exhibition that opened on Thursday and runs until November. The Prado sent them to the Russian gallery in return for the loan of a Leonardo da Vinci and a Caravaggio in 1990. The Majas ("belles") travelled to Russia in separate planes, each accompanied by a Prado curator to ensure safe passage at every stage of the journey. But the sensitive Spanish art world is furious that the works were insured for only 3bn pesetas (pounds 12.5m) the pair, prompting calls for a ban on the transport of all great works.One art expert, Miguel de Oriol, condemned the loan as "absolutely ridiculous and an intolerable scandal that should not be allowed in the case of two works of such incalculable value". He also reveals police evidence that someone had jammed the door to the cellar from the inside with a piece of wood, in between the writing of the first sentence and the uncompleted second.This could only have been the victim, he says - thus once again pointing the finger of blame at Omar Raddad.. He was only released on Friday after the Justice Ministry approved an offer from a Halal butchers chain in Marseilles, which is ready to employ him as a stock-keeper.Mr Raddad left prison with his lawyer, Jacques Verges, a veteran defender of unpopular causes Both men vowed to continue the fight to clear his name. But the new book, L'Affaire Omar Raddad: un dossier pour servir la verite, by Francois Foucart, a journalist, offers new evidence suggesting that he was guilty.Mr Foucart says that there is written evidence that Ms Marchal made grammatical errors with the past tense. One expert told the trial it was 99 per cent certain that Ms Marchal had written the words; another expert has since pronounced that she almost certainly did not.Defence lawyers and campaigners for Mr Raddad's release have always insisted that the message was written by the real murderer to throw suspicion on to the young gardener.

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