Thursday 28th of March 2024

a rattus legacy .....

a rattus legacy .....

from Crikey .....

After nine years as a refugee, it's time for quality of mercy

Bruce Haigh, a commentator and retired diplomat who worked in Sri Lanka, writes:

our way or the highway .....

our way or the highway .....

Talk is prone to get a little giddy over the coming days as Obamania hits town.

Enduring alliance, no closer friends, vital relationship, that sort of thing. Imagine the outbreak of euphoria had he actually made it those other times he promised to drop by, back when he was still wildly popular, before the chains of office really started to weigh.

grapple yankee .....

grapple yankee .....

A former RAF navigator has claimed the size of a nuclear bomb detonated during tests in the 1950s could have been three times bigger than the Government officially stated, in evidence which could that prove crucial for more than 1,000 service veterans suing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for upwards of £100m.

Flight Lieutenant Joseph Pasquini, who served in the RAF's 76 Squadron, took measurements during the UK's biggest nuclear test blast at Christmas Island in the Pacific on 28 April, 1958 - known as Grapple Y.

in the public interest .....

in the public interest .....

In their attacks on WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, traditional news organisations seem to have forgotten that his objectives are the same as theirs.

rain rain rain...

rain rain rain...

picture by Gus Leonisky. c 2006

rite policies wrong, says wong...

wrong rite policies

The Federal Government has labelled the Coalition's position on whether to increase the superannuation guarantee, which is part of the mining tax package, as confusing and chaotic.

Labor wants to increase compulsory superannuation contributions from 9 to 12 per cent.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says a coalition government would keep the super increases in place - even though it does not support the mining tax.

Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb says the Coalition will only go ahead with an increase to the superannuation guarantee if it can find other savings.

blood on the walls...

steptoes

In 2001, Ultimate Fighting was sold for $2 million to the Fertitta brothers, Frank III and Lorenzo, megarich owners of a string of Las Vegas casinos and close friends of a phenomenal huckster named Dana White. What ensued was one of the greatest feats of financial alchemy in the history of sports, the transformation of cage fighting into a $1 billion-plus business.

But lucrative as it is, Ultimate Fighting remains confined to a narrow demographic niche, those three initials not yet familiar in most American households. On Saturday night, however, the U.F.C. will seek to make its way into the mainstream, appearing for the first time on network television. The event: a heavyweight championship fight broadcast on Fox.

same old, same old .....

same old, same old .....

The latest United Nations report on Iran's nuclear program may not be the "game changer" it was billed to be, as some nuclear experts raise doubts about the quality of evidence - and point to lack of proof of current nuclear weapons work.

In a 14-page annex to its quarterly report on Iran released yesterday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said new intelligence and other data gave it "serious concern" about the allegedly peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. But the casus belli for military strikes that anti-Iran hawks in the US and Israel expected to gain from the IAEA report is far from clear-cut.

remembrance day .....

remembrance day ......

Prime Minister Julia Gillard used a surprise appearance at today's Remembrance Day service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to defend Australia's ongoing involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

Veterans' Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon, who had been scheduled to represent the Prime Minister today, said she had ''become available'' earlier in this week.

It is understood Australian War Memorial Officials did not learn of the changes until last night.

occupy everywhere .....

occupy everywhere .....

Barack Obama is to announce that the US will begin rotating Marines through an Australian base in Darwin in a permanent new military presence, intensifying the alliance in a sign of heightened concern about China.

He is scheduled to make the announcement with the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, when they visit Darwin next Thursday during Mr Obama's first visit to Australia as president. The 26-hour visit will mark the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance.

The Marines are the chief US ground combat force in the Pacific theatre, the so-called ''tip of the spear''.

sweet baby james .....

sweet baby james .....

Today in Westminster, less than 48 hours after it was revealed that the News of the World hired an ex-policeman to carry out surveillance on scores of politicians, sportsmen, actors and even the lawyers acting for the paper's phone-hacking victims, James Murdoch will appear before the Commons culture committee to explain discrepancies in the testimony he gave them on 19 July.

When he last appeared in front of the committee to answer questions about the phone hacking scandal at the NotW, a paper he was responsible for as chairman of News International, it was as one half of a double act with his father, Rupert Murdoch.

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