The NSA has been systematically eavesdropping on the Mexican government for years. It hacked into the president's public email account and gained deep insight into policymaking and the political system. The news is likely to hurt ties between the US and Mexico.

As a special church service was held in Springwood, in the lower Blue Mountains, near Sydney, one can only decry the futility of praying for rain... More effective of course would be to plead to Tony Abbott to keep the carbon pricing...

It's not going to improve unless we reduce our emissions of CO2... It's as simple as this... And we have to reduce these emissions to NIL, NADA, NOTHING, ZIP... We have to find ways to stop using fossil carbon. If one does a comparison between the past and now, global warming has removed about two months of winter and added two months of summer in this country...

The United States has temporarily avoided federal default. As the Republicans lick their wounds, the Democrats are triumphant. But no one should be happy, because the debacle has exposed just how broken the American political system truly is.

Dear idiot in chief...

One of Kevin Rudd's strongest supporters has questioned the former prime minister's judgment, reportedly describing his election policies as cruel and idiotic.

Australian authorities are gathering more than 300,000 contact lists a day from personal email and instant messaging accounts, on behalf of the US National Security Agency, a new report has claimed.

FROM CHRIS FLOYD.... As we all know, the use of chemical weapons is the most heinous crime that can be committed by a brutal, aggressive government: a brazen act of state terror, an offense against all humanity. Those who perpetrate such actions put themselves beyond the pale; indeed, they rank themselves with Hitler himself, as a succession of America’s highest officials has pointed out in recent weeks.