from the ABC …..

Costello urges banks to lower fees. 

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello is urging banks to reduce
the fees they charge when customers open or close accounts. 

Mr Costello says he has met with the major banks to ask
them to lower entry and exit fees they charge on accounts. 

He says uncompetitive fees are hurting consumers. 

INDEPTH:

CANADA'S MILITARY
Requiem for the Sea King
CBC News Online | Updated Feb. 3,
2006 

They are known as the
"ancient" Sea Kings, the "geriatric" Sea Kings, the
"venerable" Sea Kings. They have been called "flying
coffins." Purchased with considerable fanfare by the federal
government in 1963, when they turned heads with their impressive exploits,
the Sea Kings are now a sick, ageing fleet, with pieces literally falling
out of the skies. Canada bought 41 of the single-rotor Sea Kings,
technically known as the Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King. Twenty-eight of them
remain in service, and those still flying are often hit by flameouts,
engine stalls, generator failures and gearbox problems. Pilots have died
flying them, falling into oceans, crashing into muskeg – more so the older
they get. After the federal government renewed the bidding process in 1999
to replace the fleet, builders around the world jockeyed for position to
win the contract. 

adapted from the ABC …..

PM predicts relationship with US will grow closer

By US correspondent Kim Landers

Prime Minister John Howard arrived in Washington at the weekend but he is
only just now catching up with his good friend and ally, US President
George W Bush.

The President and his wife are about to join Mr and Mrs Howard in planting
saplings, taken from 200-year-old trees at the White House at the home of
the Australian Ambassador in Washington.

Read the whole tree planting at the ABC

Congratulations to the two miners, Todd and Brant, and to their rescuers. Their survival is a complex fantastic story at the forefront of human endurance, good luck, planning and great community spirit.

The media reports on the unfolding events were in general quite good.

The various outlets, print and TV, have a complex dynamic of necessarily reporting the news as it happens as well as the ingrained urge to corner the grand prize without offending too many people. Checkbook journalism for exclusive interviews has never been a proper way towards "objectivity" (a journalist who believes in objectivity is deluded anyway — as no matter what, the reporting always become part of the calculated importance of the story) but in some circumstances cheque book journalism can help victims or accidental subjects...

Cheney, Visiting Kazakhstan,
Wades Into Energy Battle

From the NYT

By ILAN GREENBERG and ANDREW E.
KRAMER
Published: May 6, 2006 

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, May 5 — A day
after chastising Moscow for its use of oil and natural gas as "tools
for intimidation and blackmail," Vice President Dick Cheney visited
Kazakhstan on Friday to promote export routes that bypass Russia and
directly supply the West. 

from the ABC ….. 

Philosophical about ALP policies 

‘We will not be taking Medicare Gold to the next election
- new problems, new focus," Mr Beazley said. 

But he says the party's focus at the next election will be
on fixing problems in the public hospital system. 

 
From the ABC …..

Costello plays down 'line-ball' rate hike

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says today's interest rate hike is
a line-ball decision.

Mr Costello agrees, saying the standard variable rate is likely to be around
7.5 per cent.

"People will be paying more in relation to their mortgage and that will
have a dampening affect in relation to the economy," he said.