From the ABC

Employment Minister Julia Gillard has accused the Coalition of "spitting in the face of the Australian people" over its position on the Government's industrial relations laws.

Ms Gillard is today meeting with crossbench senators in a bid to get the new laws through the Senate over the next fortnight.

When the Government released its laws last year, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull admitted that the Coalition's controversial WorkChoices laws were dead.

But the Opposition is yet to reveal its final position on the changes and may seek some amendments.

Last week former treasurer Peter Costello added to confusion over the Opposition's position by calling on the Government to reconsider the laws because of the worsening economic conditions.

Ms Gillard says she will hold talks with Greens, Family First Senator Steve Fielding and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon because they have made it clear they also want to get rid of WorkChoices.

"I'm meeting them because I'm identifying them as people of goodwill who are prepared to talk with a view to getting this legislation through and sweeping away WorkChoices," she told ABC Radio's AM program.

"Now of course with Peter Costello snapping at his heels, Mr Turnbull doesn't know what he stands for.

"The political party in the Australian Parliament that is spitting in the face of the Australian people and refusing to recognise that mandate is the Liberal Party, with Mr Turnbull dithering on one side, looking over his shoulder to see what Mr Costello is going to say to him next."

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Yes Ms Gillard, WorkChoices is dead but not WorkChoices Mark II in the mind of the coalition. But no trimming the fat of the derivative rich, Mr Turnbull...

Rapid Declines in Manufacturing Spread Global Anxiety

Since it was founded by his great-grandfather in 1880, Carl Martin Welcker’s company in Cologne, Germany, has mirrored the fortunes of manufacturing, not just in Europe but around the world.

That is still true today. In a pattern familiar to industrial businesses in Europe, Asia and the United States, Mr. Welcker says his company, Schütte, which makes the machines that churn out 80 percent of the world’s spark plugs, is facing “a tragedy.”

Orders are down 50 percent from a year ago, and Mr. Welcker is cutting costs and contemplating layoffs to prevent Schütte from falling into the red.

That manufacturing is in decline is hardly surprising, but the depth and speed of the plunge are striking and, most worrisome for economists, a self-reinforcing trend not unlike the cascading bust that led to the Great Depression.

In Europe, for example, where manufacturing accounts for nearly a fifth of gross domestic product, industrial production is down 12 percent from a year ago. In Brazil, it has fallen 15 percent; in Taiwan, a staggering 43 percent.

Even in China, which has become the workshop of the world, production growth has slowed, with exports falling more than 25 percent and millions of factory workers being laid off.

In the United States, until recently a relative bright spot for manufacturing despite the steady erosion of blue-collar jobs, industrial output fell 11 percent in February from a year ago, according to statistics released Monday by the Federal Reserve.

“Manufacturing has fallen off the cliff, and it’s certainly the biggest decline since the Second World War,” said Dirk Schumacher, senior European economist with Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt.

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See toon at top... Now is the time to reinvent the wheel with solar-powered tricycles. No kidding, it would be quite easy to manufacture some sturdy lightweight electric tricycles that could carry 2 people on a round trip of 35 kms per day with grocery bags. City travel par excellence. Would sell by the millions... We will need to be more creative in saving the world from ourselves...

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From the BBC

Growing world population will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist is warning.

By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington predicts.

Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he is due to tell a conference in London.

Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he will add.

'Complacent'

"It's a perfect storm," Prof Beddington will tell the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.

see 2032 on this site...

Mr Rudd has publicly apologised for verbally abusing a flight attendant and reducing her to tears on a Royal Australian Air Force flight in a row over food earlier this year.

However News Limited has reported that Mr Rudd's media advisor, Lachlan Harris, initially denied the incident happened when first asked about it.

Mr Turnbull says Mr Rudd had every reason to apologise but has questioned why the incident was apparently denied.

"Prime ministers should tell the truth and if they are asked questions they should answer them frankly. We have seen a lot of disingenuous conduct by the Rudd Government lately," he said.

"You get the feeling with the Rudd Government that they only tell you the truth when they've been found out."

Mr Rudd was forced to answer questions over the incident during a media conference after the G20 meeting in London about his outburst.

The outburst reportedly happened after he was unable to get a special non-red-meat meal.

Mr Rudd said he had a "discussion" with an attendant about food but later apologised during the flight.

"Prime Ministers make mistakes. I've made mistakes, I'm sure that's one of them."

Asked if he had a bad temper, Mr Rudd replied: "All of us are human, I'm human, I'm not perfect ... and I said before if I upset anybody on that particular flight I'm really sorry, I apologise for it.

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Not enough iron in the diet?... try chewing on a few BHP jerky strips.. see toon at top.