China built Australia last year — 1.9 billion square metres of residential floor space. Actually, that's not quite true — the total floor space of all of Australia's housing isn't quite that big.

From ComPost at the Washington Post

from politicoz ….

Qantas has inked an alliance agreement with Middle Eastern rival Emirates aimed at stemming the Australian airline's losses on the highly competitive route between Australia and Europe.

After months of negotiations and endless speculation, Qantas today unveiled the terms of a 10-year alliance with Emirates on routes to Europe via Dubai, due to begin next April.

British democracy is in crisis. We cannot wish this away. The cause is a precipitous decline in respect for Members of Parliament and for the governments they form. Trust in our rulers has never been lower; faith in their competence is approaching nil. Democratic states cannot function properly in such circumstances. To see what is happening, look at what the polling organisations report.

from politicoz ….

Chinese consortium Shandong Ruyi is seeking to buy Australia's largest cotton farm, Cubbie Station, and the purchase now has the approval of the government.

On 19 August an IED strike took the lives of three New Zealand troops in Afghanistan.  Lost were Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Private Richard Harris, 21, and Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, medic.

Jacinda was the first New Zealand female killed in Afghanistan.

Desmond Tutu has helped us see the true nature of what the former prime minister did to Iraq and increased pressure for a prosecution.