Really .....

Australia secretly worked with the United States to weaken a key international treaty to ban cluster bombs, leaked US diplomatic cables show.

Despite taking a high-profile stance against cluster munitions - condemned as the cause of large numbers of civilian casualties - Australia was privately prepared to pull out of international negotiations on a global ban of the weapons if this threatened ties with US forces.

Mr Trump, who is toying with a possible presidential bid, had been driving the controversy and last week said he was proud he had forced Mr Obama to make his long-form birth certificate public.

"But no-one is happier, no-one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald," Mr Obama said.

"That's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter - like did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?"

As the president joked, Mr Trump sat stony faced at a table hosted by the Washington Post.

He had told people before the dinner he did not expect the president to even mention him.

"How is this helping in the protection of civilians? Mr Saif al-Arab was a civilian, a student," he said. "He was playing and talking to his father and mother and his nieces and nephews and other visitors when he was attacked and killed."

An adopted daughter of Col Gaddafi's was killed in 1986 by a US air strike launched in response to alleged Libyan involvement in a Berlin bombing targeting US military personnel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13251570

A Nato air strike in Tripoli has killed the youngest son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, a Libyan government spokesman has said.

Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, 29, was killed along with three of Muammar Gaddafi's grandsons, according to reports.

The Libyan leader was in the building at the time of the strike, but was unharmed. Several of Gaddafi's friends and relatives were wounded.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said: "This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country."

"The attack resulted in the martyrdom of brother Saif al-Arab Gaddafi and three of the leader's grandchildren," he said.

When was the last time you heard a Labor leader declare him or herself ''the most progressive leader the ALP has ever had''? When was the last time you could be confident that a Labor leader would challenge powerful interests - especially economic and corporate power - and not back down? When was the last time you could be sure of what a Labor leader stood for, and be proud of him or her?

Strange problems make for strange solutions.

In a country where people of good conscience are ignored in favor of megalomaniacs like Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, our society has been well-trained to sit up and pay rapt attention in matters regarding the military.

We worship at the altar of the armed forces, and for two basic reasons: 1. Average people pay respect to those in the military because that service to our country is worthy of praise; and, 2. A few very influential people - in the defense industry, the oil industry, and the media - make vast fortunes off the defense budget and the wide coverage any military engagement is given.

from Crikey .....

And we now cross live from London's Green Park Royal Wedding media compound (housing over 8000 broadcast journalists and technicians) to veteran US television journalist Dan Rather...

Although Superman never actually renounces his citizenship in the story, conservative commentators reacted with disgust.

In a blogpost at The Weekly Standard, senior writer Jonathan Last questioned Superman's beliefs, now that he seems to have rejected the United States. "Does he believe in British interventionism or Swiss neutrality?" Last wrote. "You see where I'm going with this: If Superman doesn't believe in America, then he doesn't believe in anything."

Posters on comic book discussion forums drew parallels between the superhero's doubts about his citizenship and the conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's nationality.

Weather records are falling as rapidly as the rain in Sydney, meteorologists say.

Sydney has experienced its wettest March and April in 21 years, with a total of 371 millimetres of rain - nearly 30 millimetres of which fell in the last 24 hours, Josh Fisher of weatherzone.com.au said.

A third of the average annual total of 1213 millimetres of rain has already fallen this year, with the wet weather expected to persist for the next one or two months as the La Nina pattern tapers off.

'The Independent' has a proud tradition of covering royal matters less slavishly than its rivals. We have loosened up a bit since our early days, when the 1988 birth of the Duke and Duchess of York's first child was marked with a single grudging sentence in the News In Brief column.

from Crikey .....

The bureaucracy of Gitmo: Franz couldn't have made it up

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Misrata has come under attack by Libyan government forces attempting to retake the besieged city.

Three people were reportedly killed as missiles slammed into the city's port, a lifeline for those seeking to escape to the rebel stronghold Benghazi.

Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians in Libya amid a two-month revolt inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world.

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss a statement on the unrest.

BEIJING: The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has emerged from top-level talks to declare ''the relationship with China is in good shape'', despite pushing Australia's concerns about businessmen detained in Chinese jails.

Ms Gillard squarely raised questions about the Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu and tourism entrepreneur Matthew Ng, who has been charged but not prosecuted in Guangzhou, and also won plaudits for stabilising the relationship and focusing on its economic strengths.

''My argument today is that we can be positive about our relationship and that we should be ambitious for its future,'' Ms Gillard told business leaders in a speech last night.

China has urged the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to study its ''tremendous progress on human rights'' and ''show basic respect'' as she begins her most testing outing on the international stage.

Ms Gillard, who arrived in China last night for her first visit in a decade, said she was confident of extending economic and practical co-operation while pressing human rights concerns.

But returning to a pragmatic, Howard-like balance will not be easy in an environment where the Chinese state's willingness to assert its own political interests appears to be growing at least as fast as the Chinese economy.