More than 500 of the world's leading authors, including five Nobel prize winners, have condemned the scale of state surveillance revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden and warned that spy agencies are undermining democracy and must be curbed by a new international charter.

Eagle-eyed readers of last weekend's newspaper may have spotted an unusual assemblage of letters in Harry the Dog's regular word puzzle.

The overwhelming response to details of victim's ordeal made a mockery of church's hardball tactics at royal commission.

The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post.

A shocking documentary about the struggle of the people of Jeju Island, S. Korea.

The Coalition has inherited Labor's problems with industry - the high dollar and a dwindling manufacturing sector. But it lacks the nous to come up with real solutions, writes Ben Eltham

Should the federal government "save" Holden? What about Qantas? Hell, what about the entire local car industry?

Australia is in the box seat to crack the US sugar market, leaked trade documents show. But, in return, it may have to allow US companies to sue Australian governments in international tribunals, a concession it has not been willing to make until now.

It is still not clear why Tony Abbott seems determined to trash Australia’s hard-won reputation as a good citizen of the world, but there can be no doubt that he no longer cares what our erstwhile friends and neighbours think of us – provided that he can achieve his short term domestic objectives.

from Mike Carlton ….

John Pilger: Apartheid Did Not Die

Video

Apartheid Did Not Die is a 1998 Carlton Television documentary, written and presented by John Pilger, which was directed and produced by Alan Lowery, which provides analysis of South Africa's then new, democratic government.

There was a time young Americans would stitch a Canadian flag on their backpacks and pretend to be Canadian so they would not be blamed for the awful things being done by their government.

It may now be time for Australian travellers to pretend to be New Zealanders, though the flag trick would probably not work.

His smile was like sunshine, but Nelson Mandela was made of steel. It was his strength of character, repeatedly tested throughout his long and impossibly full life, that made him one of the towering political figures of our time.

No secret, compelling need for inquiry

The Abbott Family