People wearing hooded sweatshirts are often going to be perceived as a menace, Rivera said.

A new expose in Wired Magazine has revealed new details about how the National Security Agency is quietly building the largest spy centre in the country in Bluffdale, Utah, as part of a secret NSA surveillance program codenamed "Stellar Wind."

Another Taser-related death in Australia has renewed debate about the powerful weapon and whether it is a safe option for police use.

A STRUGGLING Sydney golf club with a declining membership is considering joining forces with a cemetery that is overflowing.

The reference to the lands policy was the recent decision against ringfencing prime agricultural land from mining while forcing miners to face scientific panels to gain approval to mine such areas.

They've flogged off the Tote, the state-owned bookmaker set up by Winston Churchill in 1928. They've sold the Channel Tunnel rail link to two Canadian pension funds. The NHS faces privatisation in all but name, some police services are to be carried out by private companies, and the Royal Mail, in state hands since its inception in 1516, is to be sold, with the taxpayer left paying for the company's pension fund liabilities.

And still the serial privatisers in the ConDem coalition aren't satisfied.

from Robert Fisk...

I'm getting a bit tired of the "deranged" soldier story. It was predictable, of course. The 38-year-old staff sergeant who massacred 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, near Kandahar this week had no sooner returned to base than the defence experts and the think-tank boys and girls announced that he was "deranged". Not an evil, wicked, mindless terrorist – which he would be, of course, if he had been an Afghan, especially a Taliban – but merely a guy who went crazy.

Queensland businessman Clive Palmer has accused green groups of being funded by America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Abbott's humour less than killer, but does he lack compassion?

David Ritter, an academic, commentator and campaigner, writes:

With annual financial reports being released this time of year, the oil and gas industry is looking to continue its decade long trend of being one of the most profitable in the United States. As of February 27, 2012, the top six oil and gas companies have released their 2011 fourth quarter results-and with no surprise, profits continue to boom. The top six oil and gas companies raked in nearly $150 billion in profits last year-an increase of 69% from 2010. Despite another jaw dropping year, Big Oil continues to enjoy billions of dollars in taxpayer-backed subsidies.

picture by Gus Leonisky...

While most Australians rightly believe that Australia is a multicultural nation, in reality multiculturalism is encouraging divisions, discrimination and racism. Australia needs an inclusive multicultural policy to dismantle "white" dominance and unite Australians.

A parliamentary probe team on Thursday said up to 20 American troops were involved in Sunday's killing of 16 civilians in southern Kandahar province.

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott gave a strong endorsement of Israel’s right to defend itself during a speech at the Central Synagogue last Friday night. 

From Crabb