The Spanish government's cost of borrowing has hit a new record amid renewed concerns over the state of its economy and public finances.

The interest rate Spain is being asked to pay by investors is now 2.23 percentage points higher than that being demanded of Germany.

This widening gap in the bond market marks a drop in confidence in Spain's ability to repay its debts.

The Spanish cabinet has also approved unpopular changes to labour rules.

"It is a necessary labour reform," said Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega. "One of the most important reforms of the last 20 years."

from crooksandliars.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

from Crikey .....

Afghanistan: another 30 years for the sake of the alliance

Jeff Sparrow writes:

THE Coalition has begun talks with the Australian Republican Movement about potential changes to Australia's constitution, despite Tony Abbott, a staunch monarchist, being at its helm.

Frontbencher Joe Hockey has led the negotiations. He has taken over from Malcolm Turnbull as the torchbearer for republican sentiment inside the Liberal Party.

Mr Hockey indicated it was unlikely the Coalition would take a party position on a republic, but would allow individual MPs to take a position according to their beliefs.

He has a radio show that is the toast of conservative America and his extremist rants accusing President Barack Obama of being anti-white and a closet socialist have made him a star on Fox News. His speaking tours sell out like a rock star's and his published political diatribes are bestsellers.

Government ministers have been careful not to get drawn into a debate about Barack Obama's comments on BP.

In the words of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg - they did not want to allow the issue to spiral into a "tit for tat political diplomatic spat".

It is hardly surprising they saved the discussions for a weekend phone call between David Cameron and the president.

The question is: what exactly was said in that call? Different points were emphasised by different sources.

By Jerome Taylor

No mercy. There, in two words, you have the White House game plan for BP. It's no use Mayor Boris Johnson bleating about the "huge exposure of British pension funds to BP" and it being "a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the airwaves". It's worse than useless for Lord Tebbitt to splutter about "a crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan, political, presidential petulance against a multinational company."

Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Sydney's CBD today, waving colourful banners and chanting demands for equal pay for women.

The Australian Services Union, which represents workers in the female-dominated community services sector, organised the nationwide rally - Australia's biggest equal pay march since the 1970s.

Women earn 18 per cent less than men, which amounts to about $1 million over a lifetime, recent Australian Bureau of Statistics show.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will meet with mining magnate Andrew Forrest in Perth today to try to end the bitter row over the Government's proposed resources super profits tax.

Mr Rudd has promised to pour $2 billion into infrastructure in Western Australia in a bid to garner support for the tax, but has failed to convince fierce critics like Mr Forrest.

Mr Forrest told Lateline Government officials have made it clear the consultation process for the proposed tax is a charade.

"The consultation process started with Fortescue at 8:00am in Canberra on the first day," he said.

A US soldier serving in Iraq has been arrested for allegedly leaking a classified combat video to a whistleblower website, Wikileaks, last year.

The video footage from a helicopter cockpit shows a deadly 2007 aerial strike in the Iraqi capital that killed 12 civilians including two journalists from the Reuters news agency.

If you want to hide a leaf, find a forest. Jérôme Kerviel, alleged to be the world's biggest rogue trader, will attempt to hide a €5bn leaf in a multi-trillion euro forest when he goes on trial in Paris today. Mr Kerviel's defence will be horrendously complex – and very simple. His lawyers will admit that what he did in 2007-8 – to bet more than the value of France's second largest bank on a series of trades on stock exchange futures – was insane. However, they will also argue that his actions were rational, even tacitly approved, within a global banking culture which had, itself, broken off relations with reality.