America, it seems, can't wait to get back to business - risky business - as usual. No matter how atrocious business has been.

Newsweek's latest cover story declares that The Great Recession is over. A Merrill Lynch report concurs, saying, "The recession is over ... We are bullish on global equities." Goldman Sachs is placing riskier bets on the market than it did before the financial meltdown (and setting aside huge amounts of money to pay its executives).

from Crikey .....

Why do we need to further strengthen terror laws?

Greg Barns writes:

In any other country, with any other company, at any other time, it might be considered a routine case of corporate espionage. But the arrests earlier this month of four employees of the mining giant Rio Tinto have thrown relations between China and Australia into an uproar and cast a dangerous chill on China's foreign business partners.

On July 5, the Shanghai State Security Bureau arrested Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, a Chinese-born Australian, and three Chinese employees on suspicion of stealing state secrets.

It's the story of a place called Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.

They even had a Parliament. And every four years they had an election. Used to walk to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like you and me. And every time on election day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government made up of big, fat, black cats.

The Shia Family Planning law was signed last March by President Hamid Karzai in an attempt, many believe, to appease powerful mullahs. The Afghan constitution allows Shias to have a separate family law from the Sunni majority based on traditional Shia jurisprudence, and some think the law is linked to the August elections and the Shia electorate who would have to abide by it (they could form up to 20% of the electorate).

As the battle over healthcare reform reaches a fever pitch, today came news that the Obama administration is refusing to release the names of health industry insiders who have met with Obama officials at the White House. From the LA Times:

Wall Street's biggest banks are setting aside billions of dollars more to pay their executives and other employees just months after these firms were rescued with a taxpayer bailout, renewing questions about compensation practices in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

The recent outcry over bonuses at bailed-out firms prompted public alarm and promises of reform from financial leaders, who acknowledged that pay and bonuses should not reward risky short-term business decisions -- such as those that contributed to the meltdown -- but instead longer-term financial performance.

Okay, so the United States of America has had a new puppet regime for six months now. I was never so much into giving Obama a "chance" and I think it's way past time to call Obama and his supporters out, like we called Bush and his supporters out.

Our Presidents are merely puppets for the Robber Class and Obama is no exception.

A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in this country after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home. The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning.

From the SMH

"Well Wilson is still a member of the family and he will still be invited to Christmas dinner."

The coalition is facing an internal struggle over what stance it should take on what the government calls its carbon pollution reduction scheme.

The official coalition position is to delay a vote on government legislation until early 2010, following global climate change talks in Copenhagen and a decision by the US Congress on the Obama administration's draft laws.

In April this year Quartet Books published Kill Khalid: The Failed Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas. It was written by an Australian war correspondent, Paul McGeough, an expert on the Middle East.

The book had come out in the United States to ecstatic reviews. I had heard of McGeough and although I did not know him, when asked to provide a quote for the book's dust-jacket, I read the manuscript and was happy to do so.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned the "tyranny and poverty" of North Korea, highlighting American ties with its southern neighbour.

She said US relations with the country would not change while its regime "insulted and refused dialogue with the Republic of Korea", using South Korea's official name.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7900792.stm

The main French opposition party, the Socialists - delighted to have an issue to distract from their own internal back-stabbing - have accused the President of "scandalous collusion" with parts of the media.

The Elysée Palace, dismissing calls for a parliamentary inquiry, has rejected the cries of scandal as far-fetched. "We order opinion polls. If newspapers buy the same ones, what can we do?" said M. Sarkozy's chief aide and secretary general, Claude Guéant.

In South Australia the Liberal Party has just elected its third leader in as many years. In the lead up to the ballot there was much discussion as to which of the three candidates would make the better leader, but few asked the question whether or not there was anyone in State Parliament who was worthy to lead their party, let alone be premier. Reflecting further I cast my eyes beyond the state and asked the question: where are our political leaders?

Former vice-president Dick Cheney could be forced to testify to Congress over allegations that a secret hit squad was set up on his orders, as Democrats press for inquiries into the conduct of the "war on terror". Paul Harris reports from New York.

America is bracing itself for a series of investigations that could see top officials from the administration of President George W Bush hauled in front of Congress, grilled by a special prosecutor and possibly facing criminal charges.