Changes in
Japanese political
circles
I
just watched Russian News on TV and was pleasently surprised, that the
new Japanese Prime-Minister Yukio Hatoyama is called ET (positive
type). There are
positive types of catoons of him shown on Japanese TV.His views are
very different from others, his clothes and hair style is against their
norm too.
His
wife, whom he loves very much and who charges him with a lot of energy
(he says), was abducted years ago by spaceship and who had spent some
time in Venus. She wrote a book about it. She also seems to be very
down to Earth and cheerful woman.
The
couple could be the 11th Density Beings, the volunteers, the ones who
are replacing all the old-fashioned politicians. The change in global
political circles is taken place. But for me it's still too slow!
Israeli diplomat expelled by
Australia
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2010/05/24/Israel_responsible_for_faking_passports_465527.html
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has told parliament Israel was
responsible for faking four Australian passports used in the killing of
a senior Hamas official.
'Investigations and advice have left the government in no doubt Israel
was responsible for the abuse and counterfeiting of these passports,'
he said on Monday.
Mr Smith has asked that a member of the Israeli Embassy in Canberra be
withdrawn from Australia within the week, as a result of the scandal.
'This is not what we expect from a nation with whom we have had such a
close, friendly and supportive relationship,' he said.
Mr Smith said it was not the first time that Australian passports had
been misused by Israeli authorities.
'The Dubai passports incident also constitutes a clear and direct
breach of confidential undertakings between Australia and Israel dating
back some years,' he said.
Mr Smith said there was no evidence the passport holders were anything
but innocent victims.
'The high quality of these counterfeited passports points to the
involvement of a state intelligence service,' he said.
Hamas official Mahmud al-Mabhuh was assassinated in Dubai in January.
The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment.
The decision was taken by the government for 'national security
interests', Mr Smith said.
The abuse of the passports was inconsistent with the 'friendship and
support' provided by successive Australian governments to Israel.
'Australia's relationship with Israel has always been founded on a
basis of mutual respect and trust, but Israel's actions in this respect
have undermined that,' he said.
Mr Smith said Australia's relationship with Israel could continue in a
'productive and beneficial' manner.
'Australia remains a firm friend of Israel, but ... our relationship
must be conducted on the basis of mutual trust and respect.'
Genuine friendship ran both ways, Mr Smith said, stressing that the
incident must not be repeated.
Mr Smith said the United Kingdom reached similar conclusions after its
investigation into the misuse of British passports in the Dubai
incident.
'No government can tolerate the abuse of its passports, especially by a
foreign government,' he said.
'This represents a clear affront to the security of our passport
system.'
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) handed a report of its
investigation to the government in April.
The director-general of ASIO visited Israel earlier in May.
The nation's overseas-focused spy agency, the Australian Secret
Intelligence Service (ASIS), was also involved in the investigation.
'I received my final advice from agencies last week,' Mr Smith said,
adding that he had briefed the national security committee of the
cabinet on Monday morning.
Monday, May 24, 2010 » 01:37pm
Thailand faces challenges
Across
central Bangkok a huge clean-up was under way after the
scenes of anarchy that saw 36
major buildings go up in flames including
the stock exchange and the nation's biggest mall which now lies in
ruins.
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Politics/2010/05/22/Thailand_faces_challenges_464829.html
Thailand's PM says the divided kingdom faces 'huge challenges', after a
deadly crackdown on anti-government protests triggered mayhem in the
capital.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared victory on Friday in a
campaign to secure Bangkok, clamping down on militants in the 'Red
Shirt' movement who went on a rampage of arson and looting after their
leaders surrendered on Wednesday.
'This is one of the worst episodes Thailand has ever faced,' Abhisit
said in a televised address to the nation.
'We will continue to swiftly restore normalcy and we recognise that as
we move ahead there are huge challenges ahead of us, particularly the
challenge of overcoming the divisions that have occurred in this
country.'
Abhisit said he regretted the loss of life in the army offensive to
shut down six weeks of anti-government protests, which left 16 dead,
including an Italian photographer, but defended the way it was carried
out.
'The operation was within the law and complied with international
practice,' he said, adding however that there would be an independent
probe. Concern remains over a shootout at a temple 'safe zone' where
six bodies were found.
Abhisit made no mention of the fresh elections demanded by Red Shirts
who condemn his government as illegitimate, but said the focus should
now move to healing the splits that fomented the unrest.
'We are living in the same house,' he said. 'I invite all of you to
join the reconciliation process.'
'Let me reassure you that the government will meet these challenges
through the five-point reconciliation plan I have announced,' he said,
referring to a road-map which failed to produce a peaceful resolution
to the Reds rallies.
During failed negotiations before the crackdown, Abhisit offered to
hold a vote in November - a year ahead of schedule - as long as the
rallies dispersed.
Major General Amnuay Nimano of the Bangkok Police said in a televised
broadcast later on Friday that he had told Red Shirt leaders arrested
after the protests they faced charges of insulting the monarchy, as
well as terrorism.
Thailand is deeply split between the Reds, mostly urban and rural poor
who are demanding the ouster of a government they condemn as
undemocratic, and rival pro-establishment 'Yellow Shirts' who represent
the nation's elites.
The Reds are mostly supporters of former prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. The billionaire was accused
of gross rights abuses and corruption, but won grass-roots support with
his populist policies.
Thaksin's elected allies were later ejected in a controversial court
ruling, paving the way for Abhisit's administration to be appointed in
a 2008 army-backed parliamentary vote.
The violence in Bangkok drew expressions of concern from across the
world and on Friday the Association of South-East Asian Nations said
peace and stability in Thailand were crucial to the bloc's future.
It was a rare statement about the internal affairs of one of its
members.
Across central Bangkok a huge clean-up was under way after the scenes
of anarchy that saw 36 major buildings go up in flames including the
stock exchange and the nation's biggest mall which now lies in ruins.
In the hotspots where protesters have battled with security forces over
the past week, roads were being cleared of burned tyres and concrete
blocks and stones that had been used as missiles.
Thailand has suffered regular bouts of civil unrest in its turbulent
history, but commentators warned the emotional wounds from unrest that
has left 86 dead and 1,900 injured since mid-March could be hard to
heal.
'No one knows how long it will take to close the deep divisions that
have been opened within Thai families and society,' the Bangkok Post
said in a front page editorial.
Bangkok and 23 other provinces in the rural north and northeast - the
Reds' heartland - have been put under a curfew until Sunday to try to
contain the conflict and prevent it from spreading across the nation.
Some 300 angry and emotional Reds who had taken part in the protests
were welcomed home as heroes in the northern city of Chiang Mai Friday,
greeted by a cheering and flag-waving crowd at the railway station.
'I am waiting for instructions from my leaders. I am not giving up. For
now I will go home and back to my paddy field. With every one Red Shirt
killed we believe a million supporters will emerge,' said 38-year-old
Nut Jangakat.
Saturday, May 22, 2010 » 10:53am
Portugal's president passes
gay marriage
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2010/05/18/Portugals_president_passes_gay_marriage_463251.html
Portugal's conservative president said he is reluctantly ratifying a
law allowing gay marriage, making the predominantly Catholic country
the sixth in Europe to let same-sex couples wed.
President Anibal Cavaco Silva said on Monday he would not veto the bill
because majority liberal lawmakers would only overturn his decision.
The country must focus instead on battling a crippling economic crisis
that has increased unemployment and deepened poverty, he said.
'Given that fact, I feel I should not contribute to a pointless
extension of this debate, which would only serve to deepen the
divisions between the Portuguese and divert the attention of
politicians away from the grave problems affecting us,' Cavaco Silva
said.
He said he was setting aside his 'personal convictions', though he did
not elaborate and did not take reporters' questions.
The country's parliament passed the Socialist government-backed bill in
January, with the support of all of Portugal's left-of-center parties,
who together have a majority.
Right-of-centre parties opposed the measure and demanded a national
referendum.
Elsewhere in Europe, gay marriage is permitted in Belgium, the
Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway. As well, five US states and
Washington, DC, have legalised same-sex marriage, as have Canada and
South Africa.
Cavaco Silva's announcement came three days after Pope Benedict XVI
left Portugal. During his four-day visit, which attracted hundreds of
thousands of people, the pontiff said same-sex marriage and abortion
were some of the most 'insidious and dangerous' threats facing the
world.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 » 05:08pm
Rudd opens Aust embassy to the Vatican
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2010/10/17/Rudd_opens_Aust_embassy_to_the_Vatican_526939.html
Sunday, October 17, 2010 » 07:23am
On the eve of the canonisation of our first saint, Australia has
further strengthened its ties with the Vatican with the official
opening of the first permanent Chancery of the Australian embassy to
the Holy See.
Australia first established diplomatic relations with the Holy See in
1973, but only installed a resident ambassador in 2009 when Tim Fischer
took up the appointment.
On Saturday Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd declared the new embassy
officially open, watched by Cardinal George Pell, Deputy Opposition
Leader Julie Bishop, Mr Fischer, members of the Sisters of St Joseph,
and Vatican dignitaries.
'It's a good day for our relationship with the Holy See. It is a day which we should celebrate,' Mr Rudd said.
'It also represents the completion of some unfinished business.
'The decision to establish this resident embassy and a resident
ambassador to the Holy See that we took in 2008 reflected first and
foremost our mark of respect and high regard to the role of the
Catholic Church in Australia.'
Mr Rudd said there are several areas of 'great consequence' to the
people of Australia where the government works with the Holy See.
Since taking up his appointment in January 2009, Mr Fischer has engaged
with senior Vatican figures on issues including human rights,
disarmament, ethical economic growth and food security.
'One thing about Tim Fischer, here is a man who doesn't just have a big hat, he has a big heart,' Mr Rudd said.
'When you see the akubra working its way methodically across the halls
of the Vatican, there just doesn't go a piece of Australian
iconography, there goes a living embodiment of the Australian spirit.'
Mr Rudd said not only was the cost of establishing the embassy justified, it was overdue.
'I think it's entirely justified. Question: how many countries around
the world have resident embassies here in the Holy See? Answer: 77,' he
told reporters.
'How many major countries in the world who are members of the G20 have
resident embassies to the Holy See? All of them, except Australia in
2008.
'So let's just put this into a bit of context hey? Fair dinkum ... it's
nothing remarkable, it's nothing unique, in fact we are later by a
country mile than most.'
Gay US councilman's plea goes viral
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Technology/2010/10/16/Gay_US_councilmans_plea_goes_viral_526638.html
Saturday, October 16, 2010 » 09:43am
A city councilman in Fort Worth, Texas, has rocketed into cyberspace
prominence in a video pleading with gay teens not to commit suicide and
tearfully recounting his own ordeals as a bullied schoolboy.
'Give your self a chance to see how much life will get better,'
Councilman Joel Burns says in his appeal to bullied teens, which he
made during a 12-minute speech to the council on Tuesday.
By Friday afternoon, the video had received more than 500,000 hits on
YouTube, and Burns was being lauded on social networking sites.
Burns, who is gay, prefaced his appeal by recounting several of the
recent cases in which teens across the US had killed themselves after
being targeted by anti-gay bullying.
The victims included Asher Brown, 13, of Houston, who shot himself with
his father's handgun, and Tyler Clementi, 18, the Rutgers University
freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge in New York after
his roommate secretly recorded him with another male student, then
broadcast the video online.
'This bullying and harassment in our schools must stop,' Burns said, describing it as an epidemic.
He then recalled his youth in the Fort Worth suburb of Crowley,
describing himself as a skinny, sensitive boy who tried to be friendly
to all.
In ninth grade, he said, older boys roughed him up, 'said I was a faggot and I should die and go to hell where I belonged.
'Ashamed, humiliated and confused, I went home,' Burns said. 'There must be something very wrong with me, I thought.'
After struggling to maintain his composure, Burns, now 40, then
addressed himself directly to any gay teens who might see the video.
'You will get out of the household that doesn't accept you. You will
get out of that high school, and you don't ever have to deal with those
jerks again,' he said.
'Things will get easier.... Please stick around to make those happy memories for yourself.'
When he finished the speech, most of those in the council chamber rose to applaud.
'If the now-viral video ... does not move you to tears, you surely have
a tough, leathery little peanut for a heart. I can't watch it without
crying,' wrote Dallas Morning News columnist Jacquielynn Floyd.
Queen cancels staff Christmas party
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2010/10/15/Queen_cancels_staff_Christmas_party_526103.html
The Queen has called off this year's Christmas party at Buckingham
Palace to show restraint as Britain braces for a wave of austerity
cutbacks.
The biennial December party for about 600 royal staff, paid for out of
the Queen's private money, costs about STG50,000 ($A80,400), The Sun
newspaper said.
'Given the current economic climate, it was thought that it was
appropriate for the household to show restraint,' a palace spokesman
told AFP on Thursday.
'The Queen is acutely aware of the difficult economic circumstances facing the country.'
The British government is to announce its spending review on October 20
and is expected to slash departmental funding in a bid to rein in the
country's record deficit.
'We're all devastated as it's a great night when everyone lets their hair down,' The Sun quoted one worker as saying.
'The royals mix freely with servants - it's normal to see the Queen
dancing with a footman or Prince Philip waltzing with a maid.
'The champagne flows like water and you feel your hard work has been appreciated. This won't go down well.'
This year the royals have had to accept the freezing of the 'civil list', covering the expenses of the Queen and Prince Philip.
The amount was set in 1990 at STG7.9 million ($A12.7 million) a year and has not gone up since.
It is paid in return for the profits from the Crown Estate, the sovereign's property portfolio.
The surplus was STG210.7 million ($A338.83 million) for the year ended March 2010.
Friday, October 15, 2010 » 05:56am
US congress to end gay ban
in military
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Politics/2010/05/25/US_congress_to_end_gay_ban_in_military_465923.html
US President Barack Obama's administration has reached a deal with top
lawmakers in Congress designed to end a US ban on gays serving openly
in the military.
Obama has vowed to repeal the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, which
forces gays and lesbians to hide their orientation or face expulsion
from the military, and has come under intense pressure from gay rights
groups for swift action.
The White House and senior lawmakers said the compromise, which was
reached on Monday, would be brought up in the House of Representatives,
possibly as early as this week, but the law would not change until
after the military completed an implementation review.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the US Joints
Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, had backed the idea of ending
the rule.
They said in April, however, that they opposed any change to the
prohibition in the short term because the military needed to assess how
the move would impact the armed forces.
But Peter Orszag, the head of Obama's Office of Management and Budget,
said in a letter to key lawmakers on Monday that a compromise to allow
the review to be completed before the law was changed would permit
movement on the legislation.
The review is not due to be completed until December 1.
The compromise was contained in an amendment drafted by Senator Joseph
Lieberman, an independent who votes with Democrats and is a member of
the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The amendment provides for a review of the impact on changing the law
on readiness, military effectiveness and unit cohesion, and provides
that the law will not become law until the review is complete and
remedies carried out.
The review will seek the views of troops and military families on the
issue, as well as take into account the experience of NATO allies and
other armies that permit gays to serve openly.
More than 13,500 service members have been dismissed under the law
since it was adopted.
The 1993 law replaced an outright prohibition against homosexuals in
the military. Former president Bill Clinton agreed to the compromise
policy after meeting stiff resistance from commanders and lawmakers
when he proposed allowing gays to serve openly.
The move was warmly welcomed by groups which have campaigned for years
for the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'
'The White House announcement is a dramatic breakthrough,' said Aubrey
Sarvis, director of Servicemembers Legal Defence Network.
'President Obama's support and Secretary Gates' buy-in should insure a
winning vote, but we are not there yet. The votes still need to be
worked and counted.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 » 12:10pm
From Pornography to
Parliament
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/OddSpot/2010/03/13/From_porn_to_Parliament_439487.html
An
award-winning British porn director has been selected as a Liberal
Democrat candidate.
Anna Arrowsmith, who
has twice been named adult entertainment director of the year, is
standing for election in Gravesham, Kent.
Party
leader Nick Clegg said her work was 'not exactly my cup of tea' but
praised her for not being a 'cardboard cut-out Westminster politician'.
He told GMTV it was
important that people like her, who care about their local area, get
involved in politics.
When news of her
selection was confirmed, Mrs Arrowsmith wrote on her Twitter page:
'From porn to Parliament, here I come!'
Using the pseudonym
Anna Span, she has shot more than 250 explicit scenes for stations such
as Television X.
She was named best director
at the 2008 and 2009 UK Adult Film and Television Awards
and now runs adult entertainment company Easy on the Eye productions.
Mrs Arrowsmith, who has
an MA in philosophy, said she wants to make porn more female-friendly.
She decided to stand as
a reaction to the expenses scandal and the lack of women in Parliament.
'If
people don't know what I do for a living then they would never know.
The local party and the local people who I have so far met have seen
that I'm very driven,' she said.
'I'm not campaigning on
behalf of my old industry. I'm campaigning on behalf of the people in
the Gravesham area.
'When
people get to see me, they will realise that I'm used to project
managing and that I'm driven to achieve change rather than just
promising it.'
The married 38-year-old
lives in Groombridge, near Tunbridge Wells.
Saturday, March 13,
2010 »
Naked Obama Aide 'berated
Congressman'
Obama's Aide
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/OddSpot/2010/03/10/Naked_Obama_aide_berated_Congressman_438244.html
It's
a terrifying image transfixing Washington: President Barack Obama's
enforcer Rahm Emanuel, naked, in a communal shower, berating a
congressman.
The legend of Emanuel, revered as a master of the US
capital's dark arts by allies and foes alike, is being further
embroidered by a tour-de-force of score settling by resigning
Democratic lawmaker Eric Massa.
Massa, a former navy commander and
cancer survivor, has given a series of evolving reasons for his
departure, and resigned suddenly this week facing harassment
allegations from a former male staffer.
Washington is notorious as
a town of naked partisanship, but Massa raised eyebrows several notches
with his account of Emanuel's conduct.
In his most colourful
parting shot, on a radio show on Sunday, he accused the White House
chief of staff of cornering him at the locker room of the House of
Representatives gym and hammering him for failing to back Obama's
budget.
'Rahm Emanuel is the son of the devil's spawn,' Massa said. 'He is an
individual who would sell his mother to get a vote.'
Massa,
who is considered a liberal, said he had been standing in the gym
'showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel ... poking
his finger in my chest, yelling at me.
'Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a
naked man?'
Massa,
who formally resigned on Monday, also alleged that he had been pushed
out of Congress because he opposed Obama's signature health care bill,
which is struggling to make its way off Capitol Hill.
The White House on Tuesday dismissed the claims by Massa, a one-term
congressman from New York, as 'crazy allegations'.
'I
think this whole story is ridiculous. I think the latest excuse is
silly and ridiculous,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told ABC, and
accused Massa of giving a string of contradictory reasons for his
departure.
Steny Hoyer, the leader of House Democrats, also
dismissed Massa's claim that he was ousted for opposing Obama's health
care reform as 'absurd' and 'absolutely ridiculous'.
Massa's
comments have already been highlighted by conservative commentators
accusing the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress of mounting
a bare-knuckle political operation to ram health care through.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 » 11:24am
97 die in Polish president's
plane crash
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2010/04/11/97_die_in_Polish_Presidents_plane_crash_449845.html
An ageing
jet carrying
Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and much of the state elite has
crashed in thick fog in Russia, killing all 97 people on board and
plunging a nation into grief.
The Soviet-era Tupolev
Tu-154 hit
tree tops in fog as it approached the runway at Smolensk airport in
western Russia on Saturday and broke up in flames, regional governor
Sergei Antufiev said.
The plane was taking
Kaczynski and
his wife, the military chief of staff and other top officers, the
central bank governor, the deputy foreign minister, members of
parliament and other senior officials to a memorial ceremony for
thousands of Polish troops massacred by Russian forces in World War II.
'It clipped the tops of
the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces,' Antufiev told Russia-24
television news network.
Lieutenant General
Alexander
Alyoshin, deputy head of Russia's air force, said the pilots repeatedly
ignored instructions from air traffic controllers.
Wreckage, including the
engines and
a large chunk of mud-caked tailfin, was scattered across a forest and
parts of it burned for more than an hour. The two black box flight
recorders were quickly found, news agencies reported.
As well as killing the
60-year-old head of state, the crash devastated Poland's military
leadership.
The 88 passengers
included General
Franciszek Gagor, chief of Poland's armed forces, and the heads of all
the main armed forces, central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek, deputy
foreign minister Andrzej Kremer, deputy defence minister Stanislaw
Jerzy Komorowski, Kaczynski's wife Maria, and scores of MPs, historians
and other officials.
'This kind of dramatic
tragedy is
unheard of in the modern world,' Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said
after an emergency cabinet meeting. He later headed to the crash site.
Former Polish president
Lech Walesa, who headed the Solidarity movement, called the disaster
'inconceivable'.
'The Soviets killed
Polish elites in
Katyn 70 years ago. Today, the Polish elite died there while getting
ready to pay homage to the Poles killed there,' a shaken Walesa told
AFP.
Bronislaw Komorowski,
head of
Poland's lower house, took over as interim head-of-state. He ordered a
week of official mourning, declaring: 'We are united -- there is no
left or right -- we are united in national mourning.'
There was no immediate
word from the
president's identical twin brother, Jaroslaw, who previously served as
prime minister. But thousands descended on the presidential palace in
Warsaw to lay a sea of red and white flowers. Many people hung national
flags from their windows.
The Polish delegation
was to attend
a memorial service in the Katyn Forest, near the crash scene, for the
22,000 top Polish officers and troops killed by Soviet troops 70 years
ago. The event had been intended to help reconciliation between Poland
and Russia.
The jet was repaired
and refurbished in December, Alexei Gusev, director of the Aviakor
maker said.
Russian officials
pointed at pilot error.
About 1.5km from the
airport, air
traffic controllers noticed the jet was below the scheduled gliding
path, the air force deputy chief said.
'The head of the group
ordered the
crew to return to horizontal flight, and when the crew did not fulfil
the instruction, ordered them several times to land at another
airport,' Alyoshin said.
'Nonetheless the crew
continued to descend. Unfortunately this ended tragically,' he added.
Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev
appointed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to head an inquiry commission
and sent Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu to the site. Putin
later arrived to inspect the crash site as well.
Kaczynski and his twin
brother
formed a formidable dual leadership of Poland's nationalist right wing,
stubbornly taking on other European leaders at EU summits to defend his
country's cause.
He faced an election
later this year but was to fight for a new term.
The crash occurred
three days after
Putin and Tusk attended a joint memorial for the Katyn victims. The
event was seen as a huge symbolic advance in Russia's often thorny
relations with Poland.
Putin called Tusk to
express condolences over the 'tragic' crash, the Russian leader's
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Medvedev ordered a day
of national mourning in Russia on Monday.
World leaders expressed
shock at the disaster.
US President Barack
Obama hailed the
late president as 'a distinguished statesman who played a key role in
the Solidarity movement, and he was widely admired in the United States
as a leader dedicated to advancing freedom and human dignity'.
French President
Nicholas Sarkozy
paid homage to his Polish counterpart as a man 'driven by ardent
patriotism, who dedicated his life to his country'.
'He will be mourned
across the world
and remembered as a passionate patriot and democrat,' said British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
» 07:15am
NBN Co CEO grilled in Senate
hearing (Just look
at the stupidity of their talks, LM)
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Business/2010/05/25/NBN_Co_CEO_grilled_in_Senate_hearing_465920.html
A
Senate hearing involving the company responsible for rolling out the
National Broadband Network (NBN) has kicked off with a heated exchange
over the availability of its CEO.
Coalition senators spent the
opening 20 minutes of the budget estimates hearing in Canberra on
Tuesday complaining about the time available to them to question NBN Co
chief, Mike Quigley.
South Australian Liberal Senator Mary Jo Fisher
asked Mr Quigley numerous questions about when he was asked to attend
and why he was only available for four hours from 9am.
'Would you consider changing your arrangements for today?' Senator
Fisher said.
Mr
Quigley said he could not change his schedule, adding that based on
previous hearings, he had expected he would only be required for two
hours at the most.
'That's what I anticipated,' he said.
Senator Fisher said it was her understanding that the committee had
expected Mr Quigley to be available until 4pm.
'Your anticipation whilst well intentioned may well have been
misinformed,' she said.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said Senator Fisher was simply
wasting the committee's time.
'Let's
get something very clear ... Mr Quigley treats this committee and all
of the committees of the parliament with due respect and it's about
time you started treating Mr Quigley with due respect as well,' Senator
Conroy said.
'He is available for the next four hours. If you want
to waste half an hour arguing about how long he's available for, it's
your time, you're wasting it.'
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 » 12:04pm
Pentagon locks down
after shooting
(I think it was staged, they
just needed an excuse to secure Pentagon even more, LM).
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2010/03/05/Pentagon_locks_down_after_shooting_436353.html
A
gunman coolly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at the
teeming subway entrance to the Pentagon complex on Thursday evening,
wounding two police officers before being shot and critically wounded,
officials said.
Authorities said all three were taken to a hospital.
Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police, said the two officers
suffered grazing wounds that were not life-threatening.
The
suspect, believed to be a US citizen, walked up to a security
checkpoint at the Pentagon in an apparent attempt to get inside the
Defence Department headquarters, at about 6.40pm (1040 AEDT on Friday).
'He
just reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting,'
Keevill said. 'He walked up very cool. He had no real emotion on his
face.'(Probably a Clone, LM).
The Pentagon officers returned fire with semiautomatic weapons.
'His (the suspect's) injury is pretty critical,' Keevill said.
The rush-hour assault happened outside a massively fortified building
that nevertheless is near busy crowds of transit riders.
The subway station is immediately adjacent to the Pentagon building.
Since
a redesign following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the
Pentagon, riders can no longer disembark directly into the building.
Riders
take a long escalator ride to the surface from the underground station,
then pass through a security check outside the doors of the building,
where further security awaits.
In the immediate aftermath, all
Pentagon entrances were secured, then all were reopened except one from
the subway, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
A Pentagon
official working late in the building said people inside first heard of
the shooting on television. They were later told the building was
locked down and to stay in place. The huge five-sided building is
crisscrossed by 10 main corridors.
Then at around 7.30pm (1140
AEDT), they heard an announcement on the public address system that
they could leave through Corridor 3 - one widely used to get access to
one of the parking lots.
'We really don't know anything, just that
we can leave now through that corridor,' one official said on condition
of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak about the incident.
Friday, March 05, 2010 » 01:46pm
Wives
'secret weapon' in UK election
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2010/04/11/Wives_secret_weapon_in_UK_election_449986.html
With the popularity of politicians at a low ebb in Britain, the main
party leaders have pushed their wives to the fore in the general
election campaign.
Once happy to keep a low profile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife
Sarah and Samantha Cameron, the glamorous 38-year-old spouse of the
main opposition leader David Cameron, have hit the campaign trail with
a vengeance.
With four weeks to go to the May 6 election, voters are already seeing
both on an almost daily basis.
Although Brown and Cameron emerged from last year's politicians'
expenses scandal relatively unscathed, they clearly hope the presence
of their wives at their sides will provide a welcome contrast to an
unpopular political class.
While Sarah Brown has played an increasingly prominent role in her
husband's career ever since she introduced his crucial speech at the
2008 Labour party conference, Samantha Cameron had until now stayed out
of the limelight.
But now the aristocratic creative director for British luxury goods
brand Smythson has been persuaded to help her husband's bid to unseat
Labour and return the Conservatives to power after a 13-year absence.
Adding to the interest, the Camerons announced last month that Samantha
was pregnant with the couple's fourth child.
They had been trying for another baby following the sudden death last
year of their disabled six-year-old son Ivan.
While only a cynic would suggest that the pregnancy was timed to
coincide with the campaign, Samantha - or 'Sam Cam' as the press have
dubbed her - admitted that 'the bump' gets a lot of media attention.
'She doesn't need any tips, she's a natural, she's eclipsing me
completely,' David Cameron said in the couple's appearance on a
Conservative Party video released at the start of the campaign.
'I think the bump is, rather than me,' Samantha replied.
Samantha has been gradually introduced, first being interviewed for a
television documentary about her husband last month, while on Thursday
she made her first solo campaigning trip to a homeless charity in
Leeds, northern England.
Cameron has described Samantha as his 'secret weapon' and style editors
have complimented her on her 'effortless' and 'skilful' mixture of
high-street clothes and designer garments.
If 'Sam Cam' helps to modernise her other half, then Sarah softens the
sometimes dour Brown's edges.
The 46-year-old former public relations executive was immediately
visible after her husband called the election on Tuesday, joining him
for his first campaign visit to a supermarket in a marginal seat in
southeast England.
As Brown weaved in and out of startled shoppers at the checkout,
shaking hands and making conversation, Sarah guided him along, her hand
on his back.
Two years ago, with her beleaguered husband under attack from younger
rivals, she surprised everyone by introducing Brown's address to his
party conference with a glowing introduction saying how 'proud' she was
of him.
She certainly seems to have struck a chord with the British public.
Despite featuring often anodyne messages, her Twitter feed attracts
more than a million followers.
In his typically understated style, Brown, when pressed about the
influence of his wife, said Thursday: 'I really enjoy the fact that
she's with me.'
Far less prominent on the campaign trail is Miriam Gonzalez Durantez,
the Spanish lawyer wife of Nick Clegg, the leader of the third-largest
party, the Liberal Democrats.
The day the election was called, she went to work as normal, although
she made a brief appearance with Clegg on Saturday, insisting she would
support him 'when I am not working and I don't have the kids'.
But in an apparent jibe at Cameron's description of his wife, Clegg
added: 'I don't think Miriam regards herself as a secret weapon and I
don't either.'
The involvement of political wives is a relatively new development in
British politics and the extent of campaigning by Samantha Cameron and
Sarah Brown is unprecedented, meaning their ability to sway voters is
hard to gauge.
Tony Travers, a politics expert at the London School of Economics, was
sceptical of their impact: 'It is new, but it probably won't have a big
effect,' he said.
Sunday, April 11, 2010 » 12:48pm
Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton
given top EU jobs
President
of Eurounion Van Pompuy and Baroness Ashton
20 Nov 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6609824/Van-Rompuy-and-Baroness-Ashton-given-top-EU-jobs.html
A
little-known Belgian federalist and a Labour peer who has never held
elected office were on Thursday night chosen as the European Union's
new president and foreign minister.
EU
leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday night appointed Herman Van
Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, as the first President of the
European Council. Baroness Ashton, Britain's European Commissioner,
will be the union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
The two jobs were
created by the EU's
Lisbon Treaty, which will take force next month. EU leaders made the
appointments over a dinner of wild mushrooms and sea bass in Brussels
last night.
The surprise combination
emerged
after Gordon Brown ended Tony Blair's hopes of becoming president,
abandoning his support for his predecessor and proposing Lady Ashton
for the foreign job instead.
The Prime Minister's
switch surprised European leaders, not least because of Lady Ashton's
lack of diplomatic experience.
A former health
authority chairman
made a peer in 1999, she held a string of low-key ministerial posts
until last year, when she was sent to Brussels as an interim
replacement for Lord Mandelson on his return to the Cabinet.
Mr Van Rompuy is a
poetry-writing
economist almost entirely unknown outside Belgium until he emerged as
EU leaders' choice for a president who could not possibly overshadow
national leaders.
A staunch advocate of
European
integration, he has backed policies including an EU tax on financial
transactions. Mr Brown lauded him as "a diplomat and a statesman." The
choice of two low-key candidates for the new posts reflects European
leaders' reluctance to transfer too much power to Brussels-based
officials. Originally, the two jobs created by the Lisbon Treaty were
intended to give the EU strong and unified voice in global affairs.
But Lady Ashton's lack
of experience
on the diplomatic stage was criticised on Thursday night. One French
official said: "She has little experience and is a bizarre choice."
Lorraine Mullally of the Open Europe think-tank, said: "Most people in
Europe have never even heard of Herman Van Rompuy or Catherine Ashton,
yet here they are to represent us in the global arena. Surely Europe
can do better than this?"
Lady Ashton only emerged
as the
foreign policy chief after European socialist leaders told Mr Brown
they would back a British candidate for the post.
Before she was chosen,
Lord Mandelson and Geoff Hoon, the former defence secretary, were also
discussed as candidates.
The peer herself only
discovered she
was being nominated for the post at 5pm on Thursday. On her
appointment, she admitted: "It is perhaps a measure of my slight
surprise that I do not have a speech written." At a press conference,
Mr Brown told British voters to welcome Lady Ashton's appointment. "I
think people should be pleased," he said.
The Prime Minister
insisted the new
foreign policy chief was a significant figure, but appeared to
undermine his argument by getting her name wrong, at one point calling
her "Cathy Ashdown" before correcting himself.
One British source said
that by
proposing her for the job, Mr Brown was ensuring that the high
representative could not be considered Europe's foreign minister. The
source said: "This means the job is not a foreign minister job, it's a
job of co-ordinating policies among 27 members." The Conservatives
strongly opposed Mr Blair's candidacy for the presidency, threatening a
"five year war" with the rest of the EU if he got the job and arguing
that the president should be a "chairmanic" figure.
William Hague, the
shadow foreign
secretary, congratulated Mr Van Rompuy and Lady Ashton and promised to
work with them "in the national interest." He said: "I am very pleased
that those of us across Europe who said that the President should be a
chairman, not a chief, have won the argument." The UK Independence
Party called Mr Van Rompuy and Lady Ashton "political pygmies who have
the power to remove the last vestiges of democracy from the UK." Mr
Brown had been publicly campaigning for Mr Blair to take the
presidency, but switched positions after European socialist leaders
made clear they would not support the former premier.
The demise of Mr Blair's
candidacy
threatened to unleash some of the bitterness that marked his
relationship with Mr Brown when the two men were in Government together.
Anthony Seldon, Mr
Blair's
biographer, said that Mr Blair is "disappointed" at what he sees as a
lack of support for his candidacy in Britain.
But one British
Government source
expressed irritation that Mr Blair persistently refused to declare
himself a candidate for the post, insisting that he would not seek the
job but would accept it if it was offered to him."
http://trak.in/news/herman-van-rompuy-chosen-as-eu-president/25576/
Herman
Van Rompuy chosen as EU president
by
Indo
Asian News Service on November 20, 2009
Brussels,
Nov 20
(DPA) European Union leaders agreed to appoint Herman Van Rompuy, prime
minister of Belgium, as the bloc’s first-ever full-time
president, diplomatic sources said. The post was created by the Lisbon
Treaty, which comes into force Dec 1. The president, appointed
Thursday, is meant to give the EU a higher profile abroad and to help
make its foreign policy more coherent.
Some
recent related articles Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy appointed first EU
President
London,
Nov. 20
(ANI): Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy has been elected as the
first President of the European Union, while Britain's European Trade
Commissioner, Baroness Ashton, is the new foreign minister of the
council. Poet-economist Van... EU leaders pick Belgian premier as their
president
Brussels,
Nov 20
(DPA) European Union leaders agreed to appoint Herman Van Rompuy, a
relatively inexperienced prime minister from Belgium, as their
first-ever full-time president. Heads of state and government attending
an extraordinary summit in Brussels..."
Robert
Mugabe (perhaps non-human of Reptilian origin with contact lenses), 30
years of
dictatorship in Zimbabwe and South Africa
Berlusconi Wants to
'Strangle' Writers
Italian
Prime-Minister Berlusconi
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/OddSpot/2009/11/29/Berlusconi_wants_to_strangle_writers_399744.html
Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he would like to 'strangle'
people who write books or made films about the mafia.
'If
I find out
who is the maker of the nine seasons of The Octopus and who has written
books on the mafia, which give such a bad image to Italy across the
world, I swear that I will strangle them,' he said.
The
Octopus - in
Italian, La Piovra - was a mafia-themed television series aired on RAI
public television from 1984 through 2001.
He
went on to
dismiss as unfounded and defamatory news reports suggesting he might
have been implicated in bomb attacks carried out by the Italian
underworld in 1992 and 1993, several Italian news media reported.
Berlusconi
was
speaking in Sardinia as a prosecutor in Florence denied a newspaper
claim that the prime minister has been put under investigation for
suspected association with the mafia in relation to the killings.
Sunday,
November 29, 2009 » 11:50am
Berlusconi confused about
leadership
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Politics/2009/12/02/Berlusconi_confused_about_leadership_401014.html
A political
ally of Italian PM
Silvio Berlusconi has said the billionaire 'confuses leadership with
absolute monarchy,' La Repubblica reported.
The comments by
Gianfranco Fini were
picked up by a video camera during a meeting in Pescara last month and
published on the internet.
Silvio Berlusconi
'confuses the
popular consensus, which he naturally has and gives him legitimacy to
govern, with a sort of immunity from all authorities of guarantee and
control: the judiciary, the Court of Auditors, the Court of Cassation,
the head of state, parliament,' said Fini, who founded the People of
Freedom Party with the Italian premier.
'I told him that he
confuses
leadership with absolute monarchy ... I told him 'remember they were
beheaded',' Fini added, referring to the execution of the aristocracy
during the French revolution.
Pescara prosecutor
Nicola Trifuoggi,
who was with Fini at the meeting, said that Silvio Berlusconi 'was born
several centuries too late, he would like to be a Roman emperor.'
Attempts to reach Fini's
office
seeking comment were unsuccessful, while Trifuoggi declined to comment
when contacted by the ANSA news agency.
Wednesday, December 02,
2009 » 12:33pm
Protester punches
Silvio Berlusconi (price
for inflated ego, LM)
A man has attacked Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after a raucous political rally,
leaving him with a bloodied face.
Aides bundled the
73-year-old media
tycoon into a car on Sunday and rushed him to hospital in Milan where
he will stay for 24 hours, media reports said.
'I'm fine, I'm fine,'
Berlusconi was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency as he left the
emergency room.
Police immediately
arrested a man
who was taken to the local headquarters. ANSA said the suspect had a
10-year history of mental health problems and that his psychotherapist
was summoned to the police station.
Defence Minister
Ignazio La Russa,
who was near Berlusconi at the time of the attack, said the prime
minister was bleeding from the mouth and nose. ANSA quoted medical
officials as saying Berlusconi lost two teeth.
Berlusconi's spokesman,
Paolo
Bonaiuti, told the Sky TG-24 news channel that the prime minister's
doctor would not give a bulletin until Monday.
About 10 people jeered
Berlusconi at
the political rally, calling him a 'clown' while he shouted 'shame on
you' back at them and the sound system was turned up to drown them out.
Police intervened after
scuffles
between the hecklers and security staff, but it was not immediately
known whether there was a link between the incidents and the attack.
Berlusconi was the
victim of a
similar attack several years ago in Rome when a young man hit him with
a camera tripod, cutting his head.
He has come under
increasing
pressure in recent months over his private life and business affairs.
On Friday, he dismissed accusations of mafia ties made by a turncoat
criminal at an Italian court this month as 'a farce'.
Berlusconi, who began
his third
stint as prime minister in May last year, said he would not bow to
pressure to go to the polls early.
A series of allegations
about his private life this year led to his wife, Veronica Lario,
filing for divorce.
Lario, 53, is seeking
43 million euros ($A69.1 million) a year in a divorce settlement, the
Corriere della Sera newspaper said.
Already upset over her
husband's
reported dalliances with younger women, Lario felt the last straw came
in April when he attended the 18th birthday party of aspiring model
Noemi Letizia, whose relationship with the prime minister has been the
subject of months of intrigue.
His penchant for
controversial public statements has added to the political pressure.
Tens of thousands of
people
demonstrated in the centre of Rome against Berlusconi on December 5,
responding to an Internet call for a 'No Berlusconi Day'.
Italy's top court in
October quashed
an amnesty law that would have benefited the three-time prime minister
who faces a series of corruption charges.
On Friday in Milan, one
corruption trial in which Berlusconi is accused was adjourned until
January 15.
The prime minister
faces allegations
that he paid his British former tax lawyer David Mills $US600,000
($A654,450) to give false evidence in two trials in the 1990s.
Mills, who was tried
separately, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail over the
case in February.
Monday, December 14,
2009 » 11:48am
Berlusconi
set for release from hospital
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2009/12/16/Berlusconi_set_for_release_from_hospital_406903.html
Italian
Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi is expected to leave hospital on Wednesday but doctors have
told him to forgo public duties for two weeks.
Berlusconi, 73, was due
to be
discharged early on Wednesday afternoon while still recovering from the
attack that left him with a broken nose and other facial injuries by a
man with a reported history of mental illness.
He thanked well-wishers
from his
hospital bed on Tuesday, in his first public statement since the
assailant struck him in the face with a souvenir replica of Milan's
cathedral after a political rally in the northern city.
'Thanks to all of the
many who sent
me messages of support and affection. I say to all of you, stay calm
and happy. Love always triumphs over hate and envy,' Berlusconi said.
The billionaire leader,
who has
already cancelled plans to attend the UN climate summit in Copenhagen,
must 'abstain from all activities that would expose him to public
situations, to stress', said his doctor, Alberto Zangrillo.
These include his
traditional
end-of-year news conference and Christmas Eve visit to L'Aquila, the
central Italian city where nearly 300 people died in an earthquake in
April.
Berlusconi's assailant
faces charges of aggravated assault and up to five years in prison if
convicted.
The man, 42-year-old
Massimo
Tartiglia, sent a letter to Berlusconi apologising for what he called a
'superficial, cowardly and inconsiderate act'.
New messages of
sympathy poured in
on Tuesday, including from Berlusconi's Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin, who praised him in a telephone conversation for his 'manly
behaviour' following the attack, a spokesman said.
Italy's political left
and right traded barbs over tensions seen as contributing to the attack.
'The hand of the person
who
assaulted Berlusconi was armed by a merciless hate campaign,' said
Fabrizio Cicchitto, a member of Berlusconi's centre-right People of
Freedom party.
Cicchitto accused the
left-leaning
Espresso weekly and daily La Repubblica, anti-corruption politician
Antonio Di Pietro and some television programs of 'almost wanting to
transform (political) confrontation into a civil war'.
Di Pietro, who heads
the small Italy
of Values party, shot back: 'We are not an opposition out of hatred
towards Berlusconi but out of love for our country.'
In La Repubblica, Di
Pietro accused
Berlusconi of encouraging a climate of 'violence' through verbal
attacks on a variety of perceived enemies.
The media tycoon has
recently
targeted prosecutors seeking his conviction on corruption charges, as
well the Constitutional Court, which threw out an immunity law that
protected him from prosecution while in office.
Last month after a
Mafia turncoat
alleged he had links with organised crime in the early 1990s,
Berlusconi threatened to 'strangle the authors of fiction about the
Mafia'.
The government moved to
close down
internet sites encouraging further violence against Berlusconi,
prompting centrist politician Pierferdinando Casini to raise
freedom-of-speech concerns.
Pages on the social
networking site Facebook both for and against Berlusconi's attacker
were removed on Tuesday.
The head of a
parliamentary security
watchdog sought to allay concerns over Berlusconi's security detail,
describing the attack as an 'isolated event that is not linked to any
political wish or figure'.
Francesco Rutelli,
whose panel
oversees Italy's secret services, added: 'There were so many bodyguards
around Silvio Berlusconi that you could look at it as a fluke that he
was hit full in the face by the object that was thrown.'
The attack came as
Berlusconi, now in his third term as prime minister, fights mounting
domestic troubles.
Allegations about
dalliances with a young woman led his wife Veronica Lario to file for
divorce
Wednesday, December 16,
2009 » 11:49am
Chavez brands Obama a
warmonger
Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2009/12/17/Chavez_brands_Obama_a_warmonger_407472.html
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has branded US President Barack Obama
a warmonger at the UN climate talks.
'I don't think Obama is here yet,' the firebrand leftwing leader said
in a speech in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
'He
got the Nobel Peace Prize almost the same day as he sent 30,000
soldiers to kill innocent people in Afghanistan, and now he's coming
here with the Nobel Peace Prize, the president of the United States,'
he said.
Chavez, paraphrasing Karl Marx, said 'a ghost is stalking
the streets of Copenhagen... it's capitalism, capitalism is that
ghost.'
'The destructive model of capitalism is the eradication of life,' he
said.
Recalling
how rich nations last year swiftly pumped hundreds of billions of
dollars into their faltering banking systems, he added: 'If the climate
was a bank, they would have already saved it.'
Obama is expected
to arrive in Copenhagen on Friday for the climax of the 12-day world
conference on climate change, according to the US delegation.
Thursday, December 17, 2009 » 02:24pm
