from Crikey .....

Our wealthy getting a free ride: time to start giving back

Daniel Petre, entrepreneur, philanthropist and former vice-president of Microsoft, writes:

The true extent of the Labour government's involvement in the illegal abduction and torture of its own citizens after the al-Qaida attacks of September 2001 has been spelled out in stark detail with the disclosure during high court proceedings of a mass of highly classified documents.

The US Senate has given final approval to the biggest overhaul of American financial regulation in decades.

The reforms are intended to avert a repeat of the 2008 crisis that brought the world economy to the brink of collapse.

The Senate vote is a major victory for President Barack Obama and comes after months of political wrangling.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Obama said the new regulation would give the strongest consumer protection in history.

He said the American people would never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes.

The full exit strategy in Afghanistan will presumably involve a big effort to create a sense that Nato forces have the upper hand.

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The generals know that the Afghan army will not be up to the necessary level in terms of numbers and training until around 2014.

Exit strategy

But that will be well after the next US presidential election, in 2012, and uncomfortably close to the next British election in 2015.

Both President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will need to see results in good time before their respective deadlines.

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What is the difference between the three pictures?

This month marks the 154th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth.

What's that - you didn't know?

Tsk tsk. Time to freshen up on all things Tesla with this short cradle to the grave animation.

http://www.crikey.com.au/video/

Climate policy won't affect power prices: Abbott

Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott says he can guarantee electricity prices will not rise as a result of the Coalition's climate change plan.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is chairing a Federal Cabinet meeting today and is expected to release her new climate change policy within days.

The Government has indicated it will outline a new plan to reduce carbon emissions after its emissions trading scheme was shelved.

A fourth argument holds that women wear the burqa only because they are coerced.  This is a rather implausible argument to make across the board, and it is typically made by people who have no idea what the circumstances of this or that individual woman are.   We should reply that of course all forms of violence and physical coercion in the home are illegal already, and laws against domestic violence and abuse should be enforced much more zealously than they are.

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Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the latest loss increased the determination of the soldiers serving in Afghanistan to get the job done.

"There will be Australians today who are asking themselves in the face of this loss why as a country do we continue to pursue our mission there." she told reporters in Darwin, ahead of the funeral of one of three Australian soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last month.

"We pursue that mission because Afghanistan is a safe haven for terrorists.

"I believe Australia, while mourning these losses, will understand our continuing determination."

NSW Origin great Steve Mortimer has nominated former prime minister John Howard for preselection as the inaugural leader of rugby league's independent commission.

Howard had previously been mentioned as a candidate for league's soon-to-be top job, but he was nominated by Cricket Australia and its New Zealand counterpart as their choice to ultimately head the International Cricket Council.

That, however, has turned into a diplomatic nightmare after the sport's dominant Afro-Asia bloc ambushed his nomination for reasons it has refused to divulge. One theory is that he would shine an unwelcome light on the sport's murky areas. Howard has refused to withdraw his candidature.

The drug company Pfizer is best known for Lipitor, a drug that brings cholesterol down and Viagra, a drug that brings other things up.

But the "world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company" which sits between Goldman Sachs and Marathon Oil on the Fortune 500, is also closely associated with a seemingly never-ending series of scandals.

The Obama administration has revealed to the public, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, a series of understandings between the two countries on Israel's policy of "nuclear ambiguity" - which to date had been kept under wraps.

At the center of these understandings lies an Israeli veto on the holding of an international conference for a nuclear-free Middle East, as well as an unprecedented American willingness to cooperate with Israel in the field of nuclear power for civil use.

from Crikey .....

Lessons in History: asylum seeker fear is in the fabric of our nation

Mike Stuchbery, a Melbourne author and teacher, writes: