If you work in IT, you know that setting a clock even one hour out will cause your network to fall over, as the tolerances for Windows Server is five minutes difference in time. Even if you set a different timezone, Windows Server will not accept login credentials from a client computer if the time is more than five minutes out.

Christian Democrat MP Reverend Fred Nile confirmed the meeting with Mr Packer and said he would back the project - with strict terms.

"We need a firm guarantee there will be no poker machines, not one, now or in the future," Mr Nile said.

"We also want legislation protecting staff from passive smoking. Mr Packer has guaranteed he will do this but we want it to be part of the legislation."

Senior Coalition figures are standing by former Howard government minister Mal Brough despite calls for him to be disendorsed because of links to a failed sexual harassment case against Peter Slipper.

The Sydneysiders on the North Shore are depressed... Business is slack, shops are deserted and going broke, street malls are empty, the summer weather so far has been crap... On top of this, most of the North Shore is the electorate of Tony Abbott. This by itself would be depressing... and more depressing still — for many of the North Shore Siders Tony is Jesus of Nazareth, walking on water and coming to save Australia from its Labor sins...

The sharply divided US Congress has been able to agree on one thing at least - that the word "lunatic" should be banned.

Dear Brittany...

Thousands of Islamists have rallied in support of president Mohamed Morsi's newly expanded powers and the drafting of a contested charter, in a clear show of Egypt's widening polarisation.

Extreme heat waves, declining food stocks, and a life-threatening sea level rise: it's a sobering vision of the future by one of the world's largest and most powerful institutions.

A report issued by the World Bank earlier this month warns of severe consequences if global warming is not dealt with. But the international organisation may itself be contributing to climate change.

In this Parliament it always comes back to honesty and character.