Paul Keating, the former prime minister and architect of the current APEC structure, said those complaining should "grow up, count yourselves lucky".

"Here you have leaders representing 60 per cent of the world gross domestic product, a massive power grouping, coming to your city to discuss world affairs, and we think it's a bother? Really?" he told the Herald. "Look who's here - the President of the US, the President of China, the Prime Minister of Japan, the President of Indonesia, the President of Russia.

It's worth comparing the vital statistics (though not on CNN or Fox News): Syria has accepted almost one and a half million Iraqi refugees - caring for them, providing them with welfare and free hospital services - while Washington, when it isn't cursing Iraq's prime minister, has accepted a measly 800 Iraqis.

I'm buggered if I'll take my shoes off for APEC: Whitlam

Gough Whitlam ... "Ordinarily they know me there and they just let me through, but with APEC they're going to be extra officious so I decided not to go."

Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was unable to attend an event in Darwin today because of what he described as "overly officious" APEC security at Sydney airport.

"He is a man of steel, because he’s a person of conviction & principle: whether it be Afghanistan or Iraq, we've got more work to do."

bushit

bush to savour sydney and side-step election debate

US President George Bush has told of his excitement about visiting "beautiful" Sydney - and dodged suggestions ally John Howard could be defeated at the coming election - in an interview with Sky News today.

"I'm looking forward to coming to one of the most beautiful cities in the world," he said.

Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.

Prayers, protests and a lingering disgust with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina marked the disaster's second anniversary Wednesday, with a presidential visit doing little to mollify those still displaced by the storm.

Clarence Russ, 64, took a dim view of politicians' promises as he tried to put the finishing touches on his repaired home in the city's devastated Lower 9th Ward.

"There was supposed to be all this money, but where'd it go? None of us got any," said Russ, whose house was the only restored home on an otherwise desolate block.

Tainted chief attorney felled by US political storms …..

US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales was one of President George W Bush's closest advisers and a chief architect of the country's tough anti-terrorism laws, accused of redefining the word "torture".

His uncompromising stand, which led him to argue that terror suspects held at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba had no rights under the Geneva Convention, drew fire from international rights groups.

Kevin Andrews's CV was not playing it by the book …..

Kevin Andrews has fudged his CV. Both his parliamentary and ministerial websites claim he was "co-author" of three books in the days before he entered Parliament. All appear to have been pumped out by the then Melbourne barrister in a remarkable creative outburst in 1990.

Sir David Attenborough: Saving life on our fragile planet earth …..

In the fifty years since his first documentary for the BBC, Sir David Attenborough has seen thousands of species on earth. Now his thoughts have turned to the impact of climate change on the natural world.

Racing industry may sue over horse flu …..

The Federal Government may face legal action over the horse flu outbreak which has brought Australia's lucrative racing industry to a standstill.

This morning the virus appeared to have spread to racehorses for the first time, with three thoroughbreds from the stables of Bart Cummings and Gai Waterhouse at Sydney's Randwick track showing possible symptoms. 

Generals Differ on the Timing of Troop Cuts …..

As the Bush administration mulls options for withdrawing forces in Iraq, fault lines are beginning to emerge in a debate between commanders in the field who favor slow reductions and senior generals at the Pentagon who favor cutting the number of combat troops more deeply...

Generals Differ On Timing Of Troop Cuts

Gunns takes control of Auspine …..

The Tasmanian timber company Gunns Limited now holds more than 50 per cent of the South Australian-based sawmiller Auspine.

It gives Gunns a controlling interest in Auspine's sawmills in south-eastern SA and two at Scottsdale in north-east Tasmania.