I just can’t help feeling discriminated against by BHP Billiton. It’s not just that I like to eat three-day-old goat korma for lunch at my desk. It's not even my proclivity for satin loafers in deep hues of magenta. No, what’s really got me considering a human rights test case is the miner’s pre-employment medical assessment questionnaire.

DETROIT — No one answers the phones these days at Fisker Automotive. Its visionary founder has quit; its employees have been laid off or put on furlough without pay. Production of its sleek plug-in hybrid car, the Karma, ended months ago.

Markets live and die on rumours - as the interchangeable saying goes "buy on the rumour, sell on the fact".

Deficits are immaterial to the progress of the nation. Nations have plenty of ways to get rid of them and turn them into surpluses. One way, of course, is to collect taxes. Another is to print their own money, which is what all major countries do. And, of course, inflation follows as it always has done.

waerloo

In the new curriculum Anzac Day is studied in year 3 as one of a number of days of national significance. The Gallipoli campaign is studied in year 9.

Mr Pyne criticised the fact that Anzac Day is ''locked in with NAIDOC Week, Reconciliation Day and Harmony Day'' in the national curriculum.

Mr Pyne's sentiment was similar to that expressed by former prime minister John Howard, who last year accused the government of purging British history from the curriculum.

Labor fails to gain traction in latest Newspoll

MPs risk accusations of laziness and poor value for money because the number of hours they work in Westminster appear to be shrinking, according to the senior MP responsible for scrutinising public spending.

Intelligence agency ASIO has made startling allegations - of plots to kill, training of militants, forged documents and people smuggling - to justify the indefinite incarceration of dozens of refugees as security threats to Australia.