Climate change no longer 'crap': Abbott says man makes a difference

LENORE TAYLOR

Colonel Klink and sergeant Schultz...

Asylum seekers could again face processing in overseas countries under a Coalition government, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has announced.

The Opposition's immigration policy, released today, also includes plans to bring back temporary protection visas and would make visa holders work if they wanted to claim welfare.

The Coalition has also vowed to turn back boats from Australian waters if necessary.

The processing policy would be similar to the Howard government's so-called Pacific solution, which saw asylum seekers processed in countries such as Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

from Crikey .....

Don't look at what the miners say, look at what they do

Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane write:

Mr. Geithner lobbied against Chinese government procurement rules that give preference to products with intellectual property developed in China. American businesses, particularly in technology, complain that this handicaps them and deprives China of state-of-the-art products.

“Innovation flourishes best when markets are open, competition is fair, and strong protections exist for ideas and inventions,” he said.

The Chinese have their pet issues as well: Beijing is pushing for the United States to loosen controls on exports of high-technology equipment with potential military applications. A raft of questions from reporters for state-run Chinese media organizations suggested a coordinated campaign.

2010’s Debates Still Trapped in the 1960s

By MATT BAI

You would not think Richard Blumenthal and Rand Paul would have anything in common, aside from the fact that they are both running for Senate.

 

Silicon chips that are allowed to make mistakes could help ensure computers continue to get more powerful, say US researchers.

As components shrink, chip makers struggle to get more performance out of them while meeting power needs.

Research suggests relaxing the rules governing how they work and when they work correctly could mean they use less power but get a performance boost.

Special software is also needed to cope with the error-laden chips.

from the BBC

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from Crikey .....

The Israel lobby treats us like fools - and Israel will pay the price

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

kakadu uranium mine (picture by Gus)

Millions of litres of radioactive water from the Ranger uranium mine have flowed into world heritage-listed wetlands in Kakadu National Park.

Aboriginal traditional owners say they will oppose plans for a huge expansion of the 30-year-old mine by Energy Resources of Australia unless the company upgrades its environmental protection procedures.

There is one thing to be said for this wretched state government: it has an infinite capacity to stun and amaze.

Just when you think it might be returning to the job of governing, however badly, along comes another scandal to grab the headlines.

It never ends. We have had a paedophile minister, a police minister and his bouncing underpants, the Della Bosca soap opera, the knifing of Nathan Rees, the backbencher from Penrith rorting her expenses, the ongoing comedy double act of Joe Tripodi and Eddie Obeid, and now the awful tale of David Campbell and his visit to a gay sauna.

Education officials in the US state of Texas have adopted new guidelines to the school curriculum which critics say will politicise teaching.

The changes include teaching that the United Nations could be a threat to American freedom, and that the Founding Fathers may not have intended a complete separation of church and state.

Critics say the changes are ideological and distort history, but proponents argue they are redressing a long-standing liberal bias in education.

Analysts say Texas, with five million schoolchildren, wields substantial influence on school curriculums across the US.

Australian customs officers have been given new powers to search incoming travellers' laptops and mobile phones for pornography, a spokeswoman for the Australian sex industry says.

Fiona Patten, president of the Australian Sex Party, is demanding an inquiry into why a new question appears on Incoming Passenger Cards asking people if they are carrying "pornography".

Patten said officials now had an unfettered right to examine travellers' electronic devices, marking the beginning of a new era of official investigation into people's private lives. She questioned whether it was appropriate to search people for legal R18+ and X18+ material.

A North Korean submarine torpedoed one of South Korea's warships near the disputed maritime border in March, investigators said on Thursday, prompting heated denials and threats of war from the North.

The South's President Lee Myung-Bak promised "resolute countermeasures" and the United States, Britain, the United Nations, Japan and Australia strongly condemned the attack which claimed 46 lives.

The communist North said the report, by a multinational investigation team, was based on "sheer fabrication".

It threatened "all-out war" in response to any attempt to punish it.