Kevin Rudd has again been forced to defend his past contact with disgraced former WA premier Brian Burke.

The federal opposition has accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of having a 'chatty, intimate' relationship with disgraced former Western Australian premier Brian Burke. 

To some extent, I feel for our "Aussie Tony"...  

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday. 

The US military conducts regular focus groups in five Iraqi cities. In December, right before Christmas, the Washington Post reported what the military was finding: 

President George Bush cited the London July 7 bombings in an interview broadcast last night to justify his support for waterboarding, an interrogation technique widely regarded as torture. 

In an interview with the BBC he said information obtained from alleged terrorists helped save lives, and the families of the July 7 victims would understand that. Bush said waterboarding, which simulates drowning, was not torture and is threatening to veto a congressional bill that would ban it. 

President Bush says Africa has been one of his foreign policy priorities. 

US President George W Bush has defended his decision not to send troops to the Sudanese region of Darfur, despite what he calls a genocide taking place there. 

The Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, has denounced the handling of the war in Afghanistan and says the allies are disunited, lack a clear plan and have failed to deal with the drug trade. 

In a scathing assessment of the progress of the war, Mr Fitzgibbon yesterday laid out a string of failures and warned that a new strategy was required to ensure the Australian contribution was not 'for nil'. 

Tens of thousands of troops are fanning out across Pakistan in an effort to improve security before next week's parliamentary elections. VOA Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Islamabad that security forces are also searching for Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, who disappeared while traveling by road through a volatile tribal region.

Interior Ministry spokesman Jawed Iqbal Cheema says Pakistani troops are mobilizing and moving nationwide to provide security during the election. Cheema says the soldiers will not be stationed at the more than 64,000 polling stations across Pakistan.

The Prime Minister's plan for a 12-month pay freeze for federal politicians has been labelled a stunt by some in the Coalition even though Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson supports it. 

Kevin Rudd announced today that MPs would refuse the next pay increase proposed by the remuneration tribunal, meaning they would not receive a pay rise until the middle of next year at least. 

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the Republican presidential race last week, endorsed front-runner John McCain today despite their bitterly-fought race. 

He would 'give my full support to Senator McCain's candidacy,' Romney told a news conference with McCain at his side. 

A small group of Liberal MPs, led by backbencher Wilson Tuckey, boycotted yesterday’s apology to the Stolen Generations in the House of Representatives. 

Tuckey, the member for O'Connor in Western Australia, was in the chamber for the Lord's Prayer but left before Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the apology to a packed House. 

Someone wrote and asked me, "Why are there Israeli - but not Mexican-American Dual Nationals?"  

Well, here's my take on this. I'd also like your views and opinions.  

Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right.  

The former journalist who ended John Howard's political career used her first speech to Federal Parliament to champion wage equality for women. 

 

McKew's Equal Pay Plea

from Crikey ….. 

Rudd cleaning out the messy media messengers 

Christian Kerr writes: