'The Independent' has a proud tradition of covering royal matters less slavishly than its rivals. We have loosened up a bit since our early days, when the 1988 birth of the Duke and Duchess of York's first child was marked with a single grudging sentence in the News In Brief column.

from Crikey .....

The bureaucracy of Gitmo: Franz couldn't have made it up

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Misrata has come under attack by Libyan government forces attempting to retake the besieged city.

Three people were reportedly killed as missiles slammed into the city's port, a lifeline for those seeking to escape to the rebel stronghold Benghazi.

Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians in Libya amid a two-month revolt inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world.

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss a statement on the unrest.

BEIJING: The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has emerged from top-level talks to declare ''the relationship with China is in good shape'', despite pushing Australia's concerns about businessmen detained in Chinese jails.

Ms Gillard squarely raised questions about the Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu and tourism entrepreneur Matthew Ng, who has been charged but not prosecuted in Guangzhou, and also won plaudits for stabilising the relationship and focusing on its economic strengths.

''My argument today is that we can be positive about our relationship and that we should be ambitious for its future,'' Ms Gillard told business leaders in a speech last night.

China has urged the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to study its ''tremendous progress on human rights'' and ''show basic respect'' as she begins her most testing outing on the international stage.

Ms Gillard, who arrived in China last night for her first visit in a decade, said she was confident of extending economic and practical co-operation while pressing human rights concerns.

But returning to a pragmatic, Howard-like balance will not be easy in an environment where the Chinese state's willingness to assert its own political interests appears to be growing at least as fast as the Chinese economy.

The decade after the 9/11 attacks has seen the creation of a profitable cottage industry of self-styled "experts" on Islam. As Sarah Posner recently noted in an article on Religion Dispatches, anti-Muslim fear-mongers, ranging from politicians to national security experts, have "cultivated a wide-ranging conspiracy theory that totalitarian Islamic radicals are bent on infiltrating America, displacing the Constitution, and subverting Western-style democracy in the U.S. and around the globe." 

Judging by recent news, dictators had better get good lawyers. First, Ivory Coast announced that it intends to hand over Laurent Gbagbo, its recently deposed strongman, to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Then the Tunisian authorities announced that they have prepared 18 charges against former ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. He may have fled to Saudi Arabia, but Tunisians have a warrant out for his arrest and they will be ready, if they ever get the chance to prosecute him.

DARNAH, Libya — For more than five years, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu was a prisoner at the Guantánamo Bay prison, judged “a probable member of Al Qaeda” by the analysts there. They concluded in a newly disclosed 2005 assessment that his release would represent a “medium to high risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies.”

The head of the Australian Christian Lobby and former special forces soldier Jim Wallace has "unreservedly" apologised for commenting against gay marriage and Muslims on Anzac Day.

Jim Wallace, the managing director of ACL, wrote on Twitter this morning: "Just hope that as we remember Servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for - wasn't gay marriage and Islamic!"

Mr Wallace was heavily criticised on Twitter for his comments.

The Crown Prince of Bahrain was last night forced to pull out of attending the wedding, hours before he had been due to fly in to London, amid anger over his role in the Gulf state's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Human rights activists had pledged to disrupt Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa's stay in Britain with a series of protests, insisting that he is the chief architect of the Saudi-backed security forces' violent response to the demonstrators, which has left up to 31 people dead...

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Protesters Thursday interrupted President's Obama speech at a $5,000/ticket San Francisco fundraiser to demand improved treatment for Bradley Manning. After the speech, one of the protesters, Logan Price, approached Obama and questioned him. Obama's responses are revealing on multiple levels. First, Obama said this when justifying Manning's treatment (video and transcript are here):

PayUpNow.org is an online effort to "uncut" the cutbacks by promoting boycotts of corporations who pay little or no federal income tax.

According to a US Senate subcommittee report, eliminating tax havens could save $100 billion a year. That's a conservative estimate. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) calculated that companies and individuals are holding up to $5 trillion in foreign tax havens.

The office of Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie has confirmed he said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott would make a good Prime Minister.

Mr Wilkie is quoted in News Limited papers as declaring support for Mr Abbott's potential.

A spokeswoman says Mr Wilkie repaired his relationship with Mr Abbott last year.

Mr Wilkie has repeatedly threatened to withdraw support for the Federal Government if there is not progress towards putting restrictions on poker machines.

Asked about his comments, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she would keep working with Mr Wilkie on problem gambling.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s experimental effort to spur a recovery by purchasing vast quantities of federal debt has pumped up the stock market, reduced the cost of American exports and allowed companies to borrow money at lower interest rates.

Most Americans would very likely deny that their government is a global empire, horribly destructive to national security, liberty, and wealth. But whatever we call this U.S. system of ubiquitous military bases, satellite regimes throughout the world, ever-growing "defense" budgets, and an ever-expansive international presence in military hardware and personnel, it is probably even more controversial to say that the whole apparatus cannot be sustained forever and that the pressing question is not whether it will be dismantled but whether its dismantling will happen disastrously and violently or deliberately and peacefully.