Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is refusing to back the deal made between the Federal Government and the resources sector over its redesigned resources tax.

Mr Abbott is not rescinding his calls for a new tax on the mining industry to be dumped and has declared that the next election will be a referendum on it.

The Government has backed down on several key areas in a bid to end the damaging stoush with the resources sector, dumping its Resource Super Profits Tax for the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).
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Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says the new regime will be the most complicated in the world.

The Federal Government has agreed major concessions with the mining industry in a redesign of its controversial super profits tax.

The changes, announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard this morning, include reducing the headline rate of the tax from 40 per cent to 30 per cent.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to receive a prestigious US medal and $100,000 (£67,000) prize for his work in conflict resolution.

The National Constitution Centre is awarding him its Liberty Medal for "steadfast" efforts to broker peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East.

Previous winners include Nelson Mandela and former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush senior.

Mr Blair said he was driven by values of "freedom, liberty and justice".

Mr Clinton, the centre's chairman, will present the medal in Philadelphia on 13 September.

'Dedication and creativity'

Well folks, here we have it .... the nation's number one scumbag, 'phoney tony', giving himself a boost for single-handedly orchestrating the demise of citizen Kevin Rudd, whilst arrogantly making the empty boast that 'the coalition would have defeated Labor at the next election'.

Now I'm not going to try & argue that Abbott's outrageous public hyperbole; his outright lies about the Labor government .... indeed his own acknowledgement that he can't lie straight in bed ..... don't form part of what we have come to accept in this country as a normal part of politics.

A few weeks ago the Jewish Chronicle published a list of Jewish MPs in the UK parliament. It named 24 in total, encompassing 12 Conservatives, 10 Labour, and two Liberal Democrats. Author and peace activist Stuart Littlewood elaborated on these figures and presented the following analysis:

Our Action Contract

The question that should still be asked of Labor is: 'What do you stand for, and what can you actually deliver?'

This will be the key question for the forthcoming election, because Australians need a government with the capability and conviction to deliver on its promises.

The Coalition is determined to offer a clear alternative to the Australian people.

Last August, the presidential press corps followed Barack Obama and his family to Martha's Vineyard for their brief vacation. The coverage focused on summery fare - a visit to an ice cream parlor, the books the president had brought along. Nearly everyone mentioned his few rounds of golf, including his swing, and the enthusiasm of onlookers.

What caught my eye, though, was the makeup of his foursome. The president was joined by an old friend from Chicago; a young aide; and Robert Wolf, Chairman and CEO, UBS Group Americas. In a decidedly incurious piece, a New York Times reporter made light of Wolf's presence:

picture by Gus (c 1960s). Diego Suarez now known as Antsiranana

Germany's new radar satellite, TanDEM-X, has returned its first images.

The spacecraft was launched from Kazakhstan on Monday on a mission to make the most precise 3D map of the Earth's surface.

The pictures demonstrate the platform is in excellent health and ready to team up with the TerraSAR-X satellite launched in 2007.

from Crikey .....

Fresh calls from Nile to ban the burqa

Margot Saville writes:

This is a story that should be a warning to Americans, regardless of political party, because it dramatically illustrates what pre-eminent civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate documents in his book, "Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent" by means of the ever-increasing broad and vague federal laws that allow prosecutors to pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, even for the most seemingly innocuous behavior.

It's tragically ironic that while Obama appropriately fired McChrystal for insubordination, he promised that America's longest war - one that no one honestly thinks that we can win - will continue.

These are the last gasps of empire by a President who promised change, but America's long history of empire - which reached its zenith after victories in World War II - is nearing its end as China, Russia and India advance into Asia, Africa and even tentatively into South America.  We are a debtor nation now that would implode if our major lenders, including China (with 25% of our debt in its pocket) called in their loans.

Jewish leaders welcomed the appointment of Australia's first female prime minister, who has been supportive of Israel.

Julia Gillard was elected unopposed in a Labor Party caucus meeting Thursday after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd agreed to a leadership ballot triggered by a slump in the polls.

Gillard, from Labor's left faction, was widely considered an unknown quantity on Israel when she was elected deputy leader in 2006.

But she "stood like a rock during the Gaza incursion [in 2009], reiterating again and again that Hamas began the conflict by rocketing Israel," said Michael Danby, a Jewish lawmaker in the Labor government.