Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has urged his colleagues to show more discipline in the wake of another Coalition slump in the polls.

Today's Newspoll has Liberal support dropping from 33 per cent to 31 per cent and Coalition support from 38 per cent to 35 per cent.

On a two-party preferred basis Labor has a 16-point lead over the Coalition, with 58 per cent.

A senior Federal Liberal MP has publicly disagreed with Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull about the time frame for negotiating changes to the emissions trading scheme.

Mr Turnbull wants to negotiate amendments to the Government's plan before the legislation is reintroduced to Parliament in November.

Pope Benedict has warned that a form of colonialism continues to blight Africa.

Opening a three-week synod of African bishops, he said political colonialism was over.

But he said the developed world continued to export materialism - which he called "toxic spiritual rubbish" - to the continent.

Almost 200 bishops from 53 African states have gathered to discuss how the Catholic Church can help resolve the continent's social injustices and wars.

The Pope says he will attend as many of the working sessions of the synod as possible, his other duties permitting.

----------------------

Dublin: Within Europe's political corridors Tony Blair is emerging as the clear favourite to be the EU's first President.

The post is created under the Lisbon Treaty. The President will be a full-time official chosen by Europe's leaders - to chair summits and be the international face of the European Union.

If the Irish vote "Yes" to Lisbon another key milestone will be passed in ratifying the treaty. We'll know tomorrow.

Tony Blair is set to become EU President within weeks if Ireland votes 'Yes' in its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty tomorrow.

The former prime minister's candidacy for the new post will be rushed through as quickly as possible, according to government sources.

Mr Blair is among the favourites to become the first President of the European Union, a role that is chosen by the EU's 27 leaders and not by voters.

Such an appointment would restore him to the world stage as well as boost his long-term income.

Halloween is still a month away, but ghouls, ghosts and other grotesque creatures are already roaming America's streets, possibly preparing to knock at your door. What makes them so scream-out-loud horrifying is that they are the newly issued spawn of - shriek! - Wall Street.

The very same greed-fueled bankers who brought us the disaster of 2008's financial crash have created another exotic financial horror to replace their securitized subprime-mortgage packages that exploded all over us.

What are you waiting for Mr President if you cannot put at least a temporary hold on the $3 billion plus-a-year "aid" your country gives to Israel? If you cannot stop arms sales to Israel when US law expressly states they must be used for defensive purposes only, and when there is precedent for doing so?

If you cannot countenance the UN Security Council reaching its own conclusions free of US veto on the charges of war crimes in the Goldstone report? If you cannot distance the US administration from Israel's aggression and defiance even though it hurts America's interests?

In 2001, the Observer in London published a series of reports that claimed an "Iraqi connection" to al-Qaeda, even describing the base in Iraq where the training of terrorists took place and a facility where anthrax was being manufactured as a weapon of mass destruction. It was all false. Supplied by US intelligence and Iraqi exiles, planted stories in the British and US media helped George Bush and Tony Blair to launch an illegal invasion which caused, according to the most recent study, 1.3 million deaths.

BEIJING — They said there would be blue skies, and blue skies there were, as President Hu Jintao stood erect in his limousine Thursday morning to review the troops and to view the country’s high-tech missiles and tanks at the opening of ceremonies marking China’s 60th anniversary as a republic.

Wearing a Sun Yat-sen suit in honour of the man often called the father of the Chinese republic, Hu greeted an estimated 5,000 soldiers as they stood at attention saying: “Hello, comrades. Work hard.”

KABUL: Afghan and international forces killed 22 Taliban militants in a fierce battle yesterday, as it was revealed that the deputy UN special envoy to Afghanistan would not be returning to his post after a dispute over the fraud-tainted election.

Peter Galbraith, who left Kabul last week after a row with his boss, Kai Eide, over whether to order a recount, "won't be coming back to Kabul", a UN official said. It was not clear whether the American had been sacked or would be moved to another UN post.

It was about 10 minutes to 10 on Tuesday night that mobile phones across Brighton started bleeping. They belonged to the members of the Cabinet and caused many to abandon their dinners and hunch over their Blackberrys, urgently discussing what to do next.

Britain's brashest and biggest-selling tabloid newspaper, which likes to sometimes make news rather than merely report it, was at it again. After 12 years of supporting the Labour Party, The Sun was filling its front page the next morning with the headline "Labour's lost it".

The big powers are moving tentatively towards global de-nuclearisation, taking small but significant steps to show they do want everyone to pitch in. Obama's decision to shelve the European defence missile programme shows serious intent, so too Gordon Brown's announcement that Britain would cut down from four to three its Trident missile-carrying submarines.

There you have it. The president of the United States and his European puppets are doing what they do best – lying through their teeth.