Four peace activists taken hostage in Iraq were shown in an insurgent video broadcast on Arab television today, with a previously unknown group claiming responsibility for the kidnapping. The Swords of Righteousness Brigade said the four were spies working undercover as Christian peace activists, al-Jazeera television news reported. The station said it could not verify [...]

THE navy pilot who inspired Tom Cruise’s movie Top Gun faces up to 10 years in jail after admitting taking $3.2 million in bribes.

In 1964 I joined 1 section, 1 Platoon, A Coy, 1RAR as a very raw recruit fresh out of Infantry Centre, Ingleburn. The Section 2ic was Lance Corporal ‘Tiny’ Parker and one of the other diggers in the platoon was Peter Gilson. ‘Tiny’ Parker brought me up to speed in Infantry Section work and was [...]

BARNABY Joyce has dropped his push for mandated penalty rates on “iconic” public holidays, saying he will accept a compromise ensuring Australian workers cannot be sacked for refusing to work on Christmas Day. I’m not surprised. Joyce was obviously going to be brought to heel sooner or later after certain home truths were pointed out [...]

INDONESIAN prosecutors have demanded an 18-month jail term for an Australian mine worker accused of using methamphetamine. John Michael Kelly, 45, from Warwick on Queensland’s Darling Downs, was arrested in September in Sangatta, East Kalimantan on Borneo, after a tip-off by hotel security guards. Mmmm…Middle aged… working…. anglo sounding name and most probably not as [...]

Nero fiddles while Rome burns and Howard plays cricket while civilization as we know it dies. THE PM’s XI cricket match should be called off because it is to be played on the same day of Australian Nguyen Tuong Van’s scheduled execution, a Labor senator says. Senator George Campbell said today it was insensitive for [...]

THE NSW Liberals have been trounced in the by-election to replace former state opposition leader John Brogden, losing one of the party’s safest state seats to independent Alex McTaggart. Commentators had anticipated a backlash against the Liberal Party for choosing as its candidate Paul Nicolaou, who did not live in the electorate, and the way [...]

PRIME Minister John Howard has made a deliberate decision not to consider his retirement despite pressure within the Liberal Party to make a decision over Christmas. I would think it’s more of despite pressure from Glen Milne. Glen has a weekly column where he raises the hope that Howard will retire. He is continually quoting [...]

DECAFFEINATED coffee may raise the risk of cardiovascular disease more than regular coffee does, Atlanta investigators announced at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2005. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: noncoffee drinkers, coffee drinkers and decaf drinkers, who drank three to six cups a day for two months.At the end [...]

JEMAAH Islamiah mastermind Azahari bin Husin was planning a suicide bomb attack on the memorial service held in Kuta last month for the 202 people who died in the Bali nightclub bombings three years ago. Intelligence sources in Indonesia told The Australian the document, found on a computer disc carried by one of Azahari’s JI [...]