Headlines Monday 28th April

Swan’s high-wire Budget act by Piers Akerman

TREASURER Wayne Swan will have to perform a fantastic high-wire act to give the Rudd Labor Government’s first Budget some credibility when he brings it down in a fortnight’s time.

The signs are he is still coming to grips with the reality that Australia does not exist in exquisite isolation from the rest of the global economy and that even within our island continent there are major regional and financial variations which affect the politically sensitive hip-pocket nerve.

With the Reserve Bank’s interest rate now set at 7.25 per cent, higher than it has been since 1994 when the former governor Bernie Fraser jacked up interest rates 2.75 per cent in the five months between August and December, many Australians are proclaiming their pain.

Not the pain that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he could feel when he was on the campaign trail last year, but a far greater pain.
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China train disaster caused by human error
Two passenger trains have collided in eastern China, killing 66 people and injuring 250. The Chinese media has ruled out terrorism, saying human error caused the crash.
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Man's 'fantasy' led to sex with 12-year-old
A man who engaged in a year-long sexual relationship with his 12-year-old neighbour has been jailed for three years.
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UK Doctor killed in Jet Ski accident
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Pictures of fallen digger Lance Corporal Jason Marks released
The first pictures of Lance Corporal Jason Marks have been released by the Department of Defence. The father of two was killed during a firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

CityRail: Incompetence, scandal and stupidity
Today's news that 400 jobs are to be axed from CityRail should come as no surprise to NSW commuters who have grown used to the ongoing crisis on our trains, according to Alan Jones.
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Crown prosectuor missing in NSW bush
A Crown prosecutor has gone missing while on a four-wheel-drive trip to Barrington Tops in the NSW Hunter region.
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Police release footage of brutal bashing
Police are hunting for three teenagers who bashed a man at Collaroy earlier this month, leaving him in hospital with skull fractures, a broken eye socket and possible brain damage.
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APEC stunt charges dropped against Chaser team
The group of 10 men and one woman were charged with entering an APEC restricted area without justification, after driving a convoy of three cars into the city's multi-million dollar high-security zone on September 6.
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Aussie arrested in $100 million money-laundering probe
An Australian man is due to front a Perth court, after being arrested over a 100 million dollar off shore money laundering scheme reportedly involving several high-profile clients.
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Police on hunt for brutal gunman
A woman, aged, 33, was shot dead at the front door of her home
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Digger's death a tragedy, but things will get worse: Rudd
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned things are only likely to get worse in Afghanistan for Australian troops following the death of Lance Corporal Jason Marks.
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Protesters block logging in Tasmania
Twenty protesters have halted logging in an old-growth forest south-west of Hobart today.

15-year-old Miley Cyrus poses topless for Vanity Fair
The teen star of the hit Disney show Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus has supposedly appeared topless in a photo shoot for Vanity Fair magazine.
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Never mind the history, show your heart
Andrew Bolt – Monday, April 28, 08 (11:50 am)
From a typically one-sided ABC apologia for black-armband historians, who have been widely accused of inventing convenient “truths”, come these telling gems
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Still waiting for that snowless winter
Andrew Bolt – Monday, April 28, 08 (11:10 am)
Three years ago, The Age seized on one poor snow season to whip up fears of global warming - even as it denied doing just that
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Died in a noble cause
Andrew Bolt – Monday, April 28, 08 (08:02 am)
My sympathies are with the fallen soldier’s family
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Little merit to this meritocracy
Andrew Bolt – Monday, April 28, 08 (07:52 am)
David Burchill says Kevin Rudd’s ideas summit wasn’t just an old joke, but an anti-democratic one
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The black hats must go
Andrew Bolt – Monday, April 28, 08 (07:31 am)
Couldn’t agree more:

Wesley Aird, a member of the now disbanded National Indigenous Council, said ... that to make any real gains, (Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny) Macklin had to… resist the revival of symbolic agendas, such as a treaty, advocated by “blokes with big beards and black hats”.

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Red guards strike again
Andrew Bolt – Monday, April 28, 08 (06:42 am)
More mobilisation of China’s overseas students against human rights protesters
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Taliban up the Khyber
Andrew Bolt – Monday, April 28, 08 (12:03 am)
A fascinating insight in how the Taliban got done in the Khyber Pass. This war is being fought in more ways than we know, and probably better than we’re usually told.