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- Syria crisis: Obama urges Americans to back strikes - live updates
- Anthony Albanese likely to be next Labor leader, if he wants to be
- Afghan officials say Nato air strike killed nine civilians
- Julian Assange: WikiLeaks party will continue
- Greens lose Senate balance of power despite strong showing in Victoria
- Election 2013: Coalition wins victory - reaction as it happened
- Could Tony Abbott be one of Australia's most successful prime ministers? | Paula Matthewson
- Indi: Cathy McGowan 'not optimistic' about beating Sophie Mirabella
- Peter Beattie has no regrets about Forde battle
- Maldives election goes to runoff
- Tony Abbott's key policies face rough ride in the Senate
- Promises, promises: counting the cost of the Australian election campaign
- Americans are no longer interested in policing the world, Mr Obama | Michael Cohen
- Election night 2013 – in pictures
- Immigrant hides in truckload of chilli
- Clive Palmer's mayhem in Queensland almost as great as he claimed
- Scott Ludlam likely to keep Senate seat for Greens
- Shi Tao: China frees journalist jailed over Yahoo emails
- Adam Bandt's victory in Melbourne is no fluke - and that's worth celebrating | Van Badham
- Pope makes plea against attacking Syria
- Protester at Liberal party gained entry using Starburst wrapper wristband
- Kevin Rudd: 'I've done my job' – video
- Cambodian election challenge rejected
- Tony Abbott celebration photobombed by intruder - video
- Election 2013: how did the polls perform?
| Syria crisis: Obama urges Americans to back strikes - live updates Posted: 08 Sep 2013 01:36 AM PDT • Kerry says west not be 'silent spectators to the slaughter'       |
| Anthony Albanese likely to be next Labor leader, if he wants to be Posted: 08 Sep 2013 01:19 AM PDT Kevin Rudd's deputy PM says he is undecided about whether to seek leadership, as is the other major contender, Bill Shorten       |
| Afghan officials say Nato air strike killed nine civilians Posted: 08 Sep 2013 01:16 AM PDT  Nato says 10 militants died in strike in Kunar province but it has no reports of civilian deaths Afghan officials have said an apparent Nato air strike has killed 15 people – nine of them civilians, including women and children – in an eastern province where the Taliban are strong. Nato said 10 militants had died in the strike, and that it had no reports of any civilian deaths. Civilian deaths in Nato operations have long been a sore point between the Afghan government and the US-led troops in the country, and they have been a major factor in the animosity many Afghans feel towards foreign forces. Conflicting accounts of who or how many died also are common, especially when remote, dangerous regions are involved and access by independent observers is restricted. The latest disputed air strike occurred in the Watapur district of Kunar province, which lies near the border with Pakistan. It is a militant stronghold, and many Arab and other foreign insurgents are believed to operate there alongside the Afghan Taliban. Some are suspected of links to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The Kunar province police chief Abdul Habib Sayed Khaili said the air strike had hit a pickup truck carrying the women and children in Qoro village soon after three Arab and three Afghan militants boarded it on Saturday evening. He said some reports had called it a drone strike, but that Afghan officials had been unable to confirm that. Of the 15 dead, four were women, four were children and one was the driver, the police official said. The Watapur district chief Zalmai Yousefi confirmed the air strike. He also said 15 people had been killed, including women and children. The Nato spokeswoman 1st Lieutenant AnnMarie Annicelli confirmed that the military alliance had carried out a "precision strike" that killed 10 "enemy forces", but that it had received no reports of any civilians dying in the air strike. Annicelli had no immediate details on who exactly the dead were or what prompted the air strike. Even as US-led foreign forces draw down their presence in Afghanistan, with a full exit expected by the end of 2014, the air support they provide to Afghan troops in many regions is still a crucial part of operations against the Taliban, the resurgent Islamist militant movement that wants to topple the US-backed Afghan government. Past strikes that killed civilians have infuriated Afghans. The president, Hamid Karzai, has spoken out forcefully against them and banned Afghan troops from requesting Nato air strikes during operations in residential areas. As the violence in Afghanistan has spread, civilians are increasingly getting caught up in it. Around 1,000 Afghan civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in the first half of this year – a huge portion of them in insurgent attacks – according to the United Nations. That marked a 24% increase in casualties compared to the same period last year. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Julian Assange: WikiLeaks party will continue Posted: 08 Sep 2013 01:05 AM PDT  WikiLeaks founder brushes off election loss, saying he will try again for a Senate position Julian Assange says his WikiLeaks party will live on despite its poor showing in the Australian election. With about two-thirds of Senate first preferences counted, the party picked up 0.62% of the national vote. Its best showing was in Victoria, where Assange was the lead candidate for the Senate and where it garnered 1.18% of the primary vote. In New South Wales it picked up 0.8% and in Western Australia 0.71%. But none of these numbers were good enough to get its candidates elected. "We are the second largest vote count for the new parties after Clive Palmer's party, which had a billion bucks behind it," Assange told ABC TV on Sunday. "I think that's a pretty good outcome." The WikiLeaks founder said it was "rather bizarre" that the Australian Motoring Enthusiast party was being projected to win a Victorian Senate spot when that party "has less than a third of the vote that we had". Projections are made according to preference flows from the tickets lodged by all parties before the election. Asked if he would try again for a Senate seat in three or six years' time, Assange said: "I think so. The WikiLeaks Party will continue for sure," he said. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Greens lose Senate balance of power despite strong showing in Victoria Posted: 08 Sep 2013 12:53 AM PDT  The party's leader, Christine Milne, blames her party's overall loss of votes on 'Labor's shenanigans' The Greens have lost the balance of power in the Senate, despite looking likely to pick up one extra seat in Saturday's election. The party's vote slipped by 3.3 percentage points nationally, a drop leader Christine Milne said was caused by being associated with "all the shenanigans in the Labor party". Milne said voters had shown they did not want the Coalition to have control of both houses of parliament, but conceded that the Greens had suffered some backlash from the public. "We recognise that there are some people who are disappointed by all of the shenanigans in the Labor party and that some of that has rubbed off on the Greens. I think we did really well to hold the vote to where it is." In the House of Representatives the party held on to its single seat, with Adam Bandt securing re-election in Melbourne despite the Liberals directing preference votes away from him. In the Senate, Sarah Hanson-Young and Scott Ludlam are set to retain their seats for South Australia and Western Australia, respectively. Scott Whish-Wilson is expected to be comfortably returned in Tasmania, while Janet Rice is expected to snare a new Senate spot in Victoria, the state Milne hailed as the party's emerging heartland. Together with the other six Greens senators who were not facing election, the party looks like it will have 10 senators in the new upper house. However, the Greens suffered a dip in their overall vote, which, at 8.4% for the House of Representatives, was significantly down on their 2010 election peak of 11.76%. The decline is most pronounced in Tasmania, the birthplace of the Greens and a traditional stronghold, where the party has suffered an 8.7% swing away. In Queensland the Greens' vote was down by 4%, while the decreases in Victoria and NSW were about 2%. Michael Kroger, a leading Liberal party adviser, told Sky News: "The Greens have been smashed all over the country. What's happened is they've put all their resources into Melbourne to hold that seat and they, typical of the Greens, this inner-city obsession, have lost complete interest or understanding of what's happened in the rest of the country." Bob Brown, the Greens' former leader, told the ABC that the party had performed well to retain its seats, in spite of the drop in votes. "People have voted for this," he said. "Yesterday was a celebration of democracy. Australians have voted for it with their eyes wide open." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Election 2013: Coalition wins victory - reaction as it happened Posted: 08 Sep 2013 12:34 AM PDT The Liberal National coalition wins the federal election in a decisive victory. Catch up on the analysis, reaction and updates as they happened.       |
| Could Tony Abbott be one of Australia's most successful prime ministers? | Paula Matthewson Posted: 08 Sep 2013 12:30 AM PDT Paula Matthewson: Tony Abbott has resolutely been in the business of under-promising and over-delivering. Low expectations could be the seeds of his success  |
| Indi: Cathy McGowan 'not optimistic' about beating Sophie Mirabella Posted: 08 Sep 2013 12:09 AM PDT Independent tells Guardian that Coalition rightwinger's financial advantage may give her the edge in close-fought contest       |
| Peter Beattie has no regrets about Forde battle Posted: 07 Sep 2013 11:58 PM PDT  Former Queensland premier congratulates the LNP candidate Bert van Manen on holding the marginal seat south of Brisbane Peter Beattie says he is happy to be a failed federal candidate flying the flag for Labor and he has no regrets. The former Queensland premier says he has called the Liberal National Party's Bert van Manen to congratulate him on holding the seat of Forde in Saturday's federal election. Beattie, who was parachuted in to contest the marginal seat south of Brisbane, says he will spend time with his family before deciding on his future career moves. "I'm a life member of the Labor party," he told Sky News on Sunday. "I believe in the party's commitment to a fair go. "It was put to me I could make a difference to help sustain the Labor party's vote in Queensland. "I have no regrets." Beattie repeated his view that Labor's downfall was brought about by its disunity. "No one could get over the six years of disunity," he said. "We could have won this election if we'd had unity and common purpose." He said it was reasonable result in Forde. "The swing wasn't as bad as it was elsewhere but we didn't win, I make no excuses for that," he said. Beattie seemed to endorse Bill Shorten as the next federal Labor leader. "I wish Bill Shorten well," he said. "I just hope the party gives him absolute loyalty." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Maldives election goes to runoff Posted: 07 Sep 2013 11:46 PM PDT  Mohamed Nasheed, who says he was forced out in 2012, ahead in first round but short of 50% required to regain presidency The first democratically elected president of the Maldives, ousted in 2012 in what he called a coup, faces a runoff against the brother of the country's former dictator after falling short of a clear majority in the Indian Ocean archipelago's presidential election. Mohamed Nasheed, who received 45% of Saturday's vote, could still find it hard to secure a second-round majority if his three election opponents form an alliance for the 28 September runoff. Nasheed in 2008 won the country's first multi-party election after 30 years of autocracy. In this latest poll he had needed at least 50% in the first round to avoid a runoff against Yaamin Abdul Qayyoom, a brother of the Maldives' former autocrat, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Qayyoom polled 25% on Saturday while businessman Qasim Ibrahim was a close third with 24% and incumbent President Mohamed Waheed Hassan ended with 5%, according to official results released on Sunday. The island nation, known for its luxurious beach resorts, has been in political turmoil since Nasheed ordered the military to arrest a senior judge whom he accused of bias. Weeks of public protests ensued and Nasheed eventually resigned, later arguing he was forced out at gunpoint by mutinying security forces and politicians backed by the country's former autocrat. Though a domestic commission of inquiry threw out his claim, Nasheed has repeatedly dismissed as illegal the government of Hassan, his former vice-president who took over the top office. Despite Nasheed winning the most first-round votes on Saturday, third- and fourth-place finishers are likely to throw their support to Gayoom. Transparency Maldives, an independent election monitor, said that apart from minor complaints of violence the first-round polling was free and peaceful. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Tony Abbott's key policies face rough ride in the Senate Posted: 07 Sep 2013 11:43 PM PDT  Assortment of crossbench senators could test new prime minister's promise of stable, predictable government A patchy assortment of between six and eight crossbench senators – likely to include two from the Palmer United party and one from the Motoring Enthusiast party – are set to challenge prime minister-elect Tony Abbott's determination to return to stable, predictable government. Reinforcing his "grown-ups back in charge" message, Tony Abbott got "down to business" on Sunday, taking briefings from the heads of the departments of prime minister and cabinet, treasury and finance. The existing Senate appears set to block key elements of Abbott's agenda, with Labor indicating on Sunday it would not roll over and agree to the repeal of its carbon pricing scheme. And although the complicated vote-counting process remains unfinished, in the new Senate, which starts next July, Abbott now appears likely to need all or most of between six and eight non-Green crossbench votes to pass legislation. This crossbench group could comprise the South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon, two Palmer United party senators, one Australian Motoring Enthusiast party senator, one Family First senator, the sitting DLP senator John Madigan and possibly a Liberal Democratic party senator from NSW, who may have been elected by voters who thought they were voting for the Liberal party, and an Australian Sports party senator from Western Australia. Xenophon, a sitting senator who was re-elected on Saturday, told Guardian Australia he would not vote for the abolition of the carbon tax until the Coalition's alternative Direct Action plan had been changed to ensure it could meet Australia's emission reduction targets. "I'm not a mug. I'm not going to be voting for the repeal until I know Direct Action can work and I can't see how it would work as it stands … For a start it has to be properly modelled," Xenophon said. And he said he wanted to see a Productivity Commission review of the childcare industry before he voted for Abbott's "signature policy" paid parental leave scheme, because he fears a looming childcare "crisis" and thinks some of the money being spent on parental leave might be better redirected. Leaving his Sydney home for an early-morning bike ride, Abbott told reporters he would be "getting down to business". The message was repeated by senior Liberal figures, with frontbencher Andrew Robb saying Abbott would be "methodical … when he says there will be no surprises and no excuses, that's the sort of fellow he is". Speaking at a "picture opportunity" before his meeting with the head of his department, Ian Watt, Abbott said he "deeply respected" the professionalism of the public service and was sure it would implement the Coalition's agenda to repeal the carbon tax and stop the boats. Abbott needs to know for sure the electoral fate of New South Wales senator Arthur Sinodinos and Victorian MP Sophie Mirabella before he can finalise his front bench, which won't be sworn in until late this week or early next week. But Clive Palmer, who appears set to win the Queensland lower house seat of Fairfax and on Sunday claimed to be a kingmaker whose preferences had delivered government to the Coalition, has an antagonistic relationship with the Queensland Liberal National party and holds very different views to the Coalition on issues such as asylum. The Motoring Enthusiast party supports the "unimpeded recreational use of the environment" and the DLP's John Madigan opposes the paid parental leave plan on the grounds that it disadvantages less well-off women and those not in the paid workforce. Coalition strategists argue that no minor party will want to risk a double-dissolution election because it would probably mean the end of their time in the Senate, but Palmer has said he thinks his political support is only going to rise over time. Each of the micro-parties will have its demands, and negotiating with all of them over every piece of legislation will make it harder for Abbott to draw the distinction between his "stable" governing style and the deal-doing of Labor's minority government. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Promises, promises: counting the cost of the Australian election campaign Posted: 07 Sep 2013 11:32 PM PDT  The candidates criss-crossed the country, making appearances and pledges, but how did they add up? Tony Abbott travelled further, promised more, and made several more campaign appearances than Kevin Rudd. Since the start of the election campaign, I've been logging each appearance from Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd, recording where they went, what they did there, how much they promised in dollar terms, and the margin of the seat they appeared in. They may have very different political ideologies, but their campaign appearance figures were remarkably similar. They put in almost exactly the same number of appearances overall. Both, not surprisingly, focused to the same extent on marginal seats rather than safe seats. Tony Abbott travelled slightly more overall, covering an estimated 7,834 kms more than Rudd. While this seems like a lot, just one flight from Perth to Adelaide can account for approximately 2,138 km. To estimate each politician's distance covered, I logged the approximate latitude and longitude of each campaign stop, and then calculated the great-circle arc distance between the two, as an estimate of air travel distance. Of course, the actual distance travelling by road would be larger than this. Here's how their campaign looked, seat by seat: Kevin Rudd was particularly active in Queensland electorates, and had the most appearances in his own seat of Griffith. He also travelled to regional Queensland more than Abbott did. You can see an interactive version of this map here, which shows how he campaigned day by day. Tony Abbott made most appearances in Brisbane, followed by the western Sydney electorate of Lindsay and his own seat of Warringah. Both leaders didn't venture much into regional NSW or Victoria. There was a big difference in the amount of money promised by each leader on the campaign trail. Tony Abbott made $19.8bn worth of promises, dwarfing Kevin Rudd's $2.4bn. This is based on promises made personally by either leader since the start of the campaign on 5 August, and doesn't count those made by other members of the party (you can check out Crikey's cash tracker for a more comprehensive breakdown). The bulk of Abbott's total is from his paid parental leave scheme, with an estimated cost of $9.8bn, and the cut to the company tax rate, at about $4.9bn. Kevin Rudd, in contrast, would often talk up spending from existing programs the Government had put in place or newly allocated to an area, so his total for new money promised while on the campaign trail is much lower. Much like their campaign appearances, most of the spending announcements were made in marginal seats, and Tony Abbott promised the most overall in the marginals. Both leaders focused on jobs and the economy in their spending promises, with 10 announcements from Rudd, and eight from Abbott. Sport was another big winner, coming third or equal third as both leaders promised money for stadiums and other sporting facilities. You can see the full, interactive breakdown of campaign promises by category here. I've made my campaign data sets freely available, so please feel free to copy and use them however you'd like. Let me know if I've missed any events, or made any mistakes – I'd like to keep this as an accurate record of the 2013 election campaign. •Campaign appearances theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Americans are no longer interested in policing the world, Mr Obama | Michael Cohen Posted: 07 Sep 2013 11:30 PM PDT  However Congress votes on Syrian intervention, the White House will have problems escaping the fallout After 12 years of endless war; after Afghanistan, after Iraq, after Libya, after the drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, the American people have had enough. There is perhaps no better explanation for the rather remarkable situation unfolding right now in Washington. President Obama has gone to the US Congress to ask for a military authorisation for the use of force against Syria after its international-norm-breaking use of chemical weapons against its own people. Such requests are something of a pro forma exercise for US presidents. When the commander-in-chief wants to go to war, Congress is usually happy to comply (if it is even asked for permission, which is rare). This time, Congress is refusing to bite. Whip counts in the US House of Representatives indicate overwhelming opposition and not just among the president's political opponents in the Republican party but also among Democrats. Public opinion polls show that a majority of Americans are strongly against US involvement in Syria. What is perhaps most surprising about this is that the Obama administration is seeking authorisation for a rather limited use of force. It is loudly proclaiming that there will be no US boots on the ground, no effort at regime change, no direct engagement in the Syrian civil war – just a few cruise missiles to uphold a global norm and teach Bashar al-Assad a lesson. Yet, while Obama will speak to the American people and make his case for military intervention on Tuesday, few political observers believe he will win the day (though one cannot fully discount the possibility). It is an extraordinary turn of events and one that goes so strongly against the currents of recent history that it may come to represent a sea change, not just in how the US employs military force in the future but in the very construct of American foreign policy. No longer, it appears are Americans and Congress willing to give the commander-in-chief a virtual blank cheque. So why is this happening? Part of the reason is undoubtedly politics. Republicans, who in recent years have rarely met a military engagement they didn't enthusiastically support, would sooner cut off their right arms then give Obama anything that he actually wants. Yet their opposition to involvement in Syria also reflects a growing division within Republicans, between the party's neoconservative national security elite and its long-dormant isolationist wing. Indeed, the congressional vote on Syria may preview a titanic struggle over the foreign policy direction of the Republican party. As for Democrats, particularly liberals who opposed the Iraq war and were ambivalent about the Afghanistan surge, even party loyalty may not be enough to get them to go along with the White House's plans. Unlike Obama, members of Congress will be on the ballot in 2014 and few of them are going to want to stick their neck out for a military strike that has little public support. Beyond the political gamesmanship, opposition is due in large measure to the fuzziness of the White House's strategic plan. While norm enforcement and deterring future chemical attacks can be a justifiable rationale, the idea that the US would engage Syria over one category of weapons while doing nothing to stop the civil war that has taken 100,000 lives seems to many to be illogical. Moreover, the lack of clear strategic objectives, or a vital US national interest or even a fallback plan if Assad is not deterred from continuing to gas his people, is raising real doubts about the efficacy of intervention. And truth be told: the White House has done a dreadful job of making the case for war. In August 2012, Obama laid down his infamous red line about the use of chemical weapons on Syria. Everyone assumed this meant that the US would engage militarily. But in the year since, he has made virtually no effort to prepare the public for that possibility. There was, from all appearances, little private consultation with Congress lining up support for a possible response and the administration position on Syria has long oozed with indifference about US involvement. But when videos appeared showing hundreds of Syrians lying dead from an apparent chemical attack, the administration grabbed the biggest hammer in the toolbox and immediately started talking about launching cruise missiles and dropping bombs on Damascus. They completely misread the public's appetite for yet another war and were further blindsided by David Cameron's stunning failure to properly manage a parliamentary vote authorising British involvement in a military strike. Obama's decision to go to Congress for authorisation reflected belated recognition of the emerging political reality and, at the time, looked like an inspired political move. But confidence that Congress would obediently go along with the president's plan (if one wants to be generous and call it that) was misplaced. Faced with growing congressional opposition, the administration is now taking the low road of fearmongering that a failure to punish Assad will embolden Iran, put Israel in danger or perhaps allow chemical weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists. The White House finds itself in a political no-man's-land. Winning a vote in Congress will mean squandering political capital and twisting Democratic arms – all in pursuit of a military strategy that will, by the White House's own admission, do little to stop the bloodletting in Syria. Lose the vote and risk becoming a weakened lame duck three years before Obama's second term is up. Of course, Obama could ignore Congress, but then he risks entering into impeachment territory. Yet, for all the short-term political fallout, the apparent train wreck on Syria might be the best thing to happen in American politics in a long time. Since 11 September 2001, armchair generals (inside and outside government) have planned one military engagement after another and confidently predicted success – and then dodged accountability after repeated failures. The result has been quagmire after quagmire, trillions of dollars in costs and tens of thousands of dead and maimed Americans. Those chickens have come home to roost. No matter how defensible the plan for military action in Syria might be; no matter how strong the impulse to punish the use of long-banned weapons; no matter how many assertions of limited engagement are made, Americans and their representatives in Congress appear finally resistant to buying the war-makers' tonic (some might say 10 years too late). The desire of America's foreign policy elite to continue to demand that the US remain the indispensable nation and the world's policeman has come face to face with a public tired of war and tired of foreign policy failure. And the American people look poised to win this round. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Election night 2013 – in pictures Posted: 07 Sep 2013 10:28 PM PDT Mike Bowers spent the evening with a surprisingly upbeat Rudd camp in Brisbane, while Penny Bradfield attended Tony Abbott's victory celebrations at Sydney's Four Seasons hotel.       |
| Immigrant hides in truckload of chilli Posted: 07 Sep 2013 10:28 PM PDT  US authorities discover 'highly intoxicated' Mexican lying face down in cargo as shipment crosses border US authorities say an immigrant suspected of entering the country illegally attempted to make his journey hiding in a shipment of red chilli while carrying a bottle of tequila to fortify himself. US customs and border protection officers working at a New Mexico border checkpoint said the man was discovered on Thursday face down among a commercial load of chilli. Columbus port director Robert Reza said next to the "highly intoxicated" 35-year-old was a bottle of the national liquor. The man, who authorities described as a Mexican national, told agents that he climbed into the commercial hopper while it was being staged in Mexico. He got into the truckload of chilli in hopes of catching a ride to Chicago, the El Paso Times reported. Agents said he got less than 100 metres into New Mexico before he was discovered. He would be sent back over the border, officials said. The red chilli shipment was later released. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Clive Palmer's mayhem in Queensland almost as great as he claimed Posted: 07 Sep 2013 10:27 PM PDT  The surprise success of the election took votes from all parties in Queensland, with as yet unknown ramifications In typically bold style, Clive Palmer says Tony Abbott would not be prime minister without preferences from the Palmer United Party. While that is stretching the truth, it may just be that the PUP has shaken up the 2013 election in Queensland with its preference flows to such a degree that the statewide trend is no more. At the same time, Labor strategists continued to argue over whether it was Kevin Rudd's return to the leadership or an effective "sand bagging strategy" that led to a better than expected result in Queensland. ALP state president Michael Williams is quoted in an email leaked to The Australian as playing down the hometown Rudd effect in holding Labor's line and he urged rank and file members to get involved in voting for the new leader of the federal party. "We are hoping that we will hold on to our strong, hard working local members," Williams said. "Two weeks out internal party research had us behind in Petrie and Moreton, and a 50/50 chance in Oxley, Blair, Rankin and Capricornia. "That's why Labor Companies [sic] invested significant extra resources in the last two weeks to sandbag sitting MPs. "We made sure their electorates understood what sitting Labor MPs had achieved for them and in direct contrast; what Campbell Newman and his conservative mates had done to them. "Now is the time for the rank-and-file to have their say about who should lead us." As counting continues, Palmer looks set to take the seat of Fairfax. His candidates across Queensland polled strongly for a new political party, with star candidate Glenn Lazarus expected to win a Senate spot. "We had 6% and we preferenced the Liberal party. The swing against Labor was 4.5%," Palmer told AAP. "Without Palmer United's preferences, Tony Abbott would not be prime minister." Notwithstanding Palmer's confident predictions throughout this campaign – including that he would be prime minister – Queensland threw up some strange results which will take hard analysis as the remaining votes, including pre-poll and postal votes, are counted. Labor had eight lower house seats coming into the election, most of them marginal. Part of the ALP logic in returning Rudd to the leadership was to win back support after the LNP premier Campbell Newman's thumping victory in the 2012 state election, which left Labor with only seven state seats. Labor strategists had feared more federal losses, but in the end only Petrie and Capricornia are in doubt. In Petrie, Labor's sitting member Yvette D'Ath is sitting on a two-party preferred vote of 49.54%, with the LNP's Luke Howarth on 50.46%. Both candidates attracted about 40-41% of the primary vote, but the PUP candidate Thor Prohaska polled 10.5%. D'Ath had held the seat with a margin of 2.5%. In Moreton, where D'Ath's Labor colleague Graham Perrett sat on a margin of 1.1%, Labor looks as though it has managed to squeak back in, with a two-party preferred swing of 0.92% against the LNP's Malcolm Cole. In Capricornia, the Labor candidate Peter Freeleagus, replacing Kirstin Livermore, is sitting on a two-party preferred vote of 50.1%, with the LNP's Michelle Landry at 49.90%. The PUP attracted nearly 8% of the primaries and Katter's Australia Party more than 5%. Labor has held Rudd's seat of Griffith, Wayne Swan's seat of Lilley, Pauline Hanson's old seat of Oxley and Rankin, where the new ALP member Jim Chalmers got a slight swing towards him. In that seat, the PUP attracted 11.47% of the primary vote. In spite of a huge swing away from Bob Katter in his seat of Kennedy, he looks set to retain it. Rudd and Tony Abbott spent a lot of time campaigning in Queensland and Rudd famously lured the former Queensland premier Peter Beattie to run in the marginal seat of Forde, held by the LNP's Bert van Manen. Beattie's bid to enter federal politics failed – a result he directly sheeted home to the leadership war between former prime minister Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. "We could have won this election if we had unity and common purpose … people said to me 'we are sick of you fighting," Beattie said. The former premier said he had no regrets running in the seat and that he was happy to "fly the flag" for Labor. "In a democracy people have to offer themselves, I don't feel used and abused by the ALP, it was an honour to fly the flag in Forde," he said. Palmer predicted he would attract more votes in coming elections as Australians came to understand his policies, and he attacked the National party, of which he was once a member. "We got more votes than the National party nationally and they have been around for 100 years." Asked about the prediction of the new MP for New England, Barnaby Joyce, that the PUP would "bring pandemonium" to Canberra, Palmer said it was a bit rich. "Barnaby Joyce causes pandemonium everywhere he goes and he's got a track record of doing that," he said. "It's about having rational debate and raising critical issues – which Barnaby would struggle to understand." It is hard to track a solid trend in the sunshine state, but the Queensland results show the rising disaffection with major parties – a trend the PUP exploited to great effect. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Scott Ludlam likely to keep Senate seat for Greens Posted: 07 Sep 2013 10:19 PM PDT Ludlam fighting off competition from the Nationals and WikiLeaks party in Western Australia       |
| Shi Tao: China frees journalist jailed over Yahoo emails Posted: 07 Sep 2013 09:44 PM PDT  Shi Tao was sent to prison in 2005 after Yahoo informed Chinese authorities he leaked Tiananmen memo to human rights forum A Chinese reporter who was sentenced to prison in 2005 after Yahoo disclosed details of his email has been released, a writer's group has announced. Shi Tao had been released on 23 August, 15 months before the end of his sentence, the Independent Chinese Pen Centre said in a statement. There was no indication why Shi was released early. Shi was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to prison the following year on charges of disclosing state secrets. He had sent details of a government memo about restrictions on news coverage of the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary to a human rights forum in the United States. Human rights activists and US legislators criticised Yahoo for disclosing details of Shi's email to the Chinese government, leading to his conviction. Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, said it was obligated to comply with Chinese government demands for information. But at a US congressional hearing in November 2007, the company's chief executive, Jerry Yang, apologised to Shi's family. Shortly after that Yahoo settled lawsuits brought by the families of Shi and Wang Xiaoning, a dissident who was sentenced to prison on subversion charges after the company's Hong Kong affiliate disclosed contents of his email account to Chinese authorities. Also in 2007 the World Association of Newspapers gave Shi its Golden Pen of Freedom award. Yahoo turned over control of its email and other services in China to a local partner, Alibaba Group, in 2005. The US company bought a 40% stake in Alibaba. Yahoo closed its email service in China last month and recommended users switch to a service run by Alibaba. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Adam Bandt's victory in Melbourne is no fluke - and that's worth celebrating | Van Badham Posted: 07 Sep 2013 09:29 PM PDT Van Badham: Old-fashioned human campaigning and a sophisticated understanding of how social media works have delivered the Greens candidate his second victory       |
| Pope makes plea against attacking Syria Posted: 07 Sep 2013 09:08 PM PDT  Pontiff leads day of prayer appealing for world leaders not to plunge humanity further into 'spiral of sorrow and death' Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal before 100,000 people to avert a widening of Syria's conflict, urging world leaders to pull humanity out of a "spiral of sorrow and death". Other services were held by Catholics and Christians of other denominations around the world, including in New York, Jerusalem, Assisi and Milan in Italy, Boston and Baghdad. "Praying for the intention of peace is something that can only help fraternity and, God willing, avoid more war," he told Reuters. "As Muslims who want peace we have to work so that the values of faith and dialogue prevail over the destruction of peoples." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Protester at Liberal party gained entry using Starburst wrapper wristband Posted: 07 Sep 2013 08:52 PM PDT  Serial protester Fregmonto Stokes posed next to Tony Abbott before being wrestled off-stage by police
The 25-year-old Melbourne playwriting student called himself Twiggy Palmcock and faked his way into the function using a wristband made of yellow Starburst wrappers. Dressed in a suit, Stokes jumped up on stage while Abbott and his family were having their photo taken, and tried to pose in the shot next to Abbott's daughter Frances. He was wrestled away by federal police almost immediately. The incident has raised concerns about the security of Australia's prime minister elect, as News Corp Australia reports one officer tugged at his pants from below the stage and it was only after he didn't move that other police officers moved in. Stokes later told media at the function that he was having a chat with Abbott about being the next candidate for Greenway - the seat contested in this election by Jaymes Diaz. "After a small chat with Tony, they respectfully escorted me off stage," he said. Stokes has previously heckled Abbott during a speech at Melbourne University, and approached Clive Palmer during a meeting with former foreign minister Alexander Downer. Stokes - as Twiggy Palmcock - also pretended to run as a candidate against Jaymes Diaz in Greenway. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Kevin Rudd: 'I've done my job' – video Posted: 07 Sep 2013 08:35 PM PDT After his last speech as prime minister and Labor leader, Kevin Rudd walked through the party faithful, thanking them for their support over the campaign. Mike Bowers had a small video camera strapped to his main stills camera, and captured Rudd thanking his supporters while proclaiming he had done his bit by preserving Labor as a fighting force       |
| Cambodian election challenge rejected Posted: 07 Sep 2013 08:19 PM PDT  Government-appointed board upholds victory of Hun Sen's ruling party but opposition vows to continue protests Cambodia's government-appointed election board has ratified the victory of incumbent prime minister Hun Sen's ruling party, rejecting opposition claims that the polls were unfair. The results announced on state television on Sunday morning handed 68 National Assembly seats to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's party and 55 to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue party. The opposition has contested the outcome of the 28 July election, saying it would have won the majority of seats had the election been fair, but its legal challenges were rejected. It had threatened street protests and a boycott of the assembly unless until its demand for an independent probe of alleged election irregularities was met. Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia for 28 years and remains firmly in control, although the opposition won significantly more seats than it had in the past. The new parliament is supposed to convene within 60 days of the election. Nearly 20,000 cheering opposition supporters gathered on Saturday in Cambodia's capital to demand an investigation of what their leaders said was vote tampering and widespread voter disenfranchisement. The opposition vowed on Sunday to continue its protests. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Tony Abbott celebration photobombed by intruder - video Posted: 07 Sep 2013 08:12 PM PDT Tony Abbott's election party was gate-crashed by an intruder, Fregmonto Stokes, who shared the stage with Abbott and his family moments after the incoming PM's victory speech and was then unceremoniously dragged off       |
| Election 2013: how did the polls perform? Posted: 07 Sep 2013 08:04 PM PDT At this stage of the vote count it looks like the national predictions have been better than the seat-by-seat forecasts       |
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