The cruellest cut?

THE PICK OF THE MORNING’S STORIES

Surge in exports boosts economy – Melbourne Age

The ‘cruellest cut’ may also be illegal – the Melbourne Age on circumcision

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

AUSTRALIA

Economic conditions

Export boost raises hopes of recovery – Sydney Morning Herald

Surge in exports boosts economy – Melbourne Age

Queensland Premier Bligh to hold $15b state asset fire sale – Sydney Morning Herald

Premier defies angry backlash over assets sale – Brisbane Courier Mail

2000 jobs lost in Melbourne building sector – Melbourne Age

$30bn gamble on asset sell-off as Queensland dumps cheap petrol – The Australian

Queensland assets’ $15bn price tag ‘pie in sky’ – The Australian

Bligh’s asset sales follows NSW experience – Brisbane Courier Mail

World’s best exports may hold off recession – The Australian

Green shoots of agriculture recovery finding fertile ground – The Australian

Pharmacists warn 4000 jobs on the line under new award – The Australian

Double tax plan trouble for Wayne Swan – The Australian pleads the case of Australians working overseas

Racial attacks

Rudd forms Indian violence taskforce – Sydney Morning Herald

Indian student slashed in TAFE car park – Melbourne Age

Consumer boycott threat over attacks on Indians – The Australian

Parents too poor to visit stabbed student – Melbourne Age

Assaults on Indians ‘not race-based‘ – The Australian

Australians should be out of IPL till attacks stop: Bal Thackeray – Times of India

Political attacks

Three-cornered bout goes full throttle – the Sydney Morning Herald on how NSW backbencher Alby Schultz attempted to throttle the Victorian frontbencher Chris Pearce and it took two other Liberals, both former policemen, about 30 seconds to prise him off.

Malcolm Turnbull shock at Alby Schultz, Chris Pierce fight – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Motor industry

Holden upbeat about export future – Adelaide Advertiser

Jobs and factories are safe, says Holden – Sydney Morning Herald

Holden gets life in GM bankruptcy – Melbourne Age

Deal to retrain auto workers – The Australian

A hint of strange things

Fitzgibbon admits gift – the Sydney Morning Herald reports on the Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, admitting to Parliament last night he had failed to declare a night in a hotel room worth $450, paid for by a health fund run by his brother.

Fitzgibbon failed to reveal hotel gift – The Australian

Industrial Relations

Be proud of your roots, ACTU tells Gillard – Sydney Morning Herald

Builders to brick in Gillard – The Australian on the ACTU Congress

Transport

Roads minister has to do U-turn – Sydney Morning Herald on spinners and road works

Immigration

Coalition won’t forgive detainees their trespasses – the Sydney Morning Herald on moves to stop a law change to forgive debts for those locked up in detention centres

Uygur detainees: Canberra caught in diplomatic vice – Sydney Morning Herald

Despair in Merauke for detained Australians – Melbourne Age

Education

MPs urge ‘no secrets’ on schools – Melbourne Age on MPs wanting the Government to be more open about the way schools are selected for much-needed upgrades under the $1.9 billion Victorian Schools Plan: the Government’s 2006 election promise to rebuild or modernise every public school by 2016.

Health

Universal healthcare set to disappear – Brisbane Courier Mail

Opinion

Don’t exhale just yet – that recession may still come, no matter what figures say – says Elizabeth Knight in the Sydney Morning Herald

Liberal match of the day – Annabel Crabb on the Liberal fight club in the Sydney Morning Herald

An opportunity to learn from bitter experience – Ruchir Punjabi, an international student from India and the president of the University of Sydney Union, writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that the Government must strategically address the challenging bigger picture of international student experience.

A car industry brings prosperity – writes John Legge in the Melbourne Age

Restoring the lion’s roar – The Government’s helping hand to Holden is a model for others to follow says Shaun Carney in the Melbourne Age

Pollies’ different tales on recovery – George Megalogenis in The Australian writes that stories federal and state Labor are telling Queenslanders about recession and debt are in conflict.

This may be only tip of the iceberg – Adele Ferguson on the Queensland state budget in The Australian

Spike eases fears of a long downturn – Michael Stutchbury in The Australian tries to make sense of the export numbers

Parties limber up for election stoush – Lenore Taylor in The Australian as federal politics is entering the electoral pre-positioning phase, where messages are pared back to slogans and delivery becomes shrill.

The enemy within – Paul Kelly writing in The Australian believes Malcolm Turnbull’s political future turns on whether he can get the Libs to support emissions trading.

ELSEWHERE

Political Life

MPs’ expenses: cabinet meltdown as Jacqui Smith heads resignations – Gordon Brown is facing a major Cabinet crisis after the resignation of three of his senior ministers threw the Government into disarray on the eve of critical local and European elections. London Daily Telegraph

BUSINESS

China cracks on iron ore price – Sydney Morning Herald

ENVIRONMENT

Conservatives put the heat on Turnbull – the right wing of the Liberal Party is bristling at comments by the leader, Malcolm Turnbull, that the party will eventually back an emissions trading scheme says the Sydney Morning Herald

Rush on carbon bill to set up triggers for election – The Australian

Obama’s cap and trade troubles – Watered down and loophole-ridden bill unlikely to impress America’s partners – Financial Times of London

MEDIA

Tiananmen killings: Was the media right? – Reports of the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and their violent end have had a huge impact on how the outside world sees China. James Miles – who was the BBC’s Beijing correspondent at the time – reflects on the difficulties of covering the story. BBC News

E3 is back and it’s upgraded – The annual video-game conference has kicked off in L.A., and 40,000 are expected to come, up significantly from just a few thousand last year –  Los Angeles Times

LIFE

Horse racing

Keep government out of merged clubs: Gai Waterhouse – Sydney Morning Herald

Obesity

Anger at lack of action on obesity – Melbourne Age

Rights of the child

The ‘cruellest cut’ may also be illegal – the Melbourne Age on circumcision

Swine flu

Parents may face delays over Tamiflu for children – Melbourne Age

Victoria poised to raise alert on swine flu – Melbourne Herald Sun

Families

‘Flaws’ in John Howard’s parenting law – The Australian

Liquor laws

Tough new laws to shut pubs, clubs – Melbourne Age

Sexual abuse

DOCS bungle led to teen being cared for by sex offender – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Pets

Mitcham Council turns tail on cat bans – Adelaide Advertiser