Canberra loves an early election

There’s nothing that Canberra likes more than talk of an early election and so it is this morning with all the major papers speculating about emissions trading becoming a double dissolution issue.

PICK OF THE MORNING’S STORIES

AUSTRALIA

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Anger over breach in swine flu quarantine – Melbourne Age

Emissions trading stand-off presses Labor election trigger – Sydney Morning Herald

ELSEWHERE

North Korea Test-Fires 2 More Missiles – North Korean Nuclear Blast Draws Global Condemnation – Washington Post

Prop. 8 upheld by California Supreme Court – Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

AUSTRALIA

Double Dissolution Talk

Emissions trading stand-off presses Labor election trigger – Sydney Morning Herald

Rudd no to delay on climate bill – Melbourne Age

Coalition digs in over bill on emission tradings scheme – The Australian

Turnbull retreat more of a fobbing off – Lenore Taylor’s verdict in The Australian

Election threat as eco Bill fails – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Turnbull calls bluff on early poll threat over carbon tax – Adelaide Advertiser

Retirement Age

Union revolt grows on increasing retirement age – The Australian

Terrorism

Rudd’s torture law raises Defence hackles – Sydney Morning Herald

Boat people

900 boatpeople seized in Indonesia en route to Australia – The Australian

Jakarta extradites alleged people-smuggler Hadi Ahmadi to face Perth court – The Australian

People smuggling kingpin extradited to face trial in Australia screaming about his innocence – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Education

Gillard to scrutinise rogue colleges – Melbourne Age

A hint of strange things

Health union paid MP Craig Thomson’s phone bill – Sydney Morning Herald

RBA firm sacked foreign agents – The company that prints Australia’s money abruptly dismissed all its foreign agents in 2007 after a Reserve Bank of Australia audit raised probity fears reports the Melbourne Age

Bushfire inquiry

Fire alerts weren’t issued – Melbourne Herald Sun

Culture war

Reading syllabus hijacked by fringe groups as basics ignored – The Australian

Trade unions

Big business in ACTU’s sights over new workplace laws – The Australian

Opinion

Climate juggernaut looms, but Turnbull buys a little time – writes Peter HJartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald

Many divisions make a mess – Michelle Grattan writes in the Melbourne Age that efforts to get an emissions trading scheme have turned into a shambles.

Keep up the good work, old chap – Ross Gittins on the retirement age in the Sydney Morning Herald

The only victim here is Telstra’s share price – Peter Costello on Sol Trujillo – Sydney Morning Herald

Silly tourists, don’t expect us to save you – Alexander in the Sydney Morning Herald

Cool, calm and collected not cutting it with voters says Shaun Carney in the Melbourne Age

Wait-and-see approach nets a rare win – Christian Kerr in The Australian believes most ordinary voters will sympathise with Turnbull’s wait-and-see position on emissions trading

Rights bill won’t pay – Paul Kelly in The Australian

ELSEWHERE

North Korea

North Korea lashes out at U.S., readies more rockets – National Post, Canada

North Korea Test-Fires 2 More Missiles – North Korean Nuclear Blast Draws Global Condemnation – Washington Post

Terrorism

Study Finds Ethnic Profiling Useless in Preventing Terror – Der Spiegel

Opinion

Our Crumbling Foundation – Bob Herbert writes in The New York Times that the link between the need to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and the crucial need to find rich new sources of employment in this economic downturn should be obvious, a no-brainer.

BUSINESS

Bets against dollar highest since start of economic crisis – Financial Times of London

Telstra confirms network backflip – will consider selling parts of its phone system to the Federal Government’s proposed national broadband network company. Sydney Morning Herald

Global bust hits home: prices diced for iron ore exports – Sydney Morning Herald

Rio woos investors in bid to save China deal – Melbourne Age

U.S. Stocks Rise as Confidence Boosts Banks, Consumer Shares – Bloomberg

ENVIRONMENT

Grim days ahead for the Murray – Melbourne Age

MEDIA

Review of Australian Government’s website blacklist in wind – Melbourne Age

Ben who? – Gabriella Coslovich in the Melbourne Age on the new editor of The Monthly.

My advice on chick and lad mags: burn before reading – Catherine Deveny in the Melbourne Age

Facebook gets $200m from European firm – Investment values company at $10bn – Financial Times of London

Libel Tourism – a New York Times editorial argues that Congress needs to pass a law that makes clear that no American court will enforce libel judgments from countries that provide less protection for the written word.

LIFE

The sexes

Liberated and Unhappy – Ross Douthat writes in The New York Times that all the achievements of the feminist era may have delivered women to greater unhappiness. His article is based on “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,” a provocative paper from the economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers.

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Bedroom ad ruled offensive to men – the Advanced Medical Institute has been forced to pull its latest television advertisement on the grounds it ridicules and shows contempt for men suffering from premature ejaculation says the Sydney Morning Herald.

Prop. 8 upheld by California Supreme Court – The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law reports the Los Angeles Times

Tennis and religion

For Jaeger, the Point Is Love – Tennis Prodigy Andrea Jaeger, once ranked No 2 in the world, now an Anglican Dominican Nun, Wishes to Show Compassion She Once Craved – The Washington Post

Swine Flu

Townsville newlyweds in swine flu cruise scare – Townsville Bulletin