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SHARRI MARKSON: Imagine if the United States President Donald Trump had a child with a former staff member. The US media would not hesitate to report that, and yet we tie ourselves in knots about whether we should report a story. Well, we don't at the Telegraph but the rest of the press gallery do afterwards.
Strangely, in Australia, we don't have this debate when TV celebrities like Karl Stefanovic or sports stars like Wayne Carey have their personal lives turned over by the media. So why are politicians so special?
Surely the public has a greater right to know what they are doing, since it's the public that votes them in and pays their wages.
Indeed, some have criticised the Canberra press gallery for protecting Joyce - who was running for re-election in New England - by not printing the story that everyone knew about.
... details were sketchy. It was rumoured his former staffer, Ms Campion, was pregnant but not to Mr Joyce. Then it was rumoured she had had a termination. It was all very sordid.
Certainly, Mr Joyce was doing his level best to stop it coming out. And perhaps that's why the media finally broke the news so brutally.
Has your marriage broken down?
Did you separate from your wife earlier this year?
Have you ever had a mistress?
Do you still have a mistress?
We were stonewalled by his media adviser who refused to answer the questions and queried their relevance.
SHARRI MARKSON: The deputy premier [sic] having a child with a former staff member is absolutely in the public interest, and the moment we were able to categorically confirm the story, and as you can understand these things are very difficult to get, to make sure that they are absolutely 100 per cent correct, you know,...
So, should it have done so? In our view, yes.
Do politicians have a right not to have such stuff reported? In our view, no.
And as the Tele's editor Chris Dore asked Crikey readers, how on earth could this relationship and the baby have remained a secret forever?
What would [journalists] have done when he started pushing a pram around Lake Burley Griffin or Parliament House?
So, does that now mean open season on politicians and their private lives?
We doubt it. Mostly, the public are not interested, and often there is no public interest in their knowing. But this was very different.
The Indigenous daughter of a former Northern Territory government minister says people shouldn't feel guilty for celebrating Australia Day on January 26.
Alice Springs town councillor Jacinta Nampijinpa Price wrote on Facebook that changing the date wouldn't help Aboriginal victims of domestic violence or children who miss out on school.
"Yes, let's learn about our past and our history, but how is changing the date going to do a thing for the Aboriginal women dying at the hands of Aboriginal men, the Aboriginal children who miss out on school and an education and the Aboriginal children who are living in dysfunctional circumstances?" she wrote.
"I can bet you London to a brick they are not concerned with a date change. It is the Aboriginal middle class who are concerned about date changes and those pushing the agenda come from privilege themselves in comparison to the Aboriginal people who are the country's most marginalised."
Ms Price said if the date was changed, "there will be something else for the Aboriginal middle class activists and guilt-ridden white fellas to be offended about".
She said the 2008 apology to Australia's Indigenous people had not changed things for the better.
"The future is far more important to me than our past," she wrote.
"Our future is where we should be focused, so that the most marginalised Aboriginal people of this country whose first language is usually not English, who do not have access to media, whose lives are affected at alarming rates by family violence can have the same opportunities as those who claim to feel pain because a...
"People want to call it a day of mourning. Well us Aboriginal people have become professional mourners.
"We are constantly in a state of mourning it seems ... mourning does not give us freedom, it imprisons us and I have had enough. I bury my family far too regularly and that is all the mourning I can handle.
"I want to pull my people out of the crippling state of mourning and I don't want anyone to feel guilty or bad for feeling joy and celebrating a country we love."
Ms Price is the daughter of former Country Liberals minister Bess Price.
Ruth Barbra Neuberger was born July 17, 1931 on a ranch near Stamford, SD, the daughter of August and Fredricka (Huber) Iburg. She died at the Daugherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, SD on February 8, 2019 at the age of 87 years.
Ruth was baptized in the Stamford Lutheran Church and confirmed in the Zion Lutheran of Mitchell, SD. The family moved to rural Mitchell when Ruth was 11. She graduated from Mitchell High School. She trained to be a teacher at Black Hills Teachers College then earned her bachelor's from South Dakota State College and l...
She met her husband, Tom Neuberger, at South Dakota State College. They married December 28, 1952 at Zion Lutheran Church in Mitchell. They spent their first twenty years together teaching in Columbus, GA, Davenport, IA, Fargo, ND, and Ann Arbor, MI. Their son Tim was born in Fargo.
In 1972 Tom's parents retired from farming and after much prayer and consideration Tom and Ruth became the fourth generation on the Neuberger family farm. Growing up on a farm, Ruth learned the skills and the love for gardening and sewing. She was a busy person selling her produce, pillows, comforters and Tom's meats a...
The Lutheran Missionary League and the Gideon International Auxiliary were her first choices for her volunteer efforts. She held many offices in both organizations for many years. The most challenging was as the State President of the South Dakota Lutheran Women's Missionary League from 1980-1984.
Ruth was a very generous person with her time and possessions. She donated her body to the University of South Dakota Medical School. A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held at 2 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2019 at Zion Lutheran Church in Canistota. Memorial gifts for Gideon Bibles are suggested.
Spain's deputy prime minister says that Catalonia's leader needs to answer "yes" or "no" to a demand for clarification from central authorities on whether he has declared independence in the northeastern region.
The central government has given Carles Puigdemont a Monday deadline to make his stance clear and to fall in line with Spain's constitutional laws before Oct. 19 if he wants to avoid losing autonomous powers in the region.
Spanish deputy premier Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said "it's just a yes or a no," during a routine briefing following a weekly Cabinet meeting. She added that "it's in Puigdemont's hands" to avoid extraordinary measures by the central government and repair social division.
She also called for him to act fast to shield the economy in Catalonia from further damage, accusing the regional government of "creating the conditions to plunge Catalonia into a deceleration and even an economic recession."
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is appealing to Spain's separatist Catalonia region not to declare independence as it will only encourage other regions to break away.
Juncker said Friday that it's a Spanish issue rather than an EU one but that if "Catalonia splits off, then others will do that too. I wouldn't like that."
He said in Luxembourg that he "wouldn't like a European Union that in 15 years consists of 98 states. It's already pretty difficult with 28."
Catalonia's separate administration wants the EU to mediate with the government in Madrid, but Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy refuses to seek outside help.
Juncker sees no EU role, and says that "if only one side asks for mediation then this will lead to considerable arguments in the European Union and that's why one can't do that."
Spain's deputy prime minister says Catalonia faces an "economic recession" if the secession standoff continues in the northeastern region.
Soraya Saenz de Santamaria says that if there is no immediate solution and Catalan separatists drop the independence bid, the government will consider lowering the growth forecast for the overall Spanish economy for 2018.
Around 40 Catalan banks, multinationals and mid-size businesses have moved their registered addresses out of the troubled region. The move is so far mainly symbolic and has limited economic impact because it doesn't involve relocating offices, jobs or assets.
But the deputy prime minister says that investment in Catalonia is falling and, citing industry sources, she said the tourism sector in the region has seen business drop between 20 and 30 percent in the past month.
An influential grassroots separatist group has joined voices in Catalonia urging the regional president to ignore warnings from Spain's central government and definitively declare independence.
The Assemblea Nacional Catalana, or ANC, has issued a brief statement calling for regional leader Carles Puigdemont to lift a temporary suspension of an ambiguous independence proclamation he made this week.
Puigdemont said that Catalonia was proceeding with independence but proposed freezing its implementation for a few weeks to see if negotiations could be held with Spanish authorities.
The central government responded by threatening to activate constitutional powers to take over Catalonia's self-government.
Adding pressure on Puigdemont, ANC says that "it doesn't make sense to keep the suspension of the independence declaration" given Madrid's rejection of any dialogue.
The ANC is a civil society group that organized massive protests in support of secession.
A key political ally of the ruling pro-independence coalition in Catalonia has urged regional president Carles Puigdemont to push ahead with a declaration of independence from Spain.
Spain's government has threatened to activate unprecedented measures to take over Catalonia's self-government if secession plans go forward.
Central authorities have given Puigdemont a Monday deadline to clarify whether he declared independence during an ambiguous parliamentary speech this week. He had said that Catalonia was proceeding with a declaration of independence, but proposed freezing its implementation for a few weeks to allow for dialogue and med...
The far-left separatist Catalan party CUP said in a letter dated Friday that Puigdemont should ignore the Spanish government's warning, lift the suspension and definitively proclaim independence.
Now that President Donald Trump has named circuit court Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his choice for the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress will begin the predictable process of scrutinizing him.
That process is often disingenuous, sometimes ugly and rarely productive. Democrats are now scouring Kavanaugh's biography for evidence of intolerable character flaws and his opinions for signs of ideological extremism. Republicans are preparing a glossy brochure of intellectual brilliance and personal beneficence.
Kavanaugh surely understands his role in the drama. He can be expected to deliver rehearsed answers to anticipated questions. He may sometimes be evasive, even inaccurate. The five conservative justices who just overturned a decades-old Supreme Court ruling on unions all pledged, at one point or another during their co...
The court is increasingly perceived as one more partisan outfit in a town that's lousy with them. In a recent string of 5-4 decisions, Republican appointees all voted with the majority and Democratic appointees with the minority. Republicans are hoping that Kavanaugh will prove to be a more reliable partisan than Antho...
Beyond devoting Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings to learning how many ways he can avoid opining on abortion rights and Roe v. Wade, the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee should focus on the precarious state of the court itself. How does Kavanaugh propose to preserve the court's integrity when so many of its de...
It's a lamentable sign of our times that these questions need to be asked. But in recent years, the court has shaped American democracy with dubious actions on campaign spending, voting rights, gerrymandering and other issues. In the near future, the court may need to settle presidential challenges to the work of the s...
Kavanaugh is an experienced, competent and well-qualified judge. (His views on executive power and whether a sitting president can be deposed and prosecuted seem especially pertinent.) Barring a shocking disclosure or misstep, he is very likely to take a seat on the court. If he falters, a conservative legal movement t...
Rather than fixate on an individual judge, senators should home in on the hazards of an increasingly polarized judiciary setting the rules for an increasingly polarized society. The Supreme Court is too vital to American democracy to sidestep responsibility. The tough questions Kavanaugh needs to answer concern what he...
This editorial appeared on Bloomberg Opinion.
RITES initial public offering (IPO), citing reasonable valuations.
long-term investment horizon as the valuations are in line with that of the only listed peer, Galaxy Surfactants.
Two companies — Oleochemical-based additive manufacturer Fine Organic Industries and railways’ consultancy firm RITES — have hit the primary market on Wednesday to raise about Rs 600 crore and Rs 460 crore, respectively.
Most of the domestic brokers have recommended subscribing to RITES initial public offering (IPO), citing reasonable valuations.
But analysts are divided on the Fine Organic’s IPO with many of them recommending to subscribe to the issue only with a long-term investment horizon as the valuations are in line with that of the only listed peer, Galaxy Surfactants.
The UN Security Council has authorised the transfer of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor to The Hague to be tried for war crimes, a trial that could happen in weeks, court officials say.
A resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council on Friday asked Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, to help with legal and practical arrangements to move Taylor from the court in Sierra Leone where he is currently being held.
He faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for backing Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels, who sent drugged child soldiers into battle and mutilated and raped civilians in the country's 1991-2002 civil war.
Peter Andersen, spokesman for the UN backed Special Court in Freetown, said: "It's a matter now partly of legal issues and partly of logistics. It's not as easy as just calling in an airplane and saying we have a passenger for you.
"It could happen fairly soon. We do not want to talk about the exact timing, but it will not be a matter of months."
Britain drafted the UN resolution after promising on Thursday to jail Taylor if he is found guilty.
The Freetown tribunal had asked the Netherlands to host the case at the International Criminal Court because of security concerns but needed a third country to volunteer as his jailer.
Sierra Leone's government welcomed the plans to transfer Taylor, saying removing him from West Africa would improve security in the region, with both the former British colony and neighbouring Liberia still fragile after years of conflict.
"As a government we are grateful to Britain, the people of the Netherlands and the secretary-general of the United Nations... With Charles Taylor to be tried outside Sierra Leone it will help the government to concentrate on other areas of security"
Solomon Berewa, Sierra Leone's deputy president, said "Taylor's continued stay in Sierra Leone is a continued threat to the peace of Sierra Leone as well as the West African region".
"As a government we are grateful to Britain, the people of the Netherlands and the secretary-general of the United Nations... With Charles Taylor to be tried outside Sierra Leone it will help the government to concentrate on other areas of security."
Taylor, seen as the mastermind behind intertwined conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, is being held in a prison cell guarded by Mongolian UN peacekeepers, nestled among the rolling, shanty-covered hills of Freetown.
Some in Sierra Leone have voiced concern that moving his trial to Europe will mean those who suffered in the war will not see justice being served first hand.
Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that "victims of atrocities in Sierra Leone have long waited for Charles Taylor to face trial".
"Security concerns may well merit moving the trial to The Hague, but the Special Court needs to explain this more fully to the people of West Africa."
The court, which already runs an "outreach" programme that includes sending video and audio summaries of proceedings around the country, said it was discussing the possibility of streaming the trial live by television back to the Freetown court.
Allentown police will help to prepare and distribute 115 Christmas food baskets on Friday, in cooperation with Helping Hands, an Allentown-based charitable organization.
Officer John Barnhart said police volunteers are purchasing food and organizing donations for the baskets, which will go to families in need through Casa Guadalupe and the Sixth Street Shelter, a transitional shelter for families who are temporarily homeless.
Barnhart said money has been provided by Helping Hands, and he expects some to be donated by police, but more is needed. "I'm really surprised at the cost of groceries," he said.
Contributions may be made through Chief David Howells Sr.'s office at Allentown police headquarters.
Police will help distribute most of the baskets on Friday at Casa Guadalupe but also will deliver baskets at the end of the day to the elderly or others unable to come to the agency.
Barnhart said the baskets (actually boxes donated by Penn State Paper and Box Co.) will contain hams, potatoes, canned vegetables, Malone's rolls, milk, soda donated by Brewer's Outlet and small bags of candy as presents for children.
"There are a lot of needy families out there," said Barnhart. "It looks like this may become an annual thing."
City council members are considering the county's latest revision of a proposed interlocal agreement that would permit the county to collect road impact fees in the city.
Council members, who turned down earlier versions of the agreement, said Monday they still have concerns but will further consider the county's third version at a meeting July 27.
Seminole County officials are suing Casselberry, Sanford and Winter Springs to determine if fee moratoriums adopted by those cities are legal and whether the county can collect the fees inside a city without the consent of the city's governing body.
The Casselberry council adopted a six-month moratorium so it could develop a transportation study to be used in developing its own impact fee.

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