Under The Gun In Gaza

While Israel and its allies are determined to hold a hard line against the new Hamas Government, blockaded Palestinians see nothing but hypocrisy, writes Ed O'Loughlin.

Gunshop Owners Brace For Buyback

Dozens of handguns are tied, tagged and disabled in a strongroom at the Victoria Ranges pistol range in Flemington, ready for next Tuesday's gun buyback.

Pm Furious As States Foil Gun Ban

State police ministers yesterday ganged up to undermine the Commonwealth's proposed ban on handguns, prompting an angry Prime Minister John Howard to wish "a curse on them".

Waterfront `smoking Gun' A `smokescreen'

The Federal Opposition did not have a ``smoking gun" over the Government's role in the waterfront dispute, Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith said yesterday. Mr Reith said the Government had been involved closely in the waterfront row but denied it had been implicated in a conspiracy w

Smoking Gun

More than 40 years ago US tobacco manufacturers knew the addictive qualities on nicotine. Knowledge of smoking's adverse health effects was withheld form governments and an unsuspecting public for fear of damaging bottom lines. Now this shabby deception is being exposed. Damning files uncovered in

Heroin At Home: The Tricky Exam Question

More than 200 first-year university students were asked in an exam paper how to make a type of heroin from common pain killers that can be found in most home medicine cabinets. The Macquarie University students were asked how they would isolate codeine from paracetamol to form home-bake heroin, w

Hopes High For Uniform Gun Laws

Hopes of achieving uniform national gun laws were high yesterday after both the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tim Fischer, and the Queensland Premier, Mr Rob Borbidge, said they expected all states to fall into line behind the Federal Government. Mr Fischer has already turned his attention to implem

Stamp Of Authority

John Howard's strong nerve in the gun debate has boosted his standing while Tim Fischer's loyalty has brought him trouble, writes Michelle Grattan. JOHN HOWARD and the Queensland Nationals have been anything but mates. In fact, he has extremely unpleasant memories of them. In 1987, the mad Joh-fo

Pm's Threat On Gun Control

Canberra. The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, warned yesterday that the states could face a national referendum on gun control after 10 hours of talks failed to win backing from Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Mr Howard last night gave the dissenters until Tuesday to

Apprentice Tortured `horribly'

An apprentice cabinetmaker was burned with an iron, tied up, punched, kicked, shot with a stapling gun and set alight by workmates in what a magistrate yesterday said was horrible cruelty belonging in another age. In sentencing, Ms Wendy Wilmoth told the Melbourne Magistrates Court it was appalli

Gun Control Body The Answer

The time for ad-hoc piecemeal gun legislation is past, argues John Crook. Our politicians must produce a single authoritative set of laws that put community safety first. THE Port Arthur incident was not only the world's worst such massacre, it was the 26th in Australia in the past 10 years.

States Agree On Gun Control Code

Hobart. The states took a tentative step towards uniform gun laws yesterday when police ministers agreed to establish a national gun-control code on shooter licensing, mail-order sale, safety training and secure storage. The Federal Government will also further restrict the importation of ammu

Mps Run Harder On Gun Control

The three non-aligned Independents in the State Parliament have stepped up their push for a referendum on proposed laws requiring firearms to be registered and locked up. The Firearms Referendum Bill, introduced into Parliament yesterday by the Independent MP for Bligh, Ms Clover Moore, se

Christian Leader Orders Closure Of Airport, Ports

CAIRO, Monday: Lebanon slid into its worst crisis since the Government split last September into rival Muslim and Christian Cabinets after failure among Lebanese political groups to agree on a replacement for outgoing President Amin Gemayel. On Saturday, General Michel Aoun, the Christia

An End To Nice, Safe Life In The Shadows

Before it even began, Ted Pickering's political career in government is almost finished. The Opposition's Leader in the Upper House has come under his first real scrutiny as a potential Cabinet minister and been found wanting. His errors of omission over the gun policy and his compounding