1. G20 Lockdown
Brisbane is in lockdown as the world leaders begin arriving ahead of the weekend’s G20 summit.
7600 politicians, delegates and media will be in the city that has precedented security operations in force.
On the agenda is the “Brisbane Action Plan” which will chart the way to 2% economic growth over the next four years.
Key points:
- This morning’s first arrival was South African president Jacob Zuma.
- 6000 police are on call in Brisbane with 3000 officers on the ground at any one time. 1500 police from interstate and New Zealand will also attend.
- US President Barack Obama will arrive at Amberley RAAF base on board Air Force One on Saturday before giving a speech at the University of Queensland.
- President Putin will be staying at the Hilton Hotel in a king suite costing $615 a night.
- While UK Prime Minister David Cameron will stay at a suite in the Treasury Hotel at $1,259 a night.
- The Daily Mail reports that Tony Abbott will stay at Rydges in a deluxe king suite costing $309 a night.
Yesterday police had to remove light projectors, disguised as CCTV cameras, from buildings around the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre The Brisbane Times reports that the fake cameras were designed to project anti-G20 slogans and images on to nearby buildings.
2. Vladimir Putin’s smooth moves
The Russian President Vladimir Putin has been censored in the Chinese media after he deftly slipped a shawl over the shoulders of Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
CNN reports that the move was reported live to air on Chinese TV with voiceover from a CCTV anchor stating “President Putin has placed a coat on Peng Liyuan.”
It also gained a hashtag.
But by morning the Chinese sensors had wiped all traces of the move from existence.
Perhaps it really didn’t happen.
3. Abbott meets Putin
The Prime Minister Tony Abbott has met with Russia president Vladimir Putin while at the APEC summit in China demanding an apology and compensation.
The two leaders spoke for 15 minutes about the MH17 crash both saying on the meeting’s conclusion that they had concluded the investigation should continue with the full support of the international community.
Top Comments
#14, I thought Tony had stopped the boats???
#4 "Purple pill" linked to teen's death - as someone who neither takes nor condones the taking of mind altering substances but accepts that this is an epidemic which needs to be addressed without moral judgements - the one thing I didn't see in the comments about this issue is how innocuous these little pills appear. The first time I was shown what "drugs" are I was in shocked disbelief. They look like an m&m. Actually, a mini m&m. And when they are sitting in a palm of an outstretched hand on offer to simply take and place in your mouth or "pop a pill" it beggars belief that anyone in their right mind would think that "just say no" to a teenager's mind would mean anything. It's also hard to imagine how something so small and deceptively harmless in appearance could in anyway be harmful. I don't know if I would have been able to avoid the temptation in circumstances which involved my teen-aged mind. We HAVE to get this sh*t regulated. If we can regulate alcohol, if we can regulate cigarettes, if we can regulate pharmaceuticals, why can't we regulate drugs we currently deem illegal? And though one argument is that by making them legal we legitimise them, I wonder how many 'rebellious' youth would no longer find it 'a thing' if it was not illegal.