Aren't you glad the world is in such safe & sensible hands?

In Australia

AUSTRALIA could become a Muslim nation in 50 years unless Parliament retains control of RU486, a former Howard Government Minister has warned.

Dumped frontbencher Danna Vale said Australia was aborting itself out of existence and Islam might soon be the dominant religion.

In a warning to MPs to keep ministerial oversight of the controversial abortion drug, Ms Vale said Australia's changing demographic should be considered in this week's vote.

"I've actually read in the Daily Telegraph where a certain imam from Lakemba Mosque said Australia's going to be a Muslim nation in 50 years' time," she said.

"When you actually look at the birth rate, and you look at the fact that we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence . . . by about 100,000 abortions each year.

"You multiply that by 50 years -- that's five million potential Australians we won't have here."

& in the U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House was bombarded with questions on Monday about why it failed to go public with news that Vice President Dick Cheney shot a fellow quail hunter until the day after the accident.

The victim, Harry Whittington, 78, took pellets in his cheek, neck and chest when Cheney fired his shotgun while aiming for a bird during a hunt in southern Texas on Saturday, and was in stable condition at a Corpus Christi hospital.

The accident happened about 5:30 p.m. on a private ranch about 200 miles south of San Antonio, where the vice president has hunted previously. Whittington was treated on the scene by Cheney's traveling medical detail before being taken by helicopter to the hospital.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said on Monday that Cheney would receive a warning citation for not having a special bird-hunting stamp on a Texas hunting license he bought earlier.

Cheney's office said in the only statement it has issued on the shooting that his staff had purchased the license thinking it covered quail hunting, but had not been told about the stamp.

"The Vice President has sent a $7 check to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which is the cost of an upland game bird stamp," the statement said.