Zagreb Boost For Hayes

FOR the second week in a row, premier trainer David Hayes gained a ballot-free runner for next month's Caulfield Cup when Zabeel four-year-old Zagreb came from last in an astonishing effort to win the listed Naturalism Stakes.

Calm Leaders For A Financial Crisis

Only a couple of hours before calling a leadership ballot on Monday, Brendan Nelson's chief of staff, Peter Hendy, and Nelson's chief supporter, Nick Minchin, sat in a meeting of the Liberal Party's policy review committee.

Climate May Change But Policies Won't For Now

A RESURGENT Malcolm Turnbull says he has learnt the lesson of his first defeat at a leadership ballot and is not about to embark on any radical changes in policy without consultation.

Livni Ahead In Polls On Party Leadership

ISRAEL'S Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, was on track to win today's ballot for the leadership of the ruling Kadima Party, which would put her in line to become Israel's second woman prime minister.

Livni Poised To Win Party Ballot And Lead Israeli Coalition

ISRAELI Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is on track to win today's ballot for the leadership of the governing Kadima party that would put her in line to become Israel's second woman prime minister.

Dithering Liberals Get Their Deserts

Two weeks ago, when Federal Parliament last met, Junee's incendiary farmer senator, "Wild Bill" Heffernan, told four Liberal Party colleagues he intended moving a "spill" motion in the Liberals' party room next day to force a new leadership ballot. The date was Monday, September 1. The first day of spring. "Of course I was going to pull it on," Heffernan said yesterday. "I'm f---ing sick of all the speculation."

Record Field Faces Voters

HUNTER voters face a tough choice when they go to the polls this Saturday, with a record field of more than 350 candidates vying for seats on the regions local councils. The surge in candidates has been attributed to State Government electoral reforms, which place political groupings to the left-hand side of the ballot paper, and independents on the right.