1:33 AM AEDT | A GROUP of 13 protesters are being sued by the timber giant Gunns in what is seen by its opponents as a warning against direct action to halt its controversial pulp mill.

1:00 AM AEDT | THE former prime minister, John Howard, has been exposed as the man who inadvertently bumped the US president-elect, Barack Obama, to the waiting list for the official presidential guest-manse, Blair House, forcing the next first family into the nearby Hay-Adams Hotel.