The Palestinian president appears to have called off indirect talks with Israel after the Israeli interior ministry announced it would build 1,600 new settler homes.

An Israeli supermarket chain is using a spoof of surveillance footage showing the alleged assassins of a Hamas commander in a television advert.

The advert's fake grainy surveillance footage shows actors wearing elaborate disguises.

Dubai police released footage they said showed the assassins of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, some dressed for tennis, as they followed him through his hotel.

Israeli's secret service is widely suspected of being behind the killing.

But the government says there is not enough proof that its agents were involved.

In the advert for Mahsanei Kimat Hinam shops, disguised customers prowl the supermarket's aisles and an actress wearing a wide-brimmed hat says she: "cannot admit to anything". The final line is: "We offer killer prices".

A Liberal senator has used the permanent abolition of the death penalty in Australia to call for Indonesia to spare the lives of members of the Bali Nine, saying the use of capital punishment is not reflective of a civilised society.

The federal parliament today passed laws that ensure the death penalty can never be reintroduced by any state or territory in Australia.

Both sides of politics supported the move, which is seen as largely symbolic.

But ACT Liberal senator Gary Humphries used the development to call on the Indonesian government to waive the application of the death penalty in the case of the Bali Nine.

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Gus: Congratulations! Australia is now a death penalty free country forever... May we mention the USA in the same breath as Indonesia...

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has slammed the major parties for blocking his moves for an inquiry into the Church of Scientology.

Senator Xenophon has been calling for a full inquiry into the church since revealing claims of forced abortions and other abuses in Parliament last year.

Today he accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of hiding behind process and vowed to continue to fight for further examination of Scientology in Australia.

"There is a certain cowardice in turning your backs on people who ask for help and ask just to be heard," he said.

"I ask Kevin Rudd and [Opposition Leader] Tony Abbott, what is it about forced abortions you do not want to know about?

"What is it about false imprisonment that you don't want to know about? I will not turn my backs on the victims of Scientology. I will not let this lie. This issue will not go away."

Senator Xenophon now says he will move another motion for an inquiry into the church, which he says will focus on specific allegations made against it, next week.

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Gus: some truth will come out in ... 2098...

In the same way sexual abuses have been "investigated" in the various christian churches, abuses of various kind from within and on the border of scientology will come out. The major problem with the scientologists is their core "beliefs" which prevent most medical conditions of being treated by medicine and psychiatry, only allowing a 'religious-inspired" treatment.

In other cases of "abuse", such as the strict controlled separation of adherents — away from other family members who have different beliefs — is mean and somewhat contrary to the "freedom" of the scientology pseudo-teachings...

No drugs, sure... It is commendable to a point in a world where drugs have been abused, except we should not forget that "religion itself is the opium of the people".

Yes, religion is a powerful "drug" (a mind altering substance or suggestive concept) that can induce and masks all sorts of mental trouble ...  What we, the "normal" people see as "abuse" can be deemed to be beneficial "treatment" to the "soul", by the pushers — such having to perform menial task in the most humiliating way without proper reward, except the illusion of a better after-life. In christianity this has developed into self-flagellation, into non-participation to society's activities (such as the non-voting brotherhood) and silent orders of nuns and monks... How far are we prepared to accept such "abuse" (deemed to be inspired by conviction of the religious hubris), reflects on how far we believe the value of similar deeds in our own set of crooked beliefs...

There is NO FREEDOM of thoughts in any mono-phased belief systems such as scientology. The only choice is to be in or out. But being out — after having been powerfully brainwashed to make it difficult to get out — has been cleverly designed by the belief system to lead to anguish in people's mind. The system becomes (and is) a virtual prison where the shackles are in our own mind rather than at our feet — all managed with an illusion of "freedom" within the confines. It's a bit like the clones in "The Island", the movie... This also applies to all the Judeo-related beliefs system, from islam to christianity. This is why the "christians", Rudd and Abbott, won't touch the subject. They are not scared of the "implants of thetan", they are scared of dipping a toe into their own religious idiosyncrasies..

The UN called in the world's top scientists today to review a report by its climate body, four months after public confidence in the science of global warming was shaken by the discovery of a mistake about the melting rates of Himalayan glaciers.

In an announcement at the UN in New York Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, and Rajendra Pachauri, the much-criticised head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the InterAcademy Council, which represents 15 national academies of science, would conduct the independent review.

The announcement follows months of controversy which, while not altering the scientific consensus on climate change, has given fresh ammunition to opponents of action on global warming.

Pachauri has faced calls for his resignation, a controversy he acknowledged obliquely today. "We have received some criticism. We are receptive and sensitive to that and we are doing something about it," he said.

The review, which is to complete its work by August, will not undertake a dissection of the 2007 report, which has been pored over by climate sceptics, or re-examine the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change, said Robert Dijksgraaf, the head of the InterAcademy Council.

"It will definitely not go over vast amounts of data," he told reporters. "Our goal will be to assure nations around the world that they will receive sound scientific advice on climate science."

Instead, he said it would focus on putting in place better quality control procedures for the next report, which is due in 2014.

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Since the crunch dates in Gus' estimates are 1996, 2015, 2032 and 2070 before 2111, the 2014 report will need another report within a couple of years after its publication, pronto.

In response to the ABC chairman errant ways (read above)...

A deputy director of China's most powerful economic ministry has come out swinging against climate change denial.

Senior Chinese government figures have described the view that climate change is not man-made as an "extreme" stance which is out of step with mainstream thought.

The comments were made during China's annual sitting of the National People's Congress.

During the congress, a series of press conferences are held which, in many cases, are the only chance to put questions to members of China's power elite.

Last night, one such press conference was held on the subject of climate change.

The ABC asked the panel what they thought of the view that climate change had nothing to do with human activity and was in fact a natural phenomenon.

Xie Zhenhua, a deputy director at China's powerful economic ministry, the National Development and Reform Commission, answered that he believed that made-made climate change denial is, at best, a very marginal view.

"Climate change is a fact based on long-time observations by countries around the world," he said.

"There are two different views regarding the causes for global warming.

"The mainstream view is that climate change is caused by burning of fossil fuel in the course of industrialisation.

"There's a more extreme view which holds that human activity has only an imperceptible impact on the natural system."

He said the responsibility for this climate change rested squarely with the Western world, so the onus was on it to clean up the mess caused in the rush to industrialisation.

"The climate in China is warming. It's something every one of us can feel," he said.

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I trust the Chinese more than I trust Mr Maurice Newman, (Chairman of the ABC) who may never have investigated properly the concept of "global warming" but blurts idiotic crap about "balance" reporting about it...

And as Wikipedia tells us:

Maurice Lionel Newman AC is the current Chairperson of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation^[1], as well as former chair of the board of the Australian Stock Exchange^[2]. He was Chancellor of Macquarie University^[3]. until 2008

He is a close personal friend of past Australian Prime Minister John Howard^[4].

from the American Conservative

A conservative advocacy organization in Washington, Keep America Safe, kicked up a storm last week when it released a video that questioned the loyalty of Justice Department lawyers who worked in the past on behalf of detained terrorism suspects.

But beyond the expected liberal outrage, the tactics of the group, which is run by Liz Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president, have also split the tightly knit world of conservative legal scholars. Many conservatives, including members of the Federalist Society, the quarter-century-old policy group devoted to conservative and libertarian legal ideals, have vehemently criticized Ms. Cheney’s video, and say it violates the American legal principle that even unpopular defendants deserve a lawyer.

“There’s something truly bizarre about this,” said Richard A. Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor and a revered figure among many members of the society. “Liz Cheney is a former student of mine — I don’t know what moves her on this thing,” he said.

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Gus: "Er... Daddy?"

... Struth indeed (see above)... Well said, Ernest.

ABC chairman Maurice Newman has attacked the media for being too willing to accept the conventional wisdom on climate change.

In a speech to senior ABC staff this morning, Mr Newman said climate change was an example of "group think".

He says contrary views on climate change have not been tolerated and those who express them have been labelled and mocked.

"It's really been the question of what is wisdom and consensus rather than listening perhaps to other points of view that may be sceptical," he said.

But he believes the ABC has been more balanced than other media organisations when it comes to reporting on climate change.

"I think that we've listened to the words of sceptics as well as those who are scientists in the field," he said.

"Climate change is at the moment an emotional issue.

"But it really is the fundamental issue about the need to bring voices that have authority and are relevant to the particular issue to the attention of our audiences, so that they themselves can make decisions."

Mr Newman has doubts about climate change himself and says he is waiting for proof either way.

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He will wait a long time for proof...

Climate change is not an emotional issue. Climate change is a flux-science issue. Only those who want to dispute the evidence of warming of the planet make it an "emotional" issue.

The deniers make it very difficult for the proper science to come out, in the same way as the campaign that "Saddam has weapons of mass destruction" issue was touted when we knew he did not have any.

The media played along with the UK, the USA and Australian governments porkie departments because it was sexy to go to war. Presently, the scientists of global warming are dispairing that their message is getting muddled, muzzled even, by a media too eager to "balance" a strong scientific point of view with the flat earth theorists arguments for the sake of biffo... Should we follow the concensus of the Scientologists for example, then the reality of anything is an agreement, not a fact...

But in fact, the statistics are there to indicate  — (there is no proof and there will be "no proof" even if by 2100 the temperature has gone through the roof, say 6 degree C higher than now) — there is warming and there will be more warming with more CO2 from human activity. Meanwhile nature does not care, It's only our comfort that will suffer badly, as well as that of many other species...

And as far as "conventional wisdom", climate change theory is far from being "conventional" and it is not "wisdom". Global warming is proper science, very difficult flux-science to boot, that needs to be pursued with vigour so we don't muck up the future — too much.

Italy and Russia Complete Flurry of Deals

MOSCOW — The Italian energy company Eni sold a 20 percent stake in the Russian oil giant Gazprom Neft for $4.1 billion Tuesday in the largest of a dozen or so deals announced during a Russian-Italian business forum.

The two countries have warm business ties, even as Russia’s trade relations with other European countries have soured. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, was scheduled to attend the forum in Moscow but canceled to remain in Italy in the aftermath of an earthquake in the Abruzzo region.

In other agreements signed Tuesday, Finmeccanica, the Italian aerospace company, bought a 25 percent stake in the civilian aircraft division of the Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi, which is better known for its fighter jets. With Boeing in an advisory role, Sukhoi is now developing a regional passenger jet, the Superjet. The price of the sale to Finmeccanica was not disclosed.

Finmeccanica also signed an agreement with the state-owned holding company Russian Technology to develop security systems for guarding airports, oil depots and other large installations, the Interfax news agency reported.

Eni also signed deals with the Russian state oil company Rosneft and with two pipeline-building companies, Transneft and Stroytransgaz.

Eni’s sale of the stake in Gazprom Neft was expected. The Italians sold the shares to Gazprom, which had an option to buy them. The deal deepens a long-running partnership between the Italian company and the Russian natural gas monopoly, including an agreement to jointly build the South Stream pipeline under the Black Sea.

The sale Tuesday also was the final step in a long unwinding of a planned merger between Yukos and Sibneft, the company that was renamed Gazprom Neft when Gazprom bought it from the billionaire Roman A. Abramovich in 2005. Yukos had purchased the shares in Sibneft in anticipation of that merger; when Yukos was forced into bankruptcy, it was still holding the shares in what had become the oil arm of Gazprom.

Eni bought the Gazprom Neft stake at a bankruptcy auction of Yukos assets in April 2007 with the understanding they would be resold to Gazprom. Gazprom now has 95.68 percent of Gazprom Neft.

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see toon at top...