Alaskans know all about severe weather, but what could hit tonight and through Wednesday has the National Weather Service in full alert mode.

With blizzard warnings issued for an amazingly wide swath of Alaska’s western coast, officials are warning of major coastal flooding, heavy snowfall and winds up to 75 mph.

As forecasters wait to see if the storm continues to morph into one of the most severe Bering Sea storms on record, officials certainly haven’t downplayed the danger of the situation.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "liar" in remarks to US President Barack Obama overheard by journalists.

"I can't stand him any more, he's a liar," Mr Sarkozy said in French.

"You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him every day," Mr Obama replied.

The exchange at the G20 summit was quoted by a French website, Arret sur Images, and confirmed by other media.

Ah!... the simple choice!!! The dreaded choice, the idiotic sophistic choice...

Treasury officials have rejected suggestions the Federal Government's mining tax will target smaller miners and let large miners off the hook.

A parliamentary committee is examining the mineral resource rent tax (MRRT) while the Government tries to convince crossbenchers to pass the legislation through the Lower House.

Last week, Fortescue Metals chairman Andrew Forrest released research paid for by his company that shows Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton would not be liable to pay the tax for the next five years but smaller miners would have to pay tens of millions of dollars.

Is our (your) ABC getting dumber? Well this is not the real question... The question is why?

Politicians don't come any more ferocious and brutal than Abbott. He reverted to the wild the moment he got his paws on the Liberal leadership.

His style is pure attack dog, as feral as you'd get.

Everything, irrespective of merit, has to be opposed and torn to pieces. The mining tax is a case in point. It is now glaringly obvious that the benefits of the mining boom should be shared around so that the overall economy benefits rather than just a small and privileged section. Opposition to the tax is shrinking.

From Bente Lilja Bye

Believe in global warming?

Police across the state will be told this afternoon to stop issuing fines for minor traffic offences indefinitely  following the government's announcement it plans to slash compensation for officers injured in the line of duty.

The Police Association of NSW is planning to send a directive to all 16,000 members this afternoon encouraging them to launch "go slow" industrial action.

Police officers will be told to avoid work that collects revenue for the government.

Instead of giving tickets, they will give verbal warnings.

A senior ALP faction leader branded Rupert Murdoch's News Limited "a threat to democracy" today as the feud between the newspaper group and the Government intensified.

Left faction convenor Doug Cameron's extraordinary outburst was sparked by a story in News Limited's Daily Telegraph reporting that former PM Kevin Rudd is being urged by his backers to challenge Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Senator Cameron said he would take a motion to Labor caucus seeking to widen the existing inquiry into the media to look specifically at News Limited's "absolute hatred" of Labor.

THE FALLOUT from Unesco's decision [yesterday] to admit Palestine as a full member has been swift and dramatic. Out of 173 votes cast on the issue, 107 were for Palestine's inclusion, and only 14 were actively against it.

Unesco (the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) might seem an unimportant agency, given that its main duty is to preserve historical sites. But it was a symbolic victory for the Palestinian UN statehood bid, and it is deemed likely to have a domino effect. Here's how the world has reacted so far:

"welcome to the land of the not-so-free sex" automated translation by google*