MOTORISTS received a petrol jolt at the weekend when the pump price soared in capital cities, with prices reaching almost $1.50 a litre in most Melbourne suburbs.

The price jumped 18c to $1.49.9 a litre in less than 24 hours and fuel price experts laid the blame squarely at supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths.

In Adelaide the average price jumped 13c overnight while Sydney took a 10c hit from Saturday to Sunday, according to Motormouth Fuel Prices.

Independent petrol market analyst David Cumming said consumers should ignore the spike and wait for the price to fall again.

All protests and marches are to be banned in Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry has announced on state TV.

Its statement said security forces would use all measures to prevent any attempt to disrupt public order.

The announcement follows a series of protests by the kingdom's Shia minority in the oil-producing eastern province.

Last month, King Abdullah unveiled a series of benefits in an apparent bid to protect the kingdom from the revolts spreading throughout many Arab states.

Professional shock jocks have an unfair advantage — in the climate change information debate — over serious scientists...

This is a shorter version [more boring] of an article posted on this site ("letter to Prue" — repeated in various formats on the website). It is designed to alert shock jocks to the unfair power they have, in dis-informing the public, by being ignorant of the real scientific facts while spittling false information — eventually confusing good thinkers. This short version was submitted to Crickey.com. I leave it to Crikey to do the right thing. Crikey might write it better... Picture above is of clouds coming down low... Gus.

We're such a feeble nation that Murdoch was bound to triumph .... if he gets BSkyB, it will be a victory for monopoly capitalism.

Greens MP Adam Bandt believes Federal Parliament is running the risk of descending into farce due to the Opposition repeatedly cutting short Question Time.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott brought the session to a halt four times this week in an attempt to censure Prime Minister Julia Gillard over her proposed carbon tax.

Each day the interruption was timed so Mr Abbott's criticism of the tax was broadcast live on ABC1 television during the scheduled Question Time broadcast.

By the time Ms Gillard rose to reply, however, the ABC had switched, as scheduled, to Play School.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has persisted with his strategy to censure the Government in Question Time over its proposed introduction of a carbon tax.

The combative session saw one MP expelled, several warned and Speaker Harry Jenkins forced to his feet in frustration.

For the fourth straight day the censure motion was unsuccessful, but it allowed Mr Abbott and the Opposition to maintain its attack on the Government's carbon scheme.

Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says the Coalition will keep putting forward the motion until "the Australian people can get some answers".

http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/gitmo/

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan says he is "appalled" after an Opposition MP compared Prime Minister Julia Gillard to embattled Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi.

As part of the heated carbon tax debate, Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella said Ms Gillard was as "deluded" as Mr Gaddafi, whose sanity has been questioned in recent days.

"If Ms Gillard believes Australians want to pay higher electricity and higher petrol prices, she is as deluded as Colonel 'my people love me' Gaddafi," she said.

The next generation of body scanners to be rolled out in airports will literally be able to see inside the human body, as security personnel gear up to trial machines that use deep penetrating radiation, the same kind hospitals use to examine internal organs and bones.

Julie Bishop: deputy opposition leader, Orientalist, tactician. The Prime Minister has accused her of being able to bend spoons with her famous glare, but her talents extend further.

During yesterday's party room meeting, Bishop urged her Coalition colleagues to adopt the battle methods of Sun Tzu, the famous military tactician and author of the ancient tome The Art of War.

''Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory,'' she told the joint party room. ''Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.''

Tony Abbott has sharpened the political choice by promising he would repeal a carbon tax. But it is a strategy with risks and costs.

It means that if the tax starts mid-next year, businesses won't know for about a year after that (assuming the Parliament runs full term) whether they have to live with the tax permanently.

Yet what business wants from politicians on both sides is certainty. With the prospect of the tax being rescinded, some businesses may delay investment decisions and the doubt could pay havoc with risk premiums.

Why is it acceptable for Australians to donate money (and receive tax deductions) to illegal settlements in the West Bank but the Australian government isn't able to openly provide aid to citizens living under the rule of Hamas and Hizbollah?

The corruption of international aid by politics.

Here's an interesting report on PressTV.

PressTV Interview on Australian aid to the Middle East