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*

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Qantas Airways grounded all of its aircraft around the world indefinitely on Saturday due to ongoing strikes by its workers.

The Australian carrier's entire fleet of 108 aircraft will remain grounded until unions representing pilots, mechanics and other ground staff reach an agreement with the airline over pay and conditions, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told a news conference in Sydney.

"We have decided to ground the Qantas international and domestic fleets immediately," Joyce said.

Flights already in the air when the announcement was made were to continue to their destinations.

"I mean there's a lot of jokes about, you know, mother-in-laws," he told PM.

"Well they're funny, but they're not really funny. I mean there is a mechanism in there.

"You know, when you've got everybody living on top of each other and getting on each other's nerves, kids get on parent's nerves, parents irritate kids.

"I mean, you've got to understand when you've got 15 people in a house the result is just dreadful ... and that can be fixed tomorrow."

Women at the rally said his lack of awareness was disheartening from a long-serving Member of Parliament.

Domestic violence expert Betty Taylor has written reports for the Government on the issue.

"I love your costume..." "Thank you..."

Europe's leaders are claiming a victory in the eurozone crisis after agreeing new deals that halve Greek debt and increase the firepower of the main bailout fund to around €1trn.

Athens will be handed a new €100bn bailout early in the new year. The accord was reached in the early hours of Thursday after hours of fractious debate.

At one stage talks broke down with holders of Greek debt but they ended up accepting a loss or "haircut" of 50% in converting their existing bonds into new loans.

Mr Abbott said he was not making any promises, just a prediction that his party is likely to kill off any mandatory pre-commitment scheme for poker machines that Labor introduces.

But Mr Wilkie says he is not convinced Mr Abbott would rescind the legislation if he was able to.

"He's actually been somewhat ambiguous. It's not written in blood like other promises are. He's talked about a prediction," Mr Wilkie told Lateline.

"And I think, in fact, that when these reforms are realised, he will find it very, very difficult to overturn them because, for a start, they have majority public support.