THE cost of general insurance is set to jump as insurers move to protect their profits by passing on the higher price of reinsurance to customers.

As this year's spate of natural disasters forces up reinsurance costs, analysts are forecasting the extra costs could translate into personal and general insurance increases of up to 5 per cent, The Australian reports.

In New Zealand, which has been devastated by recurring earthquakes and aftershocks in Christchurch, reinsurance costs are expected to increase by 100 per cent while local reinsurance costs could rise as much as 70 per cent.

Former Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has accused the man who replaced him as leader, Tony Abbott, of changing his position twice on climate change.

Mr Turnbull says Mr Abbott moved from supporting a carbon tax, to supporting a market-based emissions trading scheme and then opposing both policies outright.

And he says having done that, Mr Abbott resigned from shadow cabinet in 2009 to challenge him for the leadership.

But he says he has given Mr Abbott "consistency and loyalty" that he, himself, did not enjoy as leader.

HOUSTON, Oct. 22, 2007 – Wearing a portable instrument to monitor metabolism in the fight against obesity and its related health consequences may be on the horizon thanks to collaborative research being performed at the University of Houston and The Methodist Hospital.

LONDON — Shortly after Scotland Yard began its initial criminal inquiry of phone hacking by The News of the World in 2006, five senior police investigators discovered that their own mobile phone messages had been targeted by the tabloid and had most likely been listened to.

Mr Abbott declined to detail how he would pay for the tax cut and pension increases without the money stream from a carbon price.

"In good time, before the next election, we will announce our fiscal position and we will pay for tax cuts out of spending reductions," he said.

"The thing is, a tax cut that is paid for by tax increase, it is not a cut. It is a con. These are mirage tax cuts."

Treasurer Wayne Swan attacked Mr Abbott's tax cut promise, saying he did not have any way to fund it and claiming the Coalition's "direct action" climate policy would cost households $720 per year.

James Murdoch and News Corp could face corporate legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic that involve criminal charges, fines and forfeiture of assets as the escalating phone-hacking scandal risks damaging his chances of taking control of Rupert Murdoch's US-based media empire.

In a reversal of Don Chipp's famous pledge that the Australian Democrats would "keep the bastards honest", Bob Brown and the Greens have decided to "keep the bastards dishonest", complicit as they are in the Prime Minister's clear breach of a commitment to the Australian people to not introduce a carbon tax.

In fact Julia Gillard has sought to lay the blame for her brazen broken election promise squarely at the feet of the Greens.

Like the Democrats, the Greens now hold the balance of power in the Senate.

Unlike the Democrats, the Greens have no respect for an electoral mandate.

Near Ningaloo Reef (picture by Gus)

The value of world heritage-listing status is being questioned after Shell was given the green light to explore for gas near Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef.

The Federal Government says the giant petrochemical company will be allowed to drill for gas 50 kilometres from the Ningaloo Marine Park boundary.

Shell says its operation will be focused on gas, not oil, and will be located away from the reef itself.

More than 6,000 square kilometres of coastal Ningaloo were listed by the United Nations late last month, and environmentalists claim the drilling plans could threaten the protected area.

Risk-taking and line-skirting have always been just one more cost of doing business for Rupert Murdoch.

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The big change in the statement is inclusion of the phrase: “…cautious behaviour by households and the high level of the exchange rate are having a noticeable dampening effect.”

Europe’s well-publicised fears have played a role in that, but so have Tony Abbott and Glenn Stevens himself.

Abbott’s fear campaign over the carbon tax – consistently telling workers they will lose their jobs and the Australian economy will be severely damaged – has worked, as all opinion polls show.

The global economy is in the midst of its second growth scare in less than two years. Get used to it. In a post-crisis world, these are the footprints of a failed recovery.

The reason is simple. The typical business cycle has a natural cushioning mechanism that wards off unexpected blows. The deeper the downturn, the more powerful the snapback, and the greater the cumulative forces of self-sustaining revival. Vigorous V-shaped rebounds have a built-in resilience that allows them to shrug off shocks relatively easily.

Fields near Tamora, NSW. (Picture by Gus)

Kumi Naidoo

From my first introduction to Australia via a picture book as a child, I was captivated by Australia's vast and pristine landscapes. To my mind yours is the country of health, nature and purity.

Yet on my first voyage to Australia as the executive director of Greenpeace International, I am devastated to find myself in a country set to become the first in the world to produce genetically modified (GM) wheat.

Grain loading in WA (picture by Gus).

Australia recorded a trade surplus of $2.33 billion in May, easily exceeding analyst forecasts of a sub-$2 billion number.

It is the fifth biggest trade surplus since the ABS figures began in 1971.

The Bureau of Statistics figures show exports increased 3 per cent to $26.26 billion, seasonally adjusted, while imports remained roughly the same at $23.93 billion.

The biggest rise in exports came from non-monetary gold, which jumped 49 per cent (but is highly volatile), while rural goods were up 6 per cent.