THE NEWS WRAP: Opposition urges government not to fund carbon price ads

The Federal Opposition has urged the Government to rule out using public funds to advertise the benefits of a carbon price, in the wake of the launch of an ad campaign by green and union groups.

More than 140 prominent Australians, including former Liberal leader John Hewson, have put their names to a statement calling for a price on carbon. Last night, a new ad featuring actors Cate Blanchett and Michael Caton extolled the benefits of a carbon price.

However, the Opposition said that any public funds used to advertise the carbon price would be an “abuse of the system”.  

Meanwhile, business groups have called for the carbon price to be waived for exporters.

PayPal to sue Google

PayPal is suing Google, claiming that the search giant stole its technology in order to create “digital wallets” out of smartphones.

Last week, Google unveiled Google Wallet in a joint venture with Mastercard. The initiative will allow customers to pay for goods by waving their mobile phones at check-out terminals.

However, PayPal alleges that Google obtained trade secrets for the technology from Osama Bedier, a former PayPal executive who since moved to Google.

Banks respond to security scare

All four major banks have cancelled or restricted some customer credit cards due to fears over a security breach. It’s thought that thousands of customers have been affected by the move.

The Commonwealth Bank said that one of its merchant EFTPOS terminals wasn’t secure, leading to fears that customers’ cards were “skimmed”. The matter is now under police investigation.

Overnight

The Dow Jones industrial average rose by 38.82 points to 12,441.58. The Australian dollar rose to 107.1 US cents