THE NEWS WRAP: Unions rally for Rudd’s return

The top leaders of the trade union movement have discussed the prospect of Kevin Rudd returning to the leadership of the Labor Party as they prepare a battle plan against Coalition leader Tony Abbott.

A meeting earlier this week of the inner circle of union secretaries decided to impose a $2 levy on all union members to raise almost $4 million for a campaign fighting fund.

Sources with a knowledge of the meeting say there is “an acceptance that time is running out” for Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

ACCC scrutinises fuel discount dockets

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Rod Sims says supermarket fuel discount dockets could be undermining competition.

Motorists can save up to 40 cents a litre by using a “shopper docket” to buy discounted fuel. However, the growth in such schemes during the past decade has driven many service stations out of business.

Sims says investigators are examining the schemes to see if competition is being undermined.

Dwindling funds for WikiLeaks

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks claims it is running out of money, saying it has only 100,000 euros left for 2012.

That money will be depleted in a few months if it does not get any further donations, according to the organisation. The group says it needs one million euros immediately.

Donations are the most important source of income for WikiLeaks – these are collected through Germany’s Wau-Holland-Foundation.

WikiLeaks criticised credit card companies Visa and MasterCard for undermining the organisation when they stopped forwarding donations in 2010.

Overnight

The Australian dollar is trading at six-week highs, as concerns around European debt see investors move into safe-haven currencies.

At 7am, the Australian dollar was trading at US103.64 cents, up from US103.12 cents at 5pm yesterday.