Cyclist was first Alps shooting victim

A FRENCH cyclist killed along with three members of a British family on holiday in the Alps region was the first to be shot, according to a French media report of the ballistics tests.

Sylvain Mollier was thought to have been shot simply because he stumbled on last month's attack on the British-Iraqi family.

But the ballistics report revealed that he was the first person shot, before the killer turned on the al-Hilli family, the website of Le Parisien reported on Friday.

Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were all shot and killed.

Seven-year-old Zainab al-Hilli nearly died after being shot in the shoulder and hit repeatedly around the head by the attacker. She has been unable to help the inquiry in any meaningful way.

Her four-year-old sister survived by sheltering under her mother's skirt in the back of the family's BMW estate car.

Investigators think only one person was involved in the shootings.

Having examined the soles of his shoes, they think Saad Hilli was first shot outside the car and then finished off after he got back in the car and tried to drive off, Le Parisien reported.

After having shot the three members of the family in the car, the killer then turned back to the cyclist and finished him off, investigators believe, basing their theory on the different angles of some of entry wounds.

Their reconstruction suggested that the killer had moved around a lot in an apparently disorganised manner, going from one victim to another and then back again.

That seemed to undermine the theory that a professional killer had been behind the killings, investigators told the paper.

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Malaysia thwarts tugboat hijack attempt

MALAYSIAN authorities have arrested four Indonesian pirates who tried to hijack a tugboat and barge off Borneo island in the first such attack there this year.

The machete-wielding men boarded the Malaysian vessel off Sarawak state on Thursday with most of the crew of ten managing to lock themselves inside the tugboat and raise the alarm, Abim Sungom of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said.

Authorities on Saturday captured four suspects from the barge loaded with containers while several others escaped.

The four were in custody and are being investigated for robbery, Abim said.

None of the crew, comprising four Malaysians, four Indians and two Indonesians was injured but some valuables, including mobile phones and cash, were stolen, he added.

The vessel was heading from peninsular Malaysia to Borneo island, which is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Pirate attacks in Malaysian waters have decreased in recent years following beefed up patrols and co-operation with neighbouring countries to secure waterways.

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Mount Gibson Iron to shed 270 jobs

VOLATILE iron ore prices have forced Mount Gibson Iron to slash 270 jobs, sending the company's share price almost 20 per cent lower.

Most of the cuts, which include 140 contractors, will be made at the company's Koolan Island operation off Western Australia's north Kimberley coast.

The iron ore miner, which announced a review of its expenditure in August, said cost-saving initiatives would eliminate or defer between $120 million and $150 million in capital and operating expenditure.

In a bid to reduce non-essential or discretionary spending, the company also announced the board and senior executive management have agreed to a 10 per cent reduction in their total remuneration packages for the financial year.

Shares in the company were 11.5 cents, or 17.3 per cent, lower at 78 cents at 1453 AEDT.

Mount Gibson chief executive Jim Beyer said decisive "business optimisation measures" were necessary in light of current volatile market conditions.

"It is encouraging that iron ore prices have firmed in the past week or two, and we remain confident in the long-term outlook for iron supply to Asia.

"However, the immediate market outlook remains uncertain," Mr Beyer said.

Some of the already-planned redundancies associated with a mine closure at Tallering Peak in WA would be brought forward.

Mount Gibson has also suspended all discretionary capital expenditure, non-safety-related training and reduced the ongoing use of external consultants.

The Perth-based company has three main projects, including Tallering Peak, Koolan Island and Extension Hill.

Plans to ramp up production beyond the current three million tonnes per annum production rate at Koolan Island will be slowed.

Mining activity at Extension Hill, which was reduced from July, will continue at the currently reduced rate and a company-wide slowdown would involve mining on a single shift basis at all mines.

The company still continues to target sales of between eight million and 8.5 million tonnes for the financial year.

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Wickenby accounts for veteran accountant

A FORMER president of the National Institute of Accountants has been sentenced to nearly five years in jail for tax fraud.

Lynette Kathleen Liles, 66, showed no emotion as she was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday on four fraud counts, after pleading guilty in February.

The court heard she facilitated money laundering and tax evasion conspiracies worth millions of dollars for clients, using companies and banks in Vanuatu to channel disguised funds.

A number of clients she helped commit tax fraud have already been jailed after Project Wickenby unpicked the conspiracies used to evade taxation over many years from the 1990s.

Project Wickenby is an ongoing taskforce involving federal police, the tax office and other agencies, aimed at preventing people from promoting or participating in the abuse of tax and secrecy havens.

Justice Monika Schmidt said on Thursday that Liles' offending was a "repeated, deliberate, calculating and systematic fraud on Australian taxpayers".

She said it was a "significant breach of trust on the part of a qualified and highly placed accountant", who was president of the National Institute of Accountants from 1994-96.

Justice Schmidt noted when the tax office started investigating Liles in 2006 she continued to engage in fraudulent activity and tried to conceal it.

She said Liles prepared false tax returns, invoices, profit and loss accounts, loan papers and other documents to disguise money that should have been liable for tax.

The court heard that company profits were transferred to nominee companies in Port Vila then sent back disguised as payments for management, licensing and other fees, claimed as business expenses.

The court heard that Liles made a statement to police, saying she had felt an obligation to help her clients who had become close friends.

Earlier this year, clients of Liles were given jail terms for tax fraud, including air-conditioning business operators Paul and Lesley Mascall and television producers Michael Boughen and Wayne Cameron.

Boughen was the executive producer of Seven's Deal Or No Deal and Cameron was his collaborator on the dating show Perfect Match.

In sentencing, Justice Schmidt noted Liles had medical conditions including possible heart disease, diabetes and hypertension, and had a life expectancy of only another seven years.

She was also the main carer for her ill 71-year-old husband.

Justice Schmidt set a total sentence of eight years and three months but ordered Liles be released after four years and 11 months after taking into account her guilty plea, assistance to police and health.

Liles will have to sign a good behaviour bond on her release in September 2017.

Family members wept outside the court after Liles was sentenced.

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CSL launches another share buyback

BLOOD products and vaccines supplier CSL Ltd will undertake another $900 million share buyback and still expects its profit to grow by about 12 per cent in fiscal 2103.

The buyback is a continuation of the company's efforts to improve its capital strength and will further improve its earnings per share performance.

CSL will buy up to $900 million in shares over 12 months from November 1, representing about four per cent of its total shares on issue.

The company began an identical buyback 12 months ago, which is currently 94 per cent completed, with about $850 million worth of shares purchased.

"Through these buybacks, our shareholders benefit from improved investment return ratios, such as on earnings per share and return on equity," CSL chairman John Shine told CSL's annual general meeting on Wednesday.

CSL shares were up 90 cents, or 1.93 per cent, at $47.64 1401 AEDT.

CSL also reiterated its guidance of 12 per cent profit growth in the 2012/13 financial year.

CSL chief executive Brian McNamee said that CSL remained "very well placed", generating very positive cash flows and high returns, having low gearing, and investing heavily in research and development and new production facilities.

"We are anticipating continuing growth," Dr McNamee said.

"We consider the trading conditions to be relatively similar this year to last year."

Dr McNamee said that CSL, which will start reporting its results in US dollars in the current financial year, was anticipating revenue growth of about 10 per cent to about $US5 billion this financial year.

"We are again looking for a successful year from a profitability perspective, with NPAT (net profit after tax) growth of approximately 12 per cent," he said.

Dr McNamee said CSL was continuing to strengthen its presence in emerging markets such as China and elsewhere in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

But the company would focus on developing specialty and haemophilia products in wealthier, sophisticated markets such as the United States, Europe and Australia.

CSL made a net profit of $982.6 million in the 2011/12 financial year, up 4.5 per cent from the previous financial year.

Earnings per share growth in 2012/13 is expected to be stronger than profit growth, due to the newly announced buyback.

CSL shareholders on Wednesday voted in favour of the company's remuneration report.

However, Australian Shareholders Association (ASA) representative Don Hyatt said the ASA believed that the remuneration received by the executives of many Australian companies was excessive compared to that of the regular salary earner.

Mr Hyatt said CSL executives had pay packages ranging from 15 to 100 times the average full-time wage in Australia.

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Pitbull entitled to cancel Oz tour: judge

US rapper Pitbull was entitled to cancel an Australian tour nearly four years ago after he was not paid on time, a NSW Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Australian music promoters Jaime Fernandez, known as DJ Suave, and Juan Uribe, known as DJ Don Juan, had sued Pitbull for breach of contract after he cancelled concerts in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in December 2008.

The Supreme Court heard Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Perez, entered into an agreement with the pair that he would be paid $60,000 for the concerts.

This included a $30,000 deposit, with the balance to be paid on November 25, seven days before Pitbull left the US for Australia.

The court heard Pitbull did not receive the full deposit amount and he did not leave the US on the scheduled date after his promoter, Barry London, told him the final payment had not been made.

Pitbull eventually received a payment of $US50,975 on December 3, 2008, when he maintained it was too late for him to board a flight.

He kept the $30,000 deposit but returned the remaining money "as an act of goodwill", the court was told.

Mr Fernandez and Mr Uribe sought damages relating to their losses arising from the concert cancellations, ticket sales and venue hire as well as the return of their deposit.

However, Justice Robert Beech-Jones noted Mr London was "dealing with an overseas promoter with whom he did not have any established relationship".

"Once Pitbull embarked on his flight to Australia his exposure increased and his ability to pull out became difficult," Justice Beech-Jones said on Wednesday.

"It is common ground that on 1 December 2008, Mr London had said they would not leave unless they were paid.

"The departure date of 2 December 2008 was pivotal to Pitbull completing this tour.

"Once it came unstuck, Pitbull's opportunity to undertake that tour was over."

The issue of costs will be dealt with at a later date.

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Qld govt axed program before seeing report

A DECISION to cut a program to help disadvantaged workers enter the workforce was made a week before the Queensland government received a report evaluating the scheme.

The former Labor government contracted Deloitte Access Economics, at a cost of $190,000, to evaluate Skilling Queenslanders for Work (SQW), a budget estimates hearing has heard.

Deloitte's report said that in the period 2007-08 to 2009-10 a total of 57,000 people gained a job through SQW, of which 8500 would not have gained employment otherwise.

It said SQW was a highly successful labour market program that had raised overall employment in a cost-beneficial manner, with the annual outlay by the state government returned to the Queensland economy within 12 months.

The report was handed to the Education Department on July 23, 2012, but the department's director general Julie Grantham told the hearing that it had decided to axe the program a week before the report was received.

"The decision to cease the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program was made in the week prior to receiving that report," she said, adding, "A week earlier."

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek announced on July 16 it would axe the program, saving $19 million a year.

He told the budget estimates hearing it was a tough decision, but the program duplicated services already provided by the federal government.

"This is a federal government responsibility, it's not judgment of the the merits of the programs, it's an unavoidable decision in difficult economic circumstances," Mr Langbroek said.

All SQW's 144 full-time equivalent staff were offered voluntary redundancies, vacant positions in the department, or will be put on a list to be placed in other departments.

The Department of Education, Training and Employment has lost a total of 1140 full-time equivalent positions, Mr Langbroek told the hearing.

He said 405 permanent staff had accepted voluntary redundancies while 360 temporary employees have left since the March election.

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Tendulkar to receive Australian honour

INDIAN cricket great Sachin Tendulkar is to receive an Australian honour.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday during her first visit to India as Australia's leader that Tendulkar was to be made an honorary member of the Order of Australia.

She said it was a "special honour" rarely conferred on non-Australians.

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Italy holds hearings into Costa Concordia

AN Italian court will hold a series of hearings to work out the details of the tragic night of the Costa Concordia disaster, with captain Francesco Schettino expected to attend.

The giant luxury cruise ship - more than twice as big as the Titanic - had 4229 people on board when it struck an offshore reef near the Italian island of Giglio on the evening of January 13, tearing a massive gash in its hull.

The disaster left 32 people dead and led to accusations of safety breaches, cowardice and fatal delays.

The vessel quickly took on water, veered sharply and keeled over just a few dozen metres from the shore, sparking a panicky night-time evacuation which was hampered because lifeboats on one side of the ship could not be lowered.

Passengers and crew from dozens of countries were on board the Mediterranean cruise, including particularly large contingents of Italian, French and German cruise-goers, as well as staff from India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Dozens of survivors are suing ship owner Costa Crociere and its US parent company Carnival Corporation for hundreds of millions of dollars.

No date has yet been set for the trial which will be held presumably next year in Grosseto, a Tuscan city that is the closest major centre to Giglio.

The court hearings starting on Monday, which could last several days, will hear the black box recordings from the ship and focus in particular on the moments before the impact as the ship veered towards the island in a risky "salute" manoeuvre.

They will also look at the orders Schettino gave after the crash and the contacts he had with the coastguard and with his company in an attempt to determine why the order for everyone to abandon the ship came so late.

Schettino, who has been dubbed "Captain Coward" and "Italy's most hated man" in the press, is also accused of abandoning ship before its evacuation was complete. He has claimed he fell on to a lifeboat when the ship keeled over.

A total of 10 people are formally under investigation, including Schettino himself, the ship's Indonesian helmsman and four other crew members.

Roberto Ferrarini, head of Costa Crociere's crisis unit, is also being investigated along with two other managers from Europe's top cruise operator.

The captain has not been charged but is accused of multiple manslaughter.

Hundreds of lawyers, scientific experts and survivors from the Costa Concordia tragedy are expected to attend the hearing in the Tuscan city of Grosseto, not far from where the giant liner lies beached.

In an interview in July, Schettino blamed his fellow crew members, saying he had been distracted but someone on the bridge should have spotted the reef.

He said he did not "feel like I committed a crime" but asked forgiveness.

Italian consumer group Codacons, which has launched a class action lawsuit, said its own research also showed key equipment had malfunctioned including the black box, sealed doors in the engine room and a sonar to measure depth.

The ghostly wreck of the 114,500-ton liner is still beached on its side just a few dozen metres from the shore of Giglio. Salvage crews are working to stabilise and refloat the hulk, which should be removed by spring 2013.

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SA offers $8500 grant for new homes

SA Premier Jay Weatherill has offered an $8500 grant to anyone building a new home in the state. Source: AAP

SOUTH Australia will offer an $8500 grant to anyone building a new home in a bid to stimulate the state's flagging construction sector.

Premier Jay Weatherill says the new grant will apply until June next year and will be available to all people who build a new home, not just first home buyers.

"This new grant will provide an urgent boost to the state's housing construction industry and help stimulate the property sector," Mr Weatherill said on Monday.

"As a government, we need to put in place measures to give confidence to the industry and get more South Australians buying or building a new home."

According to recent statistics, the number of new homes built in South Australia fell by 18 per cent last financial year.

"The property market is soft and the housing construction industry is doing it tough," Mr Weatherill said.

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