Bike for George at cycling centre opening

PRINCE George has been given his first bike - but he'll have to learn how to walk first.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge officially opened New Zealand's National Cycling Centre on Saturday, receiving loud cheers from the 2000-strong crowd as they walked down the red carpet.

And though baby George wasn't there, he won't go home empty handed.

Avanti founder John Struthers presented the bike to the royal couple, and quipped: "I hope Air New Zealand doesn't charge extra baggage".

Mr Struthers said the prince will have to wait until he's two years old to give the bespoke balance bike a spin.

The crowd let out an audible sigh when Kate unwrapped a second present - a black and white lycra Avanti cycling shirt.

After the couple opened the venue, Prince William hesitantly fired a starting gun, beginning the velodrome's first race between world champion track cyclists.

Kate and William were then shown around the centre by Kiwi Olympic medallist Sarah Ulmer and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.

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No new signals in search for MH370

No new acoustic signals have been detected in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott is aiming to update China's president Xi Jinping on the latest developments in the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 before he departs Beijing on Saturday.

As a final gesture before heading back to Australia at the end of his trade mission, Mr Abbott says he will seek the latest details from the Australian search co-ordinator, retired defence chief Angus Houston.

If there's any material change since Friday, he said, he would pass it on.

"What I have tried to do is keep the principal foreign leaders updated whenever there's been significant change," Mr Abbott told reporters in Beijing.

Mr Abbott's efforts in selling a trade deal to China appear to have been significantly assisted by Australia's search for MH370.

He said there had been appreciation at every level of the Chinese government.

But he played down prospects of an imminent breakthrough.

"While we have a high degree of confidence that the transmissions that we have been picking up are from flight MH370's black box recorder, no one should underestimate the difficulties of the task still ahead of us," he told reporters in Beijing.

Mr Abbott said the search area had narrowed considerably.

But trying to locate anything 4.5 kilometres under the ocean thousands of kilometres from the Australian mainland remained a massive task.

"It is likely to continue for a long time to come," he said.

Mr Abbott said numerous signals had now been detected, giving a high degree of confidence these were coming from the aircraft's black boxes.

"Given that the signal from the black box is rapidly fading, what we are now doing is trying to get as many detections as we can so that we can narrow the search area down to as small an area as possible," he said.

Submersibles will then be used to conduct a sonar search of the seabed.

Mr Abbott couldn't say when that might be.

In the latest update on the search on Saturday morning, the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said no new acoustic signals have been detected in the previous 24 hours.

But the search was continuing with nine military aircraft, one civil aircraft and 14 ships in the search area.

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Tripodi questioned Obeid's motives: ICAC

Former NSW minister Tony Kelly has admitted a cabinet minute that didn't favour AWH was rewritten. Source: AAP

FORMER NSW powerbroker Joe Tripodi says Eddie Obeid's repeated questioning about Australian Water Holdings made him wonder if the Obeid family had a financial stake in the firm.

Mr Tripodi told the corruption watchdog that Obeid had asked him about the progress of AWH chief executive Nick Di Girolamo's "matter" - a lucrative deal with the NSW government - on a number of occasions.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is probing allegations the Obeid family had a secret $3 million stake in the company and stood to make up to $60 million if the proposed public-private partnership got up.

"There was (sic) a couple of times where he had asked me how his matter was progressing, Mr Di Girolamo's matter," Mr Tripodi said, including during his time as the state's infrastructure minister.

The "nature of the question" made him wonder if the Obeids had a stake in AWH, he said, but Obeid disclosed only that his son Edward Obeid Jr was working for the company.

"On one occasion, I said to him, Eddie, you and your family don't have any commercial interest in this? He said no, no, Junior's giving Australian Water a hand up in Queensland," Mr Tripodi told the commission.

Earlier on Thursday, the inquiry heard evidence from former NSW planning minister Tony Kelly, who said he spoke to Mr Tripodi about an AWH cabinet minute Mr Kelly had instructed be rewritten.

Mr Kelly said Mr Tripodi arrived unannounced at his property in Wellington - about a five-hour drive from Sydney - but that the visit took place before he was contacted by ICAC investigators.

"Mr Tripodi knocked on my door. He had a hamburger and a coffee," Mr Kelly said.

He said the pair chatted for up to half an hour about what their former parliamentary colleagues were up to.

Mr Tripodi then mentioned fellow former Labor minister Frank Sartor was writing a book "bagging out Labor", which was to include mention of the allegedly doctored minute.

"And then he finished his hamburger and said, OK, good to catch up with you," Mr Kelly said.

The inquiry continues.

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Ten posts $8 million loss

Ten Network has posted an $8m first half loss, a substantial improvement compared to a year ago. Source: AAP

TEN Network Holdings has posted an $8 million first half loss, a vast improvement on the $243 million loss it suffered 12 months ago.

The TV network lifted its revenue to $331.6 million for the six months to February 28, up 7.8 per cent compared to its first half results last year.

Chief executive Hamish McLennan said the network had its best summer ratings period since 2008, thanks to its coverage of the T20 Big Bash League cricket and the Sochi Winter Olympics, which helped lift revenues.

But the higher revenues were offset by an 8.2 per cent increase in costs, linked to the coverage of the Big Bash and the launch of new morning television programs late in November.

Mr McLennan said the network would work to rein in costs but would spend money where necessary to boost Ten's performance.

"Strict cost control is part of Ten's DNA and we will continue to find new ways to work smarter and more efficiently. At the same time, we will make prudent and strategic investments in content to execute our turnaround strategy."

Mr McLennan also warned the network continued to face tough conditions in the advertising market.

"Advertising market conditions remain short, with many advertisers reluctant to commit to long-term campaigns," he said.

"As a result, the outlook for the television advertising market is uncertain at this stage."

The company will not pay an interim dividend.

Ten Network shares were up one cent at 27 cents at 1413 AEST.

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Severe cyclone tracks towards north Qld

North Queensland is bracing for Cyclone Ita, which is predicted to reach the coast on Friday. Source: AAP

GALES up to 240km/h are expected to lash far north Queensland when the strongest cyclone since Yasi crosses the coast on Friday.

Cyclone Ita is due to intensify into a category four storm early on Thursday morning and cross the coast north of Cooktown on Friday night.

It's about 800km off land and poses significant threat to sparse communities between Cape Grenville and the Lockhart River, with strong gusts, storm surges and heavy rain beginning on Thursday.

The storm comes three years after category five Yasi ripped through Queensland, causing $3.5 billion worth of damage and lost tourism earnings.

Yasi unleashed its wrath about 1000km south of where Ita is forecast to cross.

"The winds won't be as strong as Yasi, but it will be the worse we've since," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Andrew Cameron told AAP.

Peter Scott, mayor of Cookshire Council which covers 80 per cent of Cape York, says Ita could be one of the worst storms to hit the area in decades.

"Residents need to be ready and have somewhere safe to shelter," he told AAP.

He says there's a good supply of food and fuel.

Residents of Lockhart River on eastern Cape York are stocking up on food and clearing their yards in preparation for the storm.

"People are pretty calm but the wind is picking up," local woman Lisa, who declined to give her last name, told AAP.

Meanwhile, local district disaster management groups are holding meetings across the state's far north on Wednesday.

Far north district acting Chief Superintendent Brett Schafferius says there are no plans for evacuations but extra police will be sent to affected areas.

Staff from Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ), including a swift water rescue team, will head to Cooktown on Thursday.

Road and electricity resources have also been sent to the state's north.

Before forming into cyclone Ita, the tropical depression led to 21 deaths in the Solomon Islands last week.

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Eddie Obeid in the box at ICAC

Former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid is due to give evidence to the NSW corruption watchdog again. Source: AAP

CROOKED former NSW minister Eddie Obeid has taken his place in the corruption watchdog's witness box.

Obeid's much-anticipated appearance before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) began with an admission he had raised the subject of Australian Water Holdings (AWH) with several Labor heavyweights.

He said he'd talked about infrastructure firm AWH, or its chief executive Nick Di Girolamo, with former NSW treasurer Michael Costa, former water minister Phil Costa and former premiers Nathan Rees, Morris Iemma and Kristina Keneally.

The ICAC is probing allegations the Obeid family had a secret stake in AWH and stood to make millions if a $1 billion public private partnership with the NSW government got up.

But Obeid on Wednesday echoed the testimony of his sons Paul and Moses, who have already told the commission that a document entitled "Sale of Shares" in fact recorded a decision to lend $3 million to Mr Di Girolamo.

Despite intense media attention in the public inquiry, Obeid told counsel he had never heard any suggestion that his family had bought into AWH.

"I'm aware of a loan," Mr Obeid told counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson.

"I don't read the newspapers."

He also told the inquiry he was not aware Mr Di Girolamo was best friends with his son Edward, to which Mr Watson asked: "Aren't they godfather of each others' children?"

Obeid also said Edward never told him he was going to begin working for AWH.

Instead, he eventually heard it "down the grapevine".

"It wasn't a secret was it?" Mr Watson asked.

"Well I just wasn't told," Obeid replied.

"As far as I was concerned, Edward was working in the family business."

But Obeid emphatically denied raising AWH with former NSW ministers Joe Tripodi and Tony Kelly, who are both slated to follow him into the ICAC witness box on Wednesday.

Obeid will return to the witness box on Wednesday afternoon.

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No hoodwinking in document redraft: ICAC

Former NSW premier Nathan Rees (pic) says Eddie Obeid lobbied him about AWH, an inquiry has heard. Source: AAP

A FORMER staffer to ex-NSW minister Tony Kelly says he believes fellow Labor minister Joe Tripodi fed him information that he used to rewrite slabs of a crucial cabinet minute.

But Mr Kelly's former chief of staff, Laurie Brown, denies he was trying to "hoodwink" cabinet.

The document, along with claims it was doctored to help the Obeid-linked Australian Water Holdings (AWH) secure a lucrative government deal, are now at the centre of a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation.

Government advisor Brian McGlynn has testified he submitted advice to Mr Kelly's office in 2010 not to enter into direct negotiations with AWH over a proposed public-private partnership.

But the McGlynn minute was allegedly doctored - twice - to reverse that recommendation before it was sent to cabinet.

Mr Brown told ICAC on Tuesday he made substantial changes to the minute and that his redraft contained technical details he did not understand and information he had never verified.

Asked where much of the information came from, Mr Brown said: "It could well have been Mr Tripodi."

He also agreed that parts of the redrafted document were "highly deceptive", but denied trying to mislead the government.

"There was no hoodwinking," he told Commissioner Megan Latham.

"You were deliberately hiding facts which could point against Australian Water Holdings getting its deal," counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson SC said.

"I was withdrawing facts which had a financial implication on the negotiations," Mr Brown responded.

Mr Brown revealed during a private interview with ICAC last year that Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid spoke to him about AWH, and told him "they wanted to talk with DPC (Department of Premier and Cabinet) and have negotiations with DPC - that's what he said to me".

It has been alleged the Obeid family had a secret stake in AWH and stood to make millions if the government deal got up.

But on Tuesday, Mr Brown denied trying to secure a favourable outcome for Mr Obeid's family or AWH executives.

"I couldn't give two hoots about what they got," he said.

Mr Brown told the inquiry he was affected by painkillers when he gave his private interview, which affected his "cognitive recall".

Former NSW water minister Phil Costa also appeared in the ICAC witness box on Tuesday.

He told the inquiry Mr Obeid spoke to him about AWH and Sydney Water multiple times.

But the encounter that sticks in his mind is a conversation in a parliamentary lift, when Mr Obeid asked him to remove then-Sydney Water managing director Kerry Schott.

"For some reason he asked me to 'sack the bitch'," Mr Costa told the corruption inquiry.

"I was a little gobsmacked by it ... in my normal way, I probably would have said 'I'll look into it'."

Mr Costa said Mr Obeid later told him: "Keep away from Ms Schott, they're coming after her".

He dismissed it - until ICAC investigators turned up at his parliamentary office with questions about Dr Schott's relationship with the multinational Veolia.

Mr Watson has previously told the inquiry a false corruption allegation was made about Dr Schott.

The false allegation is expected to feature in a forthcoming ICAC inquiry, Operation Spicer.

The inquiry in Sydney continues.

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Manufacturing not all bad news: report

AUSTRALIA'S manufacturing sector is not all doom and gloom despite the recent string of job losses, a report says.

The Manufacturing Workforce Study 2014 says the jobs decline was driven by a transition out of heavy industrial manufacturing and into hi-tech, and higher value-added, goods where Australia has shown it is globally competitive.

"Aggregate employment in this industry has been decreasing ... and at the same time Australia's prosperity has increased," said Sue Beitz, general manager of the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency (AWPA) which prepared the report.

"We also know that it is not doom and gloom in every single (manufacturing) sector ... we do see that there are fabulous opportunities in the areas of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food and beverage, either in moving to the higher end of production or entering new markets."

The report says Australia needs to increase the skill levels of the manufacturing workforce, noting almost half (45.2 per cent) of existing workers do not hold any post-school qualifications.

"Recently the high dollar has been touted as a real challenge ... The issue is really about how we continue to adapt our manufacturing industry from the capital intensive to knowledge intensive offering," Mrs Beitz said.

"And this challenge of getting clever people out of laboratories and into businesses."

The report found almost one million Australians (936,400) were employed in manufacturing and this has declined 10.2 per cent over the past decade (or around 106,600 jobs).

Under the "three most plausible scenarios" considered by the AWPA, manufacturing job were forecast to continue to decline 1.0 to 1.5 per cent per annum out to 2025.

The report's release comes amid speculation the Abbott government is preparing to abolish AWPA and merge its functions into the Department of Industry.

AWPA, established by Labor in 2012, includes representatives of Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the Australian Industry Group and unions.

"The Abbott government claims it wants input from industry, yet it is apparently seeking to disband the key national policy and research body on skills, which brings stakeholders together," opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr said.

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Talks on Japan trade deal difficult: PM

PM Tony Abbott says he's optimistic but not certain about finalising a free trade deal with Japan. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott's push to resolve free trade talks with Japan appears on shaky ground, with the prime minister admitting he's not certain of striking a deal during his visit to Tokyo.

Mr Abbott had hoped to finalise a free trade deal with Japan, Australia's second-largest trading partner, as a matter of priority on his first official visit to north Asia.

He ambitiously pledged at the September election to end years of stalemate and strike free trade agreements with Japan, South Korea and China within 12 months.

But a resolution from fierce last-minute talks in Tokyo has eluded negotiators, who have struggled all week to gain ground on several final issues.

Mr Abbott said on Sunday he was "optimistic" a deal could be struck during his stay in Tokyo, but conceded the talks had been difficult.

"This government is determined to bring them to a swift and satisfactory conclusion," he told reporters in Tokyo.

"I'm hopeful but not certain."

Trade Minister Andrew Robb arrived in Tokyo ahead of the prime minister to try and break the impasse, but after hours with Japan's agriculture minister could only say talks had entered an advanced but difficult stage.

Mr Abbott said negotiations had "meandered" under Labor after former prime minister John Howard initiated talks in 2007.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also blamed the opposition for neglecting the task, saying the federal government had "six lost years" to regain.

She dismissed suggestions Australia's recent victory in the UN's top court over Japan's whaling program could have stalled talks, saying both nations would "move on".

"We are hopeful of signing, or at least getting an official confirmation about the state of the Japan Australia free trade agreement," she told ABC TV.

The deadlock could be on the agenda when Mr Abbott meets his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Sunday evening for a private dinner.

Mr Abbott's visit will be formally acknowledged in a state ceremony on Monday, but the prime minister said he'd been "thrilled" at the welcome so far.

He said there was more than trade behind his visit to Japan, with an announcement on defence co-operation with the conservative Abe government expected in coming days.

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Police shoot man in Brisbane

A man has been shot by police responding to a domestic disturbance on Brisbane's bayside. Source: AAP

A MAN is in a critical but stable condition after being shot by police during a domestic dispute on Brisbane's bayside.

Two police officers arrived at the Capalaba unit about 7.30pm (AEST) on Saturday.

When they tried to arrest the man, the male officer was allegedly thrown through a plate glass window and was severely cut.

It is understood a policewoman responded by shooting the offender twice in the stomach.

Police Union president Ian Leavers said the situation escalated quickly.

"She made an instant decision with the view of protecting her partner's life," Mr Leavers said.

"She is heroic. These are things where you don't get time to consider your decision, you have to make it immediately.

"We're very fortunate that we're not here at the murder of a police officer."

The injured officer is in a serious but stable condition and is expected to have surgery.

It is the second police shooting at the unit complex.

In March 2011, a policewoman shot a man in the groin who had threatened neighbours.

Mr Leavers said he was tired of violence against officers and renewed calls for mandatory sentencing for people who seriously assault police.

"If you threaten the life of a police officer you should go directly to jail," he said.

"There should be no other option."

The Ethical Standards Command is investigating.

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