Holden to keep promised SA funds

HOLDEN appears set to keep a promised $50 million in South Australian government funding despite a decision to axe jobs at its local assembly plant.

Premier Jay Weatherill held talks with Holden boss Mike Devereux on Friday after the company this week said 400 jobs would go by August in response to falling demand for locally built vehicles and high costs.

Mr Weatherill said the government would review its support for Holden but maintained both parties were determined to ensure the company had a future in South Australia.

Mr Devereux said he believed the government's $50 million was still on the table, as part of a $275 million joint state-federal funding package to help the company develop two new cars from 2016 to 2022.

The state and the company will meet in the coming weeks to thrash out a new agreement.

"There's no doubt that we will be revisiting the nature of our contribution, just as we will be asking for the company to revisit the nature of its contribution to the people of South Australia," the premier said.

"We've never walked away from our agreement. We've, in all respects, honoured our side of this bargain.

"But the events of this week have materially changed those circumstances and we have to revisit that agreement."

Ahead of Friday's meeting, Mr Devereux likened the global auto industry to a team sport and said he played on "team Australia".

"My focus for today is to figure out what we need to make sure that team Australia plays the game to win," he said.

The meeting also came after former Ford boss Jac Nasser, now the chairman of BHP Billiton, said the end of vehicle manufacturing in Australia might be inevitable.

He said if one of the three remaining producers decided to quit the country, the loss of scale could result in a domino effect.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she didn't believe Australia's car industry was on its last legs, even though the future wasn't assured.

"The skills and innovation that come from the car industry matter to the one million Australians employed in manufacturing," she told reporters in Sydney.

"There's nothing we value more highly as a government than creating jobs."

Opposition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella said the future prosperity of the automotive sector would not rest on what subsidies were provided but on how they were used.

She said the industry had a viable future that wouldn't be determined on the basis of handouts.

"I don't think it's about providing a greater dollar figure for subsidies," she told ABC radio.

"I think it's about using the existing funding in a much better way."

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Barnett shrugs off Johnson spray

A SPRAY from his former police minister on the first day of parliament doesn't worry West Australian Premier Colin Barnett one whit.

Former Liberal minister-turned backbencher Rob Johnson launched an extraordinary attack on Mr Barnett on Thursday after being pipped by fellow Liberal Michael Sutherland for the Speaker's role.

Mr Sutherland won 33 votes to 26 - which meant at least four Liberal or National members voted against party lines and the premier's chosen candidate.

Mr Johnson said during the recent state election campaign Mr Barnett had endorsed him for the Speaker's position.

So he let rip after losing out, saying his supporters had been "got to" and that the Liberal leader was dictatorial.

Despite starting off the political year on a controversial note, Mr Barnett said on Friday he was completely unfazed by the comments.

"How high do you think that rates on the stress level?" he asked journalists with a smile.

Mr Barnett admitted he was disappointed some people had voted for Mr Johnson.

"But I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep over it," he said.

"What it did demonstrate, even if some people voted against the government nomination, the vote was still easily won."

Asked if Mr Johnson's criticism was just sour grapes or if there was truth in what he had said - including the premier being angry "a lot of the time" - Mr Barnett said: "I don't really know and I don't really care".

But Mr Johnson "absolutely" remained welcome in the party, he said.

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NSW police seize guns and $1m of drugs

A POLICE search of a ute on the NSW mid-north coast has led to the seizure of almost $1 million worth of cannabis.

Guns and amphetamines were also found by officers who executed search warrants on two homes following the vehicle stop.

Police first found two large hessian bags containing 57 kilograms of cannabis when they stopped and searched a Toyota Hilux in Lorne on Tuesday evening.

The drugs had an estimated street value of $320,000.

Officers then raided a home in Lake Cathie on Wednesday, where they allegedly found 79 kilograms of cannabis, 96 grams of cannabis resin, 23 grams of amphetamine and four firearms.

The drugs have a combined street value of $600,000.

Another search warrant was executed on a home in Kempsey on Wednesday afternoon where 11kg of cannabis and eight cannabis plants were allegedly uncovered, with an estimated street value of $70,000.

Three men - aged 42, 53 and 67 - were arrested over the seizures and charged with numerous drug and weapons offences.

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NZ schoolgirl killed then house set alight

A CHRISTCHURCH schoolgirl had socks stuffed in her mouth and was strangled with a cord before her home was set alight, a New Zealand court has been told.

The trial of two men charged following the death of 13-year-old schoolgirl Jade Bayliss got under way in the High Court at Christchurch on Thursday.

Jeremy George Edward McLaughlin, 35, is accused of murdering Jade, burgling her family's Somerfield home, and then setting fire to the house on November 10, 2011.

McLaughlin's flatmate, Jolon Sweeney, 42, is charged with being an accessory after the fact to the burglary and arson.

Prosecutor Kathy Bell told the court that the Cashmere High School girl was strangled with a cord and had socks stuffed in her mouth, the Christchurch Court News website reports.

Her bedroom was largely untouched by fire and she hadn't inhaled smoke or carbon monoxide.

DNA taken from her fingernails strongly corresponded to McLaughlin's DNA, she said.

Jade's mother Patricia had earlier ended her relationship with McLaughlin.

However, Jade was home sick from school when McLaughlin returned to burgle the house.

Miss Bell said McLaughlin killed Jade and returned later with petrol to set fire to the house.

McLaughlin's lawyer, April Kelland, said he did not murder Jade, and that timing would be critical in the case. McLaughlin admits the burglary and arson charges.

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Probe says North Korea behind cyber attack

AN investigation into a major cyber attack on South Korean banks and broadcasters last month says North Korea's military intelligence agency was responsible, officials say.

The probe into access records and the malicious codes used in the attack pointed to the North's military Reconnaissance General Bureau as the source, the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) said on Wednesday.

"It was a premeditated, well-planned cyber attack by North Korea", a KISA spokesman said.

"We've collected a lot of evidence to determine the North's Reconnaissance General Bureau led the attack, which had been prepared for at least eight months," he said.

A joint team of civilian and government experts traced the origin to six personal computers used in North Korea.

In order to spread malware in target computers, the hackers went through 49 different places in 10 countries including South Korea, the investigation found. The North had used 22 of the places in past attacks.

The March 20 attack completely shut down the networks of TV broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN, and halted financial services and crippled operations at three banks - Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju.

It employed malware that can wipe the contents of a computer's hard disk as well as drives connected to the infected computer.

About 48,700 machines including PCs, automatic teller machines and server computers were damaged, KISA said.

The attack came days after North Korea had accused South Korea and the United States of being behind a "persistent and intensive" hacking assault that temporarily took a number of its official websites offline.

It also coincided with heightened military tensions on the Korean peninsula, following Pyongyang's nuclear test in February.

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Malaysian election set for May 5

Malaysia's general election will be held on May 5, an electoral official says. Source: AAP

MALAYSIA'S general election will be held on May 5, an electoral official says, setting a long-awaited date for highly anticipated polls tipped to be the closest in the country's history.

Speaking a week after Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved parliament, Election Commission chairman Aziz Yusof also said balloting would be preceded by a two-week official campaign period kicking off on April 20.

The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which has controlled Malaysia through coalition governments since independence in 1957, faces a formidable opposition that has gained ground with promises to end corruption, cronyism and authoritarian rule.

The opposition surged to its best showing ever in the 2008 vote, shattering the ruling regime's decades-old aura of invincibility.

Under UMNO, multi-ethnic Malaysia became a regional economic success story while enjoying relative harmony between majority ethnic Malays and its sizeable racial minorities.

Prime Minister Najib hopes to extend the government's unbeaten run in the polls by focusing on his steady economic stewardship and a torrent of cash handouts and other sweeteners to the public.

But the opposition has won support with pledges of a more open era, enjoying unprecedented freedom to get its message past state-controlled mainstream media via an uncensored internet.

Speculation over a polling date had reached fever pitch in the past two years but Najib set the stage on April 3 by dissolving parliament, which was due to automatically expire at the end of the month.

The UMNO-controlled Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition has romped to thumping majorities in every election so far, but lost its powerful two-thirds majority five years ago.

It now faces the fight of its life against the Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact) opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim.

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Iran opens new uranium production facility

IRAN, under global sanctions for its nuclear enrichment program, has launched a new uranium production facility and began operations in two extraction mines, state television said.

The mines in the city of Saghand in central Iran operate 350 metres underground and are within 120 kilometres of the new yellowcake production facility in the city of Ardakan, in Yazd province, the television said.

The report gave few details of the Ardakan facility but said it had an estimated 60 tonnes output of yellowcake, which is an impure state of uranium oxide later used in enrichment processes.

Iran's enrichment activities, which it says are aimed at feeding a peaceful energy programme, are the focus of international concerns, with Western powers and Israel fearing Tehran is developing an atom bomb.

The announcements, on the occasion of Iran's national Atomic Energy Technology day, come shortly after talks between Iran and six world powers on Tehran's nuclear ambitions failed to achieve a breakthrough.

The six - five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany known as the P5+1 - met with Iranian negotiators in the Kazakh city of Almaty on April 5 and 6 in a bid to coax Iran into curbing its programme in exchange for the easing of some sanctions.

Iran enriches uranium to both 3.5 and 20 percent levels in its Natanz and Fordo enrichment facilities. Uranium purified at high levels can be used in a nuclear weapon.

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Killer Aussie mum to leave Canada

Allyson McConnell is expected to fly to Australia after serving just 10 months in a Canadian jail. Source: AAP

ALLYSON McConnell is a free woman and will soon be surrounded by friends and family in Australia.

However, back in Canada she leaves a trail of destruction, including her dead sons, shattered ex-husband and furious political debate.

"This is not over," Alberta's Justice Minister Jonathan Denis declared on Monday.

McConnell, 34, originally from Gosford on the NSW Central Coast, admitted to drowning her sons, two-year-old Connor and 10-month-old Jayden, in the bathtub of her family home in Millet, Alberta, in 2010.

The judge who presided over McConnell's non-jury trial in a Wetaskiwin courtroom last year and found her guilty of manslaughter, not second-degree murder, noted McConnell was suffering psychological issues and there was doubt she had the specific intent to kill Connor and Jayden.

Curtis McConnell disagreed.

He has argued his former wife murdered their boys to hurt him and pointed to the fact she left her wedding ring on the toilet next to the bathtub where he found his sons' bodies floating in cold water.

McConnell was sentenced to six years in custody.

But, with a two-for-one credit for time served, McConnell, who spent the incarceration in Alberta Hospital's psychiatric ward, completed her sentence on Thursday after just 10 months.

This caused furore in Alberta, where McConnell made her home after meeting and falling in love with her husband while working at a British Columbia ski field in 2006.

Alberta prosecutors have appealed the sentence and the second-degree murder not guilty verdict, and had hoped to keep McConnell in Canada until the appeals were heard.

Alberta officials blamed their federal government for McConnell's quick deportation.

Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews hit back, pointing the finger at Mr Denis.

With so much anger, details of McConnell's flight back to Australia are being kept secret, although her lawyer, Peter Royal, said she would be deported early this week.

If Mr Denis gets his way, the appeals will be successful, McConnell's sentence will be increased and she will be extradited back to Canada to serve the punishment.

"If the sentence of six years is increased to something more reasonable, we have full intentions of having her brought back from Australia to pay her debt to society," the justice minister said.

Curtis McConnell, along with other members of his family, released a statement on Sunday in a final attempt to halt McConnell's return to Australia.

The last line of the statement was directed to Connor and Jayden.

"We will love you forever," the statement said.

"We are so sorry that the woman who took you from us is walking free today."

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Facebook to charge Aussies for messages?

Facebook is charging some users in the US and UK for sending high priority, private messages. Source: AAP

FACEBOOK has extended an experiment with paid-for messaging in the UK, raising the possibility that Australian users could face similar charges to contact celebrities or strangers in the future.

Facebook quietly began charging some UK users in late March, with fees of up to STG10 ($14.89) to send a private, high-priority message to popular celebrities like Olympic diver Tom Daley or rapper Snoop Lion.

It's part of a trial, first launched in the US in late 2012, which Facebook says should reduce spam.

The prices have reportedly been set on a sliding scale, with lesser fees to send messages to minor celebrities and a flat rate of 71 pence ($1.05) to send messages to ordinary people who aren't friends.

At the moment, private messages sent between strangers on Facebook generally land in the recipients' 'other' inbox - a folder some users are either unaware of or rarely check.

But in the trial, a limited number of paid-for messages are being channelled directly to the recipient's main inbox, making them more likely to be read.

Contact between friends and close associates on the site remains free under the UK and US trials.

A Facebook spokesman did not say if the fees will be trialled in Australia, where according to a November report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) there are 11.36 million users.

"We are testing an option that allows people to pay to have their messages routed to someone's Inbox instead of their Other folder, even if they're not connected to them on Facebook," the spokesman told AAP on Monday.

"We are testing a number of price points in the UK and other countries to establish the optimal fee that signals importance."

Facebook has previously dismissed rumours about blanket fees to use the website and boasts on its homepage: "It's free and always will be".

But after listing on the US stock market in May 2012, experts say the company is under pressure to exploit revenue streams.

Laura Demasi, from marketing firm IPSOS Australia, says users will be cynical about the fees.

"I think that this one will be met with a fair amount cynicism and eye-rolling from everyday users, who are already well aware of the fact that Facebook is looking for ways to make money out of them," she said.

"They also need to be careful about just how rapidly they roll out these things.

"Consumers in our research often complain about not being able to keep up with the constant updates and changes to Facebook.

"One week it's a new addition to privacy settings, the next it's a weird fee like this one."

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Labor remains committed to auto industry

HOLDEN job losses are disappointing but the federal government remains committed to the automotive sector, acting industry minister Gary Gray says.

Mr Gray says the government's thoughts are with affected workers and their families at this difficult time.

Holden has announced it will axe 400 jobs from its South Australian operations with another 100 positions to go from its product development workforce in Melbourne.

Holden said workers would be offered voluntary redundancy packages and the company expected the restructuring to be completed by August.

Mr Gray said Holden was committed to honouring worker entitlements and assisting them to find new jobs.

As well, the government has a range of measures available to assist workers, including intensive employment support under the Automotive Industry Structural Adjustment Program.

"The Gillard government remains committed to the Australian automotive sector and the manufacturing sector more broadly," Mr Gray said in a statement.

"We will work with the industry to ensure it is sustainable in a period where the Australian dollar is very strong, for example trading at parity or higher with the US dollar."

Holden said the strong Australian dollar was the primary reason for its decision, but there were also challenging market conditions and a fall in demand for its locally-built Cruze small car.

Mr Gray said Holden had made clear the restructuring was part of a broader move to make its operations more competitive and ensure it was well placed to retain production in Australia.

"The automotive manufacturing industry is an integral part of the Australian economy, paying the wages for around 250,000 Australians employed either directly in the sector, or indirectly in related manufacturing and service industries," he said.

"Our commitment to the sector is why we are investing $5.4 billion to 2020 under our New Car Plan. This will help fund investment and innovation by the car industry and it creates the policy certainty needed to support long-term investment."

Coalition spokeswoman for Innovation, Industry and Science Sophie Mirabella says the announcement will be particularly difficult for affected communities coming on the back of 170 Holden jobs lost in November last year.

She says it raises serious questions about the Gillard government's assistance to the car industry.

That's why Labor made $249 million available to Holden and Ford with no transparent criteria and without asking for any guarantees about jobs, she said.

"The other critical industry indicators such as vehicle production, exports, R&D, turnover and productivity, have all dropped under Labor, despite them having grown consistently under the Howard government," she said in a statement.

Ms Mirabella said the coalition was committed to a review of assistance to the industry and to creating a funding model aimed at long-term viability, less regulation and a stable economic and policy environment.

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Potentially serious flu season ahead

THE NSW government has released a state-wide plan urging people to prepare for a "potentially serious" flu season with experts expecting a return of swine flu.

Health Minister Jillian Skinner along with several health experts released the Get Ready For Winter plan at Westmead Hospital in western Sydney on Sunday.

Ms Skinner said it's important people are prepared to combat and prevent flu as the government is expecting a "potentially serious" flu season after record levels of infection in the northern hemisphere over the past winter.

"This year we are particularly concerned about the likelihood of three strains of influenza - the H1N1, H3N2 and B strains - all circulating at the same time," Ms Skinner said in a statement on Sunday.

H1N1, also known as swine flu, was responsible for several deaths in 2009.

But NSW Health director of health protection Dr Jeremy McAnulty told AAP it might not be as severe as it had been in the past.

To deal with more patients over the flu season, a "record number" of nurses and doctors would be available, Ms Skinner said.

"Our hospitals are equipped and preparing to manage the increased case load but we are urging people to be aware of how they can stay well during the influenza season and stay out of hospital."

"In the first instance, people with a cold or flu-like symptoms should see their GP or contact healthdirect (1800 022 222) to talk to a registered nurse."

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Inquiry starts into soldier's truck death

A COMMISSION of inquiry will begin investigating the circumstances of a young Victorian military engineer's death during a training exercise.

Sapper Jordan Penpraze, 22, died three days after he was involved in a truck crash during a defence exercise at Sydney's Holsworthy Barracks in October last year.

The Defence Department said a commission of inquiry into the death begins in Sydney on Monday at 10am (AEST).

Retired magistrate and coroner Warren Cook, will preside over the inquiry along with Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Herbert and Major Jamie Cotton.

As a trainee combat engineer in the Australian Army, Mr Penpraze had been looking forward to deployment in Afghanistan - building bridges and clearing roads of improvised explosive devices and minefields.

But the Victorian soldier died on home soil, the same week he was due to graduate from the Australian Army School of Military Engineering.

Sapper Penpraze was one of 18 soldiers thrown from the open-top Unimog troop carrier when it careened off the road and rolled several times.

The Defence Department said the hearings will be open to the public, as much as possible.

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