Tassie shooting was targeted: police

THE shooting death of a man outside a northern Tasmanian hotel was targeted, police say.

The man in his 40s was shot dead outside the Marrawah Hotel just after midnight (AEST) on Saturday.

"Investigations to date suggest this is not a random act - and that it was a targeted act," police said in a statement.

"We are following a number of lines of inquiry. We have deployed significant resources to the incident and are seeking assistance from the public."

Police have urged anyone with information relating to people acting suspiciously, vehicles moving in the area at the time, hitchhikers or people walking along the road to contact them.

They will continue to have resources in the area and have set up a command post at the scene.

"We encourage the public to be alert to what is going on around them, but not alarmed - but remember that any information could prove vital and don't hesitate to pass it on to us," a police statement said.

The man's next of kin have been notified, but police are not releasing his details at this stage.

Marrawah is a small town of about 400 people in Tasmania's northwest and is approximately 300km from Launceston.

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Indonesian police hunt 131 escapees

Indonesian police have stepped up their search for 131 inmates who escaped from a Sumatran jail. Source: AAP

INDONESIAN police have expanded their search for 131 inmates including four militants who escaped from an overcrowded jail during a riot that left five dead, a spokesman says.

Inmates began rampaging through the jail in Medan city on Sumatra island on Thursday, setting fires and hurling bottles at guards in anger over power cuts and water shortages at the facility.

The Tanjung Gusta jail was engulfed in towering flames, killing three inmates and two prison staff who were trapped in their office.

"We stepped up efforts by instructing all police forces across Sumatra island to carry out a massive hunt operation," Heru Prakoso, spokesman for the North Sumatra police, told AFP on Saturday.

Security forces managed to regain control of the prison on Friday afternoon and had recaptured 81 of the 212 inmates who escaped, he said, adding that four convicted of terrorist offences were still on the loose.

"Security at all entry points bordering North Sumatra province has been intensified," he said, adding that the elite Detachment 88 counter-terrorism force was also involved in the operation.

The escaped terror convicts had been involved in militant training for Mumbai-style attacks on high-profile Indonesians and in connection with a bank robbery to fund terror activities, police said earlier. Some 1000 police and soldiers were deployed to guard the facility.

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Police weigh up charges over royal prank

Radio host Mel Greig (L) has filed a claim against 2Day FM for failing to provide a safe workplace. Source: AAP

THE fallout from a royal prank call continues to haunt 2Day FM radio, with Australian police looking at whether charges could be laid.

Australian Federal Police and NSW police are evaluating a file, provided to them by the UK's Metropolitan Police, over the phone call made on December 4 by presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian.

They called London's King Edward VII Hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for a pregnancy-related illness, and pretended to be the Queen and Prince of Wales.

The DJs were put through to the ward by nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who committed suicide soon after the hoax was widely publicised in the British media.

British prosecutors have already said no legal action will be taken in the UK over the call.

But NSW Police spokeswoman said on Thursday that federal police would "evaluate the referral as per the AFP's usual process to determine if any commonwealth offences are identified" and NSW police would look at it from a "state offences" point of view.

The DJs' employer, Austereo, wouldn't comment on Thursday on the possibility of charges being laid in Australia.

"We're not commenting at the moment and have nothing to add ... we're not making a statement," a spokeswoman said.

The referral by British police comes as lawyers for Greig - who has not returned to work - revealed on Wednesday that she is taking legal action against Austereo.

Greig's lawyer, Steven Lewis of Slater & Gordon, says a general protections application has been filed with Fair Work Australia, alleging Southern Cross Austereo failed to maintain a safe workplace in relation to the hoax call incident.

News of Greig's legal action comes a week before a scheduled federal court hearing in Sydney in which 2Day FM is trying to block a media watchdog probe into the prank call.

The radio station last month filed a court application arguing that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has no power to continue a part of its ongoing investigation.

The federal court hearing is scheduled for July 17.

In London, a spokesman for the Saldanha family says it's no surprise one of the DJs behind the prank call has turned on the station which broadcast the hospital hoax.

Meanwhile, Christian was last month awarded the title of "Top Jock" by Austereo for being at the "top of his game".

An inquest into Ms Saldanha's death is due in London in two months time.

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NZ shares edge up ahead of earnings season

NEW Zealand shares edged up in relatively light trading as investors looked ahead to the earnings season.

The NZX 50 Index rose 3.287 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4560.054. Within the index, 27 stocks rose, 16 fell and seven were unchanged. Turnover was worth $120 million.

Ebos rose 2.9 per cent to a record close of $9.99. The medical and pet supplies distributor's stock is up 34 per cent this year and the gains accelerated after it agreed to buy Australia's Symbion and raised capital to do so.

"Ebos has changed vastly with that deal," said David Price, a broker at Forsyth Barr. "The capital raising has been well received."

Ryman, the nation's biggest listed retirement village operator, rose 1.9 per cent to $6.98, also a record close. Rival Summerset Group gained 0.7 per cent to $3.02.

The biggest companies on the bourse fell. Telecom dropped 3 per cent to $2.25 and Fletcher Building fell 1.3 per cent to $8.55.

Mr Price said they were among stocks driven higher on Wednesday by buying at the close and had since given back those gains.

"It is relatively quiet leading into the results season," he said. "The market is trading on relatively high multiples so companies need to deliver on expectations."

The Warehouse Group, the biggest listed retailer, was unchanged at $3.75, clothing chain Hallenstein Glasson was down 0.6 per cent to $4.94 and outdoor equipment group Kathmandu fell 0.8 per cent to $2.58. Pumpkin Patch gained 1.2 per cent to 82 cents.

Manufacturers gained after BNZ-BusinessNZ figures showed the sector's activity continued to grow last month, albeit at a slower pace from May when it reached a nine-year high.

Skellerup gained 1.5 per cent to $1.32, Nuplex Industries advanced 1 per cent to $3.09, Moa Group rose 1.7 per cent to $1.18 and Goodman Fielder climbed 1.2 per cent to 85 cents.

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Transurban says traffic growth 'solid'

Traffic growth on its Sydney and Melbourne tolled roads boosted Transurban's June quarter revenues. Source: AAP

TOLL road owner Transurban says it recorded solid traffic growth on its Sydney and Melbourne assets during the June quarter.

The company says its revenue for the quarter was up 6.8 per cent to $207 million, on a statutory basis, compared to the same time last year.

For the year to June, toll revenue was $801 million, up 4.7 per cent from the previous year.

Proportional toll revenue, which the company believes is the most accurate indicator of its performance, was up five per cent for the year at $991 million.

The company said traffic numbers were up across its Australian assets during the quarter, with the number of vehicles travelling on its main asset, Melbourne's Citylink, up 3.2 per cent.

In Sydney, upgrade work on the company's M2 motorway contributed to traffic growth on its Lane Cove Tunnel and Westlink M7 assets.

"The Hills M2 upgrade has reached the final stages of completion," Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday.

"The works west of Pennant Hills Road were finalised in mid-April, and residents of Sydney's North-West corridor are beginning to benefit from the enhancement of that critical element of the corridor."

Transurban shares finished Tuesday's local session at $6.80.

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Japan officials used wrong Google settings

Japanese officials used the wrong settings on Google Groups making confidential documents public. Source: AAP

JAPAN'S bureaucrats used the wrong privacy settings for Google Groups online discussions, allowing anyone to see internal memos including one on negotiating positions for an international treaty, the government says.

Environment ministry mandarins were among those who used the default settings on Google Groups, which allow public access to discussion threads, instead of limiting them to members only.

The mass-selling Yomiuri Shimbun said it found more than 6000 cases where information from public or private organisations, including hospital records, was publicly available.

The Yomiuri, the world's biggest-selling newspaper, also admitted its journalists had been using the wrong settings on Google Groups, and may have revealed draft stories and interview transcripts to anyone who wanted to see them.

Google Groups allows users to establish or join discussions on any subject, which can be accessed either by email or through the web.

The user who sets up the group can determine who can join the group and who can view and post messages.

The default on the set-up page allows anyone to see messages, although this can be limited by a drop-down menu.

A spokesman for the environment ministry admitted officials have used the service to share information, including planned talking points for negotiations on an international mercury trade treaty.

The Japanese delegation also uploaded its exchanges with their Swiss and Norwegian counterparts. The treaty is expected to be signed in the northern autumn.

"It was problematic that the processes around ongoing negotiations could be seen by outsiders. We have taken corrective steps," an environment ministry spokesman told AFP.

The memos were not "top secret", but were not for public release, the spokesman admitted.

Officials from at least six government ministries and agencies used the wrong settings on Google Groups, allowing outsiders to see internal exchanges, national broadcaster NHK said.

The Yomiuri also reported that hospitals and schools had uploaded patients' and students' records.

At least one political party also used the service, revealing a list of its supporters, the Yomiuri said.

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Women in Ohio kidnap case thank public

THREE women held captive in a home in the US state of Ohio for a decade are thanking the public for their support in a YouTube video.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight broke their public silence in the video posted late on Monday, saying the encouragement of family, friends and the public has enabled them to restart their lives.

Former bus driver Ariel Castro has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped the women off the streets of Cleveland between 2002 and 2004 and held them captive in his two-storey home.

He fathered a six-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry.

He was arrested May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the home and yelled to neighbours for help.

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Bikie links in Sydney shooting: police

SYDNEY police want to work with rival gang members to stop a deadly drive-by shooting from escalating into an all-out bikie war.

At least two gunmen riding in a black sedan opened fire on a trio of bikie associates standing in the carpark of a unit block in southeast Sydney on Monday night.

A 37-year-old man was killed and a 25-year-old who was shot in the leg is undergoing surgery.

The third man, who was performing CPR on his fatally injured friend, fled when emergency services arrived at the scene in George Street, Eastlakes.

The homicide squad's Detective Inspector David Laidlaw said the shooting victims were both known to be involved with outlawed bikie gangs. Neither lived at the unit block.

He said the shooting may have been a show of strength or act of retaliation from one rival gang to another, and police were now working to stop any pay-back.

"We are hopeful that we can engage with personnel from both gangs to try to get them to abate any sort of retribution," Det Insp Laidlaw told reporters.

He said detectives want to know whether the shooting is part of a wider turf tussle.

He noted that bikie gangs usually engaged in some sort of criminal activity.

"You always have competition."

Neighbours say trouble had been brewing at the address for months, though none were prepared to give their names.

One said a number of cars had been arriving at the property in recent weeks.

"There's been a group of people who've been coming," she told AAP.

"They would stand around outside and talk."

Another said police had been called to a recent fight in the street and "attended in numbers", while another described multiple cars coming and going at all hours in the formerly quiet street.

Police removed evidence from one unit, and questioned a man who drove a black luxury 4WD into the carpark on Tuesday morning.

The driver later argued with an older woman on the block before speeding away.

Another young man wearing a hoodie was dropped off at the cream brick unit block by a van, which returned to the street moments later to collect him.

Chuxuan Ao, who recently moved to the area from China, told AAP he was studying when he heard shots fired.

"I was doing my homework and chatting with my friend and suddenly I heard about five or six," he told AAP.

"I thought it's not true, I've just made a mistake.

"My landlady told me Sydney is really safe ... Especially this area."

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Unhelpful asylum seekers processed last

The Rudd government says asylum seekers who destroy their identity papers will be processed last. Source: AAP

ASYLUM seekers who try to "game" the system by destroying their passports will be forced to the back of the processing queue under tough new rules announced by the Rudd government.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke, who announced the policy on Sunday, would not be drawn on whether it signified Labor's lurch to the right on asylum seeker policies.

The measures will give priority to would-be refugees arriving by boat who cooperate with authorities, while taking asylum seekers who destroy their passports and identity papers to the "back of the processing queue".

"I want to make absolutely clear that no one would be advantaged by playing that sort of game," Mr Burke told reporters in Sydney.

"I'm making sure that people don't game the process."

He was asked whether the new measures represented a "lurch to the right" - the very thing Kevin Rudd urged his party not to do when he was challenged by Julia Gillard for leadership of the Labor Party in 2010.

"I don't want to get into this 'this one's a lurch to the right' or 'this one's a lurch to the left' argument," Mr Burke said.

His job as immigration minister was a serious one that made a "massive difference to what happens with people's lives and indeed whether or not people have lives".

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young urged Labor not to embrace right-wing asylum policies.

"It's time for a new way on refugee policy, not a return to the old cruel way of the Howard years," she said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mr Burke slammed the coalition for appearing to contradict themselves on their policy of towing asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia.

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop said on Sunday there would be "no unilateral action" under the opposition's boat policy, while opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said on Saturday "as John Howard proved, you have got to have unilateral action on our side that works".

Mr Burke said the Liberal Party had "nothing but slogans to offer".

Also on Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare reiterated that the government was committed to freeing children from Australian detention centres.

But Mr Clare stressed that the process of freeing minors needed to be "systematic" and could take some time.

"If you're going to put a young person into foster care, you need to make sure you can give them the sort of care and support that they need," he told Network Ten.

Mr Morrison said Labor's policy was a "poor imitation" of the coalition's plan to deny visas for people who discarded their identity documents.

"People who throw their documents away when seeking to illegally enter Australia should not be put to the back of the queue - they should not be in the queue at all," he said in Sydney.

Mr Burke said the coalition plan to deny visas risked breaching Australia's obligations under the United Nations Refugee Convention.

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Eight dead in Philippines clashes

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