Bushfire races towards Port Lincoln

A serious bushfire is burning out of control near Port Lincoln in South Australia. Source: AAP

RESIDENTS have been evacuated as an out-of-control bushfire heads towards Port Lincoln in South Australia.

The Country Fire Service (CFS) says the fire which began at Coomunga burned out of control through Mungerowie Scrub on the Lower Eyre Peninsula near Big Swamp and is threatening homes and properties.

Deputy chief officer of the SA CFS Andrew Lawson said the fire had burnt out more than 500 hectares.

"We are most concerned about a strong south west wind change coming through the area this afternoon and this evening," he said.

The wind change had the potential to push the fire, which is about seven kilometres north west of Port Lincoln, in an easterly direction towards the town.

"We have responded with five fire bombing aircraft to this fire," Mr Lawson said.

Approximately 30 "fire fighting appliances" and 120 firefighters are battling the blaze.

"Residents are asked to implement their bushfire survival plan and only leave if it is known to be safe to leave."

Tegan Newman, from Endeavour Heights on the western outskirts of Port Lincoln, said she, her husband, their three children and dog had been evacuated from their home.

She said she had been returning home around midday with her youngest child when she faced a road block.

"We were able to get home, get the dog, our computer and our birth certificates," she said.

The family is now staying with her mother-in-law in Port Lincoln, which has a population of about 14,000 people.

Ms Newman said some neighbours had also been evacuated but she had been in contact with a neighbour who remained and "hopefully our house is going to be okay".

A bushfire-safe precinct has been established in Port Lincoln at the Curtain Point Bowling Club.

The CFS is responding to other fires throughout the state, where total fire bans have been declared in all but one of SA's 15 fire ban districts.

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Virgin blames uncertainty for coy guidance

Virgin Australia expects an improved underlying profit in the 2012/13 financial year. Source: AAP

VIRGIN Australia has blamed uncertain economic conditions and strong airline competition for its reluctance to give firm profit guidance for the year ahead.

Chief executive John Borghetti told shareholders in Brisbane the airline expects to improve its underlying profits during the 2012/13 financial year.

The upmarket carrier also stuck to its previous forecast domestic capacity growth of eight to nine per cent in the first half.

While Virgin's guidance for this financial year has not changed since August, Mr Borghetti said uncertain economic conditions and poor consumer sentiment were hampering its ability to provide profit guidance.

"The state of the economy in general, the competitive nature within the industry, it's too unclear to give an outlook any more specifically," he told reporters after Virgin's annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Earlier, Mr Borghetti told shareholders the company expected to deliver a more balanced mix between first and second half-year results than has been achieved historically.

Three weeks after announcing plans to buy a 60 per cent stake in budget carrier Tiger Airways for $35 million, Mr Borghetti was confident of challenging the dominance of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar.

"Definitely, we would be a very, very strong challenger ... just like we've challenged Qantas in the business market," he told journalists, adding Tiger was still a small operator.

Virgin has also made a $98.7 million bid for Skywest, as it aims for a slice of the mining fly-in, fly-out market.

Virgin made an underlying pre-tax profit of $82.5 million in the 2011/12 financial year.

Its net profit in the same period was $22.8 million, and the recent Tiger and Skywest deals are likely to hit net profit in the 2012/13 year.

Ahead of the meeting, some shareholders had expressed concern about Mr Borghetti's $4 million pay packet.

However while shareholder groups CGI Glass Lewis and the Australian Shareholders Association urged investors to vote against Virgin's remuneration report, just 3.6 per cent of proxy votes were opposed.

One disgruntled shareholder asked why Mr Borghetti signed the remuneration report instead of non-executive directors.

Chairman Neil Chatfield responded by saying: "I can assure you that the remuneration committee manages that quite appropriately."

Meanwhile, Virgin has announced an expansion of its codeshare agreement with Singapore Airlines, which will enable travellers from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to fly to cities in Europe and the UK.

Mr Borghetti said the airline's transformation plans had progressed faster than expected, and the next phase of the program had begun.

Virgin Australia's shares shed 1.5 cents to close at 48 cents.

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Hoax collar bomber gets 10 years in jail

Paul Peters has been jailed for at least 10 years over the Madeleine Pulver (R) collar bomb hoax. Source: AAP

MADELEINE Pulver's relief at seeing her attacker jailed is "incredible", her dad says, but she may never know why she was targeted by the hoax collar bomber.

Paul Douglas Peters, who cornered the teenager in her bedroom last year, was on Tuesday sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in jail, and must serve at least 10 of them.

It marks the end of a bizarre and puzzling crime, but many questions remain unanswered.

Sentencing Peters in Sydney's District Court, Judge Peter Zahra noted: "There will always remain some uncertainty as to the reasons he decided to engage in an act of extortion involving violence of substantial gravity".

On August 3 last year, Peters - a wealthy businessman based mainly in the US - entered the Pulver family home in Mosman on Sydney's north shore, wearing a multi-coloured balaclava and armed with a baseball bat.

Ms Pulver was studying in her room for her HSC when he placed the hoax bomb around her neck.

A document attached to the device demanded an unspecified sum of money and said tampering with it would make it explode.

After a 10-hour ordeal, the device was confirmed as a hoax.

Peters was arrested in the home he shared with his ex-wife in Louisville, Kentucky about two weeks later and extradited to NSW.

In March, he pleaded guilty to aggravated breaking and entering and detaining with advantage.

During sentence proceedings, the court had been told Peters suffered from severe depression and bi-polar disorder, and that he claimed to have no memory of attaching the device to Ms Pulver's neck.

He told one psychiatrist he had "no idea" why he chose the Pulver home, saying he had never met Ms Pulver in his life.

The court heard he had taken on the role of a character in a book he was writing, and had intended to be caught.

"The end game was quite simple," Peters told one psychiatrist.

"To get caught, to stop drinking and to be in front of a psychiatrist, as well as assisting my novel."

Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, SC, submitted it was a deliberate extortion attempt and Peters in fact entered the wrong house.

The court heard Peters was tracking down the beneficiary of a multi-million dollar trust, but his target changed when he recognised a neighbour of the Pulvers from his Hong Kong business dealings.

Peters mistakenly believed he was entering that man's house on August 3 when he committed the "act of urban terrorism", Ms Cunneen said.

Judge Zahra said it was difficult to assess Peters' motive as he did not give evidence during the sentence hearings.

He said he did not believe Peters was suffering from a substantial mental impairment at the time, although he may have been depressed.

"He would have appreciated the enormity of what he was doing," the judge said, adding he would have instilled "unimaginable" fear in the 18-year-old.

"(Peters) intended to place his very young victim in fear she was going to be killed," he said.

Ms Pulver and her parents, Bill and Belinda Pulver, shed tears as the sentence was handed down.

Peters remained expressionless.

Outside court, Madeleine Pulver said she was pleased it was over.

"I can now look forward to a future without Paul Peters' name being linked to mine," she told reporters.

"We feel an incredible sense of relief today," her father added.

Peters had never apologised or given an explanation for what he did, Mr Pulver said.

"There's only one person in that room who really knows why Maddy ended up at the receiving end of his device," he said.

Taking into account time already served, Peters will be eligible for parole in August 2021.

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Teen Perth police impersonator avoids jail

A FORMER boy scout who posed as a policeman to enter some of the most secure buildings in Western Australia will avoid jail.

With the help of a friend who was working as an auxiliary police officer, 18-year-old Chris Bergroth donned a stolen uniform and managed to stroll into Perth's main criminal lock-up six times.

He also entered WA police headquarters and twice managed to get into a specialist crime unit building over seven weeks earlier this year.

He accessed confidential information on computers and even assisted at a traffic crash before being detected.

Bergroth also used police fuel cards to fill up his personal vehicle and avoided a speeding fine when he was caught driving 16km/h over the limit by saying he worked for the Tactical Response Group and was rushing to a job.

Bergroth, who had previously done work experience with the police force, pleaded guilty last month to 38 charges including wilfully misleading police and trespass.

In Perth Magistrates Court on Monday he was ordered to perform 100 hours of community work and fined $2000 plus costs.

The magistrate and prosecution accepted defence lawyer Michael Clarke's argument that Bergroth was living out his childhood dream of becoming a policeman and had been a benign, non-malicious threat to the force, even though he had eroded public confidence in it.

Bergroth was "crushed" that his offences meant he would never be a policeman and now planned a career in the defence force, Mr Clarke told reporters outside court.

He said Bergroth had created a "slippery slope" in a situation that got out of hand.

"It starts with one thing and leads to another, and downwards from there," he said.

The auxiliary officer, one of Bergroth's scout friends, was not charged and has since quit the force.

Mr Clarke said Bergroth had done the force a favour by showing up deficiencies in its security.

"It wasn't done by someone associated with organised crime or a terrorist organisation - it was done by a boy scout who genuinely wanted to help and serve the community."

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Snoozing through the only show in town

"JUST because there are more journalists ... don't show off," Stephen Conroy shouted across the Senate during question time on Monday.

There were indeed more journalists - nine rather than the usual one.

That's because this week the upper house, the unrepresentative swill of Paul Keating's cruel and not entirely accurate jibe, is the only parliamentary show in town.

And so the spotlight fell on political lions like the two Senate major party leaders, Chris Evans and Eric Abetz.

It would be nice to report they rose to the occasion.

But Evans' main contribution was to woodenly read a prepared answer about the royal commission into child abuse.

Abetz confined himself to interjections, which earned him a sharp "doesn't know what he's talking about ... doesn't understand statistics" from Penny Wong.

On the other hand, it was a little more civilised than the house of the people, though that's coming off a very low base. And it may just be that a chamber of 76, all else equal, will only make half as much noise as one of 150.

Conroy and George Brandis gamely tried to do the decibel work of many, exchanging a series of long and loud pleasantries across the chamber that drowned out Joe Ludwig, one of several ministers who had to field questions about their own portfolios as well as those held by lower house ministers.

The Senate gives each questioner two supplementary questions, thus allowing some degree of cross examination.

Alas, that doesn't always lead to more informative answers.

Ludwig, for example, was as blatant as anyone in the House of Representatives when it came to ducking and weaving - in his case about the second Kyoto commitment period.

His inquisitor, Simon Birmingham, appealed in vain for a straight answer.

And Conroy was as triumphalist as any Reps minister when boasting about the national broadband network roll-out.

Unlike the lower house, there was no theme, with every question different. The opposition asked about childcare costs, the disappearing mining tax, Kyoto and homelessness. The Greens wanted to know about the endangered Tasmanian Tarkine and the live cattle trade.

Also unlike the Reps, there was no obsession with Tony Abbott. In fact, the opposition leader wasn't mentioned.

The government took the odd swipe at their opponent, with Kim Carr sneering that its latest childcare policy was to have an inquiry to see if it needed a new policy.

But there was none of the nasty personal stuff.

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Aust shares closed higher

THE Australian market closed higher after investors received a glimmer of hope that US politicians may be able to negotiate to avoid falling off the "fiscal cliff".

At close on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 24.6 points, or 0.57 per cent, at 4,361.4, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 22.5 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 4,382.6.

On the ASX 24, the December share price index futures contract was up 30 points at 4,378, with 22,566 contracts traded.

RBS Morgans private client adviser Bill Bishop said local investors were feeling optimistic on Monday after talks between the US Republican and Democrats to avoid the "fiscal cliff" appeared to be fruitful.

"Americans are feeling a little bit better about the fiscal cliff," he said.

"Our market takes notice of what happens overseas and had a nice little confidence rally."

The "fiscal cliff" refers to a series of planned tax hikes and spending cuts that economists fear could send the US into recession if a compromise is not reached between Democrats and Republicans.

US shares opened lower on Friday but took a jump upwards as the White House opened the talks with congressional leaders.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 45.93 points (0.37 per cent) at 12,588.31.

In Europe on Friday, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies closed 1.27 per cent to 5,605.59 points lower and Frankfurt's DAX 30 index slid 1.32 per cent to 6,950.53 points, the first time it has closed below 7,000 points since September 5.

Shares in drilling company Boart Longyear jumped 10.5 cents, or 8.11 per cent, to $1.40 despite it announcing an earnings downgrade, with investors apparently more impressed with the $US70 million ($A68.08 million) cost cutting exercise it has launched.

Troubled retailer Billabong also had its shares surge 7.5 cents, or 10.14 per cent, to 81.5 cents after its head of US business Paul Naude said he was considering taking control of the company.

The mining giants closed mixed.

BHP Billiton soared 28 cents to $33.21, but Rio Tinto dived 19 cents to $56.71 and Fortescue fell five cents to $3.85.

The four major banks also had a mixed day.

National Australia Bank was up 16 cents to $23.38.

However ANZ dropped one cent to $23.65, Westpac fell two cents to $24.40 and Commonwealth Bank dived 13 cents to $58.15.

The Sydney gold price was $1722.69 per fine ounce, up $US8.79 from Friday's close of $US1,713.90.

National turnover was 1.326 billion shares worth $3.025 billion, with 494 shares up, 418 down and 361 unchanged.

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Surplus gives RBA room to move: Swan

Treasurer Wayne Swan says Labor's management of the budget has paved the way for interest rate cuts. Source: AAP

TREASURER Wayne Swan says the federal government's "responsible budget management" has helped save the typical mortgage-payer around $4500 a year in repayments.

Mr Swan used his weekly economic note to draw attention to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) assessment of Australia's economy, released last week.

"(The IMF) makes the point the forecast return to surplus gives the Reserve Bank more room to move on interest rates," the treasurer said on Sunday.

"That's something that has been demonstrated time and time again over the past year with the equivalent of six cuts to the official cash rate."

Mr Swan pointed out that for a family with a $300,000 standard variable mortgage, the government's "responsible budget management" had helped deliver a saving of around $4500 a year in repayments compared to when the government came to office.

Meanwhile, government data released on Friday showed the budget deficit in August was $398 million wider than the Gillard government had forecast in its May budget.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said the data suggested the government had some work to do to reach its goal of delivering a budget surplus in 2012/13.

"The prime minister has referred to Australia's budget as the seventh economic wonder of the world," Mr James said in a statement.

"Certainly if the government does achieve the feat of returning the budget to surplus this year, it will be remarkable - even with accounting tricks - but there is still a long way to go to reach the aim."

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NSW south coast braces for hail, winds

Residents in northeast NSW have been warned that severe storms may bring flash flooding. Source: AAP

NSW residents are being warned that large hailstones and damaging winds are on the way as severe thunderstorms bear down on the state's south coast.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman told AAP it was "not out of the question" that a thunderstorm could also hit the state's north coast, but no warning was in place by mid-afternoon on Sunday.

South coast towns in the warning area include Batemans Bay, Eden, Bega and Moruya Heads.

The State Emergency Service (SES) told residents to take all precautions including moving their cars under cover or away from trees, securing or putting away loose items around the house, and keeping clear of fallen powerlines.

The SES was called to more than 120 clean-up jobs on the NSW north coast on Sunday.

"The majority of jobs relate to roof damage and trees down and have centred around the area of Woodburn, west of Ballina," the SES said in a statement on Sunday.

"Wind gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour were reported yesterday and one home at Woodburn collapsed as a result of the severe weather."

The severe thunderstorm warning was later extended to the northern rivers and northern tablelands districts.

Towns including Lismore, Murwillumbah, Casino, Kyogle, Tabulam and Rappville could be subject to heavy rain and possible flash flooding on Sunday evening, the Bureau of Meteorology warned.

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Obama begins fifth visit to Asia

President Barack Obama is heading to Asia on his first foreign trip since winning re-election. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama is due in Asia to intensify an American foreign policy pivot towards the fast-rising region on his first overseas trip since re-election.

Obama is due to arrive in Thailand on Sunday on a trip that will include a landmark visit to Myanmar.

He will be the first sitting US president to set foot in the long-time pariah, reflecting a dramatic thaw in relations brought about by sweeping political changes under a new reformist government.

Obama, who has dubbed himself America's first "Pacific president", will first touch down in Thailand, then make a one-day stop in Myanmar on Monday, before joining regional leaders in Cambodia for the East Asia Summit.

He is making his fifth visit to Asia since taking office in 2009 and the second this year, a period otherwise consumed by heavy-duty campaigning ahead of his poll triumph on November 6.

Obama's first stop in Thailand is meant to signal that Washington is committed to a strong set of alliances in a region preoccupied by the geopolitical implications of a rising China.

"Allies are the cornerstone of our rebalancing effort in Asia," said Ben Rhodes, a US deputy national security adviser, as Obama flew to Bangkok aboard Air Force One.

"Thailand is actually the oldest treaty ally of the United States, an ally since 1954 and a key partner in South-East Asia."

Soon after touching down, Obama will have an audience with Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has been in ill health, then hold talks and a news conference with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Obama plans to discuss US cooperation with Thailand, counter narcotics issues, terrorism, trade and trafficking, and will inaugurate a program to connect US and Thai universities.

On Monday, Obama will fly to neighbouring Myanmar on a trip that would have been unthinkable just a year ago, but which has been opened up by the dramatic reform drive spearheaded by President Thein Sein.

Obama will hold talks with the former general, then travel to the lakeside residence of Aung San Suu Kyi where his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate was held for long years of house arrest.

Suu Kyi has now entered parliament after her rivals in the junta relaxed their iron fists and made way for a nominally civilian government, albeit in a system still stacked heavily in favour of the military.

Some human rights groups said Obama should have waited longer to visit, arguing that he could have dangled the prospect of a trip as leverage to seek more progress such as the release of scores of remaining political prisoners.

But officials say that Obama will encourage the regime to double down on more reform, and that his influence could be important at a crucial moment in Myanmar's emergence from decades of isolation and repression.

The US on Friday scrapped a nearly decade-old ban on most imports from the country, after earlier lifting other sanctions.

Meanwhile, Myanmar last week pardoned hundreds more prisoners, but activists slammed the move, apparently involving mostly common criminals and not dissidents, as a ploy to curry favour before Obama's visit.

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Hamas cabinet's headquarters hit

ISRAELI air strikes have hit the cabinet headquarters of Gaza's Hamas government, with eyewitnesses reporting extensive damage to the building.

"The cabinet headquarters was targeted with four strikes and the government stresses that it remains committed to its positions and its stand alongside the people," the Hamas government said in a statement.

"The IDF (Israeli Defence Force) has targeted (Hamas prime minister) Ismail Haniya's headquarters in Gaza," an Israeli army spokesman told AFP.

"Over the past six hours, the IDF targeted 85 more terror sites."

Eyewitnesses and Hamas officials said the headquarters in the Nasser neighbourhood of Gaza City was virtually levelled in the strike.

"The headquarters was completely destroyed and neighbouring houses were damaged as a result of the barbaric Israeli bombing," a Hamas official told AFP.

On Friday morning, Haniya and a slew of other top Hamas government officials lined up in front of the building to welcome Egypt's Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, on a brief solidarity trip to the Gaza Strip.

The raid on the building came as Israel renewed strikes across Gaza, bombing the headquarters of the Hamas police force in western Gaza City and the government's internal security headquarters in the north of the city.

In the northern Jabalia camp, a strike left at least five people injured from the same family, according a source at the Kamal Odwan hospital.

The string of attacks came after a relative lull in the violence that began on Wednesday with an Israeli strike that killed a senior Hamas commander.

Since then, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed with more than 280 wounded, and Gaza militants have fired hundreds of rockets at Israel, killing three people and wounding 16.

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