Fire ban for ravaged southern Tasmania

A TOTAL fire ban has been declared for southern Tasmania, including areas that were ravaged by bushfires just last month.

With temperatures expected to reach into the 30s and predicted high winds, a ban will be in place from midnight on Tuesday.

The areas affected include parts of the Sorell and Tasman municipalities that bore the brunt of the state's worst blazes in half a century, with nearly 200 properties destroyed.

The Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) says any fires already lit will need to be extinguished.

Residents are being asked to check their bushfire survival plans.

"There are significant penalties that can be imposed on anyone not adhering to the total fire ban restrictions," TFS chief officer Mike Brown said.

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Retailers expect slow start in spending

RETAILERS are disappointed by the central bank's decision to leave the cash rate unchanged, saying they're expecting a slow start to the trading year.

At its first board meeting of 2013 on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept the cash rate at three per cent, saying fears about global economic growth have abated.

However Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) CEO Margy Osmond says retailers are still doing it tough.

"January retail figures which are out next month might paint a brighter picture after the school kids bonus arrives in the family bank accounts, but with no other stimulus to discretionary spending, retail will remain in the doldrums," Ms Osmond said.

She said despite weak inflation figures the RBA chose to adopt a "wait and see" approach.

"Retailers don't need to be so cautious, they know what they will see," Ms Osmond said.

She said the election could also potentially slow consumer spending this year.

The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) renewed its calls for banks to cut their rates regardless of the cash rate.

"The evidence is clear banks and lending institutions can more than afford to cut rates for their consumer and business customers," ARA executive director, Russell Zimmerman said.

"The only sensible decision from the RBA on interest rates would be to cut them to 2.5 per cent in light of suppressed economic conditions and pressure on non-mining sectors, including retail," he said.

"However, regardless of the cash rate, home mortgage and business borrowers are bearing the burden of overblown pricing as a result of banks failing to set interest rates relative to borrowing costs."

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Ulcer study could clear WA man of murder

A TRIO of West Australian Supreme Court judges have been urged not to delay a decision that could clear a man of a 30-year-old murder conviction, following new evidence supplied by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Barry Marshall.

Chris von Deutschburg was a teenager in 1983 when he was convicted of murdering 86-year-old Stavros Kakulas in a scuffle during a burglary at his home in Perth's seaside suburb of Scarborough.

Von Deutschburg, then 19, received a life sentence on the basis Mr Kakulas died of a bleeding duodenal ulcer, seven days after the crime, which was said to have been brought on by the stress of the home invasion.

Last year, then state attorney-general Christian Porter referred the case to WA's Court of Appeal, after Professor Marshall wrote to the State Solicitor's Office saying, based on his prize-winning research, von Deutschburg could not be guilty.

On Tuesday in the appeal court, Justices Carmel McLure, Robert Mazza and Michael Buss were urged to consider the new evidence and make a decision quickly on von Deutschburg's fate.

"This matter has caused a great deal of stress for the appellant and as you would appreciate, he is keen to get this resolved as soon as possible," said Sam Vandongen SC, appearing for von Deutschburg.

The judges have vowed to make a decision as quickly as they are able.

Prof Marshall, along with Nobel Prize-winning colleague Robin Warren, received worldwide accolades in 2005 after proving that bacteria, rather than sress, caused stomach ulcers.

He acted as a human guinea pig, downing a bacterial brew that made him very ill, but gave new hope of treatment for millions of ulcer sufferers.

The discovery was also a lifeline to von Deutschburg, who immediately believed Prof Marshall's evidence could clear him of murder.

His bid for acquittal started in 2005, more than 20 years after Mr Kakulas suffered bruising and fractured ribs during the burglary and then died of a bleeding ulcer in hospital a week later.

"There is no likelihood that his (Mr Kakulas') injuries either worsened or contributed to the duodenal ulcer in question," Prof Marshall wrote in his petition on behalf of von Deutschburg.

The expert said his opinion did not depend on when duodenal ulcer began - either before or after the assault on June 1, 1983.

"Persons with duodenal ulcer disease have ulcers coming and going throughout their life," Prof Marshall said.

"The injuries sustained by Mr Kakulas did not contribute to the development, or accelerate the development of his duodenal ulcer."

WA's Director of Public Prosecutions, Joe McGrath SC, appeared as the respondent to the appeal in the brief hearing.

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Man loses appeal over rape of 83-year-old

A MAN who sexually assaulted an 83-year-old woman in her home on the NSW south coast has lost his appeal against the severity of his sentence, with a court defending a judge's right to describe the crime as "just below worst-case category".

Tony Piscitelli was sentenced in 2011 to a maximum of 16 and a half years, with a non-parole period of 11 and a half years, for the April 2010 attack.

In handing down his sentence at the District Court in Wollongong last year, Judge David Frearson described the offences as "just below worst-case category".

The court heard that Piscitelli had cut the flyscreen of the woman's Tuross Heads home at night, followed her into the bathroom and then pulled her into her bedroom.

Despite pleas for him to stop, the then 23-year-old told her to take off her dressing gown and nightie before sexually and physically assaulting her.

In Piscitelli's subsequent appeal, barrister Robert Sutherland SC criticised the language used by Judge Frearson in condemning the attack, saying it was "intemperate and suggestive".

But on Monday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal rejected this and five other grounds of appeal, including submissions that the sentence was manifestly excessive.

"Where, as here, a series of offences is so serious as to inspire severe condemnation I do not consider that a sentencing judge should be prohibited from using strong, even powerful language," Justice Richard Button said on Monday.

In a victim impact statement heard in the Wollongong court the woman, who was being treated for depression, described suffering flashbacks and nightmares.

She revealed that the only person who she had sexual contact with previously had been her husband, now deceased.

"The profound gravity of the criminality encompassed by the offences ... requires no elaboration by me," Justice Button said on Monday.

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The ICAC is a no-go area in Bylong Valley

THE Bylong Valley general store is neutral territory.

The store in the beautiful valley, a couple of hours drive northwest of Sydney, was full at lunch time on Monday with drillers from coal companies, farmers and grey nomads passing through.

And everybody who comes in wants to speak about the ICAC inquiry.

But co-owner of the store Jodie Nancarrow has declared the topic out of bounds.

"We made the shop neutral territory because we don't want people feuding or punching each other out, that sort of caper," she told AAP.

"If you want to talk about coal mining, do it at home."

Ms Nancarrow, a resident here since 1979 and owner of the store with Jayne Watson for nearly 12 years, was previously president of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, which was formed after residents discovered the area was targeted for coal mining.

But she resigned from that position so she could do business with a whole spectrum of people.

However, she has given evidence at the inquiry.

"I believe Bylong Valley is God's own country," she said.

"My father used to call it Paradise Valley."

The land was so fertile and perfect for horse breeding that her father never needed to hand feed his horses, she said.

"I just wish they'd go away and leave us alone."

As far as Eddie Obeid is concerned, "He's just trying to look after his family," she said. "But there's no thought for the people who live in Bylong."

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Motorists set to pay more at the pump

MOTORISTS can expect further price rises at the petrol bowser over the next couple of weeks, reflecting rising world oil prices, Commonwealth Securities says.

The Australian Institute of Petroleum in its latest report on Monday said the national unleaded fuel price rose by an average 2.1 cents per litre in the past week to 144 cents.

The average metropolitan price rose by 2.4 cents per litre to 142.6 cents, while the regional price increased by 1.3 cents to 146.7 cents.

CommSec chief economist Craig James expects a further two to three cent price rise over the next fortnight as a result of a wholesale prices rising over three cents a litre to a two-month high.

He said world oil prices are being pushed up due to improving sentiment among investors about the global outlook.

"The bottom line is that motorists will end up paying more to fill up," Mr James said in a client note.

He said while higher petrol prices potentially mean a lift in consumer price inflation, the Reserve Bank would remain comfortable about monetary policy given the absence of other price pressures at present.

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Missing woman's body found on Sydney beach

POLICE have identified the body of a woman found on a beach in Sydney's south on Saturday as a woman who's been missing from her home in Kogarah.

Police were called to Green Hills Beach about 5.15pm on Saturday, after the body of a woman was found by a passerby.

Later that night, police were contacted by a man who reported that his mother was missing from their Kogarah home.

Police from Miranda Local Area Command on Sunday confirmed the body found was that of the 59-year-old woman reported missing.

A report will be prepared for the NSW coroner.

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Sri Lanka rescues 138 on sinking boat

SRI Lanka's navy rescued more than 100 Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals from a sinking fishing vessel off the island's eastern coast, a spokesman said.

One passenger was found dead on Sunday while many of the 138 plucked from the boat were dehydrated, he added, but it was not immediately clear where the vessel was headed or whether they were asylum seekers.

"We sent three ships for the rescue at a location 80km off the eastern coast of Akkaraipattu," navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya said.

"Some have been admitted to a local hospital. Others are being taken to Colombo."

The early-morning rescue came amid stepped up naval patrols to check Sri Lankan fishing boats taking would-be illegal immigrants to Australia.

Sri Lankan authorities arrested more than 1,200 people trying to leave the island illegally last year.

Many of those who make the perilous journey pay up to $US3,000 ($A2,890) for a place on trawlers run by people-smugglers.

Warnakulasuriya said the passengers rescued on Sunday identified themselves as Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals.

"We have not been able to get much information about their port of origin or the destination, but we have asked the embassies of the two countries to help us with translations," he said.

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US, Europe stock surge runs on

STOCK markets in the United States and Europe have been building up steam for six months and now seem oblivious to still fragile economic growth, but analysts say this does not yet amount to another financial bubble.

Markets tend to anticipate trends and most of the signals emerging from the main stock markets in the world are pointing towards "go".

Since the middle of July, the main Dow Jones index on Wall Street has risen by 10.0 per cent.

Driven by prospects or hopes of economic recovery, it has broken through the 14,000 point level to reach its highest level since November 2007.

In Europe, the main index in Germany, the Dax, has surged by about 20 per cent since July and is at the highest level since the beginning of 2008.

The French CAC 40 index has made similar gains but is around levels reached in the middle of 2011.

"The market is in the process of making a long-term change of direction," said Bertrand Lamille, director of investment management at B*Capital, a branch of BNP Paribas bank.

"The downward movement for stocks, which has been underway since 2007, is over."

The rise of the markets may be seen more as a process of making up lost ground, given that they had fallen heavily owing first to the financial crisis, and then to the eurozone debt crisis.

Since the president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi made a watershed speech in July underpinning eurozone countries in debt trouble and therefore also the integrity of the eurozone, "the rise is logical since the prospect of the eurozone breaking up, played up by Anglo-Saxon (British and North American) investors, has faded," said an investment manager at Barclays Bourse, Renaud Murail.

On the sovereign debt market, Spain and Italy no longer have to offer unsustainably high interest rates to borrow as was the case in 2012.

Yields on their debt bonds have fallen sharply in the last few months.

At brokers Aurel BGC, economist Jean-Louis Mourier commented: "The rally is broadly justified if one bears in mind the fact that the big risks which hung over the market have been dissipated, in a context in which there is plenty of cash for investment."

Shares are the big gainers, together with the bonds of countries in a weak situation, from the policies of leading central banks which have flooded the markets with hundreds of billions of dollars and euros to avert a crisis of confidence and to stimulate economic activity.

Analysts at PrimeView said that "the abundance of liquidity throughout the world... should now flow towards shares rather towards bonds," noting that low-risk investments such US of German sovereign bonds generate no real return for investors.

Commodity and raw material markets have not yet been affected by any speculative surge. The rise of the price of oil is being contained by plentiful supplies.

Demand for industrial metals is subdued owing to weakness of demand for finished products, and gold, a haven in times of risk aversion, could now be in competition with risky assets.

The surge of stock prices could seem to be a paradox given that growth in the US has scarcely got going and is struggling to gain any momentum in the eurozone.

Mourier warned that "the uncertainties which weigh on future growth justify a pause, or at least that the rate of the rise should slow down."

He also noted that there remained a risk that the eurozone could plunge back in to crisis.

But so far, analysts do not see a risk of a stock market bubble.

"There is no such risk, as things stand," Murail said.

This analysis appears to be borne out by the ratio of the value of leading stock indices to company profits which is still far below the long-term average.

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WA Senator takes his own advice

Labor senate leader Chris Evans says he will exit politics for personal reasons. Source: AAP

LABOR senate leader Chris Evans says he is taking his own oft-given advice about picking the right time to retire.

"I am making the move now because I know the party is in very good shape and this will allow the prime minister to lead a ministerial team who are ready to serve on into the next term," he told journalists on Saturday as he announced his exit from cabinet immediately, and from politics in a few months.

"I have been fortunate to serve in a range of diverse, challenging and important portfolios since 2007 and I am proud of the reform agendas I have implemented."

Senator Evans, who said he had been thinking of stepping down for some time, is a much-respected politician say his Labor and opposition colleagues, including opposition senate leader, Eric Abetz.

"Senator Evans has been a worthy opponent, both across the dispatch box as leader and in his former role as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and I wish him well," Senator Abetz said in a statement.

Senator Evans has led Labor in the Senate since 2004 and was acting prime minister on several occasions.

He has served as a minister in the portfolios of tertiary education, skills, science and research, immigration and citizenship and workplace relations.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says that as immigration minister, Senator Evans shaped the temporary and permanent skilled migration system to serve the economy and restored integrity to the 457 visa program.

The West Australian senator says one of the things he is proud of is as science minister helping to bring home Australia's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope and to ensure ANSTO remains at the forefront of nuclear medicine through the manufacture of Molybdenum 99.

The veteran politician was first elected to the senate in 1993.

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