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Virgin Blue looks on profit slide for first half of fiscal 2011

davidguide — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:18:08 +0000

Even Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd appears as susceptible to the recent flood disaster that had hit Australia as the company echoed emerging sentiments of sliding profit guidance among the country’s major firms.

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International Outrage Follows Arrest of Wikileaks Founder

davidguide — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 03:55:21 +0000

Tom Ramstack – AHN News Correspondent

London, United Kingdom (AHN) – International protest is building about the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange this week. Assange is being held in a British jail awaiting extradition to Sweden on rape charges.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department is seeking to extradite him to the United States to face espionage charges after his Web site released more than 250,000 documents that exposed secret State Department communications. However, political leaders in Australia, Brazil, Russia and elsewhere say Assange is a political prisoner who is being punished for exercising rights of the free press.

Some of the harshest criticism is coming from Australia, where hundreds of people rallied Thursday in three cities to protest Assange’s arrest. Assange is an Australian citizen.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Assange was merely doing the job of any journalist by publishing the documents. “The blame for any violations of the law should fall on the persons who gave the documents to Wikileaks,” Rudd said. “The Americans are responsible for that.”

The State Department communications, called “cables,” described Rudd as a “control freak” and said that he made mistakes as Australia’s foreign minister.

Rudd said he was unconcerned about the criticisms.

He also said Australia would offer consular help to Assange.

Consular help refers to sending diplomats to meet with a citizen of their own country who is arrested abroad to determine whether legal assistance can be arranged.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva described the arrest of Assange as a crime.

“I want to express my protest against this offense against free expression,” Lula said. “I will use the presidential blog to express my protest.”

He also encouraged the international news media to be more vigorous in defending Assange.

“The young man who is giving so much trouble to the diplomacy of the United States was arrested and so far I have not seen any protest defending free expression,” Lula said.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described the U.S. government’s efforts to prosecute Assange as hypocritical.

“If it is full democracy, then why have they hidden Mr. Assange in prison,” Putin said during a press conference Thursday. “That’s what, democracy?”

Putin’s remarks appear to be a response to a February 2010 cable from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that said, “Russian democracy has disappeared and the government is an oligarchy run by the security services.”

In Mexico, the Journalists Club put up a plaque in their Mexico City headquarters honoring Assange for his “contribution to the conscience of mankind.”

The State Department documents published by Wikileaks described Mexico’s difficulties in managing its war with drug cartels. The cables described the government’s efforts as ineffective, often corrupt and divided among competing administrators.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service is saying any U.S. prosecution of Assange would face unprecedented legal and diplomatic challenges.

A 24-page report from the government agency examines how the Justice Department could apply U.S. criminal laws to a foreign news operation.

“We are aware of no case in which a publisher of information obtained through unauthorized disclosure by a government employee has been prosecuted for publishing it,” the report said.

The prosecution of Assange creates First Amendment and diplomatic hurdles “based on concerns about government censorship,” the report said.

Some members of Congress, such as Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I.-Conn) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), say Assange should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act of 1917.

However, the Congressional Research Service report said no single law forbids the news media from publishing diplomatic cables only a “patchwork” of statutes that leave unclear answers.

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Jobs surge dispels fears of softening economy

davidguide — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 03:26:36 +0000

Australia’s employment surged in November, as firms took on more full-time workers. Almost 55,000 new jobs were created, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.2 per cent as forecast.

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NSW economy improving, RBA says

davidguide — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:31:10 +0000

NSW is moving away from being Australia’s lagged economy, with the Reserve Bank of Australia saying its performance is improving.

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Carroll England debut in doubt

davidguide — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:15:05 +0000

Andy Carroll’s dream England debut has been cast into doubt after his domestic club sent an e-mail to the Football Association.

Related Stories United steal point from Villa after late comeback England romp to victory over Australia Glazers set to pay off Man United loans Terry could be out for months Andy Carroll to make England debut

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PM Keen On Expanding Australia’s Strategic Military Role

davidguide — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 15:56:46 +0000

Lawrence Mijares – AHN News Contributor

Melbourne, Australia (AHN) – As she prepared to meet Sunday with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for a review of U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard expressed willingness to expand Australia’s military partnership with the U.S. in the region.

In an interview with Australia’s Nine Network, Gillard said her talks with Clinton would involve further joint military exercises and collaboration between Australia and the U.S., as the matter was “in the national interest.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop concurred, telling the same network, “I think every port city in Australia, subject to closer consultation, would be delighted to have more American engagement in our port cities.”

Clinton is also scheduled to join on Monday U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ consultation meeting at Victoria’s Government House where the main topic will be China’s rise as a superpower and of the strategic presence of the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region.

Clinton also praised Sunday peacekeeping efforts of Australia, Malaysia and Singapore in the Asia-Pacific region. In line with this, Australia’s Defense Minister, Stephen Smith, will discuss with Gates Australia’s plan to purchase from the U.S. between 14 and 100 F35 joint strike planes beginning in 2017.

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ANZ Bank’s profits soar by 69%

davidguide — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:10:56 +0000

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. has reported that profits soared to 69 percent as a number of its nonperforming loans dropped significantly.

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Australian businesses dangle higher wages to compete for dwindling skilled workers

davidguide — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:28:10 +0000

The steady but relatively low level of unemployment rate in Australia could lead to business slowdowns and render the federal government’s infrastructure initiatives quite vulnerable.

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U.S. Readies To Normalize Military Ties With China

davidguide — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 04:01:41 +0000

Tejinder Singh – AHN News Correspondent

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States on Tuesday indicated its efforts to normalize military ties with China, with top level bilateral meetings in the coming weeks.

The Pentagon hinted at efforts to arrange a meeting of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with his Chinese counterpart in Hanoi, Vietnam next week during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense ministers conference that will include the association partner nations of Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon spokesman told journalists on Tuesday, “We are efforting to put together a meeting of that sort when Secretary Gates and his Chinese counterpart are attending the ASEAN-plus ministerial in Hanoi early next week.”

Morrell noted that “both sides clearly wish to have such a meeting,” adding the significance being, “It would have been the first time the secretary has had a chance to engage with his Chinese counterpart for nearly a year.”

The Pentagon disclosed ongoing consultations between the U.S. and China “about operational safety,” at sea and in the air along with working “on a work plan for us over the next year,”

Citing the culmination of these consultations at the defense consultative talks in the coming months, Morrell said, “We haven’t nailed it down — that Michele Flournoy, the undersecretary of Defense for policy, would host here in Washington.”

Morrell said, “This is sort of the resumption — the resuming of the military-to-military relationship with China.”

“The Chinese have expressed to us a desire to host the secretary,” Morrell said, adding, “We’re doing that right now, looking forward to reporting back on some possible dates. And our expectation is that we would be able to travel and engage with the Chinese as soon as possible.”

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Singapore Hit By Serious Skills Shortage In Accounting, Finance

davidguide — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 21:08:38 +0000

Lawrence Mijares – AHN News Contributor

Singapore, Malaysia (AHN) – Faced with a booming finance industry, Singapore is ironically suffering from a chronic shortage of skilled finance and accounting personnel despite efforts by companies to attract and retain them, according to a study.

About 81 percent of industry professionals and recruitment specialists surveyed in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore say there is a major or chronic shortage of Singaporean personnel with finance and accounting skills.

The joint research study entitled “Singapore Talent and Skills in Finance & Accounting Survey 2010: Uncovering the Challenges,” was conducted in August by recruitment specialist Robert Half and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

The study found that key reasons for the shortage were the lack of development opportunities offered by organizations (60 percent) and insufficient measures by employers to retain talents (52 percent). Also exacerbating the problem was the departure of skilled people for other industries (41 percent) and the accounting sector being unattractive to young graduates (33 percent).

Though companies have tried to address the problem by upgrading the skills of existing staff, this has mostly been short-term and not enough, study respondents said, suggesting that more investment should be given to formal training and development in leadership skills, technical and accountancy qualifications and presentation skills.

Recruiting temporary or contract professionals from other countries also been difficult, the study said. Although there are flexible immigration policies and regulations, stringent procedures and quota on local and foreign staff still exist in many Singaporean companies.

Darryl Wee, country head of ACCA Singapore who conducted the research study concluded, “Alternative work arrangements, such as flexible work hours, should be integrated into talent management programmes as far as possible to cater to employees’ evolving career and personal needs. Such arrangements are however not easy to implement, and as with any human-resource initiative, success requires time and experimentation. It is important that employers communicate with their employees and respond accordingly, adjusting and adapting along the way. Once a successful programme is in place, it should be continually molded and adapted to meet the demands of the business and its employees.”

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