Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
--Federal Labor has come under criticism from employer groups overlooked for advisory positions at Infrastructure Australia, Skills Australia and on the Government's tax review panel. Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) chief executive Heather Ridout has roles with all three after Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday appointed her to the board of Infrastructure Australia. Ai Group has enjoyed favour over the larger Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which helped fund a pro-Work Choices campaign for the previous Coalition government ahead of last year's election. Page 1.
--Insurance premiums for directors' liabilities are set to rise after sharemarket volatility and the credit crunch prompted an increase in class actions over the past six months. Telstra <TLS.AX> chairman Donald McGauchie said this type of indemnity policy was 'complex, unknown and much more risky than anyone had thought.' The troubled Allco Finance Group <AFG.AX> and failed broker Opes Prime are both vulnerable to class actions, while a case has already begun against Centro Properties Group <CNP.AX>. Aristocrat Leisure reached a settlement with shareholders yesterday. Page 1.
--A Leighton Holdings <LEI.AX>-Macquarie Group <MQG.AX> consortium was yesterday named by the Queensland Government as the winning bidder for the A$4.8 billion Brisbane Airport Link. Under the public-private partnership, the government will contribute A$1.5 billion to the road and tunnel project, hailed by Premier Anna Bligh as the biggest transport infrastructure project undertaken in Australia. The two losing bidders, a Baulderstone Hornibrook syndicate and a second Leighton consortium, will each receive A$4 million compensation. Page 1.
--Music promoter Glenn Wheatley was released from a Victorian prison yesterday after serving 10 months of a 15-month term for tax evasion. 'He was packed two weeks ago, waiting for today,' his wife, Gaynor, told media outside the family's Melbourne home. Three news helicopters and a throng of photographers covered the event. Best known for managing John Farnham, Delta Goodrem and the Little River Band, 60-year-old Wheatley will serve the remainder of his sentence in home detention. Page 3.
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
--Queensland Aboriginal activist Murrandoo Yanner has been charged with driving offences and assault after allegedly ramming a Commonwealth four-wheel-drive at a meeting of the Carpentaria Land Council last week. It is understood Mr Yanner rammed a vehicle carrying members of the Doomadgee family following an altercation sparked by a native title claim. The 37-year-old is already on bail on charges of assaulting a Mount Isa police officer. He was jailed for assault in 2003. Page 1.
--Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has accused treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull of leaking an email sent by Mr Turnbull before the Coalition's budget reply last Thursday. In the message, Mr Turnbull rejected Dr Nelson's policy to cut petrol excise by 5 cents a litre, and warned 'this will inevitably find its way into the media.' Mr Turnbull yesterday denied leaking the email or knowledge of its existence to media. 'I support the policy measures announced in Dr Nelson's budget reply,' he asserted. Page 1.
--A Newspoll following last week's federal budget shows no change in the Government's standing, with the Australian Labor Party still leading the Coalition by 47 to 37 percent on primary votes. However, Labor's 'inflation-fighting' budget was rated worse than that delivered by the Coalition in May 2007, with 32 percent of voters believing they would be worse off financially. Most economists have described the budget, including A$47 billion in personal income tax cuts, as fiscally conservative. Page 1.
--The chief judge of the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission has spoken out against the centralisation of workplace laws under the new Federal Labor Government. Judge Roger Boland said arguments in favour of a national enterprise bargaining regime were just 'sloganeering.' Most businesses were content to stay with laws operating within state borders, Justice Boland said. The Government wants to replace the Australian Industrial Relations Commission with an organisation of visiting mediators called Fair Work Australia. Page 2.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
--Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has established the strongest lead over an Opposition leader in three decades, according to the latest Nielsen poll. Taken after last week's budget, the survey shows Mr Rudd leading Brendan Nelson as preferred prime minister by 70 percent to 17 percent. 'It's the biggest hammering in history,' said Nielsen pollster John Stirton. The results coincide with revelations that Shadow Treasurer Malcolm Turnbull internally opposed Dr Nelson's post-budget promise to cut fuel excise by 5 cents a litre. Page 1.
--Drug companies including Symbion, Clifford-Hallam and Roche have refused to supply two of Sydney's biggest hospitals due to unpaid bills, an inquiry heard yesterday. Orders were regularly frozen because the Sydney Children's and Prince of Wales hospitals were hundreds of thousands of dollars behind on their accounts, a pharmacist technician told the special commission of inquiry. Page 1.
--The New South Wales Government is considering a proposal to build a light-rail line along Leichhardt's Italian cafe strip in Sydney's inner-west. More than half a century after Sydney's tram network was uprooted, cabinet is deliberating on a 2.3-km rail line along Norton Street as part of a broader plan to build a light-rail extension to Circular Quay and Summer Hill. Page 1.
--The electorate officer who gave evidence at the trial of former New South Wales minister Milton Orkopoulos has rejected a A$100,000 compensation payment as 'an absolute insult.' Gillian Sneddon, 51, was sacked by Parliament in February on the same day Mr Orkopoulos faced Newcastle District Court on child sex and drug charges. The former Aboriginal affairs minister was found guilty of 28 paedophilia and drugs charges the following month. He will be sentenced tomorrow. Page 3.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
--Melbourne University demoted a senior transport lecturer on concern over its relations with the Victorian Government, internal documents reveal. At a forum on the privatisation of Melbourne's public transport last August, Paul Mees said the authors of a report on the subject were 'liars and frauds and should be in jail.' Page 1.
--New South Wales Police will arm its officers with Taser stun guns before a safety report is handed down by the Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, in July. Confirming the move yesterday, Police Minister David Campbell said the public demanded action on crime. The government has spent more than A$1 million on 229 new Tasers, and 2000 police across the state will be trained to use them before they are brought in at the end of this year. Page 2.
--Euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke has denied he failed to carry out a proper assessment of a man who wanted to commit suicide. Accused in New South Wales Supreme Court of being 'hell-bent' on assisting the suicide of former Qantas Airways pilot Graeme Wylie, Dr Nitschke said he had accurately assessed Mr Wylie's mental capacity before the 71-year-old Alzheimer's disease sufferer ended his life in Switzerland in 2006. Dr Nitschke is giving evidence in the murder trial of Mr Wylie's partner, Sydney woman Shirley Justins. Page 2.
--Melbourne underworld figure Tony Mokbel will today launch a legal challenge against two murder charges and new drug-trafficking allegations. Mokbel, 42, will argue his case via a video link from Barwon Prison, where he has been held since his return from Greece on Saturday. Mokbel was arrested in Athens last June after fleeing Australia in early 2006 while on trial for cocaine trafficking. He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to a minimum nine years' jail. Several other charges were dropped during the recent extradition proceedings. Page 2.
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((Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1800; sydney.newsroom@reuters.com)) Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA GENERAL
NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Bill O'Reilly, who hosts a show on U.S. news channel Fox News, is mounting an "extraordinary televised assault" on Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric, the Washington Post reported on its Web site on Monday.
On the surface, O'Reilly's charges revolve around GE's <GE.N> history of doing business with Iran, the newspaper reported.
But the attacks grow out of "an increasingly bitter feud between O'Reilly and the company's high-profile subsidiary, NBC," it said.
A spokeswoman for Fox News, a unit of News Corp <NWSa.N>, declined comment.
GE said it put out a statement on its Web site in April saying that GE and its board decided in 2005 that it would no longer do business in Iran because of developing conditions in that country and concerns expressed by shareholders.
"The exceptions were to run down existing contracts and humanitarian activity authorized by U.S. Government licenses," GE said. "Since then, GE has done everything it said it would do in 2005. Today, GE has very little business left in Iran and will have completed all business in Iran by the end of June."
The statement said at all times GE's policy was "fully compliant with U.S. and all applicable laws".
"Recently, a Fox News personality in the U.S. has been attacking GE for this work and has been misleading viewers about our company," the GE statement said. "GE employees should know the facts -- GE has met every pledge it made about this issue. These attacks from Fox arise from its ratings battle with MSNBC."
O'Reilly and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann have engaged in an increasingly nasty battle in the past few years, with O'Reilly often appearing in Olbermann's nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment.
While O'Reilly continues to have higher ratings than Olbermann, the MSNBC host has started to cut into his lead during the Presidential campaign. (Reporting by Megan Davies; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
((megan.davies@reuters.com ; +1 646 223 6112; Reuters Messaging: megan.davies.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: GENERALELECTRIC/FOXNEWS
(Updates with comment from Sen. Shelby)
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - The two top members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee announced on Monday that they have a deal that will create a multibillion dollar mortgage rescue fund and a new regulator for Fannie Mae <FNM.N> and Freddie Mac.
"The bill addresses the root of our current economic problems - the foreclosure crisis - by creating a voluntary initiative at no estimated cost to taxpayers which will help Americans keep their homes," Christopher Dodd, Democrat chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement.
The deal he reached with Sen. Richard Shelby, the panel's top Republican, will also create a new regulator for the two mortgage-finance giants.
Under the housing rescue portion of the plan, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, known as government-sponsored enterprises, will pay to cover losses of the housing rescue initiative.
"This is a victory for the taxpayers. As far as the housing component is concerned, we're not funding this ... with taxpayers' money. We're going to do it through a GSE affordable housing fund," Sen. Shelby of Alabama said on CNBC. (Reporting by Tim Ahmann and Patrick Rucker; Editing by Dan Grebler)
((patrick.rucker@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-310-5474; Reuters Messaging: patrick.rucker.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra: visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com
* BridgeStation: view story .134 For more information on Top News: http://topnews.reuters.com)) Keywords: USA HOUSING/CONGRESS
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - The top Republican on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee said housing finance companies Fannie Mae <FNM.N> and Freddie Mac <FRE.N> would fund a multi-billion dollar mortgage rescue plan under a legislative compromise he struck with the panel's Democratic chairman.
"This is a victory for the taxpayers. As far as the housing component is concerned, we're not funding this ... with taxpayers money, we're going to do it through a GSE affordable housing fund," Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby said on CNBC. (Reporting by Tim Ahmann) ((tim.ahmann@reuters.com; +1 202 898 8370; Reuters Messaging: tim.ahmann.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: USA HOUSING/CONGRESS SHELBY
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - The two top members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee announced on Monday that they have a deal that will create a multi-billion dollar mortgage rescue fund and a new regulator for Fannie Mae <FNM.N> and Freddie Mac.
"The bill addresses the root of our current economic problems - the foreclosure crisis - by creating a voluntary initiative at no estimated cost to taxpayers which will help Americans keep their homes," Christopher Dodd, Democrat chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement.
The deal he reached with Sen. Richard Shelby, the panel's top Republican, will also create a new regulator for the two mortgage-finance giants.
((patrick.rucker@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-310-5474; Reuters Messaging: patrick.rucker.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra: visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com
* BridgeStation: view story .134 For more information on Top News: http://topnews.reuters.com)) Keywords: USA HOUSING/CONGRESS
Next: UPDATE 2-Congress making progress on housing reform - Bush