Today's Business Headlines

A hearing for Twiggy's Chinese whispers
In Perth's Federal Court this morning, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission kicks off its highly anticipated civil action against Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, the founder and driving force behind Fortescue Metals Group. The Australian

Cameco eager to start Kintyre drilling plan
Canadian uranium giant Cameco Corp is building a 40-person mine camp and preparing for a groundbreaking drilling program at its Kintyre project in the east Pilbara, less than a year after buying the world-class asset off Rio Tinto for $US495 million ($692 million). The West

Otto cuts raising, braces for backlash
Otto Energy shares could come under pressure today after the Perth oil and gas group warned investors late on Friday it had cut its capital raising target of $31.5 million because the rights issue price had been slashed by almost 30 per cent. The West

Dash for cash after rebound
The recent stock market bounce is expected to trigger a fresh round of opportunistic capital raisings by companies either desperate to get banks off their backs or keen to exploit weakness among rivals. The Australian

Rudd's $1bn plan to help unemployed
The Rudd government will spend $950 million to train retrenched workers and create community work programs as it braces for another rise in the unemployment rate and warns that spending initiatives must be properly targeted in the May budget. The Fin Review

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 6: People who lose their jobs may be able to plead for home and car loans and credit card debt payments to be postponed under an agreement between major banks and the government.

Unemployment could reach 11 per cent and promised programs such as paid paternal leave might be shelved as the economic crisis continued to hit Australia, the federal government conceded yesterday.

Page 10: The state government has refused to release WA's long-awaited infrastructure strategy because it is reviewing it, sparking outrage from WA's peak business group and the opposition which took more than three years to develop the plan.

Page 11: The National Party has agreed to reject forced amalgamations of local councils, restrict foreign ownership in the state's mining industries to 10 per cent and support a review of one vote, one value legislation.

A pro-daylight saving group has accused WA farmers of relying on flimsy research by an animal psychologist in a campaign that says time change leads to more road deaths.

Page 19: The state government has pledged to take unprecedented legal action against a WA-based retirement village developer which has been at the centre of long-running allegations of threats and bullying of elderly residents at a northern suburbs village.

Business: Canadian uranium giant Cameco Corp is building a 40-person mine camp and preparing for a groundbreaking drilling program at its Kintyre project in the east Pilbara, less than a year after buying the world-class asset off Rio Tinto for $US495 million ($692 million).

Otto Energy shares could come under pressure today after the Perth oil and gas group warned investors late on Friday it had cut its capital raising target of $31.5 million because the rights issue price had been slashed by almost 30 per cent.

Investors in WA's nickel industry will be spending the coming weeks anxiously awaiting the release of miners' March quarter cash-flow statements to see whether green shoots emerging from the maligned sector will survive after a metaphorical winter of serious discontent.

Goldman Sachs is considering a multi-billion-dollar share issue to fund the repayment of the $US10 billion ($14 billion) US government loan handed to the Wall Street bank at the height of the global financial crisis last autumn.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: The Rudd government will spend $950 million to train retrenched workers and create community work programs as it braces for another rise in the unemployment rate and warns that spending initiatives must be properly targeted in the May budget.

Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo has expressed hopes that the federal government's hotly anticipated announcement on its national broadband network will ease the uncertainty that has hung over the company and its share price since its shock exclusion from the $10 billion-plus project in December.

The corporate regulator is scrutinising the actions of investment banks and fund managers in the lead-up to major capital raisings, on concerns that information is being unlawfully leaked to the market and facilitating insider trading.

Page 3: Insolvency practitioners are predicting a surge in corporate failures after revealed a 24 per cent rise in the number of companies going insolvent and a 13 per cent rise in the number going into administration in February compare with the same period last year.

Page 5: There is growing expectation the Reserve Bank of Australia may hold its fire on interest rates when its board meets tomorrow, despite the likelihood of further monetaru easing this year.

Page 6: The federal government is considering introducing anti-avoidance measures to bolster tax laws for financial arrangements amid concern that banks are devising ways to use derivatives to get around impending new rules.

Page 12: Qantas Airways is looking at launching flights to the Gulf in a move expected to increase competition on the route dominated by Middle Eastern airlines.

Page 14: Mount Gibson Iron will consider legal action in Australia against Chinese customers who defaulted on contracts to buy iron ore in an effort to claw back losses and maximise shareholder returns.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Kevin Rudd yesterday recruited trucking magnate Lindsay Fox and former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty to save jobs in the country's seven highest unemployment regions.

The trail from the Chinese businesswoman at the centre of spy allegations and campaign donations involving Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon leads closer each day to the heart of the Labor Party.

Page 2: Julie Bishop has suggested sexism, not just rudeness, was behind Kevin Rudd's reducing a flight attendant to tears, as the opposition continues to use the incident to expose what it calls the Prime Minister's "darker side".

Paid maternity leave and higher education spending could be dumped or substantially deferred in next month's budget, with Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner yesterday admitting that falling revenues and skyrocketing unemployment had altered the government's agenda.

Page 4: Home loan customers of regional banks and non-bank lenders could be short-term losers from the federal government's announcement of a banking industry assistance package for households facing financial hardship.

The cash-poor Cypress Lakes Resort in NSW's Hunter Valley has been investigated by the state's Department of Fair Trading over claims the complex withheld rent and charged excessive body corporate fees.

The BrisConnections saga returns to court today -- in two states -- as the crippled toll-road developer limps towards a unitholder vote next week on winding it up.

Gold fever is gripping the US again, with record numbers of people taking to the hills and streams of California and other states, hoping to strike it rich.

Sixteen months into the US recession, the job market continues to offer few signs of hope for workers.

In a compensation program that has drawn angry protests from politicians, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expect to pay about $US210 million ($294 million) in retention bonuses to 7600 employees over 18 months.

Business: In Perth's Federal Court this morning, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission kicks off its highly anticipated civil action against Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, the founder and driving force behind Fortescue Metals Group.

The recent stock market bounce is expected to trigger a fresh round of opportunistic capital raisings by companies either desperate to get banks off their backs or keen to exploit weakness among rivals.

A new solution has been devised for the so-called toxic assets poisoning the global financial system -- change the accounting standard and they will all go away.

James Packer is considering taking a stake in City Centre, the troubled $US8.6 billion ($12.03 billion) Las Vegas development owned by MGM Mirage and Dubai World.