Today's Business Headlines

Market havoc ups pressure on Fortescue

Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power has left the door open for a potential equity raising or more asset sales as market confidence in the iron ore miner waivers and key executives close to founder Andrew Forrest depart. The Fin

China told: rethink role

China has been urged to reform its multi-billion-dollar foreign investment program amid concerns in Beijing that its overseas ambitions are being derailed by the portrayal of its state-owned companies as ‘‘military or diplomatic weapons for their government’’. The Aus

Barnett's TV adverts moronic, says Labor

Leaked television advertising scripts for a Barnett government campaign treat West Australians as “utter morons” and were a $1.5 million abuse of taxpayers' money, the state opposition said yesterday. The West

Business to fund Europe's abatement

Australian companies could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to help cut carbon emissions in Europe because of the government's decision to scrap the closure of several coal-fired power plants. The Fin

$21b man plans SW milk plant

China's richest man is considering spending $200 million on a milk powder processing plan in the South West. The West

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 3: The federal government is funding a WA trial to train aged-care workers such as cleaners to do basic health checks, including taking temperatures and dressing wounds.

Page 4: Leaked television advertising scripts for a Barnett government campaign treat West Australians as “utter morons” and were a $1.5 million abuse of taxpayers' money, the state opposition said yesterday.

The first land for sale within the Elizabeth Quay development will be for hotels to fill the city's chronic shortage of short-stay rooms.

Page 5: China's richest man is considering spending $200 million on a milk powder processing plan in the South West.

Page 6: Qantas will ditch its historic links with British Airways and Singapore to embrace Emirates and Dubai in one of the most significant airline alliance deals in decades.

Page 9: Australians buying goods overseas via the internet would pay far more for their parcels under a proposal put to the federal government to quell anger from domestic retailers.

Page 10: There are signs Australians are giving up trying to find work after another 8800 people lost their jobs last months.

Kevin Rudd is cranking up his one man revival show, hitting the streets of Brisbane yesterday to show colleagues he has what Julia Gillard lacks – popularity among the masses.

Page 14: Colin Barnett has conceded the Liberals will not meet their 2008 election promise to start construction of a gas pipeline from Bunbury to Albany in their first term of government.

Page 18: The biggest vessel to fish Australian waters is expected to start trawling within a fortnight and fisheries off WA could be its first target.

Business: Fortescue Metals Group workers at its Pilbara operations may be told today who will keep their job at the Cloudbreak operation, with the company expected to hold an all-staff meeting in the afternoon to announce the latest wave of layoffs.

Struggling surfwear retailer Billabong has received its second takeover offer in six weeks, with its latest suitor matching TPG's $694.5 million bid.

Global Construction Services is considering the relaunch of a troubled capital raising after investors failed to stump up sufficient funds for a share placement.

Just under 10 per cent of rare earths miner Lynas Corp changed hands yesterday, as short sellers were squeezed out of their positions and investors jumped back in, triggering a share price rally.

NRW Holdings has lopped $100 million off its work in hand this financial year and flagged job losses in the wake of Fortescue Metals Group curtailing its Pilbara iron ore expansion.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power has left the door open for a potential equity raising or more asset sales as market confidence in the iron ore miner waivers and key executives close to founder Andrew Forrest depart.

Australian companies could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to help cut carbon emissions in Europe because of the government's decision to scrap the closure of several coal-fired power plants.

The building union last night agreed to an immediate end to its illegal blockade of Grocon building sites in Melbourne, a victory for the tough strategy taken by chief executive Daniel Grollo.

The European Central bank set the stage for a supposedly unlimited program of bond buying last night.

Page 3: Some of the biggest winners of Qantas Airways' 10-year alliance with aviation giant Emirates will be the 8.6 million Australian Frequent Flyer members who will be able to fly to many more destinations.

Page 4: Australians will pay an extra $25 billion for power over the next 17 years unless the renewable energy target is lowered to reflect weaker demand for electricity, supplier TRUenergy says.

Page 5: Major energy users have welcomed proposed changes by the Australian Energy Market Commission which allow business and households to have a greater say in their power usage arrangements.

Page 8: Western Australia's position as the nation's job-creating engine room is strengthening as the unemployment rate rises in all southern states except NSW.

Page 9: Employers – battered by the high Australian dollar, weaker consumer spending and possibly commodity prices – show signs of clamping down on hours worked at the most sustained pace since the global financial crisis, labour force figures show.

Page 10: The business community has been urged to find ways of improving its workforce's Asian literacy skills because of the long-term economic benefits to be reaped.

It will cost up to $40 million to overhaul border processing systems before the goods and services tax can be levied on online imports under $1000, a federal Treasury taskforce has found.

Page 12: The High Court has allowed an appeal by 38,000 ANZ Banking Group customers by widening the understanding of what is a penalty payment, paving the way for customers of eight banks to try to claw back $220 million in fees.

Page 13: Gina Rinehart is offering a $50,000 bounty to the person in the resources industry who best promotes mining in the face of “far left or non-understanding media attacks”.

Page 15: The competition regulator has warned it will closely scrutinise the new alliance between Qantas and Emirates as the carriers sell the deal as a way to expand the Australian airline's presence in Europe and Asia, and protect jobs.

Page 17: Billabong's days as a publicly-listed company appear numbers after private equity firm Bain Capital matched a $695 million takeover proposal by TPG, kick-starting a formal auction process that could lead to a change in control of the beleaguered surf, ski and skate wear retailer.

NRW Holdings will lose $100 million in revenue and has pared back its profit forecast as a result of Fortescue Metals Group's decision to cut costs and slow the $9 billion expansion of its Pilbara iron ore operations.

Page 19: Rio Tinto has warned it may need to write down the value of its aluminium division further, even though it already has unveiled $US8.9 billion of charges this year.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: China has been urged to reform its multi-billion-dollar foreign investment program amid concerns in Beijing that its overseas ambitions are being derailed by the portrayal of its state-owned companies as ‘‘military or diplomatic weapons for their government’’.

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has blamed conservative premiers for a surge in industrial disputation that has seen the number of lost working days rise to their highest level since 2004.

The nation’s dirtiest brown-coal power stations face a savage backlash from less-polluting coal facilities in NSW and Queensland, which are demanding that a $5.5 billion compensation package for the carbon price be radically revised after Labor’s backflips on key planks of the carbon policy.

Internet shopping could be about to get a lot more expensive after a government taskforce recommended tax changes that would slug shoppers an average of $60 a parcel for items sent from overseas.

Page 2: Banks defending the nation’s largest class action could be forced to refund more than $100 million in overdrawn fees after ANZ customers claimed a major High Court win yesterday.

Page 6: The carbon tax is making Australia more, not less, dependent on the highly polluting brown-coal electricity generators as billion-dollar subsidies have allowed the Victorian operations to force cleaner base-load power stations out of the market.

Australia's economy shed jobs last month but the unemployment rate edged lower as thousands of Australians gave up looking for work.

The construction union last night agreed to end its blockade of Grocon sites after the company initiated fresh talks before Fair Work Australia president Iain Ross.

Page 7: Restricting the amount of farmland foreign investors and overseas food companies can buy would be a dangerous and difficult move that could cause rural land values to plummet.

Business: Bain Capital, the private equity fund co-founded by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has joined the takeover race for Billabong, offering to match rival TPG’s $694 million bid in a move that investors hope will lead to a bidding war.

Fortescue Metals Group founder Andrew Forrest is $60 million under water on his string of recent share purchases in the troubled iron ore miner, which has started laying off senior executives as part of a dramatic purge of 1000 workers across its operations.

The sweeping alliance between Qantas and Emirates is expected to propel the Australian group’s loss-making international operations back into profit and allow it to begin growing again.

ANZ chief executive Mike Smith says Australia needs to move faster to secure the benefits of the Asian boom, which could be worth more than $275 billion to the nation over the next decade on top of revenue from the powerful mining sector.

The market swiftly re-rated rare-earths miner Lynas yesterday, with its share price surging more than 40 per cent after it finally won the right to process ore at its controversial plant in Malaysia.

Gina Rinehart’s $9.5 billion Roy Hill project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region has started cutting staff, with further budget cuts expected during moves to curb spending as financing talks take longer than forecast.

Telstra chief David Thodey is set to receive a pay hike next month, bringing him in line with the pay packets of other ASX top20 CEOs.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: Two terrified women clung to a narrow ledge as a fire raged inside a Sydney unit block.

Page 2: A resident tells of the horror of seeing the women leap from the fifth floor.

Page 3: Another onlooker begged them not to jump.

World: Former US president Bill Clinton urges Americans to vote for Barack Obama.

Business: Qantas is hoping to stem its losses through an alliance with former rival Emirates.

Sport: Brian Smith has emerged as a shock contender to become Warriors coaching director.

THE HERALD SUN:

Page 1: The CFMEU abandons its illegal blockade of Grocon building sites across Melbourne, ending a bitter three-week feud that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Page 2: News Limited chief executive Kim Williams has hit out at draconian proposals for a new media regulator with the power to threaten journalists with jail.

Page 3: Parents of clumsy kids risk charges of child neglect if they show up too often at a hospital emergency ward.

World: A four-year-old girl was found alive, terrified and hiding under the bodies of her slain British family after they were massacred inside their car while on holiday.

Business: Qantas has chalked up a crucial win in its battle with Virgin Australia by forging an alliance with Dubai-based rival Emirates, industry experts say.

Sport: Collingwood has given battling big man Chris Dawes a finals reprieve, recalling him for Friday's monster clash against a rampant Hawthorn.

THE AGE:

Page 1: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has cancelled a speech at the Australian Christian Lobby's national conference after its leader said a homosexual lifestyle is more hazardous to health than smoking.

Page 3: Livestock exporters are being investigated after allegations that Australian sheep are being illegally sold and slaughtered in an inhumane way at a notorious Kuwait market.

World: The coming trial of China's most famous police chief, Wang Lijun, is set to expose a world of Byzantine conspiracies and political bastardry that even fiction writers say they would struggle to match.

Finance: Australian business leaders, including ANZ boss Mike Smith, have warned that the country's workforce is inadequately prepared for the opportunities of the Asian Century.

Sport: Andrew Krakouer is confident he can make a genuine impact on Collingwood's finals campaign, saying his reconstructed right knee has pulled up well.