A wrap up of headlines in the morning newspapers.
The West Australian business stories
Kiernan, Forrest hook up
A follow up to yesterday's early news that Michael Kiernan's Monarch Resources will merge with Andrew Forrest's Siberia Mining in a $60 million deal.
Timbercorp confident it can keep up profit growth
A report on Timbercorpo's strong profit result yesterday.
Past APPEA boss dies
A short note on the passing away of Barry Jones.
Incitec slumps, tips recovery
A report on yesterday's profit warning.
Emporer hits big league with $314m deal
A report on Emporer's purchase of South African gold producer DRDGold's Papua New Guinean assets.
Taxman gets tough on agents filing dodgy returns
A brief report of Michael Carmody's speech in Perth yesterday. The outgoing commissioner of taxation said the ATO was closing in on tax agents lining their own pockets with false returns. Also the tax office is upgrading its risk profiling to identify those failing to pay appropriate levels of tax.
Below are the main stories in today's national newspapers:
THE AUSTRALIAN
Page 1 - Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorist warns Australians in a video message there will be terror attacks both here and abroad unless John Howard pulls troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan; US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, currently visiting Adelaide, says President George W. Bush has ordered an extensive upgrade of Australia's access to US intelligence; An American engineer who allegedly sold top military secrets overseas is accused of seeking $3 million worth of funding from Australian Defence officials to develop top secret technology to protect RAAF aircraft; The daughter of former West Australian premier Brian Burke is running for the ALP state presidency.
Page 2 - Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong embarrassingly fails to tell John Howard of Nguyen Tuong Van's execution date, during a meeting between the two leaders.
Page 3 - Socceroo fans pack Sydney's Domain to celebrate Australia's victory over Uruguay in the World Cup deciding match.
Finance - Patrick Corp will pass on $163.5 million from Virgin Blue to its own shareholders in a special dividend, despite Toll Holdings saying the company is strapped for cash.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
Page 1 - John Howard approves of a merger between Qantas and Singapore Airlines to create a powerful Asia-Pacific carrier; ATO to issue guidelines on what it regards as tax avoidance; Emperor Mines consummates a $315 million deal to make it Australia's third-largest listed gold producer.
Page 3 - The federal government rebukes Telstra for seeking relief from regulation in its new strategy announced this week.
World - Indonesia welcomes Australia's decision to soften its travel warnings to its country; Representatives from Australian mining companies will discuss improved investment in China during a Beijing meeting.
Markets - Listed technology companies are riding a wave of corporate investment in new computer and communication systems.
