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Berlusconi drops bid to topple Italy govt

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 02 Oktober 2013 | 23.49

Ex-supporters of Italy's Silvio Berlusconi look likely to undermine a bid to topple the government. Source: AAP

ITALY'S Silvio Berlusconi has abandoned his bid to topple Prime Minister Enrico Letta, saying he would vote to support the government after key allies rebelled in a humiliating climb down.

"We have decided to vote for confidence, not without internal disputes," Berlusconi said on Wednesday ahead of a confidence vote in parliament called after he launched his challenge to the leadership on Saturday.

Berlusconi said he had changed his mind on Wednesday after hearing Letta's promise to lower taxes and "the need for a government that can carry out institutional reforms in Italy".

The surprise about-turn made victory for Letta's coalition a certainty and was immediately cheered by the markets, with shares in Milan jumping 1.45 per cent after the shock announcement.

The difference between rates on Italian 10-year government bonds and benchmark German ones - a measure of investor confidence - also narrowed to 253 basis points from 260 points on Tuesday.

Letta shook his head as Berlusconi was speaking and the address was followed by stunned silence.

MPs were still set to vote despite the change of heart by a man who has dominated Italian political life for much of the past two decades.

Letta earlier asked MPs to vote for him, saying Italians were tired of "blood in the arena".

"Italy runs a risk that could be a fatal risk. Seizing this moment or not depends on us, on a yes or a no," Letta said in his address to the Senate.

"This is an historic situation," he said.

Several key figures from Berlusconi's own centre-right People of Freedom party (PDL) broke ranks with the billionaire media mogul after his decision to call time on the government and pull his ministers from the cabinet on Saturday.

Letta immediately condemned the move as "crazy and irresponsible" and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, national secretary of Berlusconi's party, reacted by saying he would be "pro-Berlusconi in a different way".

A letter doing the rounds in the Senate just before Berlusconi spoke had 23 signatures of PDL senators willing to defy their leader.

Together with votes from four rebels of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, this would have been sufficient for Letta to win a majority even without Berlusconi's support.

"Italians are crying out that they cannot take any more blood in the arena, with politicians who slit each other's throats and then nothing changes," said Letta, a 47-year-old moderate leftist.

Tensions within the coalition have spiked since Italy's top court upheld a tax fraud conviction against Berlusconi in August, which could see him ejected from the Senate later this month and barred from taking part in elections.

Analysts warn recession-hit Italy's fiscal policy targets are still at risk and the political drama could delay the 2014 budget.

The country is suffering the longest downturn since the Second World War and is struggling to meet a public deficit target of 2.9 per cent for this year - below the EU-mandated 3.0 per cent.

The jobless rate has also returned to a record high of 12.2 per cent, with youth unemployment also at its highest ever level of 40.1 per cent.


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Cotton On buys Supre

FASHION retailer Cotton On has bought the Supre fashion brand.

Supre was established in 1984 in Sydney, and has grown to sell clothing for girls and young women in 157 stores across Australia and New Zealand.

Cotton On, which owns a range of fashion brands and the Typo stationery chain, was formed in Geelong, Victoria in 1991.

Its chief executive Peter Johnson said Supre would retain its own brand under the control of Cotton On.

"The support of the Cotton On Group will take Supre to the next level, strengthening its market position, store footprint and online presence," he said.


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Greens WA Senator requests recount

GREENS West Australian Senator Scott Ludlam has formally requested a partial recount of votes after preferences pushed his seat into the hands of the fledgling Palmer United Party (PUP).

The Australian Electoral Commission is expected to complete the request within 24 hours, a spokesman for Senator Ludlam said.

A 14-vote difference between two of the micro-parties - the Shooters and Fishers Party, and Australian Christians - meant preferences went against Senator Ludlam.

The spokesman said he had not requested a full recount, "just the relevant ones".

Greens leader Christine Milne said the state would lose an intelligent, passionate and respected environmental and social justice advocate if the recount provided the same result.

"The entire party room is devastated at the thought of Scott leaving the Senate next year," she said.

"It would be particularly hard given how close the result was."

Senator Ludlam said he was disappointed with the result.

He said it appeared PUP had been elected on roughly half the vote of the Greens, and the need for electoral reform was now urgent.

"That is the sort of result our voting system throws up from time to time," Senator Ludlam told ABC radio.

"It is an elegant system being expertly gamed and manipulated.

"The whole purpose of an electoral system is to accurately as possible reflect the voting will of the Australian people. It has let us down in this instance."

He said losing his seat was sinking in and added that anyone who thought politicians did "a crap job" should "just try it".

The Australian Sports Party's Wayne Dropulich, who was in the running for a Senate seat in WA, also lost out on preference votes and has also requested a recount.

When Senator Ludlam's term expires on June 30 next year, his seat will be filled by PUP's Zhenya Wang.

Also known at Dio Wang, he's the managing director of Australasian Resources, which is majority-owned by PUP leader Clive Palmer and hasn't produced any iron ore despite operating in the Pilbara for decades.

It's the third senate seat for the newly formed party, which installed former rugby league forward Glenn Lazarus in Queensland and former soldier Jacqui Lambie in Tasmania.

The Liberal Party again has three senators in WA, incumbents David Johnston and Michaelia Cash, and newcomer Linda Reynolds, once the chief of staff to former Senator Chris Ellison.

Representing Labor is incumbent Louise Pratt - who hangs on despite being shunted to the party's second place on the ballot ticket - and Joe Bullock, the former state secretary of the Shop Assistant's Union who was placed first after a factional split.

Mr Palmer, who is facing a recount after finishing only seven votes ahead of his Liberal National Party opponent in the federal seat of Fairfax on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, described PUP's Senate results as "a tremendous achievement in our election debut".

Mr Wang said he was humbled by his surprising win.


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Microsoft hands user data to Aust govt

MICROSOFT handed Australian government agents personal information about more than a thousand users in the first half of 2013, a transparency report reveals.

Between January and June, authorities made 1219 requests for access to data relating to 1462 accounts.

Microsoft granted 1050 (86 per cent) of those requests - handing over information such as email addresses, names, locations and internet protocol (IP) addresses.

However, the company did not disclose user-generated "content data" - which includes emails, documents and photographs.

Six requests did not meet legal requirements and were rejected, while the company was unable to find the requested data in 163 cases.

The report is the second Microsoft has released on government data requests.

The first revealed the company received 2238 requests from Australian authorities last year.

Globally, 64 governments made 37,000 requests concerning 67,000 accounts. More than 70 per cent came from the US, UK, France, Germany and Turkey.

Microsoft provided information 80 per cent of the time but only one in fifty requests led the company to release sensitive "content data".

The requests usually relate to criminal investigations but some involve "imminent emergencies" such as suicide threats.

The company sought to reassure users, stating on its website that fewer than one in every 10,000 users were affected by law enforcement requests during the reporting period.

Microsoft was unable to confirm the number of active Australian users.

"We place a premium on respecting and protecting the privacy of our users," the company said in the report.

"At the same time, Microsoft recognises that law enforcement plays a critically important role in keeping our users and our technology safe and free from abuse or exploitation."

Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo! have all released similar reports in recent months.

Transparency has emerged as a sensitive issue this year in the wake of leaks by former US government contractor Edward Snowden, which revealed that nine companies had turned over user data to the US National Security Agency.

Last month, Yahoo! released its first global transparency report, which revealed it had received 704 requests from Australian agents in the first six months of 2013, regarding 799 accounts or users.

The company granted full access to "content data" in response to 11 requests - handing over information such as the content of emails, uploaded files and Yahoo address, calendar and notepad entries.

It handed over "non-content data" in response to 305 of the requests, rejected 242 and found no data in 146.

Facebook's first transparency report, released in August, reported the social networking site received 546 requests regarding 601 Australian-held accounts in the first six months of 2013.

It granted information in response to 64 per cent of the requests.

In the same month, Twitter revealed it received 58 information requests from Australian authorities in the first half of the year, compared to fewer than ten in the second half of 2012. The microblogging site responded with information in a quarter of cases.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) recently confirmed to AAP that it made requests for data from Facebook but would not disclose the number or their nature.


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Fire burning near homes in small NSW town

A firefighter was allegedly attacked while trying to put out a fire in the NSW Southern Highlands. Source: AAP

AN out-of-control bushfire is threatening homes on the edge of a small fishing village on the NSW mid-north coast.

Firefighters were working near properties at the north at Harrington, near Taree, the Rural Fire Service said on its website.

A "watch and act" alert has been issued for the fire, with burning embers falling in the township.

Fire crews are working between the uncontained blaze and homes, the RFS says.

It says Crowdy Road is closed in both directions.

Locals are being advised to be ready to put out spot fires around their properties.

Meanwhile, the RFS has downgraded a bushfire burning in Sydney's northern suburbs from "watch and act" to "advice".

The blaze in Warringah is burning in bushland behind homes in Maitland Street, Cambage Court and McBrien Place at Davidson.

The RFS says no properties are under immediate threat, with firefighters conducting backburning in the area.

About 60 fires are burning across NSW, with 25 of them uncontained.

Earlier on Wednesday, a 21-year-old RFS volunteer was suspended after being charged with lighting a series of fires.

Fire caused considerable damage to bushland in the Lake Macquarie area during August and September.

Police allege the volunteer from Rutherford lit 10 small fires during that time.

He was charged with 10 counts of knowingly causing a fire and being reckless about its spread.

The alleged arsonist was refused bail and will appear at Toronto Local Court on Wednesday.

The charge comes after two men, aged 24 and 26, were on Tuesday charged following the bashing of an RFS officer in the state's Southern Highlands.

The officer was on his way to put out a shed fire when the men allegedly attacked him at Yanderra, police said on Wednesday.

The men have both been charged, with one to appear in court on Wednesday and the other on October 29.

The RFS officer was treated for minor injuries.

RFS Inspector Ben Shepherd says it's not yet known if the blazes at Harrington and in Sydney's north were deliberately lit.

"No, once again we'll be investigating it in due course," Mr Shepherd told Fairfax Radio Network.

"We want to concentrate at this stage actually just getting the fires under control, then we'll be looking at all avenues."


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Vic bikies appear in court after raids

On this day in history - October 3

On this day in history - October 3

TODAY is Thursday, October 3, the 276th day of 2013. There are 89 days left in the year.

Family defends 'hero' driver of deadly crash

Family defends 'hero' driver of deadly crash

THE man whose tanker erupted in a fireball, killing two men, has been described as a "very good and careful" driver by his family.

Beware of the KRuddinator

Beware KRuddinator - 'he'll be back'

KEVIN Rudd's brother is yet to contact the former prime minister since his election loss, but is sure that, like The Terminator, "he'll be back".

'Get on Friend for Clive Churchill'

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GRAND final week. Pearce v Cherry-Evans. SBW v Watmough. The refs' impact. CHAT LIVE with Paul Kent, Jeff Robson, Bill Harrigan and Braith Anasta.

Police fear second drug lab fire

Police fear second drug lab fire

A SECOND possible drug lab explosion in the space of 24 hours yesterday tore through a home in Sydney's west leaving a 43-year-old male occupant in hospital in a "very serious" condition.


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Australians pay off NBN FoI request

AND you thought fibre-to-the-home was fast.

Australians are so keen for information on the National Broadband Network (NBN) that they've helped pay an expensive Freedom of Information (FoI) request for ministerial briefings in just five hours.

Delimiter editor Renai LeMay on Wednesday used funding site Pozible to raise $2072 for the briefing "blue book" that was provided to new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull last month.

The site has since achieved above its target, with 122 supporters pledging a total of $2262 as of 10pm AEST on Wednesday night.

Mr LeMay has promised contributors he'll publish the 545-page document on his technology website when he receives it.

However, it's highly unlikely users will get the full briefing afforded to Mr Turnbull, with the Department of Communications estimating that 97.55 hours of decision-making time will go into judging what portions of the blue book will be released.

Mr LeMay also warned contributors in his funding request that the Department of Communications had given him a preliminary warning that a "significant proportion" of the briefings won't be made available.

The internet push for the ministerial briefings comes less than one month after an online petition urging the coalition to reconsider its plans to create a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network in place of Labor's existing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) approach garnered 263,000 online signatures.

Labor's FTTH network connects every home and business with optical fibre cables, which provides download speeds up to 1000 megabits a second (Mbps), upload speeds of 400Mbps and aimed to be completed by 2021.

The coalition campaigned for a FTTN policy, which will rely on existing copper lines, and provide most homes with download speeds of 50Mbps and upload speeds of 5Mbps by 2019.


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Heat could cause 'massive' koala decline

On this day in history - October 3

On this day in history - October 3

TODAY is Thursday, October 3, the 276th day of 2013. There are 89 days left in the year.

Family defends 'hero' driver of deadly crash

Family defends 'hero' driver of deadly crash

THE man whose tanker erupted in a fireball, killing two men, has been described as a "very good and careful" driver by his family.

Beware of the KRuddinator

Beware KRuddinator - 'he'll be back'

KEVIN Rudd's brother is yet to contact the former prime minister since his election loss, but is sure that, like The Terminator, "he'll be back".

'Get on Friend for Clive Churchill'

Jake Friend

GRAND final week. Pearce v Cherry-Evans. SBW v Watmough. The refs' impact. CHAT LIVE with Paul Kent, Jeff Robson, Bill Harrigan and Braith Anasta.

Police fear second drug lab fire

Police fear second drug lab fire

A SECOND possible drug lab explosion in the space of 24 hours yesterday tore through a home in Sydney's west leaving a 43-year-old male occupant in hospital in a "very serious" condition.


23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More
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