News in Australia

• Tigers seeking revenge over Warriors
  

  Coach Tim Sheens says the Wests Tigers have a lot to play for in Friday night's NRL clash with the Warriors.

• Shillington back training with Qld Origin
  

  Dave Shillington has trained with the Queensland State of Origin rugby league team after sitting out Wednesday's session while battling a virus.

• Casino cleared over Vaikunta investigation
  

  An inquiry has found The Star casino investigated sexual harassment claims against its former boss "properly and thoroughly".

• $1b worth of illicit drugs seized in past year: report
  

  More than nine tonnes of illicit drugs worth more than $1 billion have been seized across Australia in the past year, but authorities concede that organised criminals continue to find clandestine ways to get their product on the streets.

• HSU isn't typical of unions: Shorten
  

  Workplace relations minister Bill Shorten says the union movement will survive attacks from the right.

• NSW teachers strike to go ahead
  

  The NSW Teachers Federation says their planned stop work meeting will go ahead on Friday.

• Page, Belcher close to sailing world title
  

  Australians Malcolm Page and Mathew Belcher are close to securing a third consecutive 470 dinghy world title off Barcelona.

• Davis Cup behind Hewitt's early return
  

  A burning desire to help Australia back into the Davis Cup World Group is a major reason behind Lleyton Hewitt's surprise early return to tennis.

• Sydney FC let 3 more players go
  

  New Sydney FC coach Ian Crook has opted not to retain Shannon Cole, Scott Jamieson and Michael Beauchamp.

• Drug seizures double across Australia
  

  The surge in illegal drug seizures across Australia is due to good police work and not an increase in organised criminal activity, the ACC says.

• Slipper conspiracies a distraction: oppn
  

  Opposition MP Bruce Billson says revelations about coalition contact with Peter Slipper's staffer don't take away from the sleaze around the government.

• Aust bonds steady after Fed minutes
  

  Australian bond future prices are virtually unchanged following the release of the minutes to the US Federal Reserve's board meeting

• IAG to review its UK business
  

  Insurance Australia Group has begun a strategic review of its business in the UK, possibly paving the way for its sale.

• CBA posts $1.7b quarterly profit
  

  Commonwealth Bank made a net profit of $1.7 billion for the three months to the end of March, but says its funding costs continue to rise.

• Gillard to attend NATO meeting in US
  

  Prime Minister Julia Gillard is heading to Chicago for a major international summit focusing on Afghanistan's post-war future.

• Commodities markets summary
  

  Commodities news from around the world

• 'Buzz off': Keating irritated by flash bulbs
  

  An angry Paul Keating gave a group of photographers in Sydney a ticking off, seconds before coming face to face with Bob Hawke, the man he ousted to become prime minister in 1991.

• $A higher on positive US housing data
  

  The Australian dollar is higher following the release of positive US housing data

• Aust stocks open higher
  

  Gains from BHP and Rio have supported a positive start on the Australian stock market.

• The price is right?
  

  Is Australia's carbon price too high compared with other major countries, or will it be all right in the end?

• Patients forced into repeat surgery over faulty hip implants
  

  MORE than 1000 patients have had to undergo repeat hip implant surgery as new figures show a dramatic rise in the failure rate of once-popular implants.

• Hockey weakens Abbott's commitment to the disabled
  

  THE Coalition has diluted its commitment to a National Disability Insurance Scheme with the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, saying it would be irresponsible to promise the scheme when there is no known way to fund it.

• Panel to help unions avoid HSU scandal
  

  A NEW panel set up by the ACTU and led by a retired Federal Court judge will help unions avoid serious governance scandals such as those engulfing the Health Services Union.

• Grandparents bear greater share of childcare duties
  

  More Australian children are being cared for by their grandparents than by formal childcare providers, such as long day care, according to new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

• Hockey doubt on disability funds
  

  Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has cast doubt on the funding for the proposed national disability insurance scheme under a Coalition government.

• Applause and no Thomson talk: what a relief!
  

  The good news for Prime Minister Julia Gillard was that Craig Thomson didn't rate a mention when she took her cabinet to a community forum in Melbourne's outer south-east last night. Nor did the travails of Peter Slipper.

• Inquiry questions 'minimal' action in pursuit of Trio fraud
  

  AUSTRALIA's top fraud fighting agencies have been called to account for their failure to pursue those responsible for stealing $176 million in Australia's largest superannuation theft.

• Sandilands ruling falls short of blanket ban
  

  AUSTRALIA'S media watchdog has been forced to defend its decision to stop short of banning controversial radio presenter Kyle Sandilands from making demeaning comments about women and girls.

• Thomson says he won't name names to the police - yet
  

  CRAIG THOMSON has declined a request from the Victorian police to nominate the people he claims tried to set him up with prostitutes.

• Thomson tells Laurie Oakes, but not police
  

  Craig Thomson has declined a request from the Victorian police to nominate the people he claims tried to set him up with prostitutes.

• Children in hiding thanks to foreign help
  

  THE mother embroiled in a bitter international custody dispute over her four daughters says a mysterious overseas benefactor is helping her children hide from authorities seeking to return them to Italy.

• Woolies executive fixed $40m computer contracts, court told
  

  A SENIOR executive at the supermarket giant Woolworths sent a stream of inside information to particular companies to ensure they won nearly $40 million worth of computer contracts in return for $3.7 million in kickbacks, a court has heard.

• Pyne emailed Slipper's accuser
  

  Opposition powerbroker Christopher Pyne made direct email contact with Peter Slipper staffer James Ashby within minutes of leaving late-night drinks in the Speaker's office earlier this year.

• Pyne sent aide email after drinks
  

  THE opposition powerbroker Christopher Pyne made direct email contact with the Peter Slipper aide James Ashby within minutes of leaving late-night drinks in the Speaker's office earlier this year.

• Parent bullies a 'growing trend'
  

  Teachers are increasingly being bullied, yelled at, and in rarer cases, physically assaulted by some assertive parents who believe they have an ''inalienable right to scream and demand things for their children,'' the NSW Teachers Federation says.

• Thomson silent on HSU foes
  

  Craig Thomson has declined a request from the Victorian police to nominate the people he claims tried to set him up with prostitutes.

• Public service cuts deeper than forecast
  

  Staff at the Department of Climate Change are bracing for sackings after management identified hundreds of positions to be axed.

• Utilities, agencies in focus in WA budget
  

  Utilities and public sector services will be in focus when the West Australian government hands down its 2012/13 budget on Thursday afternoon.

• Keating pays tribute to former ACTU boss Kelty
  

  IT WAS the Paul and Bill show, together again after all those years.

• Labor must regroup, Kelty tells ACTU
  

  Bill Kelty, the former secretary of the ACTU, has told a union gala dinner that Labor must take criticism on the chin and see the job through.

• Gillard rails at Victoria TAFE cuts
  

  Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu and his government are walking away from investment in education with cutbacks to TAFE, says Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

• Archer defends father in Games court row
  

  Olympic archery hope Elisa Barnard has defended her father, who is accused in court of trying to intimidate one of her rivals for London Games selection.

• Give Brits a 'touch-up': Coates
  

  Olympics boss John Coates has stirred up Australia's friendly rivalry with Britain, urging Aussie athletes to give their rivals a real touch-up in London.

• Browse gas hub threatens dinosaur tracks
  

  Leading paleontologist Steve Salisbury says the Browse gas hub in WA will encroach on one of the world's most extensive dinosaur track sites.

• Dart Energy to explore more CSG sites
  

  An energy company will investigate more sites for CSG wells across Sydney after Marrickville council effectivley banned them from drilling in St Peters.

• Oly chiefs in dark over boxer drug result
  

  Australian Olympic bosses John Coates and Nick Green were unaware boxer Bianca Elmir had tested positive until the story broke in the media.

• Blues out to end Origin demons
  

  NSW forward Ben Creagh admits the Blues' mounting State of Origin losses have taken a toll on the players.

• Critics told to stop attacking Flannery
  

  Climate commissioner Will Steffen has called on critics to stop their "vicious" attacks on the body's chief Tim Flannery.

• Woolies executive defrauded $3.75m: crown
  

  David Wills was one of Woolworths' top 10 executives when he used his position to influence the awarding of contracts, a Sydney jury has heard.

• Michael Clarke marries Kyly Boldy
  

  Michael Clarke has tweeted about his marriage to Kyly Boldy in a secret ceremony in Wolgan Valley, northwest of Sydney.

• Jackson slams union muzzle attempt
  

  HSUeast official Kathy Jackson has hit out strongly at attempts by the union to ban her from speaking at a dinner of a right-wing think-tank.

• Popovic signs with western Syd A-League
  

  The A-League's new western Sydney franchise will unveil Tony Popovic as their inaugural coach on Thursday after coming to terms on a deal.

• No change in MP register for 19 members
  

  An assessment of the official register of federal members of parliament's interests shows one in five have not updated it since the 2010 election.

• Hughes ready for cricket comeback
  

  A visit to the family banana farm has helped dumped Test opener Phil Hughes prepare for the long journey back into the Australian cricket team.

• Consumers uninspired by budget
  

  Consumers were largely uninspired by last week's federal budget, a document shadow treasurer Joe Hockey says has already "died".

• Aussie 'forced' to smuggle drugs to Bali
  

  An Australian man accused of trying to import a large quantity of drugs into Bali in his stomach will claim he was forced into the high-risk mission, which could see him sentenced to death if found guilty.

• Sharks hard done by during Origin period
  

  Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan says he's disappointed to have been hit with the toughest run of all NRL teams during the State of Origin period.

• Tomlinson's time in boxing spotlight
  

  Australia's IBO world super featherweight champion Will Tomlinson has a tough first title defence against Mexican Daniel Ruiz in Melbourne.

• Force closing in on new Super Rugby coach
  

  Western Force chief executive Vern Reid claims the club is closing in on a new coach, but says a final decision could still be several weeks away.

• Quit Facebook or be expelled, school says
  

  A primary school principal is threatening to expel students aged under 13 who refuse to delete their Facebook accounts, in a bold bid to stamp out cyber bullying at her school.

• Roadblock not policy but no-one fired, yet
  

  Police in Victoria will complete a review of a high-speed chase roadblock that used private cars before deciding if anyone should be fired.

• BHP won't spend $80bn on expansion: Nasser
  

  BHP Billiton chairman Jacques Nasser says a tougher global economic environment means the mining company will not spend $80bn on growth projects.

• GE buys Aussie equipment company
  

  General Electric has launched a friendly takeover of Australian mining equipment Industrea for $700 million.

• Coalition govt would keep domestic bonds
  

  Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey says a coalition government would continue to support the bond market, despite the need to pay down commonwealth debt.

• Dockers embrace unfashionable AFL style
  

  Fremantle AFL coach Ross Lyon has defended his team's perceived ugly style of football.

• Hockey no commitment on defence funding
  

  Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey will not commit to restoring defence funding or buying 12 submarines under a coalition government.

• Aliens 'told prisoner to kill cellmate'
  

  A mentally ill prisoner killed his cellmate because he thought aliens told him to sacrifice someone.

• Scott warns AFL selection axe is coming
  

  North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has foreshadowed player axings for the AFL match against Port Adelaide.

• Agencies dropped ball after Trio collapse
  

  Corporate regulators and federal police should reopen their investigation into the collapse of Trio Capital, a parliamentary committee says.

• Emerson attended Thomson law firm lunch
  

  Cabinet minister Craig Emerson attended a Labor fundraising lunch hosted by the law firm representing Craig Thomson, but says the MP was not discussed.

• We're not Woodside's guards, WA police say
  

  West Australian police at the Browse gas hub protests say they are not being used as pawns to serve the interests of Woodside and the state government.

• Lions coach not to blame for slump: Brown
  

  Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown has demanded his team stand up in their AFL clash with Greater Western Sydney at the Gabba.

• Rebels keen to prove they're a force
  

  The Melbourne Rebels are looking to consolidate their recent good form with their first away win of the season when they face the Western Force in Perth.

• Electricity prices boost SP Ausnet profit
  

  Higher electricity prices have helped Victorian power distributor SP Ausnet grow its full year profit to $253 million.

• Food poisoning fails to halt Eagle Kerr
  

  Eagles AFL veteran Daniel Kerr is back at training after overcoming a bout of food poisoning, but Matt Priddis is still recovering from a head knock.

• HSU application 'must be heard urgently'
  

  The NSW Industrial Court has heard it must urgently hear an application to put the embattled HSU east branch into administration.

• Thomson probe sparks call for tougher laws
  

  MP Craig Thomson has been cleared of breaching electoral laws for his 2007 campaign, leading the AEC to call for tougher rules.

• Hourly pay rates rise in Mar quarter
  

  Rising labour prices in the first three months of the year contrast with the central bank's reading of employment demand and inflation, economists say.

• Stocks to watch at close on Wednesday
  

  Stocks of interest on the Australian Securities Exchange at close on Wednesday

• Sydney FC vets not worried by youngsters
  

  Sydney FC skipper Terry McFlynn says he is not threatened by new coach Ian Crook's possible promotion of youngsters into the A-League squad.

• NSW govt tries to stop teacher strike
  

  The NSW government has offered teachers the use of a communication system in hopes of stopping Friday's planned industrial action.

• Loan approvals up 5.2% in March
  

  Total loan approvals rose by 5.2 per cent in March, including commercial and personal loans.

• Class action over hepatitis C scandal
  

  A class action has been launched by 50 women who contracted hepatitis C after undergoing procedures at a Melbourne clinic.

• Police investigate leaked Kevin Rudd video
  

  Federal police have launched an investigation into the leaking of a video that showed former prime minister Kevin Rudd swearing and thumping a desk.

• You're fired! Video mix-up reveals Apprentice victor
  

  A ninemsn employee might be in the firing line today after accidentally posting a video online announcing the winner of Channel Nine's Celebrity Apprentice before it was due to air tonight.

• Hourly pay rates up 0.9% in Mar quarter
  

  The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its labour price index.

• Black Saturday victims win $32 million
  

  A $32 million compensation package has been awarded to victims of a Black Saturday bushfire in Victoria's northeast.

• NSW armed robbers escape in victim's car
  

  Four men are on the loose after holding up staff at knife point and stealing cash from a club before fleeing in a victim's car on the NSW mid-north coast.

• Drugs added to killer-truck crash charges
  

  Police allege a truck driver was under the influence of methadone when his B-double collided with a car and killed a man and his parents instantly.

• Toll shares plunge amid earnings gloom
  

  Toll Holdings has warned of lower earnings for 2012 as it begins a strategic review of key businesses and announces writedowns.

• Ocean temperature made Queensland floods worse: study
  

  Abnormally high ocean temperatures off the coast of northern Australia contributed to the extreme rainfall that flooded three-quarters of Queensland over the summer of 2010-11, scientists report.

• Returning Cooper has two Test auditions
  

  Wallabies star Quade Cooper will be a shock starter in his long-awaited return from a knee reconstruction for the Queensland Reds against the Lions.

• Hewitt, Barty get French Open wildcards
  

  Three-times quarter-finalist Lleyton Hewitt and Wimbledon junior champion Ashleigh Barty have received wildcards into the French Open.

• CSR says housing recovery hard to predict
  

  Building products maker CSR expects the tough housing construction market to continue for the forseeable future and says it's hard to say when it will end.

• Thomson cleared over election spending
  

  Craig Thomson has been cleared of breaking election laws, but senior Labor figures are talking down his chances of endorsement.

• Euro zone worries push bond prices higher
  

  Australian bond future prices have risen slightly on continued worry about the Euro zone.

• Commodities markets summary
  

  Commodities news from around the world

• Ashby drops Peter Slipper taxi claims
  

  James Ashby has abandoned claims that Peter Slipper rorted cab vouchers and will now "significantly expand" on his civil claims against the Speaker.

• International markets roundup
  

  News from the world’s major stock markets

• Aust Stocks plunge on Greek woes
  

  Australian stocks have plunged to two month lows led by the resources sector, amid worries about the future of the euro zone