Global web paedophile gets 14 years

A PROLIFIC paedophile who used the internet to target and blackmail young girls all over the world, including a girl in Tasmania who was key to his arrest, has been jailed in a case described as one of the worst British courts have ever seen.

The "sadistic exploitation" conducted by Robert Hunter, of Middlesbrough, was so extensive that an international operation through Interpol was sparked.

This came after the 35-year-old had used sites such as Facebook, Skype and MSN to abuse girls as young as nine from across Europe, Asia, Canada and the US.

He would also often pose as the singer Justin Bieber in an attempt to convince the girls to expose themselves and perform sex acts on a webcam.

Teesside Crown Court heard that after being arrested in December 2012, he continued to target children and this resulted in a girl from Tasmania eventually contacting police, who traced him back to his home.

In total, more than 800 videos and images were discovered on his computer, all of them made by the defendant.

Richard Bennett, prosecuting, said over the course of 2010, 2011 and 2012, Hunter had pretended to a number of very young girls that he was a teenager using a number of online aliases.

"On each occasion he was able to disguise his true age and identity by the clever use of images of young boys or by pretending that his computer wasn't working properly.

"As a further demonstration of the naivete and innocence of his victims, he was also able to persuade some that he was the music artist Justin Bieber.

"He did this in order to dupe and encourage these young girls to strip on webcams and perform sex acts for him."

Hunter also blackmailed some of the victims into agreeing to his demands by threatening to make the videos he had already made of them public.

Sentencing Hunter to 14 years in prison, Judge Peter Bowers said it represented a callous and sadistic exploitation.

"This is one of the most serious cases on internet abuse that the courts have dealt with," he said.

"It's a warning to all parents of teenage children of what can be done via the internet.

"The public will be disgusted by how you have behaved even after you had been arrested and bailed.

"It represents callous and sadistic exploitation of a number of girls over a number of years."

Tamara Pawson, defending, said Hunter was remorseful for his actions and the distress he had caused.

In total, Hunter pleaded guilty to 30 offences, which included 15 charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and 14 of making indecent photos of children.

Sergeant Paul Higgins, from Cleveland Police, said Robert Hunter was a calculating and malicious predator who set out to coerce and bully young girls into exposing themselves over the internet.

"This investigation highlights the dangers that children face when conversing with people over the internet," he said.

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Gates stays atop Forbes US rich list

AMERICA'S super-rich just keep getting richer.

Forbes on Monday released its annual list of the top 400 richest Americans.

While most of the top names and rankings didn't change from a year ago, the majority of members of the elite club saw their fortunes grow over the past year, helped by strong stock and real estate markets.

Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates remains America's richest man, taking the top spot on the list for the 20th straight year, with a net worth of $US72 billion ($A77.27 billion).

Investor Warren Buffett, the head of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, keeps second place with $US58.5 billion, while Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison stayed third with $US41 billion.

Brothers Charles and David Koch, co-owners of Koch Industries Inc, stay tied for fourth with $US36 billion each.

Wal-Mart heirs Christy Walton, Jim Walton, Alice Walton and S. Robson Walton took the next three spots, with holdings ranging from $US33.3 billion to $US35.4 billion.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the founder of the eponymous financial information company, rounds out the top 10 with $US31 billion.

According to Forbes, the 400 people on the annual list posted a combined net worth of $2 trillion, up from $US1.7 trillion a year ago.

That marks their highest combined value ever.

Meanwhile, the average net worth of the list's members rose to $US5 billion, the highest ever, up from $US4.2 billion in 2012.

Net worth grew for 314 members and fell for 30 members, Forbes said.

Net worth for America's wealthiest people have risen in the years since the financial crisis, widening the gap between the exceptionally well-to-do and the rest of the country.

According to a study of Internal Revenue Service figures released last week, the top one per cent of US earners collected 19.3 per cent of household income in 2012, their largest share in IRS figures going back a century.

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Palmer swipes at ex-military in AEC

BILLIONAIRE businessman and political hopeful Clive Palmer has taken a swipe at ex-military personnel as part of his suspicions involving the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

As his race for the Queensland seat of Fairfax enters the closing phases, Mr Palmer said that despite the outcome, and a stalled Federal Court injunction, he planned to pursue legal avenues probing the polling process.

"One of the things I'm concerned about in Australia is all our divisional returning officers are ex-military officers of the Australian armed forces," Mr Palmer said on ABC TV.

"I think the military shouldn't be involved in a democracy."

Mr Palmer has questioned why 760 more lower house ballot papers than Senate ballot papers were returned from a polling booth at Coolum Beach in his electorate, pointing at security lapses.

"I think our AEC officers should represent the community. We don't want a whole class of one people that have got links together," Mr Palmer said.

"What I'm saying not is that one person is in the military, I'm saying there's multiple people who have served in the military as officers, (who are) in this role."

In a statement obtained by News Corp Australia, the AEC said the Federal Court reserved judgment on Mr Palmer's injunction on Monday.

"The AEC further notes there is a proper, transparent and evidence-based process for dealing with allegations of illegal practice - through the High Court of Australia sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns," the statement said.

"This is the only way in which the Electoral Act provides for a dispute to be dealt and allows any candidate, political party or member of the public to petition the CDR to have a particular electoral result examined."

Mr Palmer said evidence was mounting to suggest vote tampering.

On Monday evening, Mr Palmer was 362 votes ahead of Liberal candidate for Fairfax Ted O'Brien with more than 89 per cent of the count complete.

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Council to make big difference: Mundine

THE coalition government's planned Indigenous Advisory Council will make a difference to the quality of Aboriginal life in as little as five years, says incoming chairman Warren Mundine.

The former ALP president was scathing of high spending in the area which he said had proven ineffective.

"You've got half a million indigenous people in Australia. There's only about a couple of hundred thousand of them who need support and help, and we're spending $25 billion on it on an annual basis," Mr Mundine told ABC TV on Monday.

"That just doesn't make sense to me. I'm a businessman and if I ran a business like that I'd probably go bankrupt very quickly."

Prime minister-elect Tony Abbott has promised to set up the council within a week of being sworn in to the top job on Wednesday.

The council will firstly review current indigenous spending and make recommendations to government, before being responsible for overseeing change.

After airing his frustration at the lack of progress under a Labor government, Mr Mundine is confident the coalition plan will make a difference.

"We're focusing on an area that has been lacking in this whole area of Aboriginal affairs and that is, if you're going to create jobs, that is not through government funding, that is through economic activity."

He said it was essential to work with the private sector to create job opportunities and match education and training, while on another level boost Aboriginal childhood education.

"Through that process I predict within about five to seven years you'll make a massive difference," Mr Mundine said.

The council boss said he had also spoken with incoming treasurer Joe Hockey about the coalition's proposed $42 million cuts to indigenous legal services.

"He is pulling back on that," Mr Mundine said of Mr Hockey.

Asked if it meant the cuts would not go ahead, Mr Mundine said: "No, I don't think it will be cut."

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Harper Lee settles copyright lawsuit

HARPER Lee has settled the lawsuit she filed to secure the copyright to her classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

A federal judge in New York City approved the order last week dismissing the case against Samuel L. Pinkus, the son-in-law of Lee's former literary agent, and companies he allegedly created.

Two other defendants had been dropped from the suit a week earlier.

Gloria C. Phares, the Alabama author's lawyer, says the case has ended to Lee's satisfaction.

Defence lawyer Vincent Carissimi said many people misconstrued the nature of the case and that Lee's royalties were never in danger.

Filed in early May in US District Court in Manhattan, the suit alleged that Pinkus failed to properly protect the copyright after his father-in-law, Eugene Winick, became ill a decade ago.

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Small business sees long haul to recovery

AUSTRALIA faces a long road to economic recovery, even if business gains a short-term boost in confidence from the election of a majority coalition government, new research suggests.

A survey of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in August found that just 23 per cent of respondents expect the domestic economy to improve within 12 months.

The survey of 1022 SMEs by business software provider MYOB released on Tuesday found 35 per cent expect an improvement to take to one to two years, while 26 per cent expect it will take more than two years.

Confidence results were a little weaker than those reported in MYOB's previous Business Monitor released in March.

The results correspond with a dip in revenue expectations for this financial year, with only a quarter anticipating a revenue rise, down from 30 per cent six months ago.

Twenty-two per cent are expecting a fall (up from 19 per cent) and 44 per cent are expecting stable revenue (up from 42 per cent).

MYOB chief executive officer Tim Reed believes political uncertainty in the lead up to the election was likely to have had a strong influence on the results.

"We hope to see a boost in SME confidence now the election verdict is in, but our research suggests it will be a slow road to significant improvement in the health of our economy and our business outlook," Mr Reed said.

"The financial confidence of the country's small to medium business operators is closely linked to the health of our economy and it is telling us a clear story."

He said while SMEs welcome record-low interest rates, they also recognise it as a sure sign the domestic economy is experiencing slowed growth.

Two industry sectors stood out as being particularly gloomy about the outlook - only 13 per cent of agribusiness owners saw an improvement in the economy within a year, while 35 per cent of manufacturing and wholesale business owners expect a revenue fall this year.

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Unemployment tipped to hit four year high

Unemployment has hit a four year high and could get up to six per cent. Source: AAP

THE unemployment rate is expected to have hit a four year high in August as businesses held off on hiring until after the federal election.

Official labour force figures are to be released on Thursday morning, and the median forecast from an AAP survey of 11 economists is for the unemployment rate to rise to 5.8 per cent, from 5.7 per cent in July.

Unemployment hasn't been that high since August 2009.

The number of people with jobs is expected to have risen by 10,000 in August, compared to a fall of 10,200 in July.

But JP Morgan Australia chief economist Stephen Walters said jobs growth of 10,000 a month is not enough to absorb the increase in population and keep the unemployment rate from rising.

"It is possible that firms held back hiring decisions close to the federal election, which would depress the August numbers," he said.

"It is difficult to disentangle the impact of an election from the prevailing macro backdrop of the time, but there is circumstantial evidence of a pre-election hiring stall in one recent case."

Mr Walters there was a similar pattern ahead of the November 2007 election, when Labor's Kevin Rudd defeated the then prime minister John Howard.

The participation rate - the percentage of the working-age population either in work or looking for a job - is expected to rise to 65.2 per cent in August, from 65.1 per cent in July.

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Prince William quits armed forces

Prince William is quitting the armed forces and will focus on charity duties for 12 months. Source: AAP

PRINCE William is quitting the armed forces and will spend the next 12 months focusing on royal and charitable duties while he decides what work to do in the future.

The transitional year is expected to include a trip to Australia with his wife Kate and little Prince George.

It was always expected the Duke of Cambridge would increasingly focus on royal engagements as the Queen slowed down, but it's understood he is not yet ready to become a "full time royal".

William has worked as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot in Wales for the past three years.

During that time he was involved in 156 operations resulting in 149 people being rescued.

But Kensington Palace on Thursday announced "the Duke is to leave operational service in the armed forces".

"He completes his tour with the RAF search and rescue force ... after more than seven-and-a-half years of full-time military service," the palace said in a statement.

In total the Duke has completed 1300 flying hours with the RAF.

Prince William plans to support the Queen and the royal family through a program of official engagements with Kate over the next 12 months.

He'll work with his charity in the field of conservation, particularly in respect of endangered species, as well as helping children, young people and veterans.

As to his long-term future, the palace stated: "The Duke is currently considering a number of options for public service, a further announcement on which will follow in due course."

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said William was always going to take on more official royal duties as the Queen and her husband Philip aged.

"The next 12 months will be heavily focused on royal duties and charitable work," he told AAP.

"But the prince has also made it very clear he wants to be a modern father so there's no doubt he'll be spending a great deal of time with his son and Kate. It's a modern approach."

Mr Fitzwilliams said the Duke had done extraordinarily well during his military career.

"He would have wished to have been on the front line if he could have been but, being a future heir to the throne, that simply wasn't possible."

William, Kate and baby George are expected to move into their official residence at Kensington Palace within the next few weeks.

The Duke revealed at the Anglesey Show in mid-August that the family plans to visit Australia in 2014.

The royal tour will be reminiscent of the 1983 trip undertaken by Prince Charles and Princess Diana with a then nine-month-old William.

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Labor facing weeks long leadership vacancy

Outgoing federal attorney-general Mark Dreyfus (pic) will back Bill Shorten to lead the Labor party. Source: AAP

LABOR faces the prospect of its own new internal processes leaving the party without a federal leader for weeks, while Anthony Albanese remains quiet on his ambitions.

Bill Shorten on Thursday became the sole candidate for the leadership, pressuring likely contender and incumbent deputy Mr Albanese to put up or shut up.

A contest between the two would trigger a ballot of rank-and-file Labor members as well as caucus to decide who takes the party's parliamentary leadership.

But as the ALP tries to scratch out a future following Saturday's election loss, the party remains racked by disharmony, as it faces a possible leadership vacuum.

Senior Labor Senator Stephen Conroy slammed the new guidelines which require 60 per cent support in a ballot of branch members to endorse a leadership candidate.

"These rules that have been put in place will make us an absolute laughing stock," Senator Conroy said.

"We have this ludicrous circumstances where we might not have a leader for four, six, eight weeks."

In his pitch for the top job, which included plans to win the next national poll, Mr Shorten addressed a wide audience.

"I shall submit myself to caucus colleagues and to thousands of Labor Party members across Australia and I welcome this ballot and the opportunity to start the momentum so that Labor can win the next election," he said.

The Victorian Labor right heavyweight was not fazed by a possible challenge from Mr Albanese, who hails from the party's left and is yet to officially stand.

"If Anthony nominates, he will be an excellent, outstanding candidate," Mr Shorten said.

"If he was successful, I would certainly work with him and accept the verdict of the members."

But the outgoing education minister also took the opportunity to champion his own qualities.

"I believe I bring energy, I bring optimism, I'm hungry for victory," Mr Shorten said.

The leadership will be discussed at the Labor caucus meeting in Canberra on Friday during which Kevin Rudd is set to stand aside.

Western Sydney MP Laurie Ferguson wants Mr Shorten for leader and outgoing health minister Tanya Plibersek as deputy.

"I think Plibersek's probably the only one that's kept her nose clean," he told AAP, adding that neither Mr Shorten or Mr Albanese "are pure".

The ninth-term MP also took a swipe at Labor's leadership transition rules saying they put the party in a difficult position.

The man responsible for the new process, Mr Rudd, offered no opinion of who should replace him as leader with a spokeswoman from his office declining to comment.

Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus said Mr Shorten would make a better party leader than Mr Albanese and distanced himself from Senator Conroy's criticism of what he considers an "open and democratic process".

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it taking a bit of time," he said.

"That's what democracy sometimes requires."

Mr Shorten had a clear message for those engaged in Labor's internal bickering.

"Please go into an empty room and say it to no one."

Labor Senator Doug Cameron, who supports the leadership ballot model, denied the incoming party leader would have problems operating with Mr Rudd on the backbench.

"We should get over that and just get on with the fact that (Mr Rudd) is the elected member and he is entitled to sit in the caucus, he is entitled to contribute," Senator Cameron told ABC TV, adding that he believed Mr Rudd's prime ministerial aspirations had come to an end.

He bluntly ruled out the need for any more departures from the party.

"My view is that we are almost anaemic, there should be no more bloodletting," Senator Cameron said.

"We should cauterise the wounds, we should get on with looking after the issues that the membership of the party want, that the community who voted for Labor in their millions want."

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China vows air pollution cuts

China has announced plans to reduce levels of pollutants in the air by up to 25 per cent in Beijing. Source: AAP

CHINA has vowed to reduce levels of atmospheric pollutants in Beijing and other major cities by as much as 25 per cent to try to improve their dire air quality.

China's State Council, or cabinet, said on Thursday that "concentrations of fine particles" in the capital's air will fall by "approximately 25 per cent" from 2012 levels by 2017.

Other major Chinese cities on China's affluent east coast, including Shanghai and Guangzhou, will see reductions of between 10 and 20 per cent from 2012 levels over the same period, said a plan posted on the central government's website.

Cities across China have been hit by intense air pollution in recent years, much of it caused by emissions from coal-burning power stations, with levels of small particles known as PM2.5 reaching as high as 40 times World Health Organisation (WHO) limits this year.

The pollution has been linked to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, and has tarnished the image of Chinese cities including Beijing, which saw an almost 15 per cent drop in tourist visits during the first half of this year.

The plan said pollution levels would be cut by slowing the growth of coal consumption, so that its share of China's total energy consumption falls to 65 per cent by 2017.

China relied on coal for 67 per cent of its energy needs last year, environmental group the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a statement.

"We call on the Chinese government to set a more positive target, to more strictly limit coal consumption," WWF China's climate and energy project manager Lu Lunyan said in the statement.

China is the world's biggest coal consumer and is forecast to account for more than half of global demand next year.

Three of China's most populated coastal regions - including the areas surrounding Shanghai, Beijing, and the manufacturing hub of the Pearl River delta - should "strive to achieve a reduction in total consumption of coal", the plan said.

But it did not state any precise targets for reductions, and activists gave the proposals a mixed assessment.

The plan "takes very important steps" towards controlling rapid growth in coal consumption, said Li Yan, climate and energy campaign manager at Greenpeace East Asia.

But to reduce air pollution significantly "it will be necessary to limit coal consumption in other areas as well", she said in a statement.

The plan did not call for cuts in coal consumption in China's vast inland provinces, which researchers earlier this year said are responsible for 80 per cent of China's carbon dioxide emissions, mostly as a result of coal-burning.

China's coastal areas are "outsourcing" pollution internally to meet emissions reduction targets, researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this June.

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