Dart Energy slashes costs amid CSG changes

DART Energy shares have tumbled to record lows as the company cuts costs and slashes jobs in response to government crackdowns on coal seam gas projects.

Dart will close offices and axe 70 per cent of its workforce, taking the number of employees to 50, as it aims to slice costs by nearly two thirds.

It is also suspending field operations at Fullerton Cove, near Newcastle in NSW, and switching focus to developing CSG projects in Britain and China.

The moves come after the NSW government announced tough new coal seam gas regulations, including a ban on CSG drilling near homes.

The federal government also plans new environmental laws covering coal and CSG projects amid public concerns about their impact on water resources.

Dart's shares tumbled by more than a third after it revealed its restructure plans on Tuesday.

Chairman Nick Davies said he was disappointed with the uncertainty created by government decisions.

"The consequence is that investment is leaving the country, field operations are being suspended, Australian jobs are being lost, and the impending energy crisis in NSW is not being addressed, and indeed, will only get worse," he said.

He said this was in direct contrast to Britain's approach to CSG projects.

Dart's decision to suspend operations at Fullerton was made despite the recent lifting of a court injunction on the company sinking exploratory wells there.

Anti-CSG group Lock The Gate Alliance welcomed the suspension, saying it would protect local drinking water supplies.

"The people of Fullerton Cove have fought bravely to defend their community from a global gas company, and for now at least, they have won," said alliance coordinator Steve Phillips.

Meanwhile, Dart has cancelled plans to float its international arm.

And in a management shakeup, Dart will have just one chief executive heading the entire company instead of separate bosses for its international and Australian arms.

The head of Dart's international operations, UK-based John McGoldrick, will become the company's new chief executive.

Dart's shares were four cents lower at 6.5 cents at 1519 AEDT.

Options Xpress market analyst Ben Le Brun said the sharp fall in Dart's shares could have been a kneejerk reaction as many CSG players will come under pressure as a result of the new government restrictions.

"The market likes the idea of cutting your workforce and getting costs out as much as possible but playing against that is the government restrictions on coal seam gas projects so maybe the market's giving that more of a weighting," he said.

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Brazil cops investigate rape of US student

BRAZILIAN police have arrested a third suspect in the rape of an American student who was assaulted as her French boyfriend was forced to watch during an horrific six-hour abduction aboard a Rio minibus.

The crime raised fears ahead of World Youth Day in July, when the city is set to welcome Pope Francis and some 2.5 million young people. Brazil is also hosting the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.

Two male suspects in the case, aged 20 and 22, were detained over the weekend, a police spokesman said. A third suspect was detained late Monday in the Rio metropolitan area, according to local media.

"She is a US national and he is French; they were studying in Rio," a French consular source told AFP, in reference to the victims.

The American, 21, and the Frenchman, 23, according to local media, boarded a minibus around midnight Saturday in touristy Copacabana headed to Lapa, a trendy area home to popular bars and dance clubs.

Two men who also boarded the minibus ordered the rest of the passengers to get off and handcuffed their victims.

They then proceeded to beat the young man with a metal bar and rape the young woman as they rode around the city, the special police for aid to tourists (DEAT) said.

After seeing photographs of two of the detained suspects, a young Brazilian woman who was raped on March 23, also in a minibus, identified them as her assailants, DEAT added.

The driver of the minibus may also have taken part in the rape of the American, local media reported.

The G1 news website said the Frenchman suffered an eye haemorrhage and a fractured face while the American's nosed was broken during the assault.

Minibuses are part of Rio's transportation network and, in a city of six million inhabitants, are often considered alternative means of getting around.

While some do have permits, many others are illegal and often take to streets in poor condition and packed with people.

Violence has declined in Rio following efforts by authorities to reclaim dozens of favelas once controlled by drug traffickers or militias, but the city remains rough when compared to Europe or the United States, with huge disparities between the rich and the poor.

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US prosecutor slain at home with wife

Kaufman County district attorney, Mike McLelland, and his wife have been killed in their Texas home. Source: AAP

A TEXAS prosecutor who was found dead with his wife in their home had apparently armed himself after one of his assistant prosecutors was gunned down two months ago.

In January, Kaufman County assistant district attorney Mark Hasse, 57, reportedly investigating the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood, was gunned down just outside a courthouse in a small Texan town.

In an interview less than two weeks ago, district attorney Mike McLelland said he carried a gun everywhere he went and took extra care when answering the door at his home.

"I'm ahead of everybody else because, basically, I'm a soldier," the 23-year Army veteran said .

On Saturday, McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia Woodward McLelland, were found shot to death in their rural home just outside the town of Forney, about 30 kilometres from Dallas.

While investigators gave no motive for the killings, Forney Mayor Darren Rozell said: "It appears this was not a random act."

The slayings came less than two weeks after Colorado's prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by a white supremacist ex-convict, and two months after Kaufman County assistant district attorney Mark Hasse was killed in a parking lot a block from his courthouse office. No arrests have been made in Hasse's slaying on January 31.

McLelland, 63, is the 13th prosecutor killed in the US since the National Association of District Attorneys began keeping count in the 1960s.

Sheriff David Byrnes would not give details on Sunday of how the killings unfolded and said there was nothing to indicate for certain whether the district attorney's slaying was connected to Hasse's.

Colorado's corrections director, Tom Clements, was killed on March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. Evan Spencer Ebel, a former Colorado inmate and white supremacist who authorities suspect shot Clements, died in a shootout with Texas deputies two days later about 160km from Kaufman.

El Paso County, Colorado, sheriff's spokesman Sgt Joe Roybal said on Sunday that investigators had found no evidence so far connecting the Texas killings to the Colorado case, but added: "We're examining all possibilities."

McLelland, in an Associated Press interview shortly after the Colorado slaying, raised the possibility that Hasse was gunned down by a white supremacist gang.

The weekend slayings raised concerns for prosecutors across Texas, and some were taking extra security precautions. Byrnes said security would be increased at the courthouse in Kaufman but declined to say if or how other prosecutors in McLelland's office would be protected.

McLelland, elected district attorney in 2010, said his office had prosecuted several cases against racist gangs, who have a strong presence around Kaufman County, a mostly rural area dotted with subdivisions, with a population of about 104,000.

"We put some real dents in the Aryan Brotherhood around here in the past year," McLelland said.

For about a month after Hasse's slaying, sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway, said Sam Rosander, a McLelland neighbour.

The FBI and the Texas Rangers joined the investigation into the McLellands' deaths.

McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, 65, were the parents of two daughters and three sons. One son is a police officer in Dallas. The couple had moved into the home a few years ago, Rozell said.

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Cannabis found in NSW south coast home

A MAN has been charged after police found almost half a million dollars' worth of cannabis during a raid on a home on the NSW south coast.

A 37-year-old man from West Nowra was arrested on Sunday after 44kg of cannabis was seized during a raid of a home at Burragate, about 50km west of Eden.

Police allege internal walls had been removed, and the space was being used to dry cannabis.

The man was taken to Bega Police Station where he was charged with supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

He was held in custody overnight and appeared in Batemans Bay Bail Court on Monday.

He was refused bail to appear in the Moruya Local Court on Tuesday.

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Accused Central Coast killer refused bail

A man charged with murdering two people on the NSW Central Coast has been refused bail. Source: AAP

A MAN charged with murdering two people on the NSW Central Coast will remain behind bars after being refused bail.

Corey Breen, 25, is alleged to have murdered a 55-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman, who were found dead at a home in Playford Road, Killarney Vale, on Friday night.

Breen was arrested at an industrial estate in the same suburb later on Friday and was refused bail in a Gosford court on Sunday.

He will face Wyong Local Court on Tuesday.

Police said a total of 10 crime scenes had been established in Gorokan and Killarney Vale, and further charges were pending.

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Third person dies after Vic wall collapse

A third person has died in hospital following the collapse of a brick wall in inner-Melbourne. Source: AAP

AN audit of crumbling facades on Victorian building sites is one of four urgent investigations being undertaken after three people, including a brother and sister, were killed by a collapsing wall in Melbourne.

Bridget Jones, 18, died in a Melbourne hospital early on Sunday from injuries she received when a big wind gust brought down a 15-metre long section of wall as she walked along a footpath on Thursday.

Her brother, 19-year-old Alexander Jones, died at the scene in inner Melbourne when he flung his body across his sister to protect her from the falling bricks.

A Mount Waverley woman in her 30s also was killed but has not yet been formally identified.

The Victorian government has ordered the building commission to examine similar walls around the state.

"This is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with the family," Premier Denis Napthine said.

"This incident will be fully investigated by the coroner and other relevant authorities."

Victoria Police will also complete an investigation, as will WorkSafe and Grocon, the owner of the site.

Bridget's death at 6.30am (AEDT) in Royal Melbourne Hospital prompted friends and well-wishers to flood a Facebook tribute page to pay their respects and express disbelief.

"Hard to find meaning in life when things like this happen," one friend wrote.

"Condolences to family and friends. Stay strong for each other, they are together and at peace now."

On Saturday, the parents of the siblings, Sue and Ian Jones, said they were devastated.

"We are overwhelmed at the loss of our son Alexander and are very distressed to see our critically ill daughter in the hospital," they said in their statement.

They also thanked the passers-by who sifted through the rubble in frenzied rescue attempts.

"We understand people who were passing by and the emergency services did everything that they could and we are so grateful these people tried their best for our children."

Friends of the siblings continued to gather at the scene of the tragedy on Swanston Street in Carlton on Sunday.

Flowers and messages of support were left at the makeshift shrine, including "Zander for PM" scrawled across the pavement in chalk.

Alexander, known to his friends as Zander, was a former school captain at Montmorency Secondary College.

School principal Allan Robinson says the Montmorency community is devastated.

"This is a loss of enormous proportions," he told reporters.

"He was an incredible young man, thoroughly respected and admired by every student and every member of staff at Montmorency Secondary College."

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Rudd tells China to be cautious of N Korea

Kevin Rudd faces the media in Brisbane. Picture: Darren England Source: News Limited

FORMER prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd has told officers of Beijing's main defence academy that the world is looking to China to use its influence to quell the aggression of North Korea.

In a speech this week to China's National Defence University, reported by The Australian newspaper on Saturday, Mr Rudd said North Korea's nuclear program poses a serious threat to China's relations with its neighbours.

The speech was made two days before North Korea announced on Saturday that it had formally entered into a "state of war" with South Korea.

In the latest in a string of pronouncements from Pyongyang and tough warnings from Seoul and Washington, a government statement from North Korea said: "As of now, inter-Korea relations enter a state of war and all matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime protocol."

The White House said it took the new warning seriously but added that Pyongyang's threats were following a familiar pattern.

The Australian said Mr Rudd's Beijing address had coincided with the United States' confirmation on Thursday that it had sent two B-2 stealth bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, to drop munitions on a target range on a South Korean island.

Mr Rudd told his audience of officers that the diplomatic efforts of all nations but China had failed to persuade North Korea against its shows of aggression.

But while China had gone to considerable lengths to try to change North Korea's behaviour, Pyongyang had rewarded it by launching its third underground test during China's Spring Festival holiday.

And while China was announcing its new leadership to the world, North Korea had declared its renunciation of the 1953 armistice.

Pyongyang's antics threatened China's foreign policy objectives because Asian nations were beginning to co-operate on regional anti-ballistic missile defences, which could work against China as well as North Korea, Mr Rudd said.

North Korea's threats to bomb the US and its allies and to reduce the South Korean capital of Seoul to a smouldering ruin had come as some in Japan and South Korea were pushing for their countries to develop nuclear weapons of their own.

"Our Chinese friends would also appreciate that other countries of the region have profound concerns about both the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program of North Korea and its inflammatory declaratory language concerning its preparedness unilaterally to use armed force against the South and other 'unnamed aggressors' in Asia," Mr Rudd said.

He added: "The most immediate and significant threat to a new form of strategic co-operation between Beijing and Washington, and between Beijing and the rest of the region, lies in the North Korean nuclear program.

"North Korea's nuclear posture is of itself causing the US and its allies in the region to enhance their co-operation on ballistic missile defence in order to counter the North Korean threat.

"Such ballistic missile defence co-operation also of course has wider implications for China's national and security interests beyond the Korean Peninsula.

"China's own global foreign policy standing is suffering and will continue to suffer as a result of North Korean adventurism."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will next week lead a delegation to China that includes ministers Bob Carr, Craig Emerson and Bill Shorten for talks on trade, security and clean energy.

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WA man dies in sand dune accident

A man has died after coming off his motorbike in sand dunes north of Geraldton in WA. Source: AAP

A MAN has died in Western Australia after crashing his motorcycle in sand dunes.

Police say the 29-year-old Geraldton resident was riding an off-road motorbike in dunes north of Geraldton, WA, when he crashed about 5pm (WST) on Friday.

A friend found him at the base of a steep, 10 metre dune.

Police believe the man failed to negotiate the dune and fell, sustaining fatal injuries.

He died in hospital.

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Serial killer Birnie to remain in WA jail

WEST Australian rial killer Catherine Birnie has again been denied parole.

The Prisoners Review Board began the review in January and the final decision was made this week by Attorney-General Michael Mischin.

"The attorney-general has accepted a recommendation from the Prisoners Review Board that Catherine Birnie not be released on parole," a spokeswoman said.

Under law, Birnie's life sentence is reviewed every three years, so her next statutory review will be in 2016.

Former Attorney-General Christian Porter, who last year left state politics for a tilt at the federal arena, in March 2010 decided Birnie would not be placed on parole or put into a re-socialisation program.

WA's attorney-general in 2007, Jim McGinty, said Birnie should never be freed from jail.

Birnie and her late partner David Birnie raped, stabbed, strangled and clubbed to death four victims in their Willagee house, in Perth's southern suburbs, in 1986.

They were caught only when a fifth intended victim escaped after they abducted her at knifepoint.

The pair were handed strict-security life sentences for the murders.

David Birnie hanged himself in his protective custody Casuarina Prison cell in 2005. She wasn't allowed to attend his funeral.

A 2007 review of Birnie, who is serving her sentence at Bandyup Women's Prison on Perth's north-eastern outskirts, found she was at low risk of reoffending but her release was rejected because of the extreme nature of her crimes.

Birnie, now 62, left her husband and six children in 1985 to live with David Birnie.

She did not marry him but took his surname.

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Manhunt underway for NSW Police employee

A STATEWIDE manhunt has been launched for a NSW Police civilian employee wanted for allegedly taking weaponry from a police armoury.

The 38-year-old man worked in the armoury and was under investigation for serious firearms offences, a police spokesman told AAP on Friday.

"He's been misappropriating weapons and weapons parts from the facility," he said.

A number of weapons were found at the man's home on Thursday during a police search but the man had not been seen since, the spokesman said.

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