Facebook must release documents: US judge

A US federal judge says Facebook must turn over documents important to a fake ownership claim. Source: AAP

FACEBOOK and its founder must release documents and electronic correspondence to a defence lawyer whose client has fled from criminal charges that he falsely claimed a majority ownership in the social media giant, a federal judge said.

US District Judge Vernon Broderick on Friday ordered Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg to relinquish documents by Monday that were requested by Paul Ceglia's lawyer, Robert Ross Fogg.

The judge said he received a letter on Thursday from lawyers for Facebook Inc and Zuckerberg asking that an order he issued earlier in the week to promptly turn over requested documents be suspended until Ceglia is caught.Documents requested include all electronic communications Zuckerberg had about a Ceglia contract during an 18-month stretch beginning in 2003.With a May 4 trial approaching, Ceglia cut off his electronic ankle bracelet last month and fled. His wife, two children and dog also are missing from their home in Wellsville, 112 kilometres southeast of Buffalo.Ceglia's father told Broderick at a hearing last week that he believed his son might have fled because he believed Facebook and Zuckerberg were working together with prosecutors against him, jeopardising his chance for a fair trial. The judge said he would not allow a trial to proceed unjustly.Federal prosecutors had urged Broderick not to force Facebook and Zuckerberg to turn over the documents, saying doing so would "reward Ceglia's flouting of the judicial process while unreasonably drawing on the resources of the government and the authority of the court."The criminal case against Ceglia was brought after a judge threw out his 2010 civil lawsuit claiming that he gave Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard University at the time, $US1000 ($A1320) in startup money in exchange for 50 per cent of the future company.Prosecutors said a forensic analysis of his computers and Harvard's email archive determined Ceglia had altered an unrelated software development contract he signed with Zuckerberg in 2003 and falsified emails to make it appear Zuckerberg had promised him a half-share of Facebook.Zuckerberg has said he didn't come up with the idea for Facebook until months after he responded to Ceglia's online help-wanted ad and signed a contract agreeing to create some software for him.Fogg said in an email on Wednesday that he and others "continue to fight for Paul, even in his absence, with the same vigour and fortitude and in a sense - more determined than ever".

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Handbags stolen from Vic hospital patients

A homeless woman is wanted by police after handbags were stolen from Melbourne hospital patients. Source: AAP

A HOMELESS woman is wanted for questioning after handbags were stolen from Melbourne hospital patients.

REBECCA Cheryl Porter, 33, was due to appear in the Dandenong Magistrates Court last month charged with burglary but failed to appear.

Handbags and personal items have been stolen from patients in public hospitals and other areas around inner Melbourne, and police think Ms Porter can assist their investigation.She is known to frequent the Richmond, Fitzroy and Collingwood areas.A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic parade remembers 'Princess Marci'

FRIENDS of murdered Melbourne schoolgirl Masa Vukotic have celebrated her life in a celebration fit for a princess.

THE dress code was pink, Lolita Japanese fashion and anything rabbit related, and the masses complied.

As many as 300 people, mostly woman, and many from the cosplay - costumed role play - community walked around the Queen Victoria Gardens in a memorial titled "Princess Marci's Royal Parade".White doves and pink balloons were released and a memorial book was signed to be presented to Masa's parents, brother and sister who also attended.Masa, 17, was fatally stabbed at a Doncaster park on March 17.Her funeral was held on Thursday.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man charged with intimidating girl on bus

A 65-year-old man has been charged after he allegedly intimidated a schoolgirl on a Sydney bus. Source: AAP

A MAN will face court after allegedly making sexual comments to a 12-year-old girl on a bus to her Sydney school.

POLICE say the 65-year-old boarded a bus at Darlinghurst about 8am on Thursday and sat next to the girl.

He allegedly asked her personal questions, made sexually suggestive comments and grabbed her arm.When the bus reached Bronte Road at Waverley, the girl got off the bus and ran straight to her school.The man alighted at the same stop, police say.He was arrested on Friday morning and charged with inciting a person under 16 to commit an act of indecency, intimidation and common assault.He is due to face Waverley Local Court on April 8.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bishop announces $30m to fight disease

THE federal government has pledged $30 million over three years to help fight tuberculosis and malaria in the Indo-Pacific region.

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop made the announcement in Canberra at the launch of the Australasian Tuberculosis Forum, describing the disease as a "scourge".

The TB Alliance will receive a third of the money to support late stage clinical trials of new treatments.Another $10 million will go towards The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, with the remaining $10 million given to Medicines for Malaria Venture to develop antimalarial drugs.Earlier on Monday, the government was urged to "wade in" and boost funding to help develop a new tuberculosis treatment for the Asia Pacific.The head of Policy Cures said Australia's current contribution to the fight was "a toe in the water", with Southeast Asia and the western Pacific accounting for 56 per cent of all new TB cases."What I would like to see is for Australia to take that toe in the water and wade in," Dr Mary Moran told reporters on the eve of World TB Day.Current TB treatments were decades-old and ineffective, she said.New drugs in development were faster and much cheaper, and just $22 million in funding globally would ensure they were readily available, she said.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

WA rally against Abbott government

Adversaries of the Abbott government have rallied in Perth to protest on a day of nationwide action. Source: AAP

ADVERSARIES of the Abbott government have rallied in Perth to protest on a day of nationwide action.

SEVERAL hundred people attended the March In March event on Sunday to voice concerns on a range of issues including indigenous rights, climate change, homelessness, live animal exports and metadata.

Federal Labor MP Melissa Parke told the crowd she thought Prime Minister Tony Abbott was a cross between Russia's Vladimir Putin and former US President George W Bush and that he was leading "the worst government ever".

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Death shot supplier 'celebrated' rehab end

A PERTH man who supplied a lethal dose of heroin to a friend as they celebrated the end of his drug rehabilitation course has dodged jail.

THE District Court of Western Australia heard on Friday that Peter Roy Barto, 46, didn't "taste" the drug to test its strength before helping three companions to inject it in a Burswood hotel room in July last year.

A woman fell unconscious and had to be taken to Royal Perth Hospital while a man died at the hotel.Judge Bruce Goetze said Barto's rehab course was obviously not successful given how he celebrated its conclusion."Now, there's a certain irony in all of that but that's what you did," Judge Goetze said."You sourced this heroin, you supplied it, you assisted others in the injection of it."Lives are ruined because people take drugs. And you probably only know that too well."Barto, who is again undergoing a rehabilitation course, was handed a term of imprisonment of 12 months, conditionally suspended for the same period.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Price-fixing French yoghurt firms fined

FRANCE'S competition authority has fined the country's dominant yoghurt makers 192 million euros ($A266.98 million) for fixing prices over several years.

THE decision announced on Thursday targets 11 companies - including Yoplait and Lactalis - that represent 90 per cent of the French market in yoghurt and related products.

The cartel was uncovered thanks to a special procedure that allows companies to report their own price-fixing activity to regulators in exchange for reduced fines. Yoplait was the first company to report the activity, and was given no fines.The companies agreed on how and when to raise prices from 2006 to 2012, as yoghurt executives held secret meetings via dedicated phone numbers and in hotels, a famed Paris cafe and an apartment, according to the ruling.The companies can appeal the decision.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ericsson cuts 2,200 jobs

WIRELESS equipment maker Ericsson will cut 2,200 jobs in Sweden as part of a nine billion kronor ($A1.44 billion) savings package.

THE Stockholm-based company said the layoffs would mostly affect research and development and supply positions.

Ericsson, a leading maker of mobile broadband infrastructure, said the cuts were part of a savings plan announced in November "with an ambition to reduce operating expenses and cost of sales across all Ericsson's operations."The cost cuts are expected to take full effect in 2017.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Homelessness in spotlight on women's day

HIGH-FLYING Australian women are thriving in business, telecommunications, boardrooms and the arts more than ever.

BUT on any given night in Australia, 45,000 women are homeless.

That is the contrasting reality in Australia on Sunday's International Women's Day.A list of Australia's richest self-made women, released on Sunday, shows the country's female high-flyers are getting richer with a combined wealth of $5.4 billion, up from $4.5 billion last year.The list, compile by BRW, shows telco founder Vicky Teoh was on top for the third year in a row.It also features famous names in entertainment Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue and Elle Macpherson.Therese Rein, former prime minister Kevin Rudd's wife, and former Westpac boss Gail Kelly are also on the list.Homelessness Australia CEO Glenda Stevens says while 14,000 females experiencing homelessness are under 18, with support they could also be tomorrow's innovators and leaders.She believes the main difference between the women on the rich-list and homeless women is opportunity and support."These ladies may be self-made but you will probably find they have had a very good support network behind them," Ms Stevens said."This is something that people who are homeless don't have."Research shows homelessness is an inter-generational problem with more than half the adults in homeless services reporting that their parents were homeless at some point in their lives."Unless we invest today in addressing the causes of homelessness we are sentencing many young people to a dismal future," she said.This group wants the Australian government to urgently renew its commitment to the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness.If not renewed, funding for 180 homelessness programs will expire on June 30.In Brisbane, 10,000 women were celebrating the day by putting on their running shoes and taking part in the FunRun for Breast Cancer. They hope to raise $300,000.International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women.Places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria make the day a national holiday.

22.34 | 0 komentar | Read More