Kaz sale collapses over price gap

TELSTRA's attempt to sell the remainder of its information technology services group, Kaz, has stalled because it could not agree on a price with prospective buyer Fujitsu Australia.

It is understood the two groups were up to $90 million apart on the price, with Telstra wanting close to $190 million and the buyer offering only $100 million.

Fujistu's bid had been pushed along by chairman Ted Pretty, who was involved with the original $333 million deal to buy Kaz in 2004 when he was senior Telstra executive, and who is familiar with the remaining operations of the business.

The group was also understood to be interested in parts of the struggling small business telecommunications company, Commander.

Fujistu's failure to complete the deal has left the door open for rival IT services group CSC, which looked at Kaz last year before walking away.

A Telstra spokesman refused to comment on whether the negotiations had fallen through with Fujitsu or what it was planning for the business.

CSC Australia declined to comment on whether it was again interested in Kaz.

A Fujitsu spokeswoman said it did not comment on speculation.

Telstra had engaged with a number of multinational services companies over several months in an effort to offload its troubled services arm, according to industry sources.

However, Fujitsu was the only serious bidder to emerge from this process. It began negotiations with Telstra earlier this year to purchase the remainder of Kaz.

The telco acquired the business for $333 million in 2004, and has realised about $230 million from slicing off parts it over the past couple of years, including $215 million when it sold superannuation processing subsidiary AAS in 2006.

Telstra's spokesman wouldn't disclose the value of the remaining Kaz business but it is believed to have about $180 million sitting on its balance sheet.

Price was always the sticking point between the two parties, with the telco demanding much more than Fujitsu was prepared to pay.

"You get the feeling the business is not profitable, otherwise the deal would have been done," a source close to the deal said a couple of weeks ago.

"An offer of $100 million would stack up pretty quickly because it's not very big for the likes of Fujitsu."

While Telstra has been busy carving up Kaz and selling it off piecemeal, one of the key remaining assets is Aspect Computing, the group's government division.

Fujitsu was interested in controlling this piece of Kaz as part of efforts to bolster its Canberra presence, a source familiar with the negotiations said.

"The Aspect Consulting business is very large in Canberra. Fujitsu would be interested in increasing its footprint in Canberra through the old Aspect business, and it must be looking at the original Kaz outsourcing business," the source said.

The multinational would take advantage of the asset when the time came to bid on big-ticket federal government outsourcing projects coming up for tender in the next year.

During 2007, Telstra conducted a lengthy review of its Kaz business and chief executive Sol Trujillo made it clear the business was not considered core for the company.

Early last year, Telstra removed responsibility for its big-four accounts from Kaz: NAB, Woolworths, Westpac and Qantas. These are now managed by Telstra's enterprise and government group.

"What is there left to sell?," one person familiar with the business queried.

The shift coincided with the jobs of 650 Kaz staff being moved within Telstra.

AAP 15 March, 2008

Dad guilty of putting baby in microwave

A young father has been convicted of badly injuring his infant daughter by putting her in a microwave in a Texas hotel room, with jurors rejecting his claim he was insane at the time.

Jurors deliberated for about four hours before finding 20-year-old Joshua Mauldin guilty of felony injury to a child.

After the verdict, they deliberated Mauldin's punishment for two hours without a decision. They were set to resume deliberating on Wednesday.

Mauldin faces anything from probation to life in prison.

He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, saying he was having a psychotic episode when he put his then two-month-old daughter, Ana, in a hotel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds last May while her mother and grandmother were away.

Prosecutors and Mauldin's defence lawyer, Sam Cammack, had no immediate comment after the verdict.

Mauldin sat emotionless as his daughter's foster mother detailed in penalty phase testimony how Ana's burn wounds still needed to be cleaned every day and how she screamed during the painful process.

The witness, Heather Croxton, said she hoped to adopt Ana, now one year old.

Another trial scheduled for next month will seek to terminate the parental rights of Joshua and Eva Mauldin, who live in Arkansas. Croxton's husband is a step-cousin of Eva Mauldin.

Croxton said Ana will need more operations to remove scar tissue and reconstruct her left ear, but she said she was more worried about the day Ana finds out what happened to her.

"I can only imagine how (she) would feel, knowing that the man that was supposed to take care of her did this to her," Croxton said as she cried.

"As far as telling her the truth ... I don't see how we cannot tell her. She's going to want to know how she got those scars."

Cammack told jurors during closing arguments on Monday that mental illness was probably the only explanation for his client's actions.

"Joshua Mauldin has been somebody with mental illness from the time he was 10 years old until the time this offence was committed," he said.

But prosecutors countered that Mauldin was driven by anger that he was in a loveless marriage and was stuck in a new town with a baby he didn't want to care for.

"All (Mauldin) has done is try to wrap himself in some psychiatric flag and say, 'I did it and I was crazy,"' Galveston County prosecutor Xochitl Vandiver told jurors.

"That's what he's trying to pull on you all. Don't fall for it, because it is a lie."

Officials say Ana suffered second and third-degree burns to her left ear, cheek, hand and shoulder and needed skin grafts.

Before putting her in the microwave, Mauldin had punched the baby and put her in the hotel room safe and refrigerator.

At the time, Mauldin had just moved to Galveston, about 80km south-east of Houston, from Warren, Arkansas, to become a preacher.

Cammack said Mauldin was a loving father who tried to run into traffic and kill himself after realising what had happened.

The state defines not guilty by reason of insanity as having a severe mental illness that prevents someone who is committing a crime from knowing that it is wrong.

26 Mar, ©AAP 2008

NSW fire station 'built wrong way round'

A $2 million state-of-the-art fire station in Bathurst has been the wrong way round, making it impractical and dangerous, the NSW Fire Brigades Union says.

Work on the station on Alexander St was begun with much fanfare, with former NSW emergency services minister Tony Kelly describing the taxpayer funded station as state-of-the-art, as he turned the first sod.

Things had soured by the station's opening on March 14, however.

A building bungle means the facility has been built the wrong way round, forcing fire engines to drive out the back door rather than front, News Ltd newspapers reported.

But using the back exit has caused problems for drivers, who have been forced to make dog-leg manoeuvres to get onto the road.

The new station is impractical and dangerous, the union says.

"Imagine a 20-tonne truck doing a dog-leg on ice at 2am while responding to an emergency," union state secretary Simon Flynn said.

"It is a totally ridiculous situation. We actually think that the government has built the wrong station - it can't be possible that this is the same building that we saw in the plans. It is a total stuff up."

22 March, ©AAP 2008

IBM GSA – Employment Agency Fraud

IBM-GSA (a Telstra /Lend Lease Joint venture) is involved in a large scale monetary fraud together with its suppliers i.e. the labour hire agencies. These agencies are some of the larger employment firms in Australia.

The primary objective for any employment agency, like in any business, is to create profit. This is achieved by selling a resource with a profit margin. To distance themselves from the human element of the trade, agencies commonly refer to people as resources. The resource has to be a sellable commodity otherwise profit cannot be generated by the agency. The recruiter is not concerned by the need for employment of an individual, rather a profit margin dictated by the agency.

IBM-GSA has fraudulently underpaid it workers through the agencies. This procedure has been detailed and passed on to one of Australia’s largest law firms, Slater and Gordon, that specialises in rights of the disadvantaged worker. A response was given as a positive, that the matter falls within the definitions of Corporate fraud. This as it is a practice that is still occurring to this day.

The firm was then asked when it could start a class action law suit against the companies involved, the response given was that they are too busy, it is not financially viable for them, and that the prospective litigant would have to undertake the matter of their own financial accord.

Australia’s Anglo-Masonic court system dictates the success of any court matter brought forward. It is not in the interest of many corporations to have this matter made public, let alone the commencement of a class action law suit, from an individual who is not of the Anglo-Masonic background.

In a similar matter, an individual, who rounded down the cents of employee’s pays, was discovered, and convicted. In the example mentioned above, the figure is far greater than that of the convicted individual.

Call Centre Employment, UCMS vs. Salesforce

Call Centre employment is not exactly rocket science, nor is it a prestigious position.

When one asks the question what the general public perceive when the word call centre is mentioned, quite often annoying phone calls, India, telemarketing, surveys are the words that easily come into mind.

Call Centres are quite often outsourced where cheap labour is abundant, e.g. overseas, or in more cases than not, specific to a few ethnic groups. Places like Foxtel, Virgin, Telstra all rely on this service. These companies are usually serviced by external agencies, UCMS and Salesforce.com.au, are just two used in this comparison.

An interview process at say UCMS, may include a group introduction of an approximate 50 candidates. They are prepped and hyped up like little school children, with modern upbeat music, together with a front person who’s fake enthusiasm is a see through as glass. Once the candidates fill in their details, the heard is then broken up into groups of four and interviewed by a staff member of the agency. This process is relatively quick, as you only have to hear three other candidates reasons for becoming an ‘aspirational’ at a Call Centre.

An interview process at Salesforce follows the initial blueprint for induction. In this instance there were approximately 12 candidates. A group interview was also carried out, but in this case it was done with the one recruiter. All of the individuals were present, and had to listen to each others employment histories, and the reason why they should be chose for a Call Centre employee. All in all a waste of two hours listening to verbal drivel why each candidate should be enlisted for a fulfilling career with boundless opportunities at a Call Centre.

A poorly managed employment procedure was in place at Salesforce, where cost cutting was clearly evident, and the time of the candidate treated as a last priority.

Greek court orders Mokbel's extradition

A Greek court has ordered convicted drugs trafficker Tony Mokbel to return to Australia to face a string of criminal charges, including two of murder.

After a lengthy legal battle, judges at the Supreme Court in Athens granted Australia's request for Mokbel's extradition.

However the final decision on whether Mokbel returns to Melbourne still has to be made by Greece's justice minister, which could take several weeks.

Mokbel's legal team could also appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

The 43-year-old was arrested in Athens last June after fleeing Australia in early 2006 while on trial for cocaine trafficking.

He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to a minimum nine years jail.

Australian police want him returned so he can serve his time behind bars.

He also has been charged in Australia with the murders of Melbourne underworld figure Lewis Moran and drug dealer Michael Marshall and is accused of a string of other drug offences.

Mokbel was flanked by security guards and his lawyers when the court handed down its decision, with his girlfriend Danielle McGuire sitting in the back row.

Following the brief hearing, Mokbel said: "It was always going to be a tough hearing."

As he was being led back to the cells below the court building, he had a brief reunion with his baby daughter, Renate, who he kissed on the cheek and said: "I love you, babe."

Mokbel then told reporters he did not believe he could ever get a fair trial in Australia.

"You will get a fair trial anywhere (except Australia), you would probably get a fairer trial for me in Indonesia."

ninemsn, 18 March, 2008

More human graves may be at Manson ranch

Forensic investigators have found possible evidence of decades-old human graves at a derelict compound where mass-murderer Charles Manson once hid.

Recent tests carried out by officials indicate there are two likely clandestine grave sites at Barker Ranch in Death Valley National Park — one of several hide-outs used by Manson and his followers.

A dog trained to sniff out decomposing human remains sat down on the ground and quivered when it was let loose on the property, an indication it sensed a human grave, the Associated Press reports.

Equipment used to detect fluorinated hydrocarbon compounds — one of 400 chemicals emitted from decomposing bodies — also beeped consistently during the search.

Further testing will be carried out by the team, which is made up of anthropologists, lab researchers and cadaver dogs, because of the promising initial results.

One of Manson’s followers Susan Atkins once boasted to her cell mate that there were "three people out in the desert that they done in." Manson was the mastermind behind a series of brutal murders that occurred in the US in the 1960s.

He is currently serving a lifetime prison sentence.

ninemsn, 17 Mar 2008

Dying for a tan

As the latest government skin cancer campaign gets underway, it seems sun-lovers are finally getting the message.

Shock tactics
What the government is telling us in its latest 'shock' campaign is nothing new — we've been hearing the same life-saving slip, slop, slap message for years — but what is new are the tactics.

The campaign's latest slogan, 'Don't let your time out in the sun catch up with you', is accompanied by graphic images that are designed to scare. So while their core message remains the same — skin cancer is preventable, as long as we make smart choices when we're out in the sun — the gore-worthy images and hard-hitting words aim to finally make sun-lovers cover up.

And with over 15,000 deaths in Australia each year attributed to skin cancer, it's no wonder that the Cancer Council says encouraging people to adopt multiple sun-saving behaviour as the norm is at the top of their list, as is warning young Australians of the risks of prolonged sun exposure.

What many people, especially young Aussies, don't realise is that even without sunburn prolonged sun exposure can cause:

• skin damage
• skin cancer
• premature ageing

Tanning trend
Phase two of the no-holds-barred campaign is targeted at the 13-24-year age group, as they are the least likely to use adequate protection and the most likely to get sunburnt. Recent focus group research done for the Cancer Council in February reinforces this claim, revealing that adolescent girls believe having a tan increases their popularity.

''Girls were aware of the risks of tanning, but they said if they got skin cancer they could have it cut out'', says the Cancer Council's SunSmart manager Kylie Strong. ''They found it hard to believe [skin cancer] could be fatal''.

The latest public awareness campaign's main purpose is to reinforce the fact that young people are vulnerable to life-threatening skin cancers. In fact, melanoma is the 10th most common cause of cancer death in Australia.

Sunless celebs
Some of Hollywood's hottest stars have ditched their coconut oil in favour of a broad-rimmed hat and SPF30+. Leading the way is the sun-smart Victoria Beckham, who has adopted some skin-saving habits since relocating to sunny LA.

''Since moving to California I've realised how important it is to practice safe sun for myself and my boys, '' says the Posh mum-of-three, who has now joined forces with designer Marc Jacobs to raise awareness. Along with other A-listers Heidi Klum, Eva Mendes and Joss Stone, Victoria has posed nude on a series of T-shirts that will be sold to raise money for skin cancer research.

Slip, slop, slap ... and sip
Covering up and wearing sunscreen are the obvious ways to protect against the sun's harmful rays, but a recent study from researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey has found that caffeine also protects against the effects of UV-B radiation, which can lead to cancer.

Unlike sunscreen, which protects the skin by preventing it from absorbing UV rays, caffeine prevents the sun's rays from causing genetic changes in the skin that can then lead to skin cancer. It does this by selectively causing abnormal cells to kill themselves.

Be sun-smart
Don't become another statistic, and don't just rely on your morning coffee to save your skin from the sun's piercing rays. Instead make covering up from the sun part of your daily routine by following these simple steps:

• Seek shade when out in the sun
• Wear protective clothing that covers as much of your skin as possible
• Wear a broad-rimmed hat that shades your face and neck
• Wear wrap-around sunglasses
• Apply SPF30+ broad-spectrum water-resistant sunscreen every two hours.

ninemsn, Laura Mappas, February 27, 2008

THE BUTCHER OF BEGA: Australia’s worst medical disaster

This week on the SUNDAY program, the latest on our exclusive investigation that has been followed up by media across the World.

When we broadcast our story on the so-called ‘Butcher of Bega’ – Graeme Stephen Reeves – two weeks ago we had our suspicions that there were more than the eight victims of whom we knew.

But nothing prepared us for the enormity of the response.

At least 500 separate complaints from individual victims have now been logged by Lorraine Long’s Medical Error Action Group website – and many more are still flooding in.

Many of those alleged victims are now speaking to us and other media and we are following up their disturbing and harrowing allegations.

Women allege their genitals were mutilated during surgery by Reeves; that he masturbated them while purporting to do an examination; and that he performed surgery – removing tissue without consent. The scale of what is alleged is mindboggling.

“I think it’s the worst medical disaster in Australia,” Lorraine Long tells SUNDAY.

As Lorraine tells SUNDAY exclusively in today’s emotional and revealing interview, there are even allegations by more than one woman that Reeves sterilised them without their consent.

“Without their knowledge. Months later the patient went back to their doctor and said ‘Oh I haven’t had my periods and we want to have another baby’. So she went to another specialist and went to a fertility clinic where they did an ultrasound and they said ‘You don’t have a womb’,” Lorraine Long says.

As Mrs Long comments: “There’s nothing more destroying to a woman than doing that to them.”

SUNDAY also reports on the political, bureaucratic and Police response to a scandal in our health system. We also ask – who else knew about Reeves, how many more doctors like him are there, and what can be done to stop this from ever happening again?

If you have information on a dodgy doctor whom you would like investigated or if you would like help from Lorraine Long’s Medical Error Action Group then go to their new website at:

www.medicalerroraustralia.com

Teachers flee blackboard jungle

School teachers are being assaulted with chairs, knives and fists while some are even having guns held to their heads, records reveal.

NSW teachers filed 252 reports of assault or serious threats to their safety between September 2006 and August 2007 with 102 claims for physical assault, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Incident documents released by the Department of Education and Training show teachers are regularly threatened with firearms and other weapons by students, parents and intruders.

The reports show fears for teacher safety make up nearly one-third of reports of school disruptions.

Among the dossier of violence against teachers is the case of a Year Seven student holding “a silver automatic pistol" to a teacher's head for more than one minute after he was stopped playing football.

Police found the gun was a "realistic" imitation — but the teacher was unaware of this at the time.

The student was arrested and charged with assault and use of a prohibited weapon.

In another case, a female Year 12 student allegedly drove her car at her principal, forcing him to jump to safety.

The reports also show children as young as five are exhibiting mental health problems, forcing schools to call in specialist teams.

A kindergarten student at a primary school in southern NSW allegedly tried to "trash" the classroom and as the teacher went to close the door he was hit in the back of the head by a chair, the report said.

The teacher required physiotherapy after the attack.

The Department of Education said it was spending $144 million on developing strategies to deal with "challenging students", including courses for teachers on how to handle assault.

msn, 17 Mar, 2008