May 8, 2020

Walmart's payments to foreign officials in years past are raised anew in a lawsuit by a former executive who says he was fired for refusing to water down a memo he'd written about his findings in Mexico.

The post UPDATE: Lawsuit reopens Walmart’s past practices in Mexico appeared first on Arkansas Times.

Owners of the world's largest lithium mine predict production can top 2 million tonnes if expansion projects get the green light.

The Indigenous owners of Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island, are frustrated by delays in their claim for compensation from the Queensland Government.

Cutting off essential services - like schools and support groups - because of the Coronavirus pandemic leaves 'at risk kids' increasingly isolated and vulnerable. 

When Professor Anna Ralph's six-year-old daughter starting asking about COVID-19, the infectious diseases specialist decided to write a children's book about finding a cure.

For Country Women's Association secretary and cookery judge Pam Wright, whose uncle died a POW and whose father succumbed to his war injuries, Anzac biscuits mean more than just a delicious treat.

Abortion service providers are left with chartering private flights to regional Queensland, saying infrequent schedules and short-notice cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic make flying commercial untenable.

MORNING BRIEFING: The NSW Premier's leadership through the coronavirus crisis receives a 70 per cent approval rating, while Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches reopen for exercise only.

Jim Hamilton from Lake Macquarie was a passenger aboard the Ruby Princess, now the subject of a special commission of inquiry led by Brett Walker SC. A NSW Health epidemiologist Kelly-Anne Ressler agreed it was unsatisfactory that more people on the ship were tested for influenza than for COVID-19.

Canada's prolific hit-writer opens his Australian tour in the Illawarra with a full house.

Three years after shutting down and shedding more than 30 local jobs, Binnaway's abattoir is reopening, offering a much-needed boost.

Nigel Lazenby always dreamed of owning a house with river frontage, but that turned into a nightmare when a landslip wrecked his and other homes along the Tamar River in 2016. Now, Nigel is one of a group of owners who just want "fair" compensation.

A coronavirus outbreak at Burnie's hospital has prompted a plea for Tasmania's north-west residents to do the right thing over the Easter break, as a drive-through testing station opens in Hobart.

Dave Rennie, Chiefs Head Coach before the Round 14 Super Rugby match between the Blues and the Chiefs at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, May 26, 2017.

Sacked Wallaby star Israel Folau will return to court on Wednesday as negotiations with Rugby Australia over his unfair dismissal claim remain deadlocked.

Victoria's new deal with Beijing has angered some in the Morrison Government who worry about Chinese influence in Australia, but Premier Daniel Andrews says it will boost the state's economy and jobs.

In the wake of the racehorse slaughter scandal, calls are growing for greater financial support for rehoming thoroughbreds and an enforceable standard of care.

A former police officer who suffered "horrific and graphic traumas" after being trapped in a crashed squad car has launched criminal action after being forced to wait more than a year for a workers' compensation payout.

It is now decades since Todd Jefferis first raised the alarm about the sexual abuse atrocities carried out at Katanning's St Andrew's Hostel in Western Australia, but his fight for justice might finally be nearing an end.

DAILY BRIEFING: A road in the Central Highlands has reopened after a truck carrying a 68-metre-long wind turbine blade lost its load, a 39-year-old woman dies after being hit by a car and CPSU encourages public sector workers to take part in climate protests.

DAILY BRIEFING: The Royal Hobart Show reopens after damaging winds, and police are using the rescue helicopter to search for a man at Roaring Beach.

Australia's largest integrated battery and solar farm in Victoria's north can power 16,000 homes. It was officially opened today.

A local council warns Victoria's "culture of recycling" is at risk as the state's waste crisis deepens and an estimated 780 rubbish trucks' worth of recyclable material is sent to landfill in a week.

Since the privatisation of Victoria's coal-fired power stations in the 1990s, the Latrobe Valley has struggled with high unemployment. But a workers' group has decided not to wait around for new jobs to appear.

Building on the success of its Aceo Open Print Lab in Burghausen, Germany, Wacker Chemie A.G. has opened its first United States-based rubber silicone 3D printing lab.

Allegations of treachery and collusion have dominated Question Time in Parliament, as the Government's citizenship crisis deepens. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce revealed yesterday he was a dual New Zealand citizen, but is arguing he should retain his ministerial duties and vote, while the High Court makes a ruling. Mr Joyce's citizenship status emerged in the same week a New Zealand Labour MP asked about the issue, and the Government is now accusing the Opposition of trying to use a foreign parliament to bring down the Government.

Temperatures in parts of NSW are expected to exceed 40 degrees including the outskirts of Sydney.

Visitors rush to ascend Uluru hours before the climb's permanent closure.

Victims of a bushfire almost a decade ago are set to receive millions of dollars in compensation following a ruling by the High Court.

Voting opens for Victorian Aboriginal communities to elect the people who will help make the rules for what are expected to be the first treaty negotiations in Australia.

David Eastman spent 19 years in jail for the murder of senior Australian Federal Police officer Colin Winchester. He is now asking for almost $1 million for each year he was wrongfully imprisoned.

It's impossible to count the millions spent on Australia's biggest police hunt, two trials, two High Court challenges, a judicial inquiry and 19 years of imprisonment.

Policeman-turned-lawyer David Healey's mental health was shattered by a rocket blast in Afghanistan. He now helps other traumatised cops fight for compensation.

What's driving Australian families overseas to gamble on "magical" stem cell treatments at sky-high prices?

Writer Stuart Beattie wrote scripts for Johnny Depp, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Tom Cruise, but it's his newly released Vietnam War epic that he is most passionate about.

Updated accessibility news

(Bloomberg) -- Millions of virus-idled American workers are now at home with little more than hand-wringing anxiety about where their next paycheck will come from. They are Jerome Powell’s biggest worry, and how to ease their plight with monetary policy is the Federal Reserve chairman’s largest challenge.The Fed will probably debate using instruments including stronger forward guidance or asset purchases when officials meet next month, which would add more muscle to interest rates that have already been slashed to zero.But those tools require officials to have a forecast they trust of where the economy is heading. The lack of clarity could be a reason to dial down expectations that they would take such steps in June, because officials will struggle to form an outlook as the nation slowly reopens.Policy makers have already described the difficulties that forecasters face.Vice Chairman Richard Clarida warned of “enormous uncertainty” in a CNBC interview and said “we have to be appropriately humble as we’re navigating this period.” San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told Bloomberg Television that forecasting “has become very tough” now because it depends on the course of the virus. Philadelphia’s Patrick Harker described scenarios, including one with a second infection wave and “a painful economic contraction of GDP in 2021 as shutdowns are reintroduced.”Even so, Powell has said that the Fed will do what it can to curb the human tragedy of the virus’s economic harm.He helped nurture the longest U.S. expansion on record, a period of growth that was just starting to reach the most marginalized workers, from people with criminal records to those with little schooling.The Fed chief spent the last year on a listening tour to hear from ordinary Americans and discuss obstacles to even bigger gains.‘Absolute Limit’He’s now pledged to use Fed powers to the “absolute limit” to prevent the contraction from leaving deep scars on the economy’s long-term ability to grow -- through bankruptcies of small businesses or deterioration in worker skills. And he is boldly urging Congress to do more.“It is about not just winning the war against a depression, but it’s about securing the peace, winning the peace. We failed in 2008-09 to secure the peace,” Mohamed El-Erian, a Bloomberg columnist and chief economic adviser to Allianz SE, told Bloomberg Television Friday “We won the war against a threat of depression then, but we did not secure a peace of higher growth, more inclusive growth and sustainability.”In an April 29 press conference, Powell was asked if he’s troubled by the prospect that the downturn does the most harm to Americans who have only just managed to get a foothold in the labor market. “That’s exactly what I worry about,” he said.Record UnemploymentU.S. government data on Friday shows the nation headed in that direction. Employers cut 20.5 million jobs in April and the unemployment rate more than tripled to 14.7%, the harshest labor market downturn in the history of the data series. All the indications point to a brutal recession. The central bank wants to make sure it is as short as possible.Fed officials next month are due to refresh their quarterly Summary of Economic Projections, where all 17 anonymously write down a forecast for their policy interest rate, GDP, inflation and unemployment. They skipped the process in March due to a rapidly changing outlook.With so many puzzles yet to be resolved, they may diminish its importance or skip it again at their June 9-10 meeting.Officials have already assured investors that interest rates will be held near zero until they are confident the economy is back on track to achieve their twin goals for full employment and 2% inflation.Zero RatesTraders have priced in zero rates for the rest of the year, and possibly even negative interest rates in 2021, an idea that Powell has dismissed in the past and which other officials played down last week as a prospect in the U.S.With rates already at zero, “the second tool,” said Daly, “has been forward guidance,” and then balance sheet policies. Still, there is a sense at the Fed that monetary policy will have to be complimented with further creative fiscal policy to help push demand higher.Fed officials have worked with the U.S. Treasury and Congress to provide bridge credit to everything from Main Street businesses to the largest corporations.“Will there be a need to do more though?” Powell asked at his April 29 press conference. “I would say that it may well be the case that the economy will need more support from all of us if the recovery is to be a robust one.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Hundreds of football fans are expected to descend on Ashfield on Friday morning, when Portugal take on Poland in the quarter-final of UEFA Euro 2016.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - In a class action brought on behalf of plaintiff and other participants in defendant-employer's 401(k) retirement savings plan alleging that defendant-employer breached its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when it liquidated two funds held by the plan on an arbitrary timeline without conducting a thorough investigation, thereby causing a substantial loss to the plan, judgment for defendant is: 1) affirmed in part, where the district court properly concluded that defendant-employer breached its duty of procedural prudence and therefore bore the burden of proof as to causation; but 2) reversed in part and remanded, where the district court then failed to apply the correct legal standard in assessing defendant-employer's liability.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirming the trial court's summary judgment as to nine outside directors of McAfee in a class action corporate malfeasance case relating to the company's merger with Intel in which former public shareholders alleged an unfair process contaminated by conflicts that resulted in an undervalued price at sale, but reversing the judgment as to the former CEO and the corporate defendants

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirming the trial court's summary judgment as to nine outside directors of McAfee in a class action corporate malfeasance case relating to the company's merger with Intel in which former public shareholders alleged an unfair process contaminated by conflicts that resulted in an undervalued price at sale, but reversing the judgment as to the former CEO and the corporate defendants