Tear gas fired at teenager's funeral

CLASHES broke out overnight at the funeral of a teenager killed in demonstrations to mark the second anniversary of Bahrain's Shiite-led uprising.

The security forces blocked access to the funeral of Hussein al-Jaziri in the Shiite-populated village of Daih near the capital Manama, firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of people trying to push their way through.

Jaziri died on Thursday after being shot in the stomach by security forces, according to Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's main Shiite opposition bloc, during Shiite-led protests against the kingdom's Sunni rulers, in which a policeman also died.

Earlier, the authorities said four people were arrested after an overnight attack on security forces that wounded four policemen.

The attack took place during unrest that began on Friday when protesters blocked a highway linking a string of Shiite villages with the capital.

The interior ministry said in a statement that it had "arrested four terrorists possessing weapons with which they had fired on security forces in Karzakan," a Shiite village southwest of Manama.

A police officer and three policemen were taken to hospital after being wounded "by buckshot fired by a terrorist group," police chief Tarek al-Hassan said in statement.

The security forces "had to respond to the attack to defend themselves," Mr Hassan added, without giving further details of the attack or the police response.

Bahrain has seen two years of political upheaval linked to opposition demands for a real constitutional monarchy, with the unrest claiming at least 80 lives, according to international rights groups.

Thursday's violence, in which Jazira and police officer Mohamed Atef were killed, began with demonstrations to coincide with the actual anniversary of the start of the uprising on February 14, 2011.

Clashes raged sporadically in Shiite villages through the night and into the early hours of Friday.

The latest unrest comes amid a fresh round of a national dialogue between opposition groups and the government.

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'We won't devalue currency' - G20

G20 finance ministers moved to calm fears of looming "economic warfare" on the currency markets.

The jitters - similar to previous disputes with China -- have been set off by Japan's plan of monetary easing to boost inflation and activity by reducing the value of the yen under new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We will refrain from competitive devaluation. We will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes," said the communique after the G20 finance meeting meeting in Moscow under Russia's presidency.

It echoed a similar recent statement by the G7 richest nations which like the G20 statement was also approved by Japan, whose monetary policy has been vehemently criticised by the West in recent weeks.

The statement made clear that forex rates should be set by markets, and not intervening governments.

It affirmed the G20's commitment to move "more rapidly toward more market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals."

Striving to give the impression of a united front among the world's top 20 economies, the G20 ministers vowed to "work more closely with one another so we can grow together.

British Finance Minister George Osborne had earlier warned of the dangers of slugging out "economic warfare" as countries tried to outdo eachother with successive devaluations.

"Currencies should not be used as a tool of competitive devaluation. The world should not make the mistake that it has made in the past of using currencies as the tools of economic warfare," the British chancellor of the exchequer said.

European capitals fear that devaluations of currencies like the yen would make their own exports less competitive and harm extremely fragile economic recoveries at home.

For the first time in several international meetings, the concerns over currencies have overshadowed the economic troubles of the debt-ridden euro zone which leaders hope is heading to a gentle recovery.

All the G20 states are to a greater or lesser extent faced with the same dilemma - how to boost fragile growth rates without overextending budget deficits or alienating international partners.

The final communique - as expected - stopped short of giving precise budget deficit targets which many governments would have found too tough to stomach.

But it said that "credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plans will be put in place" and implemented taking into account the economic conditions and fiscal possibilities.

Earlier, Britain, France and Germany also launched a new drive to help national budgets by making big business pay full taxes and not minimise payments through schemes such as offshore companies.

The G20 ministers agreed to take measures to combat corporate tax avoidance in coordination with the Organisation for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD) which is preparing an action plan on measures to be taken in a coordinated move by national governments.

"We are determined to develop measures to address base erosion and profit shifting, take the necessary collective action and look forward to the comprehensive action plan the OECD will present to us in July," the final statement said.

Profit shifting is the practice of shifting profits from the company's home country to pay less tax under another jurisdiction.

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Big swing against NT govt in by-election

THE Northern Territory government says it has heard the message, after a big swing against it in the by-election for the seat of Wanguri.

Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate Nicole Manison secured her place in the NT parliament after capturing 69.7 per cent of the two-party vote, late counting showed.

The result was about a six per cent swing towards the ALP from the last election, making the seat now the safest ALP electorate in the NT.

The ALP had called on voters to send a message to the Country Liberal Party (CLP) that rules the NT, and the government said it had heard it.

"This government acknowledges the message contained in the result tonight," NT Chief Minister Terry Mills said.

"We will continue to work with, and engage the community in this period of change."

Commentators had thought it would be tough for the CLP to win Wanguri, which Labor has held since 1989, particularly after recent 30 per cent electricity price hikes and government cutbacks.

The CLP had said the price rises were needed to alleviate the debt held by the public-owned Power and Water Corporation.

But Ms Manison said the result was Territorians sending Mr Mills a message he couldn't ignore.

"People are unhappy with his broken promises and unfair price hikes," she said.

The by-election was sparked by the resignation of former chief minister Paul Henderson.

Counting will continue on Sunday with about 89 per cent of the vote counted so far.

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Pistorius is 'numb with shock and grief'

OSCAR Pistorius' uncle says the Olympic athlete is "numb with shock, as well as grief" over the shooting death of his girlfriend.

Arnold Pistorius spoke with The Associated Press and two South African journalists about his nephew's arrest for the killing of Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius remains held at a Pretoria police station over the slaying.

Prosecutors say they will pursue a charge of premeditated murder against him.

Arnold Pistorius said the family "strongly refutes" any murder charge against him, though he did not elaborate on what sparked the shooting on Valentine's Day.

Arnold Pistorius said: "They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time."

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Vatican could hold early Pope vote

THE Vatican says it could speed up the election of a new Pope as lobbying for Benedict XVI's job intensified amid speculation over who had the best chance to succeed him.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, who earlier said the conclave would probably start on or after March 15 after the Pope resigns on February 28, said the issue of bringing forward the date "has been raised by various cardinals".

Benedict's decision to step down for age reasons has revealed tensions at the heart of the Church, emphasised by a battle between top cardinals over whose candidate should be appointed to head up the Vatican's scandal-hit bank.

The choice of German financier Ernst Von Freyberg on Friday was seen by some as a snub to the Vatican's powerful number two, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who had backed another candidate, religious watchers said.

"The appointment is fruit of a bitter compromise," Il Messaggero daily said.

It appeared to bring to the fore a power struggle between Bertone's allies and his rivals reminiscent of Renaissance conspiracies -- a bid to shape the hierarchy within the Vatican first revealed in a leaks scandal last year.

In an interview carried out 10 weeks ago but published on Saturday, Benedict spoke about the scandal, which some believe was a factor in his resignation.

"I simply couldn't understand it," he told his biographer Peter Seewald in the interview published in Focus magazine, referring to his former butler Paolo Gabriele's decision to leak secret memos revealing intrigue at the Vatican.

"I don't know what he was expecting. I can't understand his thought process," said the 85-year-old, who pardoned Gabriele just before Christmas.

Seewald had also asked Benedict six months ago what people could expect from the rest of his papacy: "From me? Not much. I am an old man, running out of energy. I also think what I have done is enough," he replied.

On Saturday, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that once Benedict steps down, he will stay in the papal summer seat in Castel Gandolfo near Rome for around two months before moving to a monastery within the Vatican walls.

He is expected to take some of his current household to the modern monastery, which is currently undergoing restoration works.

Thousands of faithful are expected to flock to St Peter's Square on Sunday to pay tribute to the German pontiff in one of his last public appearances.

The secret conclave set to meet under Michelangelo's famous frescoes in the Sistine Chapel to select a new Pope had been scheduled for mid-March, but could be brought forward as long as cardinals from around the world are in Rome.

Rules laid down by John Paul II stipulate that between 15 and 20 days must pass after the end of the pontificate before the conclave meets.

But a clause in the constitution allows exceptions in case of an agreement between the cardinals, who are already gathering at the Vatican. Most are expected at a final audience with Benedict on February 28.

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$20m fraudster had everyone fooled

Damian O'Carrigan's double life was a complete shock to his wife Julie. Source: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

DAMIAN O'Carrigan was outwardly a devoted husband, father and a trusted manager with one of the nation's biggest firms.

He had also siphoned $20 million from his employer over more than a decade, while having secret affairs and building his own property and racing empire.

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Speaking about the incredible double life for the first time, the wife of the knockabout finance manager this week lifted the lid on one of the state's biggest frauds.

"You've got to remember that my husband was my hero," Julie O'Carrigan told The Sunday Mail, insisting she had no knowledge of the crimes.

"I knew him like the back of my hand. When this first broke I thought you've got to be joking, you've all made a tremendous mistake."

His wife also said O'Carrigan:

Former Leighton manager Damian O'Carrigan with former Queensland premier Peter Beattie. Pic SUPPLIED

ADMITTED he had several affairs.

LAVISHED gifts on at least one former lover and friends.

USED a "sugar daddies" dating website to meet young women.

Mrs O'Carrigan said the family was now paying the price after the unravelling of his years of deception.

She said she faced being left penniless after her husband's arrest and will be forced to apply for public housing and a disability pension.

She said the bank had threatened to foreclose on her west Brisbane home and other properties and she had until March 4 to pay.

Auctioneers scoured her home looking for oil paintings and expensive jewellery but found only animal prints and a few gifts to his wife over the years.

She said she was not involved in paying bills and had no knowledge of the number of O'Carrigan's assets.

Barred from her husband's home office before his arrest, Mrs O'Carrigan has since been through his paperwork and found transaction histories that took her breath away.

"I had never seen so many noughts in all my life. Then they would disappear," she said.

Hidden in the study, which includes a pinball machine and jukebox, Mrs O'Carrigan also found receipts for a diamond necklace and silver earrings that were not hers.

Then this week four boxes of O'Carrigan's belongings arrived from his employer Leighton including statements from several linked credit cards she didn't know existed.

In the month before O'Carrigan's arrest, one card was used by a third party to withdraw thousands of dollars and pay for a gym membership, groceries and animal supplies.

On O'Carrigan's iPad, his wife found he was using the website sugardaddies.com which he said was just talk and a bit of fun.

"I said 'who else is there mate'? He said 'there's been a few'."

In a shockingly simple fraud, O'Carrigan apparently created fake invoices for Leighton from entity Acorn Cottage for services that were never provided.

Acorn Cottage was also the name of a Tasmanian farmhouse to which O'Carrigan and his wife planned to retire.

"Damian was going to leave Leighton and he was going to work down there with me," she said.

"We were going to grow herbs and our dogs were going to be raised in cold climates."

The move never happened, with O'Carrigan continuing the fraud despite stealing enough money to live the high life several times over.

O'Carrigan was a finance officer when the fraud started and progressed to finance and administration manager in 2006 with authority to approve payments of up to $5 million, signing off on his own faked invoices. He also used the money to help buy millions of dollars in properties and started breeding and training dozens of racehorses.

One horse has won more than $155,000 in prizemoney and another has won more than $35,000.

O'Carrigan did legal work in NSW before moving to Clermont in central Queensland to work with Leighton as a junior site clerk 30 years ago.

He worked from demountable bush buildings and lived in a caravan park with his wife and young daughter, their only child, before rising in the ranks.

"They used to say he had more orange blood (Leighton's corporate colour) than anyone," his wife said.

A justice of the peace, he rubbed shoulders with business and political chiefs in corporate boxes and at charity events.

He built a Harley Davidson from scratch and would go on charity motorbike runs to raise money for sick children and animals.

At the same time he was involved in relentless theft from his firm, signing off on almost 300 payments between May 2000 and October 2012.

In 2000, about the same time the fraud started, the O'Carrigans bought the acreage at Moggill and began building a new home.

O'Carrigan took his wife to Germany in the same year to buy german shepherds to bring home and breed.

When arrested, O'Carrigan owned in his name units at Auchenflower and Fortitude Valley.

Only O'Carrigan knows why he kept the fraud going for so long when he would likely never have been caught if he quit.

Leighton, which trades on the Australian Stock Exchange and is the world's largest contract miner, belatedly caught up with him when a cost-cutting team noticed unusual transactions last October.

When confronted by Leighton, O'Carrigan admitted to the fraud and was charged. In the quickest major criminal case legal observers can recall, he pleaded guilty in the District Court on November 23.

The fraud had been detected only weeks earlier and everyone, including his wife, was stunned at how swiftly it was all over.

"I had morning tea ready because I thought he was coming home on bail," she said.

"I am embarrassed, I am ashamed and I am disgusted. I am wearing the brunt of this.

"My husband has a roof over his head and he has three meals a day and he's not allowed to be upset by phone calls or harassed.

"Everyone thought because I'm Damian's wife that I was complicit in this and knew everything.

"I had to defend myself first against the general public, against solicitors and then against even my own family and friends.

"Damian is a very likeable man. There are a lot of people who still say it must be a mistake or a set-up. I have since learnt it is not a mistake."

The first she knew of the fraud allegations was when O'Carrigan came home on October 31, Halloween, and said he had been stood down.

He gave little away before seven police officers arrived at their Moggill home and arrested him.

Mrs O'Carrigan says her husband handled the finances and did not like to be questioned over how they were affording their lifestyle.

"I would say 'how are we doing' and he would say 'excellent'. I would always say let me know if there's a problem, if the horses are too much, if the bills are too much. You'd look at them and think that adds up to a bit of money. Then Damian would produce his bonus cheque of $25,000, his tax cheque of $37,000."

About three years ago her husband said he was earning $200,000 a year.

"For the hours, the time, the big company, the recognition, sitting in with board members, taking clients to different corporate boxes . . . no way in the world did it seem to me to be over the top."

david.murray@news.com.au

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Bates facing new pressure over register

EMBATTLED Newman Government Arts and IT Minister Ros Bates is facing fresh calls to quit after a lobbyist lunch was left off her official contact register.

Ms Bates' diary, released under Right to Information laws, has revealed she attended a lunch last year with a major lobbying firm and its clients with interests in the minister's portfolio areas.

However, the lunch was not recorded in Ms Bates' Contact with Lobbyists Register, including the updated version she was forced to release after admitting the initial copy was inadequate.

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The diary details were released to the Opposition on Tuesday last week, which coincides with Ms Bates' decision to sack her chief-of-staff Digby McLeay.

Ms Bates' spokeswoman confirmed the minister attended the lobbyist's lunch but insisted there was no reason to record it in the register.

"There was no lobbying at this event and therefore it wasn't applicable for the lobbyist register," she said.

Opposition arts spokeswoman Jackie Trad rejected the minister's claim and called on her to quit or be sacked.

"It is now up to the Premier to declare if he accepts such sloppy standards and explain why the minister is still in Cabinet with such a string of disasters behind her," she said.

"The Premier's first loyalty should be to Queenslanders and Queenslanders deserve better than Ros Bates."

The diary entry from August 7 shows the lunch at the exclusive Brisbane Club was organised by lobbying firm Barton Deakin with between 15 and 25 of the firm's "clients and friends" attending.

While the firms that attended are not known, the diary entry shows they had "expertise in IT, communications and innovation", all areas related to Ms Bates' responsibilities.

Former Liberal lord mayor of Brisbane Sallyanne Atkinson, a lobbyist with Barton Deakin, co-hosted the event.

While the latest version of Ms Bates' Contact with Lobbyists Register makes no mention of the lunch, contacts between the firm and the minister's office to organise her attendance were recorded, including an email checking on any dietary requirements.

The absence of the lunch from the official record is just the latest in a long line of issues that have beset Ms Bates.

The minister last year blamed an assistant for failing give her the complete contact register after initially tabling in Parliament an inaccurate version.

The meetings missing from the original version included three with with lobbyist and close factional friend, Santo Santoro.

Ms Bates has also been under fire for holidaying in Bali after taking extended sick leave, reading a copy-cat speech in Parliament and opening an elephant statue that she had previously lambasted.

Mr Newman last week defended Ms Bates, insisting the sacking of her chief of staff showed she was cleaning up her act.

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Dying sailor in desperate compo battle

Former sailor Kurt MacKenzie is fighting for compensation after he was accidentally gassed aboard a Navy vessel. Picture: Quinn Stuart Source: The Sunday Telegraph

A 44-YEAR-OLD former senior sailor has accused Defence of delaying his compensation claim as he battles against a slow and painful death.

Kurt MacKenzie was a fit 37-year-old member of the navy's elite "green team" training outfit when he was accidentally gassed with

lethal Hydrogen Sulphide

on board a poorly designed Armidale Class patrol boat off Darwin in August 2006.

After the gassing he was prematurely released from hospital and his treatment was so poor that he now has just 37 per cent lung capacity.

He also suffers from numerous other ailments, including curvature of the spine, narrowing of the oesophagus and post traumatic stress disorder. He is not eligible for a lung transplant.

Mr MacKenzie, who lives in Brisbane, is permanently on oxygen and will never work again.

He was earning $100,000-a-year at the time of his gassing and today is paid a pension of $1900-a-fortnight.

He has waited six-a-half years and doesn't want to finish up like Navy sailors from the HMAS Voyager disaster who had to wait 35 years for justice and compensation.

Mr MacKenzie has a Veterans gold health card so his health care is free, but the Navy and the government have refused to pay him compensation.

"All I want is to be able to pay my mortgage and protect my family," he said.

His wife Sue and his two sons have been provided compensation payments, but Mr MacKenzie has been told for years that his claim was "on the chief of navy's desk" or "on the minister's desk".

News Limited has discovered that it is actually in the hands of lawyers and bureaucrats in the Defence Legal Department.

Senior Navy officers are frustrated by the delay and the minister's office says it has not even seen a claim.

A former navy officer said authorities should make a decision so Mr MacKenzie could move on.

His father John MacKenzie describes his son's treatment as "disgusting". He said Kurt loved the navy and all he ever wanted as a boy was to go to sea with the senior service.

"We gave him to the navy as a healthy, A1 fit 17-year-old and we got him back a total wreck," he said.

"They are waiting for him to die but while ever I've got breath I will fight the bastards."

The MacKenzie family demanded a board of inquiry into the gassing incident, but the navy refused and produced two "secret" internal reports that have not been given to the family. The latest report was handed to Navy chief Vice-Admiral Ray Griggs in December.

In typical bureaucratic fashion Defence refused to say what, if any, recommendations defence legal would make to government on the MacKenzie claim and two other high-profile Navy compensation cases.

"As these applications are currently under consideration, it is not appropriate to disclose what recommendations have been made in respect of the applications," it said.

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Hundreds of Vic firefighters kept busy

VICTORIAN firefighters have been kept busy battling two major fires in the state's east and a number of smaller blazes closer to Melbourne.

A control centre spokesman said 195 firefighters battled the 81,000-hectare Aberfeldy fire in Gippsland in Victoria's east on Saturday.

"It's burning in steep difficult terrain," the spokesman said.

Closer to Melbourne, a watch and act alert was downgraded to an advice warning for communities near an out-of-control fire at Kerrie, northwest of Melbourne.

There are 22 trucks at the scene.

"That's likely to burn into the night and probably won't be brought under control till morning," the spokesman said.

"There's a lot of smoke and activity but it's not threatening houses or property."

A fire at Arthurs Creek, northeast of Melbourne, is under control.

Conditions at a second major fire at Harrietville in alpine country in the northeast had eased, the spokesman said.

A watch and act alert has also been downgraded to an advice warning for the Hotham Heights and Dinner Plain areas, but all residents are believed to have been evacuated.

Wind gusts and spot fires were still a worry in the area as 312 firefighters, 11 aircraft and 60 vehicles worked on the fire on Saturday.

The spokesman said wind gusts were making the fire difficult to predict.

A watch and act warning is in place for Dargo at the southern side of the Harrietville fire that has so far burned around 16,000 hectares.

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Third death linked to Vic cheese company

A THIRD person has died following a listeria outbreak linked to soft cheeses produced in Victoria.

Victoria's acting chief health officer, Dr Michael Ackland, has confirmed the death of a 68-year-old New South Wales man in late January was linked to the listeria contamination of Jindi cheese products, Fairfax reported on Sunday.

An 84-year-old Victorian man and a 44-year-old Tasmanian man have also died of listeria infection. A pregnant NSW woman miscarried. More than 20 other cases have been reported.

Jindi has voluntarily recalled all batches of cheese manufactured up to January 6.

Listeria, a bacterial infection, has a long incubation period and more people could become ill.

The Victoria health department says it acted promptly to contain the outbreak, but has warned there could be more cases.

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