Deals website LivingSocial hacked

Deals website LivingSocial says it has been hacked and customers' details may have been accessed. Source: AAP

ONLINE deals service LivingSocial says its website was hacked, and the personal data of more than 50 million customers may have been affected.

The company said on Friday that customers' names, email addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords may have been compromised by the cyberattack. But it said the database that stores customer credit-card information was not accessed or affected.

The Washington DC-based company said it was working with law enforcement officials to investigate the attack and was contacting customers in nearly all of the countries where it operates.

A banner on its website on Friday evening read: "Important notice for customers. If you haven't already updated your LivingSocial password, please update it now."

In an email to customers, company chief executive Tim O'Shaughnessy requested that users reset their passwords, and he reminded them to disregard any emails claiming to be from LivingSocial that seek personal or account information.

"The security of your information is our priority," he wrote. "We always strive to ensure the security of our customer information, and we are redoubling efforts to prevent any issues in the future."

The company did not immediately explain how the hacking occurred, except to describe it as a cyberattack that "resulted in unauthorised access to some customer data from our servers".

It's the latest bad news for LivingSocial, which offers deals on everything from restaurants to spa sessions. Last November, the company announced it was cutting 400 jobs worldwide, or about 9 per cent of its workforce, as the deals marked continued to face challenges.

In recent years, online deals have gone from fad to a much-copied business model that's easy to set up but difficult to sustain. LivingSocial is one of the largest of the online deals companies.

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Two dead in India hospital roof collapse

Up to 15 people, mostly patients, are feared trapped after part of a hospital roof caved in India. Source: AAP

TWO people were killed and 16 injured when the ceiling of a hospital in central India came crashing down, trapping patients and employees under the rubble.

Rescue workers smashed through giant slabs of concrete and combed through other debris to search for victims after the ceiling of the first floor of the women's wing of the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital in Bhopal caved in on Friday.

"The bodies of two persons were found when the rescue team started removing debris from the collapsed structure," Nikunj Shrivastava, chief district administrative officer, told reporters at the scene on Saturday.

He said the casualty toll was not expected to rise and rescue efforts had been completed.

The two-storey hospital, run by state-owned power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), was undergoing repairs.

Patients on the ground floor had already vacated the nearly 50-year-old building before the collapse.

"The building is old but its maintenance was carried out every year. We will conduct a probe into it," Shashi Ranjan Prasad, executive director of BHEL, told AFP.

An ambulance service employee said the roof caved in without warning and fell "in a shower of debris of bricks and mortar".

Of the 16 people injured, one was in serious condition.

Building collapses are common events in South Asia due to use of shoddy construction materials and lax building supervision by authorities.

More than 300 people died when an eight-storey factory complex outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed on Wednesday. Rescue work at that site continued Saturday, with more feared dead.

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Anzac story belongs to all: Carr

AUSTRALIA'S history, including the Anzac legend, belongs to all who live in it whether they are born there or immigrate, Foreign Minister Bob Carr has told a commemorative service in France.

Senator Carr said the Anzac Day dawn service he attended in Villers-Bretonneux was part of a worldwide commemoration like no other.

"All of us linked across the world by the same duty to honour and remember, and by the same sense of the loss and waste of war," he said.

The answer to why so many were drawn to such services could be found in the men who gave their lives - a cross-section of the Australian people.

Senator Carr said a fifth of those who served in the First World War had been immigrants to Australia, including the great general Sir John Monash.

"This serves to remind us that we were then and remain today a nation of immigrants," he said.

"That the more recent arrivals are part of our living history and that all the history of modern Australia, including the story of Anzac, belongs to them equally wherever they were born."

French veterans affairs minister Kader Arif said it was unthinkable today that any nation would send one-tenth of its population overseas to fight on behalf of another country.

"You have fought in France as though this country was your own," he told the service.

"Today we welcome you here as our brothers."

The wartime link between Australia and France was also commemorated in Canberra, with about 150 people attending a service at the French embassy.

French ambassador Stephane Romatet spoke of several veterans of the Somme and their families whom he had met.

He also remembered the 39 Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan and the French who died in service in Mali earlier this year.

Defence force chief General David Hurley cast aside his prepared speech to recall instead his wife's great uncle, who fought at Gallipoli and Villers-Bretonneux.

"Personal memories are very important because that's what binds our two countries," he told the gathering at the French embassy's war memorial.

"This memorial is more than bricks; it's a symbol of a great link."

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Mental health before centenary: RSL boss

THE mental health of veterans should take precedence over a lavish Anzac Day centenary, Tasmania's RSL boss says.

State president Chris Munday says he'd prefer federal government money be spent on treating conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2015 than on the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.

"We're spending about $150-odd million on the centenary," Mr Munday said.

"I'd like to be sure that enough money is being spent on those that are returning ... to make sure that they're mentally and physically okay."

Mr Munday said the suicide rate among Australian servicemen and women, mostly as a result of PTSD, was worrying.

"It is one thing that we should be talking a lot more about," he told AAP.

"We're losing a lot more taking their (own) lives than we're losing over there being shot or maimed.

"Loved ones go away and fight the war, (families) think 'thank God they're home' and then they take their own life."

He encouraged veterans doing it tough to seek help from the Veterans and Veterans' Families Counselling Service (VVCS).

Record numbers attended commemorations throughout Tasmania, Mr Munday said, including more than 5000 at the dawn service in Hobart despite cold and blustery conditions.

Those at the capital's wreath-laying ceremony heard Tasmania's governor Peter Underwood implore Australians not to glorify war as the centenary approaches.

"Australia needs to drop the sentimental myths that Anzac Day has attracted," he said.

Tasmanian firefighters marched for the first time in Hobart, in recognition of their efforts during January's bushfire crisis.

Dodges Ferry brigade chief Adam Hall, a former army reservist who wore his great grandfather's WWI and WWII badges to the service, was one of the first to arrive at the fires.

"Those catastrophic fire days are probably similar to some of the (experiences of) guys that fought in war," he said.

"There were some very dangerous situations that we went through."

Greens Leader Christine Milne joined Liberals Senate leader Eric Abetz to lay a wreath at a peacekeepers memorial at Hobart's Anglesea Barracks.

Australian peacekeepers have been listed on the War Memorial Roll of Honour for the first time, with 48 having lost their lives in action.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.

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Samsung S4 aims to bite chunk of Apple

SAMSUNG'S latest flagship Galaxy smartphone goes on sale this week, as the South Korean giant seeks to cement its lead over faltering rival Apple in an increasingly saturated market.

The Galaxy S4, armed with eye motion control technology that will pause a video when the user looks away, comes with a faster chip and is thinner and lighter than the previous S3 model.

Unveiled last month at New York's Radio City Music Hall, the touchscreen device goes on sale in South Korea on Friday and will roll out globally over the weekend.

The release of the Galaxy S4 comes as Samsung finds itself at something of a crossroads in a market that was once dominated by Apple's iPhone.

After years of following and refining the iPhone's pioneering innovations - a strategy that resulted in bitter patent battles with Apple - Samsung has dethroned its California-based rival to become the world's top smartphone maker.

With that title has come increasing pressure for Samsung to shed its copycat label and come up with its own game-changing innovations.

"Samsung has entered territory that it hasn't been in before, and sales of the S4 will show if can sustain its newfound status in the market," said James Song, analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities.

Recent smartphone launches have lost something of the glamour and excitement that surrounded the early iPhone releases, in part because they are seen as offering incremental technology upgrades rather than breaking new ground.

The S4's features include a high-definition, 12.7cm screen, enhanced picture-taking capabilities and the capacity to translate to and from nine languages.

Its release has been preceded by a massive promotional campaign - from the glitzy launch in New York to lighting up the sails of Sydney's iconic opera house on Tuesday night with images shot by ordinary Australians.

Samsung - the world's largest technology firm by value and also the top handset maker - has boasted stellar sales growth, setting new records for operating profit in every single quarter of last year.

First quarter results due Friday are expected to show a 53 per cent surge in operating profit from a year ago to 8.7 trillion won ($A7.53 billion), largely fuelled by smartphone sales.

Samsung is estimated to have shipped 65 million smartphones globally in the first three months of 2013, for a market share of around 30 per cent, according to Taiwanese analyst firm DRAMeXchange.

Apple by contrast, reported on Tuesday that its quarterly profit had dipped for the first time in nearly a decade, with DRAMeXchange estimating its iPhone shipments at 37.5 million units for a 15.3 per cent market share.

But Apple's iPhone commands a profit margin double that of Samsung's smartphone stable which holds a much wider range of devices for both low- and high-end buyers.

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Dead woman's ex-boyfriend dies in fall

A post mortem examination has not given an exact cause of death of a young finance worker in Sydney. Source: AAP

A MAN believed to be the ex-boyfriend of a woman who died in suspicious circumstances in north Sydney has plunged to his death from a high rise apartment on the Gold Coast.

Detectives from Sydney are working with Queensland police to determine whether there was any connection between the man's death and that of Kate Malonyay, NSW police said in a statement.

The death of the man is not being treated as suspicious.

News Ltd is reporting that the man, Elliott Coulson, was the ex-boyfriend of Ms Malonyay.

Mr Coulson fell 26 floors from a balcony at the Marriott Surfers Paradise Resort as Queensland and NSW police were trying to enter his room.

The hotel and police have confirmed a death is being investigated, however only limited detail is available.

Ms Malonyay, 32, was found dead in her Mosman unit by police on Monday.

Officers found her bruised body when they forced entry to her unit after a friend reported concern for her wellbeing.

Earlier on Tuesday, police said a post-mortem examination had been unable to determine a cause of death, meaning it was not possible to declare the case a murder investigation.

"At this stage it's a suspicious death. We haven't got a cause of death," Superintendent Allan Sicard said on Wednesday.

Supt Sicard wouldn't say where on Ms Malonyay's body the bruises were located.

He also wasn't able to say what contact she had with others in the days before her death.

Ms Malonyay, who lived by herself, hadn't been seen since the previous Wednesday.

But Supt Sicard wasn't prepared to say what police believed had transpired over those days or whether her apartment was broken into.

"This is a very sensitive and serious investigation. I'm not prepared to go into the lines of inquiry that we are looking at," he said.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.

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Expect slow house price rises - RBA

AUSTRALIA'S transition to a low-inflation economy means slower increases in housing prices and more occasions when they are falling, according to a top central banker.

The head of the Reserve Bank of Australia's financial stability department, Luci Ellis, said the move to low-inflation in the 1980s and 1990s had meant lower interest rates.

That in turn meant lenders felt comfortable increasing the size of their loans compared with household incomes.

"It shows that even if nothing else changed, the loan-to-income ratio that households could prudently obtain would have almost doubled as a result of disinflation," she said in a speech in Sydney on Tuesday.

This transition to bigger loans took time, as old, smaller loans were only gradually paid off.

And it took a while for housing prices to make the full, upward adjustment.

"But the transition does end after a while, and it is our assessment that it has now ended," Dr Ellis said.

The ratio of housing debt to household income has been "broadly flat" since 2005, about a year after the ratio of housing prices to income levelled off.

The transition has also changed the way households save and spend.

As housing prices were rising, the proportion of household income being saved - something which includes paying off debt - fell to around zero.

But it's since returned to positive territory.

Just where the saving ratio, as it's called, will settle is difficult to predict.

"But given it has actually been quite stable for the past five years, it seems reasonable to suppose that where we are is at, or close to, a 'new normal'," Dr Ellis said.

The end of the transition to higher prices and the return to a stable saving ratio had implications for the future.

"First, trend housing price growth will be slower in future than in the previous 30 years," she said.

The RBA did not have a strong view on whether housing prices should be "mildly rising, falling or constant" compared with incomes.

"But we think it is very unlikely to return to its 1970s levels, or to rise rapidly once again.

Nor, she said, did the RBA want to see another boom like the one in the early 2000s.

"A second implication is that, if housing price growth is now cycling around a lower average, there will be more periods when prices are falling (a little) in absolute terms," she said.

That justified the insistence by APRA, the financial regulator, that banks take greater account of the risk of losses from default by borrowers.

A third implication is that banks should lower their expectations for balance sheet growth.

"We have been making this point for a while," Dr Ellis said.

"We would not want banks to ease their lending standards to make more loans and bring back the boom times."

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Kim Carr's new book on Labor before poll

FORMER federal government minister Kim Carr is joining fellow Kevin Rudd backer Chris Bowen in releasing a book on the Labor Party before the September 14 election.

Senator Carr's book, A Letter to Generation Next - why Labor?, will focus on those in generations X and Y who have left the party and believe it does not represent social justice, reform and equality.

The Victorian Left senator's book is set to be released in August, while Mr Bowen's on how modern Labor must govern is due out in July.

Senator Carr says there is growing hostility to progressive parties and politics generally but that should not deter the current generation of social democrats.

"This book is an attempt to explain why we should still give a damn," Senator Carr said in a statement on Tuesday.

"It's an argument to stick with Labor and believe in the progressive cause, no matter how tough the conditions may now seem."

His book will make the case to reinvigorate the Australian Labor Party.

The senator stood down from his human services ministry in March after Mr Rudd failed to challenge Prime Minister Julia Gillard after former Arts Minister Simon Crean called for a leadership spill.

Senator Carr was also a former minister of innovation, industry, science and research who was dumped from cabinet in December 2011.

Both books will be released by Melbourne University Publishing.

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Air NZ flies solo in cartel court case

THREE more airlines have settled with the NZ Commerce Commission in the long-running air cargo cartel case, paying $9.6 million in penalties, and leaving national carrier Air New Zealand as the final airline yet to do so.

In the High Court, Cathay Pacific was ordered to pay $3.4m, Thai Airways International $2.7m and MASkargo System Berhad, replacing Malaysian Airlines, $2.6m for fixing air cargo prices between February 2000 and February 2006, the antitrust regulator said in a statement on Monday.

The airlines were also ordered to pay the commission'S costs. That takes the total penalties to more than $35m.

A Commerce Commission spokeswoman told BusinessDesk Air New Zealand is the only airline that hasn't settled, and is discussing a potential resolution with the regulator.

"The penalties are a reminder to both New Zealand and overseas-based companies that colluding on prices is illegal and may result in substantial penalties under the Commerce Act," chairman Mark Berry said.

"The commission is committed to pursuing cartels that affect New Zealand markets."

The alleged price-fixing has been the subject of antitrust process worldwide, with big settlements from multi-national airlines in Europe and the US.

Some of the alleged agreements appear to have been in place since 2001.

In 2006, air freight forwarding services in and out of New Zealand generated $450m in revenue.

The commission has previously received penalties from British Airways, Cargolux Airlines, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Korean Air Lines, Qantas Airways and Singapore Airlines Cargo.

The regulator dropped proceedings against Garuda Indonesia, United Airlines and six Air New Zealand executives last year, and discontinued against two Qantas executives in February last year.

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Union man like ice cream truck, ICAC hears

FORMER union boss John Maitland came "like the ice cream truck" to spruik his plan for a mine in the NSW Hunter Valley to locals, a corruption inquiry has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Monday heard evidence from a farmer whose land is covered by an exploration licence now at the centre of ICAC's Operation Acacia.

ICAC is examining whether ex-NSW mining minister Ian Macdonald conferred an improper benefit on Mr Maitland and other businessmen when he granted the licence at Doyles Creek in December 2008.

Grazier Ian Moore told the inquiry he had lived on his property for more than half a century and was vehemently opposed to the establishment of a mine there.

He said Mr Maitland had promised to lavish investment on nearby Jerrys Plains if his plan for a training mine at Doyles Creek, propped up by a commercial mine, came through.

"He was like the ice cream truck, he came to offer all these goodies to Jerrys Plains," Mr Moore said.

He testified that at an "aggro" community meeting in June 2008, the former CFMEU official promised a local supermarket, houses, a flight simulator, and a portion of the profits to the community.

But Mr Maitland also warned that resistance to the mine wouldn't succeed, the inquiry heard.

"'If you don't accept us, you'll get someone else but they'll be a hell of a lot worse than us.' That's what he said that night," Mr Moore said.

Also on Monday, Commissioner David Ipp gave a hint of the course of action he may take if he determines that there was corruption involved in the granting of the Doyles Creek licence.

He told counsel for NuCoal, which bought Doyles Creek Mining after the licence was granted, that he could recommend the government assess "the amount of money that would have to have been paid by a successful tenderer in an open tender with all the information, and then impose that on the mining lease".

But there was no suggestion he would find that corrupt conduct had occurred, Mr Ipp said.

The inquiry continues.

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Tow-backs not Indonesia's business: Abbott

Tony Abbott says the turning around of asylum seeker boats could work again as a deterrence measure. Source: AAP

SENDING asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia is the "ordinary course of business" as most of the vessels originate in the South East Asian nation anyway, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.

Mr Abbott said seven asylum seeker vessels were towed back to Indonesia under the Howard government between 2001 and 2002, and the policy could work again as as deterrence measure.

He conceded that towing back vessels could be difficult, and under certain circumstances "might even be dangerous".

"But letting the boats come is pretty dangerous too ... very very dangerous to boat people," he told Sky News on Sunday.

When asked whether he would push ahead with this policy against the wishes of Indonesia, Mr Abbott said most of the asylum vessels were crewed by Indonesians and based out of ports there.

"What happens outside of Indonesia's waters is really, in a sense, something that the Indonesians are not directly involved in," he said.

"If a boat gets turned around outside of Indonesia's waters, and then turns up again at the Indonesian port from which it had come, that surely is just simply a matter of course."

Mr Abbott said the Indonesians were keen to see Australia make a greater effort to deter people smuggling, and expressed a desire to strengthen ties with the South East Asian nation.

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Labor questions 'secret' GST deal

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has hinted Liberal premiers may be in talks over GST distribution. Source: AAP

A "SECRET" coalition GST deal that could see the country's eastern states part with some of their tax share to appease West Australia raises crucial questions, the government says.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Sunday said the premiers of NSW, Victoria and Queensland were in talks with WA Premier Colin Barnett about some possible changes to GST distribution.

Mr Barnett has long campaigned for a greater share of the GST pie for his state, arguing the amount of WA government revenue from the commonwealth has dropped in recent years from 50 to 35 per cent.

Mr Abbott said it was his understanding the Liberal premiers of NSW, Queensland and Victoria were "prepared to look at some changes".

"Colin Barnett, as I understand it, thinks that it might be possible, talking to the premiers of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and himself to come up with something that doesn't disadvantage the smaller states, but which is fairer to the bigger states," he told Sky News on Sunday.

Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said however, the state Liberal premiers - particularly Mr Barnett - had a lot of questions to answer about the "secret" deal.

"Premier Barnett must release this secret formula so NSW, Queensland and Victoria know how much they stand to lose if Tony Abbott takes up his plans," he said in a statement.

The premiers needed to explain how much state revenue they planned on handing over to Mr Barnett, and what services they'd be cutting to make this cash available.

Mr Bradbury asked why people in the eastern states should be worse off because Mr Abbott wanted to appease WA, and called on the premiers to stand up for their respective states.

Mr Abbott had said South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory would not be worse off, adding it was the role of the federal government to ensure the economically weaker states weren't let down.

However it was ultimately up to the states to come to an agreement they could all live with, he added.

"If they can come to me with something which is a fairer system I'm all ears," Mr Abbott said.

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