Court slashes Samsung's $1b damages bill

A US judge slashed nearly half of the $US1 billion ($A984.40 million) damage award a jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple over the rights to the design and technology running market-leading smartphones and tablet computers.

US District Court Judge Lucy Koh lowered the damages awarded to Apple by $US450.5 million ($A443.47 million) for 14 Samsung products including some products in its hot-selling Galaxy lineup, saying jurors had not properly followed her instruction in calculating some of the damages.

She also concluded that mistakes had been made in determining when Apple had first notified Samsung about the alleged violations of patents for its trend-setting iPhone and IPad.

Koh ordered a new trial to recalculate damages for those products.

"We are pleased that the court decided to strike $US450,514,650 from the jury's award," Samsung spokeswoman Lauren Restuccia said.

"Samsung intends to seek further review as to the remaining award."

Apple declined to comment on the Koh's ruling.

The ruling reduced Samsung Electronics' bill to just under $599 million. The judge said the tab will probably increase after the appeals of both companies are resolved.

Apple is seeking more damages and Samsung a complete dismissal of the case in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Washington, D.C.-based court that handles all patent appeals.

The new trial to recalculate the damages could also increase the award.

Still, the ruling was the second significant setback in Koh's courtroom since the headline grabbing verdict was announced.

In December, Koh refused to order a sales ban on the products the jury found infringed Apple's patents.

She said Apple failed to prove the technology is what drove consumers to buy a Samsung product instead of an Apple iPhone or iPad.

Samsung says that it is continues to sell only three of the two dozen products found to have infringed Apple's patents.

After a three-week trial closely followed in Silicon Valley, the jury decided that Samsung ripped off Apple's trailblazing technology and sleek designs and ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05b.

Samsung has emerged as one of Apple's biggest rivals and has overtaken it as the leading smartphone maker.

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Abbott and PM descend on western Sydney

TONY Abbott has fired the first shot in this week's war for western Sydney as Julia Gillard gears up for a five-day tour to reconnect with the Labor heartland and salvage support in once-safe seats.

The opposition leader descended on Campbelltown on Saturday, pledging to solve the area's transport woes and tackle crime as new polling highlighted just how hard the prime minister will need to work during her own visit.

The Fairfax Media/ReachTEL poll found the government is on track to lose the seats of Chifley, Blaxland, McMahon and Werriwa to the Liberals at the September 14 election. All four would normally be considered safe.

Such a result would result in frontbenchers Chris Bowen and Jason Clare and backbenchers Laurie Ferguson and Ed Husic being booted from parliament, in addition to Labor MPs in more marginal seats like Lindsay's David Bradbury.

And in particularly worrying news for Ms Gillard, the poll of 2550 voters spread across the four seats finds the collapse in Labor's support is due in large part to negative perceptions of her leadership.

Mr Abbott sought to highlight the local MPs' failings too.

"You've got Chris Bowen, who couldn't stop the boats. You've got Jason Clare, who can't stop the guns. And you've got David Bradbury, who wants to attack people's superannuation," Mr Abbott told reporters at Leumeah train station.

He rejected suggestions his visit to Campbelltown was aimed at stealing the spotlight from Ms Gillard.

"I know Sydney, I'm not a tourist in Sydney and this is my 47th visit since the election to western Sydney," he said.

Mr Abbott will return to the area in the coming days and says he will stop in at the Rooty Hill RSL - next door to where the PM is staying - on Monday at the invitation of a breakfast television program.

While Ms Gillard had no public appearances on Saturday, Trade Minister Craig Emerson sought to downplay the latest poll, suggesting it could not be trusted because it was automated, unlike the better known Newspoll and Nielsen.

"The people who are more likely to respond to those polls are the ones who have got a particular adverse view," Dr Emerson told ABC television on Saturday.

Former Labor leader Mark Latham, who lives in Sydney's west, says the party has lost touch with the area. He says the old working class is steadily vanishing and being replaced by more aspirational voters.

"And unless Labor understands that it too will vanish," he told Sky News.

Labor holds Chifley on a margin of 12.3, Blaxland on 12.2, McMahon on 7.8 per cent and Werriwa on 6.8 per cent. The poll suggests a leadership switch to Kevin Rudd could keep Chifley and Blaxland in Labor's hands.

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Drastic threat over deadly Borneo siege

MALAYSIA is threatening to take "drastic action" against intruding followers of a self-proclaimed Filipino sultan after a tense standoff erupted into a shootout that killed 14 people.

Twelve followers of the little-known sultan of Sulu and two Malaysian security personnel were killed in Friday's firefight, police said, as the more than two-week-old siege in a remote corner of Malaysia turned deadly.

Dozens of Filipinos have been holed up on Borneo island, surrounded by a massive Malaysian police and military cordon, since landing by boat from their nearby Philippine islands to insist the area belongs to their Islamic leader.

"We want them to surrender immediately. If they don't, they will face drastic action," said Hamza Taib, police chief of the Malaysian state of Sabah where the drama was taking place.

His comments echoed growing Malaysian impatience with the situation.

In Manila, Philippine President Benigno Aquino urged the gunmen to surrender immediately.

"To those who have influence and the capacity to reason with those in (the affected town of) Lahad Datu, I ask you to convey this message: surrender now, without conditions," he said in a statement.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose government has been embarrassed by the security breach, said in the shootout's aftermath that he told police and armed forces to take whatever action was necessary to end the impasse.

"Now there is no grace period for the group to leave," he was quoted as saying by Malaysian media, blaming the intruders for sparking the violence.

Muslim-majority Malaysia had previously avoided tough talk, expressing hope the intruders would leave peacefully.

The Filipinos, who are estimated to number between 100 and 300, sailed from their remote islands to press Jamalul Kiram III's claim to Sabah.

Kiram, 74, claims to be the heir to the Islamic sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of the southern Philippines and a portion of Borneo.

The Sulu sultanate's power faded about a century ago but it has continued to receive nominal payments from Malaysia for Sabah under a historical lease arrangement passed down from European colonial powers.

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Iran pipeline work to begin this month

A CONSORTIUM will start work next week on a much delayed $US7.5 billion ($A7.38 billion) gas pipeline from Pakistan to Iran despite American warnings of possible sanctions.

The date was announced after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari held talks in Tehran with Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who urged Islamabad to press ahead with the project.

"The groundbreaking is going to be performed on March 11 on the Pakistani side of border and we hope that the presidents of the two countries will be present on the occasion," a senior Pakistani official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

He said the ceremony would mark the start of work by an Iranian-Pakistani consortium on the 780-kilometre pipeline earmarked for the Pakistani side of the border, which is said to cost some $US1.5 billion ($A1.48 billion).

A second Pakistani official also confirmed March 11 as the start date.

Although the pipeline on the Iranian side has almost been completed, Pakistan has run into repeated difficulties, both in financing the project and over a US threat of possible sanctions due to Iran's nuclear activities.

Sanctions-hit Iran eventually agreed to finance a third of the costs of laying the pipeline through Pakistani territory to Nawabshah, north of Karachi, with the work to be carried out by an Iranian company.

Pakistani officials said in mid-December that Iran had promised a $US500 million ($A492 million) loan and that Islamabad would meet the rest of the cost.

"The government has assured us that they will arrange this money through different sources including international financial institutions," a Pakistani official told AFP on Friday.

Pakistan suffers from a crushing energy crisis, but the United States says it is providing Islamabad with alternative means to help avoid sanctions.

"It's in their best interests to avoid any sanctionable activity, and we think that we provide and are providing... a better way to meet their energy needs," State Department deputy acting spokesman Patrick Ventrell said this week.

Ventrell said the United States was supporting large-scale energy projects, including one that will add 900 megawatts to the power grid by 2013, which would help supply electricity to an estimated two million Pakistanis.

But Islamabad says it will pursue the gas pipeline project regardless and that it plans to produce 20 per cent of its electricity from Iranian gas.

The country's energy crisis was most recently illustrated by a more than two-hour, nationwide blackout last Sunday.

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Man missing after trawler capsizes in Qld

EMERGENCY services are searching for a man after a fishing trawler capsized off the Gold Coast early on Friday morning.

The 39-year-old deckhand has now been missing for over 13 hours after he was washed overboard when the 50-foot boat flipped around 2am (AEST).

The skipper of the boat, who was later rescued by the crew of the AGL Action Rescue Helicopter, was trapped in an air-pocket inside the vessel for approximately two hours.

He told his rescuers he'd spent several hours on the stricken vessel before having to abandon the sinking vessel.

"He told us he made it to the bow and stayed there for about five hours when she started going under from the stern," helicopter crewman Tony Preston said.

"Luckily the life raft deployed and he was able to climb onto that and activate its beacon."

The 54-year-old skipper was taken to Robina Hospital with minor lacerations and hypothermia but is otherwise unharmed.

Gold Coast Water Police are continuing the search for the missing man.

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Manning pleads guilty to 10 charges

US Army private Bradley Manning has pleaded guilty to leaking classified information. Source: AAP

BRADLEY Manning, the Army private accused in the biggest leak of classified material in US history, could face 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 10 charges.

Manning says he wanted to expose the US military's disregard for human life in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Military prosecutors said they plan to move forward with a court-martial on the 12 remaining charges against Manning, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.

For the first time, Manning directly admitted leaking the material to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and detailed the frustrations that led him to do it.

"I began to become depressed at the situation we found ourselves mired in year after year. In attempting counterinsurgency operations, we became obsessed with capturing and killing human targets on lists," the 25-year-old former intelligence analyst in Baghdad told a military judge.

He added: "I wanted the public to know that not everyone living in Iraq were targets to be neutralised."

The slightly built soldier from Oklahoma read from a 35-page statement through his wire-rimmed glasses for more than an hour.

He spoke quickly and evenly, showing little emotion even when he described how troubled he was by what he had seen.

The judge, Denise Lind, accepted his plea to 10 charges involving illegal possession or distribution of classified material.

Manning was allowed to plead guilty under military regulations instead of federal espionage law, which knocked the potential sentence down from 92 years.

He will not be sentenced until his court-martial on the other charges is over.

Manning admitted sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables, other classified records and two battlefield video clips to WikiLeaks in 2009 and 2010.

He said he was disturbed by the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the way American troops treated the populace.

He said he did not believe the release of the information would harm the US.

"I believed that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information ... this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general," Manning said.

Manning said he was appalled by 2007 combat video of an assault by a US helicopter that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer.

The Pentagon concluded the troops mistook the camera equipment for weapons.

"The most alarming aspect of the video to me was the seemingly delightful bloodlust the aerial weapons team happened to have," Manning said, adding that the soldiers' actions "seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass."

As for the sensitive State Department cables, he said they "documented backdoor deals and criminality that didn't reflect the so-called leader of the free world."

"I thought these cables were a prime example of the need for a more open diplomacy," Manning said.

"I believed that these cables would not damage the United States. However, I believed these cables would be embarrassing."

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NSW prison escapee charged

POLICE have charged a prison escapee who was captured in the NSW Snowy Mountains after two days on the run.

Convicted murderer Adam Bowhay, an inmate of Cooma Correctional Centre, ran away from Snowy Oval in Cooma about 1.15pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

He was doing community work with two other inmates as part of an approved pre-release program.

Police conducted a large manhunt over the last two days.

The 34-year-old was recaptured at the township of Bredbo between Cooma and Canberra on the Monaro Highway at 11.40am (AEDT) on Thursday, after he was spotted by a member of the public.

The man was charged with escaping custody and larceny and will appear in Goulburn Local Court on Friday, police said.

Sergeant Paul Batista from Monaro Local Area Command said the larceny charges relate to items the offender allegedly stole from a local football club during his escape.

"They include some assorted tools and a backpack," Sergeant Batista told AAP on Thursday.

Bowhay has been returned to the custody of NSW Corrective Services.

He is serving a 23-year sentence for the stabbing murder of Steven Jarvis at Casino in northern NSW in 1997.

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Qld floodwaters begin to recede

AFTER peaking on Thursday morning, floodwaters at Maryborough in southern Queensland will start to drop overnight.

Water flowed through about 20 homes and businesses in the city after the Mary River broke its banks.

"It reached its highest level about 11am (AEST) at about 8.1 metres and will remain around that level for the rest of the day," said Bureau of Meteorology hydrologist Ian Rocca.

"It will start falling later this evening and overnight."

A trough over the state's southwest is forecast to move across the Darling Downs on Friday, bringing moderate to heavy falls with more rain likely in Brisbane on Saturday.

Mr Rocca said any heavy downpours could trigger local flash flooding.

"Everything's so wet at the moment in central and southeast Queensland and the Wide Bay, any rain will be runoff into the rivers now."

Despite the conditions people are still ignoring warning signs and trying to drive through floodwaters.

A 23-year-old Maryborough man was stuck for four hours on the roof of his car after ignoring road closed signs in the early hours of Thursday.

After allegedly returning an alcohol reading of 0.128 police charged him with a number of offences.

Upstream, supplies are again getting into Gympie, which was hit with a flood peak of 18.4m on Tuesday night.

The main street has been cleaned up and mayor Ron Dyne told AAP the fact that the sun came out on Thursday was a bonus.

"It may only be for a short time but it gives people confidence," he said.

Swollen rivers in the North Burnett haven't affected any homes or properties but some bridges have been damaged.

Mayor Don Waugh is in a better mood with floodwaters beginning to drop.

"The sky's blue, the sun's shining, the grass is green, you should come up and have a look at it," he joked.

In the Banana Shire, Mayor Ron Carrige says a lot of farmers getting over the January floods have been hurled back to square one.

"It's pretty disheartening."

And that's not the end of the problems around Biloela and other towns where venomous snakes have moved closer to towns due the floodwaters.

"It's very real," he said.

"Just in the town areas there are brown snakes. They are apparently pretty big ones too.

"People need to stay away from debris and long grass."

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RBS slumps to $8.9bn loss

STATE-RESCUED Royal Bank of Scotland said that net losses almost tripled to STG5.97 billion ($A8.9 billion) in 2012, when it was hit by compensation payouts and a Libor fine.

The vast loss after taxation compared with a shortfall of STG1.99 billion ($A2.98 billion) in 2011, the lender announced in a results statement, adding that 2012 had been a "chastening" year during which it sought to "put right past mistakes".

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Cyclone Rusty already battering WA coast

Red alerts have been issued in WA as tropical cyclone Rusty intensifies to a category four. Source: AAP

A LATE change of course by Severe Tropical Cyclone Rusty has spared Port Hedland the full force of 230km/h winds, leaving the tiny community of Pardoo to bear the brunt of what was a category-four monster.

The eye of the massive storm began to cross the West Australian coast just before 3pm (WST) on Wednesday, more than 30 hours after the north-west coastline was placed on red alert and residents told to take shelter and stay inside.

That included the residents of the Pardoo roadhouse and the Pardoo station, about 120km east of Port Hedland, who were the first to feel the force of Rusty.

Ian Badger, manager of the Pardoo roadhouse, sent his staff to Broome earlier this week while staying to face the storm - and the damage - alone.

"I was half confident yesterday we would miss the main centre of it," Mr Badger said.

"I have got trees going over, so there is going to be a fair bit of damage.

"So we will just keep an eye on everything, and sit it out.

"I can't really do too much - it is pretty much horizontal rain."

The residents of Pardoo Station said on Facebook that the homestead had suffered some slight damage, and they were braced for more.

"We are all holed up in the homestead where the walls are so thick that if you closed the curtains you wouldn't even know it was going on!," they said.

"Have lost the roof to our car port and water damage to another building so far."

The storm was downgraded to a category three as it crossed, with Port Hedland experiencing 36 hours of gale-force winds.

Cyclone warnings remained in place from Sandfire Roadhouse to Whim Creek including Port Hedland, Marble Bar, Nullagine, Millstream, Tom Price, Telfer and Newman.

Widespread very heavy rainfall is tipped for overnight and on Thursday, and is likely to lead to major flooding in the De Grey and Fortescue catchments.

Rainfall totals of 187mm at Yarrie were recorded in the 24 hours until 9am, and a further 76mm fell from 9am to 1.30pm.

Figures from NASA satellites tracking the huge storm make for frightening reading, with the TRMM satellite, which flew directly over Rusty on Tuesday, recording an hourly average rainfall of more than 138mm near Rusty's western eye wall.

And a 3D image of Rusty's rainfall and cloud heights created at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland showed the tops of some of the towering thunderstorms in Rusty's eye reaching heights of over 12km.

John Newman, the regional director of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, said it was vital people stayed indoors until local authorities confirmed the area safe.

"During a red alert there is a threat to lives and properties," Mr Newman said.

"This message seems to fall on deaf ears as we continually encounter people outdoors and on the roads causing a danger to themselves and others."

While WA braced for Rusty, the rest of Australia's weather was also being affected, with cloud from the system streaming across the continent towards Victoria.

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