Paul Hogan, famous for his portrayal of the iconic Crocodile Dundee, is free to fly out of the country after coming to an agreement with the Australian Taxation Office.

According to a statement issued by Hogan’s lawyer, Andrew Robinson, the actor would be allowed to return to his home in Los Angeles, but must provide the ATO with security, though no mention was made of exactly how much would need to be paid.

Hogan has been under a departure prohibition since he flew into the country two weeks ago for his mother’s funeral. The government order had prevented the actor from leaving Australia until an outstanding tax debt, believed to be in the vicinity of  $100 million, had been paid. Hogan, however, disputes the allegations and remains in negotiations with the Tax Commissioner, denying all allegations of wrongdoing. Lawyers for the ATO and Hogan had come to a mutual agreement during the course of a co-operative and cordial meeting according to Robinson.

Mr Robinson said the discussions between the two parties had revolved around the taxation system and also allegations made by a disgruntled former employee who allegedly accused Hogan of tax evasion after being fired from Hogan’s employment. No debts were discussed said Robinson, who added that his main concern had been ensuring that Hogan returned home safely. Hogan, 70, resides in Los Angeles with his son Chance, and wife and Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski.

The long-haul subsidiary of Virgin Blue, V Australia, has been running at a loss since its much-heralded launch, with flights to Phuket and Johannesburg to be discontinued as of February.

The services that are in operation to Fiji will come under the operation of Virgin Blue’s medium-haul division, Pacific Blue, by the end of this year.

The parent company of V Australia confirmed today that V Australia’s financial drain on the group was not considered profitable, and as such did not align with the strategic position of Virgin Blue. The company, in a statement to the financial markets, added that the lack of integration into the domestic network brought about the decision. In the past financial year, V Australia recorded a per-tax loss of $42.8 million

John Borghetti, Virgin Blue’s chief executive said that the chances of V Australia returning a profit as a minor player on the African market were remote, adding that the Phuket service was also sub-optimal for the carrier’s configuration through its use of Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Instead, Virgin will place four B777s onto the regional route network, which will allow the company to still fly to Phuket but only from Perth via Virgin Blue.

Virgin also announced it had reached a new codeshare agreement with Etihad that will see connections to the Abu Dhabi hub, which features onward connections to more than 65 destinations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, allowing global services to be maintained by the Virgin group.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott have both been working overtime on the campaign trail in recent days, desperate to convince the Australian public that they are the best choice to lead the nation.

However, opinion polls suggest the result will be almost a dead-heat, with the true outcome possibly relying on recounts and special votes. Polls taken in the past 24 hours indicate that under the two-party preferred vote, the coalition and the Labor party were split evenly on 50 per cent. Some analysts have predicted that Labor will in all likelihood win the popular vote, but still be short of winning enough seats to form a government. The biggest factor will be the marginal seats, where up to 30 will be decided by wavering voters, many of whom may not make up their mind until on the day. The polls will be open from 8am on Saturday.

PM Gillard has been warning the public of the dangers of electing Mr Abbott, claiming he poses a real risk to Australian families, highlighting his decision to abandon Work Choices as hurtful to the average citizen. Mr Abbott, meanwhile, wound up a mammoth 36-hour day in Sydney, appearing on a host of radio shows, while his family was also on the campaign trail in an effort to shore up what is considered Mr Abbott’s weak point – his lack of support amongst female voters.

Latest readership figures have confirmed that the roller-coaster ride of recent times is far from over, with massive highs and lows facing publishers who are still attemtping to predict the market direction.

For the six month period till June 30, figures from Roy Morgan have suggested that the magazine trends are mirroring consumer patterns, with home maker, health and food titles all showing an upswing. House & Garden grew by 22.3 per cent, while Recipes+ from ACP Magazines increased by 33.3 per cent. Other titles, including Diabetic Living, Australian Traveller, Fishing World, Men’s Fitness and BRW all enjoyed solid growth to prove that the period was certainly a mixed bag.

Some of the biggest falls were in the ‘blokes’ section, which saw Ralph magazine axed just two months ago. Alpha magazine from News Ltd fell by 29.3 per cent, while Wheels magazine fell by 15.6 per cent. Weekly magazines suffered big losses too, with Grazia Magazine dropping by 14.4 per cent and New Idea by 13.4 per cent. The damage to weekly publications was widely anticipated in the industry, with circulation suffering from an ongoing decline of 18.3 per cent over the past three years.

Weeklies are in for a hard road ahead, as point-of-purchase buying comes under greater threat. The rise in cigarette prices has also left many magazine readers short in the pocket.

Air Berlin agreed to join the Oneworld team of airlines, which includes Australia’s national carrier Qantas, last month, with the encouragement towards Frankfurt Airport seen as the most logical and beneficial to compliment its alliance partners.

American Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Chilean carrier Lan Airlines all operate services to Frankfurt, with none of the group featuring direct flights to the German capital home of Air Berlin.

Frankfurt Airport (Fraport) Chief Financial Officer Matthias Zieschang said that Air Berlin cannot create a travel hub in the German capital, and urged the carrier to consider reconsolidating at Fraport. Air Berlin, which is the fiurst discount carrier to become part of one of the three major travel global alliances, said they welcomed the new invitation from Fraport after past history had seen them find access tough to the airport.

Air Berlin said they would be looking on with interest as Fraport completes a fourth runway early in the New Year, which could create new options and change their current flight perspectives. The carrier currently runs around 600 flights per week from Berlin and 500 from Dusseldorf, while running less than 150 from Frankfurt. Fraport is in the process of spending €4 billion on creating a new, third terminal and fourth runway. This project will result in a 52 per cent increase in capacity for Frankfurt, a total of 126 takeoffs and landings per hour.

Branson’s comments come as Virgin Blue ramps up efforts to woo domestic corporate travellers from Australia’s leading airline, making bold moves to step into the business travel market which has long been dominated by its arch rival.

In the latest bout of verbal jousting between the two carriers, Sir Richard claimed that Virgin Blue was already successfully converting corporate clients from Qantas, in spite of not having launched its new, highly anticipated business travel model. Early next year is the earliest forecast for the Virgin Blue blueprint, but recent activity, such as yesterday’s announcement that government-owned NBN will use the carrier on Australia’s largest infrastructure project has led to early speculation over the success of the launch.

Sir Richard said that the NBN Co deal shows that Virgin Blue is happy to pursue a ‘middle of the road’ strategy, after Mr Joyce allegedly labelled the group as having this position, which would doom it to failure. Sir Richard said that it was no wonder that Joyce was starting to run scared after the Qantas chief also talked up the benefits of the two-pronged Qantas and Jetstar approach rather than a single entity.

Sir Richard said that he expected the Asia-Pacific region to feature more alliances with Virgin Blue in the future, with the company already awaiting regulatory approval for partnerships with Delta and Air New Zealand, but that the short term goal was securing business travellers.

The action comes as British Airways argues that it alone should not be landed with the blame for a price-fixing lawsuit brought against it.

Qantas is joined by the likes of Cathay Pacific, Air France, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines in the airline group that British Airways claims should join in the potential damage payments resulting from the lawsuit which alleges it was involved in cargo price-fixing, meaning that British Airways is essentially attempting to spread the impact of any decision across what it calls its co-conspirators in the cartel.

British Airways is presently being sued by some 250 companies, led by two small-scale flower producers, after it pleaded guilty to belonging to a group which fixed US cargo prices, leading to it issuing its own legal document – known as Part 20 – which calls for other airlines to enjoin it any potential damages. Part 20 will effectively enable British Airways to seek punitive damages from the other carriers involved if it has to pay out over the matter. Southern Glass House Produce and Emerald Supplies are leading the case against the price-fixing cartel, which is believed to also involve several leading international companies involved in large scale cargo services such as Ikea, Philips, H&M, Ericsson and Michelin.

The two airlines are currently the subject of media speculation as they await a court ruling on the possibility of an alliance going ahead which would see them step up competition to challenge Qantas and Jetstar for supremacy in the Oceania-Pacific skies.

Air New Zealand has previously acknowledged that an alliance such as that which it is investigating with Australia’s second-largest carrier would usually incorporate an equity aspect, but has stated firmly that its existing proposal does not include this. The Sydney Morning Herald has said that a believed deal between the two airlines would see Air New Zealand purchase up to a 15 per cent stake in Virgin Blue.

Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue are currently in the process of seeking regulatory approval on the possible trans-Tasman alliance, which would result in stiffer competition and ultimately greater passenger benefits on flights between Australia and New Zealand. Presently the market, which includes over five million passengers per annum on a range of routes, is dominated by Qantas and Emirates.

Air New Zealand has maintained that it has had no indication of the outcome of the necessary approvals, for which the process must be completed before any further moves are undertaken. According to industry analysts, no decision is expected to be made until the end of 2010 at the earliest.

According to Air New Zealand, the Australian government would need to grant approval for any purchasing of Virgin Blue shares due to the New Zealand government being a 77 per cent shareholder.

Data released today by the group in New Zealand revealed that over 100,000 official Weight Watchers Approved Meals have been snapped up nationwide in the three months since the two companies announced their partnership – the first in the world of its kind.

The numbers were far greater than either had forecasted, confirming that the restaurant chain was becoming increasingly in demand for healthy eating options, and that given the choice the level of consumer interest would grow in what is ultimately a beneficial result for all concerned.

McDonald’s New Zealand Managing Director, Mark Hawthorne, said the group was delighted with the unexpectedly high sales of Weight Watchers Approved Meals, as it was with research undertaken after the launch which confirmed that the trend was welcomed by customers.

Studies showed that predictions of only new customers being attracted by the healthy meals were unfounded, and that overall customer numbers at McDonalds had remained steady. This means that customers had made the conscious choice to purchase a Weight Watchers meal over their usual order once they had entered the store.

Weight Watchers members accounted for approximately three per cent of sales, meaning a clear level of demand was being seen. While the sale of some 67,000 side salads would not likely have been achieved had the two companies joined forces to promote healthy eating. Consumer demand had even seen the introduction of the Tandoori Seared Chicken Wrap (5 points), with further menu items set to appear in the future.

Figures released in a new survey by the leading online travel specialist Expedia have shown that Australians are increasingly focussing on their careers, shying away from taking holidays if they feel that their jobs may be at risk.

Although the Australian economy has not been as affected by the global economic crisis and slow pace of recovery as some nations, the public has once again proven that they are highly sensitive to fluctuations in the travel industry, and what once was considered an almost mandatory break has been shelved in favour of financial security at home.

Incredibly for the resource-rich island nation, Australians have been found to be the third most deprived nation when it comes to taking holidays. The Expedia survey placed France as the leading nation for getting away. The survey revealed that, on average, Australian’s take just 16.5 annual leave days each year, less than half that of the French, whose workers holiday an average of 34.5 days each year. However, spare a thought for employees in Japan and the United States, who take just nine and 14 days annual leave a year, highlighting the ideal that the world’s strongest economies are built around the hardest working populations.

Employees in Australian from within the 18 – 34 age bracket were most reluctant to take time off work, claiming that time away from the workplace could mean missing out on important, career defining opportunities. On average, Australians are entitled to 20 days, or four weeks, of annual leave, still far behind the 37.5 average entitlements of their French counterparts.