Store owner to be charged with murder; “Free-range” egg claims cracked open by court; Local shares recover: Midday Roundup

The owner of a convenience store in Sydney that was destroyed by a fire that killed three people has been arrested at his hospital bed.

Adeel Khan is expected to be charged with three counts of murder in relation to the blast and subsequent fire earlier this month, Fairfax reports police sources as saying.

Bianka O’Brien, 31, her baby son Jude and their neighbour Chris Noble, 27, all died in the fire.

The 44-year-old store owner was also injured in the fire, which police will allege he deliberately lit, with fire crews finding him trapped underneath a commercial fridge.

Khan remains in hospital.

“Free-range” egg claims cracked open by court

New South Wales-based egg company Pirovic Enterprises has been slapped with $300,000 in penalties by the Federal Court over claims its eggs were ‘free range’.

The court found the company had engaged in misleading conduct and made misleading representations after it used the words ‘free range’ and images of hens on open pasture on its egg cartons, when most of its hens did not move about freely on an open range on most days.

“Credence claims such as free range claims are powerful tools for businesses to distinguish their products. However, if they are false or misleading, they serve to mislead consumers, who may pay a premium to purchase such products,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

“This decision provides very clear guidance that any free range egg claim must be backed by farming conditions and practices implemented by suppliers under which hens actually move about on an open range each day.”

Shares recover this morning

Local shares have recovered slightly this morning.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 8.3 points to 5371.3 points at 12.15pm AEST. On Monday, the Dow Jones closed down 0.62%, dropping 107.06 points to 17,172.7 points.