Tony Abbott Australia's prime minister became the target of public ridicule and anger from within his own party after awarding a knighthood to Britain's Prince Philip. Many viewed the move as an anachronism harking back to Australia's colonial past. The row added to simmering discontent over Abbott's leadership. Norman Chan The head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority reported that the Exchange Fund, which is used to defend the local dollar, posted its fourth-worst earnings result last year due to heavy foreign exchange losses and poor returns from stock markets. The fund's return in 2014 was 1.4 per cent, half that of the previous year. Chan warned that the investment environment this year would be even more difficult. Tim Leahy Immigration lawyer Leahy was struck off the register by Ontario's law society for professional misconduct. Leahy had taken up the case of 1,500 clients, most of them Chinese, whose application to enter Canada under an investment programme had been terminated when the government scrapped the programme.