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There was nothing electrifying about any of their performances with no one dipping under 10 seconds on a hot, muggy night at the National Stadium.

Triple Olympic champion and 100m world record holder Bolt was nonchalant as he settled into his blocks, pointed to the sky then coasted home first unchallenged in an ordinary 10.06.

The only thing flashy about Bolt's performance was his lime green spikes as he barely worked up a decent sweat putting a bigger effort into later out-running the media.

Blake, the 100m world champion, was little more inspired clocking 10 flat to take his heat while Powell, the reigning Jamaican 100m champion and former-world record holder, eased up at the line to finish second behind Nesta Carter in the same time of 10.19.

Michael Frater topped the fourth heat with 10.09.

Blake and Bolt had little comment about their efforts. Bolt changing quickly, pulling a white towel over his head and escaping the stadium without acknowledging the crowd or media.

Blake was no more forthcoming, saying only "not now, later" as he followed Bolt to the exit.

Powell, who has forced himself into the Bolt-Blake showdown, was more willing to discuss his performance while looking ahead to Friday's semi-finals and final.

"It's a heat so I just wanted to take it quite easy, tomorrow is the semi-finals so I'm saving it," said Powell. "I wasn't really working on anything, I just wanted to start easy and finish easy.

"Tomorrow it is going to be very hot, I'm just going to come out hot."

Excerpt from:
Bolt, Blake and Powell on cruise control

THE gloves have come off in the battle for control of Fairfax Media with major shareholder Gina Rinehart and the company exchanging increasingly personal salvos about their differences, and the future of the company.

In a flurry of heated exchanges yesterday afternoon, prompted by this week's Fairfax rejection of Mrs Rinehart's board tilt, the Perth-based mining magnate called on chairman Roger Corbett to agree to a ''performance milestone'' of returning the company's share price to 87 and reversing ''the five-year decline in paid circulation and revenue''. In a letter to Mr Corbett, she said he should resign if he failed to achieve the goals by November.

But Fairfax rejected the ultimatum. Instead, it called on her to launch a takeover for the company.

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''If Mrs Rinehart wants control of Fairfax Media she must make a bid. Mrs Rinehart's letter today has once and for all unmasked her motives for her continual attacks on the company and its board,'' adding that the company's readers would abandon the group's mastheads ''if Mrs Rinehart succeeds in this personal crusade''.

Later in the evening, one of Mrs Rinehart key executives, John Klepec, took issue with the Fairfax response, saying: ''Mrs Rinehart has repeatedly advised that she would not use the publications to promote her private interests only. It is hence incorrect for Fairfax to endeavour to allege that this has been a 'personal crusade'."

Mrs Rinehart had ''never sought control of Fairfax,'' he added.

Earlier, Mrs Rinehart dismissed the board's assertion that editorial independence was the main sticking point. ''Where we have differed most profoundly is not over the charter of editorial independence, contrary to much Fairfax reporting, but over how to save a business that is reportedly in danger of dying.''

But the company - owner of this newspaper - disagreed: ''Contrary to Mrs Rinehart's repeated assertions that this isn't about editorial control - it is. It is also about her obtaining control of the company and not paying a premium.''

Mrs Rinehart said the performance of Fairfax over the past five years had been ''distressing for shareholders''.

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Fairfax Media, Rinehart board stoush gets personal

Gina Rinehart ... November ultimatum. Photo: Claire Martin

THE gloves have come off in the battle for control of Fairfax Media with its major shareholder, Gina Rinehart, and the company exchanging increasingly personal salvos.

Mrs Rinehart and her company Hancock Prospecting sent two letters to the Fairfax chairman, Roger Corbett, yesterday. The first called on him to resign if he failed to meet a ''performance milestone'' of returning the share price to 87 and failed to reverse ''the five-year decline in paid circulation and revenue'' before November's annual meeting.

Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Herald, rejected the ultimatum, calling on her to bid for the company if she wanted control. ''Mrs Rinehart's letter today has once and for all unmasked her motives for her continual attacks on the company and its board,'' a company statement said. Readers would abandon the group's mastheads ''if Mrs Rinehart succeeds in this personal crusade''.

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Mrs Rinehart's chief lieutenant in her bid for Fairfax, John Klepec, then fired off another letter. Mr Klepec, who is the chief development officer for Hancock Prospecting, said two board seats out of 12 was not a majority, implying Mrs Rinehart would have limited influence.

''Mrs Rinehart has repeatedly advised that she would not use the publications to promote her private interests only,'' Mr Klepec said. ''It is incorrect for Fairfax to allege that this has been a 'personal crusade'."

In the initial letter Mrs Rinehart rejected the board's assertion that the charter of editorial independence was the key disagreement. ''Where we have differed most profoundly is not over the charter of editorial independence, contrary to much Fairfax reporting, but over how to save a business that is reportedly in danger of dying,'' she said.

The company responded: ''Contrary to Mrs Rinehart's repeated assertions that this isn't about editorial control - it is. It is also about her obtaining control of the company and not paying a premium.''

Mrs Rinehart said Fairfax's performance over the past five years had been ''distressing'' for shareholders. To Mr Corbett she wrote that the milestone share price would represent ''only a 50 per cent loss'' since he became chairman in October 2009.

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Gina fires warning shot

By Jasmin Melvin and James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Friday rejected challenges to the Federal Communication Commission's U.S. media-ownership rules, longtime limits on cross-ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in a single market

The justices refused to hear appeals by Media General Inc, by broadcast and newspaper groups and by a broadcasting trade group arguing that the Supreme Court should reconsider past precedents that broadcast "scarcity" justified the ownership restrictions under the Constitution's First Amendment.

At issue before the Supreme Court was the FCC's loosening of some of its rules in 2008. Media owners challenged the rules on the grounds the FCC failed to go far enough to lift ownership caps.

A U.S. appeals court based in Philadelphia a year ago left most of the 2008 order intact, along with the FCC's authority to preserve media competition. That was a setback for proponents of fewer ownership restrictions, such as the National Association of Broadcasters.

The association appealed to the Supreme Court. The FCC opposed the appeal, saying the appeals court correctly upheld the local television ownership rule implementing a long-standing policy of limiting the number of licenses in a local market that a single entity may own or control.

The FCC narrowly approved a loosening of its three-decade-old restrictions on ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the 20 biggest U.S. cities.

A number of broadcast and newspaper groups separately appealed to the Supreme Court. They included the Tribune Co, News Corp's Fox television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Clear Channel Communications Inc and the Newspaper Association of America.

They argued that the so-called "scarcity doctrine" involving the broadcast industry dating back to a 1969 Supreme Court decision should be overruled, invalidating the FCC's media ownership rules.

The appellants said continued restriction on cross-ownership in the same market is unconstitutional because it singled out newspapers among all forms of mass communication for unequal treatment.

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High court won't consider FCC media ownership rules

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart is likely to succeed in wresting control of Fairfax Media, but it could take at least six months of manoeuvring, an academic says.

Mrs Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd (HPPL) on Monday said unless Fairfax offers her board positions without 'unsuitable conditions,' she would be unable to assist Fairfax at this time.

'Hancock Prospecting may hence sell its interest, and may consider repurchasing at some other time,' HPPL said in a statement.

UNSW Australian School of Business lecturer Michael Peters says some people would ask questions if the largest shareholder of a business walked away and the share price fell, only to have the same investor re-appear to buy the shares.

Mrs Rinehart holds about 18 per cent of Fairfax stock and she is seeking as many as three board seats.

But on Wednesday Fairfax chairman Roger Corbett knocked back a request from Mrs Rinehart's for a board seat, saying the board could not reach agreement with her on the issue of Fairfax's charter of editorial independence and other board governance principles.

Existing directors are keen for her to sign a charter of editorial independence before any offer of a board position is made.

'It's got a minimum of another six months to play out, but I suspect she'll end up with the lot if the shareholders lose confidence,' Mr Peters told AAP.

He added that it would be unacceptable for Ms Rinehart to threaten to sell her shares if she was not given board seats.

'Someone's obviously drafted it (the statement) so that the Fairfax directors sit back and say, wow, she'll be back,' Mr Peters said.

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Rinehart may control Fairfax in six mths