AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Aug 15

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2001
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Aug 15
EVENING ROUND-UP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630


MATERNITY BRACK (CANBERRA)

The Australian Employers Federation says paid maternity leave would bankrupt many companies.

The Australian Catholic University has agreed to give new mothers 12 weeks' full pay
followed by 40 weeks' leave on 60 per cent pay.

The federal opposition says the decision is extremely generous and a good strategy
to keep key staff.

And the ACTU has hailed it as an unexpected breakthrough, saying the terms are way
beyond any condition set previously in Australia.

But Australian Employers Federation director GARRY BRACK says there's no chance the
university agreement would flow through to other workplaces.

He says if the standard was applied to other Australian businesses they'd be bankrupted.



DETAINEES

The family of a traumatised boy being held in the Villawood Detention Centre has received
a reprieve from being deported by the Immigration Department.

The department told lawyers acting for the BADRAIE family, from Iran, that there were
no immediate plans to remove them from Australia.

The department also gave an undertaking it would give three days' notice of any arrangements
to deport the family.



HEFFERNAN (SYDNEY)

A 25-year-old man will face a New South Wales court this afternoon charged with the
murder of Alice Springs chef STUART RHODES.

ANDREW CRAIG HEFFERNAN was arrested about 9.20am (AEST) at a caravan park in Tomago,
in the NSW lower Hunter Valley, after a tip-off from the public.

Police say he's due to face Maitland Local Court charged with murder this afternoon.

The 39-year-old chef's body was found with stab wounds to the throat in scrub off the
Stuart Highway 60 kilometres south of Alice Springs on August 5.



ECONOMY WESTPAC (SYDNEY)

Another economic indictor is forecasting stronger economic growth in Australia over
the second half of 2001.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index of economic activity -- which provides
an outlook on the economy six to nine months into the future -- was 4.6 per cent in June.

This is slightly down on the 4.8 per cent recorded in May, but still well above the
long-term trend of 3.2 per cent.



MIDEAST (JERUSALEM)

Israeli forces have made lightning raids on five Palestinian villages near Bethlehem
in the West Bank.

A military source says the troops withdrew after half an hour and there is no immediate
word of casualties.

The source says all the villages are within a sector of the West Bank under Palestinian
civil control but Israeli security control.

The Israeli army spokeswoman denies reports that troops had also entered two autonomous
Palestinian towns near Bethlehem.

Israeli Prime Minister ARIEL SHARON made good on threats of military intervention following
automatic arms fire yesterday from one of the villages attacked towards the Jewish settlement
at Gilo, near east Jerusalem.



POLLNT NATION (DARWIN)

Northern Territory Opposition Leader CLARE MARTIN is calling on the Country Liberal
Party to reverse its plan to give electoral preferences to One Nation in this Saturday's
election.

The Labor leader says a survey of two seats this week found One Nation would be competitive
in both when taking into account Country Liberal Party preferences.

Ms MARTIN has called on the Country Liberal Party to do the right thing for multiculturalism,
tourism, education and business investment and reverse its decision to give One Nation
preferences.

The poll, conducted by UMR Research, shows a potential 37 per cent primary vote for
One Nation across the seats of Goyder and Katherine.



HANCOCK (PERTH)

A medical specialist has told the inquest into the death of LANG HANCOCK that his patient
had the will of a lion and wasn't expected to die when he did.

Renal specialist Dr BRIAN HUTCHESON says Mr HANCOCK had been a sick man for 10 years,
yet there had been no reason to expect him to die on March 27, 1992.

Mr HANCOCK had been sent home three days before he died to undergo home dialysis after
a spell in hospital.

Coroner ALASTAIR HOPE is hearing evidence from medical experts this week on the circumstances
in which Mr HANCOCK died.



FREIGHT (SYDNEY)

A group of striking Sydney rail freight workers will return to work tonight after management
agreed to provide them with adequate toilet facilities and running water.

Meanwhile, in other industrial news:

* Car producer Holden has entered a critical period in negotiating a new enterprise
agreement with its 7,000 workers in Adelaide and Melbourne.

* Victorian nurses are meeting with government and hospital agents this afternoon
to organise a return to negotiations into the ongoing dispute over nursing numbers.

* About 100 courier drivers have delivered letters to Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD's
Sydney residence urging the government to change a draft tax ruling.

* Victoria has lost another 75 jobs, with Coventry Auto Parts consolidating its operations
interstate.



AUBURN CARR (SYDNEY)

New South Wales Premier BOB CARR has fired back at eminent Islamic leader Sheik TAJ
EL-DIN HILALY over criticism the Labor Party should have given a Muslim a seat in parliament.

Mr CARR says it would be inappropriate if the party adopted a system which weighted
candidates from specific ethnic backgrounds or religions.

Meanwhile, Mr CARR has shrugged off his government's first major nose-dive in the polls
on a two-party preferred basis of 4.5 per cent to 58.5 per cent with the Coalition at
41.5 per.



ASTHMA (SYDNEY)

Australian school students are a step closer to breathing easily with the launch of
the Asthma Friendly Schools program in New South Wales.

Asthma Friendly Schools is a voluntary national health and education initiative designed
to help school communities improve their care of students and staff with asthma.



CURTIN (CANBERRA)

The ALP is asking the Australian Electoral Commission to block the registration of
a new political party called the Curtin Labor Alliance.

Labor says it's a front for the extreme right-wing Citizen's Electoral Council.



DASKALOPOULOS (SYDNEY)

A Sydney doctor who injected dozens of patients with caustic dye can continue to practise
medicine despite being found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct.

The New South Wales Medical Tribunal found the more serious charge of professional
misconduct was not substantiated against Dr GEORGE DASKALOPOULOS.

Instead, the tribunal said he demonstrated a lack of adequate knowledge, skill, judgment
or care, and he escaped with a reprimand.



VATICAN ARCHBISHOP (VATICAN CITY)

Archbishop EMMANUEL MILINGO, who shocked the Vatican by marrying a woman chosen by
sect leader SUN MYUNG MOON, has renounced his marriage and returned to the Catholic Church.

In a letter sent to the Pope, 71-year-old MILINGO says he's turned his back on MOON'S
Unification Church and his wife.

But his Korean wife, MARIA SUNG, is accusing the Vatican of holding Zambian-born MILINGO
a prisoner, branding as false the letter in which he renounced her.



AND BRIEFLY . . .



A British tourist who became disorientated when poor weather closed in around a West
Australian bush range has been rescued after calling his father in England on a mobile
phone.




Adventurer STEVE FOSSETT'S Solo Spirit balloon is drifting closer to South America's
Andes mountains but his oxygen reserves are running low.




Lennon Brothers Circus has agreed to put its lion taming act on hold until it can demonstrate
it has an adequate safety plan in place.



AND IN SPORTS . . .


SOCCER AUST (SYDNEY)

The Socceroos face a swag of problems including humidity and lack of match fitness
in the inaugural Oceania/Asia Challenge Cup against Japan tonight.

Coach FRANK FARINA says humidity will be one of the biggest hurdles for Australia
despite the early evening kick-off in the 2002 World Cup venue of Shizuoka.

Meanwhile, soccer fans will be able to watch both Socceroos' 2002 World Cup qualifying
matches on free-to-air TV with the government adding the games to the protected broadcasting
list.



CRICKET AUST WARNE (LEEDS, England)

SHANE WARNE is on the verge of becoming the first Australian cricketer to take 400 Test wickets.

WARNE goes into the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley, starting Thursday, with 395 victims
from 90 Tests.



TRI AUST (PERTH)

CHRIS LATHAM has been named to replace the dumped ANDREW WALKER on the wing in Australia's
Tri nations rugby Test against South Africa in Perth on Saturday.



ATHS GOODWILL JONES (MELBOURNE)

Triple Olympic gold medallist MARION JONES will only contest the 100m at the Goodwill
Games in Brisbane next month.



ENDS EVENING ROUND-UP

AAP RTV wz/jn

KEYWORD: EVENING ROUND-UP

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