HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, Aug 10 =2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-10-2004
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, Aug 10 =2

APIA, Samoa - A senior United States official today thanked Australia for backing the
war on Iraq, as Prime Minister John Howard came under renewed attack over Australia's
role. (Statement US)

APIA, Samoa - The United States today warned that terrorist groups including Jemaah
Islamyia could view Pacific countries as soft targets. (Forum US)

APIA, Samoa - New Zealand will ask Australia to back its push for a United Nations
tribunal for Indonesian forces accused of abuses during East Timor's 1999 vote for independence.

(Timor NZ)

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - A UN-backed war-crimes court has suspended a senior Australian
investigator while police investigate sexual-assault allegations filed against him by
a minor, court officials said today. (Sierra Aust Daylead)

JAKARTA - Miss Universe, Australian Jennifer Hawkins, to meet with Indonesian president
Megawati Sukarnoputri today.

CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard has one more day to decide if he wants a double
dissolution election (Election to come)

CANBERRA - The federal government has promised to take a closer look at taxes paid
by retirees living in retirement villages, after complaints some residents have been charged
an extra $50 a month. (Tax Retire Lead)

CANBERRA - Labor today confirmed its support for new laws to define marriage as being
between a man and a woman. (Marriage)

CANBERRA - The official in charge of the military commission that will try Australian
David Hicks said today he understood public doubts about the system. (Guantanamo Panel)

CANBERRA - International trade in fish products is not to blame for the parlous state
of world fish stocks, experts will tell a conference this week. (Trade Fishing)

CANBERRA - Bans by state governments on genetically modified crop trials were hurting
Australian agriculture, a government frontbencher said today. (GMO)

SYDNEY - NSW's casino watchdog has lost its bid to avert legal action brought by the
family of a man who died at Sydney's Star City Casino after he was restrained by bouncers.

(Dalamangas)

SYDNEY - Australia's dragon boat squad today vowed to get to the world championships,
despite the NSW team losing all of their boats in an arson attack in inner Sydney. (Dragon
Lead)

Dragon Nightlead to come.

SYDNEY - Australian pig producers have launched a bid to quash new quarantine laws
in the first legal challenge of the nation's quarantine system by an agricultural group.

(Pork Court)

SYDNEY - Gay couples gathered in Sydney's centre today to hold a "kiss-in" in support
of gay marriage. (Gay. Pics available)

SYDNEY - A massive clean-up operation is under way today after a fiery crash north
of Canberra which closed part of the Federal Highway. (Tanker)

SYDNEY - The NSW coroner has brought forward his findings into the death of TJ Hickey,
who was impaled on a fence in Sydney's inner city Redfern. (Hickey)

SYDNEY - The NSW government has unveiled a program to attract trainee doctors to country
areas - but it is not clear if the rookies will actually be forced to go to rural hospitals.

(Hospitals)

SYDNEY - The perfect spread, and tasty in tea, honey also stimulates healing and kills
bacteria, a new study has confirmed. (Honey)

SYDNEY - Australian cancer researchers have identified a new compound which could substantially
increase the survival rates of children with a debilitating form of cancer. (Neuroblastoma
to come. Eds Note: Embargoed)

SYDNEY - More than 1,000 people gathered in Sydney today for the funeral of Detective
Sergeant Steve Leach, a top NSW police investigator who shot himself dead in the state's
police headquarters. (Leach to come)

SYDNEY - A fish trap which cons invasive river carp into catching themselves was among
among the main winners at one of Australian science's top prize awards tonight. (Eureka
to come. Eds Note: Embargoed)

SYDNEY - Panthers boss Roger Cowen has sold a parcel of his shares in the club to avoid
a perceived conflict of interest. (Panthers to come)

SYDNEY - Nearly 20,000 families called for help on a drugs hotline over the past 12
months, most of them saying they had a problem with cannabis. (Drugs to come)

SYDNEY - The rail system in Sydney could run both safely and on time, the NSW opposition
said today. (Trains to come)

SYDNEY - Country people are hoping businesses clustered in NSW coastal centres will
turn to face the west this week and take their trade to the bush. (Country to come)

MELBOURNE - Three people have been injured in an explosion and fire at a factory in
Melbourne's south-east and authorities say 25 other workers were lucky to have escaped
unhurt. (Explosion Second Lead)

Explosion Nightlead to come.

MELBOURNE - Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has ruled out mandatory jail terms, despite
two cases in which sex offenders avoided prison. (Crimes Vic)

MELBOURNE - A crop-dusting pilot has escaped with a broken arm after his plane hit
a tree in Victoria's west and broke up into three pieces (Crop)

Crop Nightlead to come.

MELBOURNE - Federal and Victorian police have seized a cache of illegal firearms, including
a submachine gun and semi-automatic rifles from a property in inner-suburban Melbourne.

(Guns)

BRISBANE - A jealous and possessive spurned lover viciously stabbed her ex-de facto's
new American female friend, a Brisbane court was told today. (Young. File pics available)

BRISBANE - Quintuplets born to a Queensland couple were better than winning lotto,
their excited grandfather said today. (Quins Daylead)

Quins Nightlead to come.

BRISBANE - A homeopath molested young male patients on the pretext that he was channelling
energy to heal them, a Brisbane jury was told today.(Haines)

BRISBANE - Energex needed to hold its head up if it was to be able to focus on delivering
results, the chief of the troubled power company said today. (Energy Morale)

BRISBANE - Firefighters expect lighter winds today will give them a chance to extinguish
bushfires still smouldering in south-east Queensland. (Bushfires Qld)

BRISBANE - Crocodiles are being tracked from space to learn more about their behaviour.

(Crocs to come. Pics available)

BRISBANE - A 57-year-old man was killed when his tractor was hit by a freight train
at a level crossing in north Queensland. (Tractor)

BRISBANE - A Queensland police officer who leaned into a car to arrest its occupants
was cut and bruised after the suspected jewel-thieves sped off - with the constable inside
- before crashing the car. (Jewellery)

CAIRNS - A $4 million hydro-electric power station at Tinaroo Falls Dam in far north
Queensland was officially opened by Natural Resources and Energy Minister Stephen Robertson
today. (Hydro)

ADELAIDE - South Australia's justice and mental health systems were in crisis, state
Liberal leader Rob Kerin said today. (Mental)

ADELAIDE - Jury considering verdict on child sex charges against SA magistrate. (Frederick
to come)

ADELAIDE - Senior public servant charged with child sex offences seeks bail. (Servant to come)

ADELAIDE - The federal government had insulted former diplomats by rejecting their
criticism of Australia's involvement in the Iraq war, former Adelaide magistrate Brian
Deegan said today. (Statement Deegan)

ADELAIDE - A sales surge for Korean car maker Hyundai in 2004 will get another kick
along with the Australian launch of the new Tuscon compact sports utility vehicle (SUV).

(Motor Hyundai. Pics available)

ADELAIDE - Audi has added two high-performance sports models to its A4 range in Australia
with the launch of the S4 sedan and wagon. (Motor Audi, embargoed)

PERTH - Striking sub-contractors working for Western Australia's major electricity
supplier are expected to return to work today. (Power)

PERTH - Sentencing of SAS soldier convicted of conspiring to have pregnant woman bashed.

PERTH - Premier Geoff Gallop announces new intensive supervision package to crack down
on juvenile crime.

DARWIN - A pilot walked away unharmed after crash landing his plane on a Darwin beach
today, police said. (Beach)

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KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL 2 SYDNEY

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