AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Feb 10

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2004
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Feb 10
EVENING ROUND-UP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630


SUPER ALP (CANBERRA)

Opposition Leader MARK LATHAM says superannuation schemes for federal MPs, judges and
the governor-general would be closed down under a Labor government.

Mr LATHAM says the schemes are seven times more lucrative than the community standard,
and are out of date.

And Mr LATHAM says if he becomes prime minister, he'll cut his own super entitlements
to cabinet minister level -- giving up between $500,000 and $1.9 million in future benefits.

But Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD has called on Labor to renegotiate a windfall lease
on a Canberra office block if it's serious about tackling cynicism about politicians.

Mr HOWARD's attacked Labor over the lease on an ALP-owned building the government says
costs taxpayers more than a Manhattan skyscraper.

Meanwhile, Mr HOWARD's declined to say whether he'll back Mr LATHAM'S plan to put an
end to lucrative superannuation schemes for federal MPs, judges and the governor-general.



TRADE (CANBERRA)

Labor says Australian agriculture has been hit with a double-whammy through the new
trade deal with the United States.

Opposition agriculture spokesman GAVAN O'CONNOR says sugar has been left out of the
deal, and national marketing under one authority is under threat.

And Opposition Leader MARK LATHAM says the deal leaves Australia exposed to retaliation
from China and other nations.

Australia's wheat exporter AWB is also critical, saying a free trade agreement with
the United States is unlikely to provide any benefit to local graingrowers.

But Federal Treasurer PETER COSTELLO says the deal with the US will bring enormous
economic benefits for Australia.

Mr COSTELLO's told parliament that Australian firms can now bid for a share of the
US market, worth about $A10 trillion (trillion) a year in domestic spending.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says the federal government will provide money
for some canegrowers to leave the sugar industry.

But he says Canberra won't support farmers unable to make a profit.



NEWSPOLL HOWARD (CANBERRA)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD has told his backbenchers that Opposition Leader MARK LATHAM
is enjoying a wonderful honeymoon.

A Newspoll shows Labor under Mr LATHAM could win government this year, and Mr HOWARD's
warned Liberal parliamentarians that the election will be tight.

But federal Liberal MPs are putting Labor leader MARK LATHAM's strong showing in today's
Newspoll down to a lack of proper scrutiny of his performance over the holidays.



MEDICARE GILLARD (CANBERRA)

Labor has called on Health Minister TONY ABBOTT to begin the parliamentary year with
a new package to save Medicare.

Opposition health spokeswoman JULIA GILLARD says Mr ABBOTT's $5 rebate to encourage
GPs to bulk-bill the poor and the young is a tiny bandaid being applied to a dying Medicare.

Ms GILLARD says it's like the the old joke about the operation being a complete success
but the patient dying.



BOOKS HOWARD (CANBERRA)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says he applauds Labor calls to read to children to improve
literacy levels.

He's told parliament that he thinks part of being a good parent is reading.

He says it's something he's always practised, and applauds the fact that the leader
of the opposition does as well.



BUSHFIRES VIC (MELBOURNE)

Extra firefighters are being brought in from around Victoria to help contain two bushfires
in state forest north-east of Melbourne.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment says the fires, which started about
12 km south of Eildon, have now burnt more than 400 hectares in the Rubicon State Forest.

The fires started on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the South Australian government says it will increase bushfire prevention
advertising as the state braces for a week of high fire danger.



IRAQ UNREST (BAGHDAD)

A man wearing a belt of explosives has blown himself up outside the Iraqi home of two
prominent tribal leaders who have been cooperating with the Americans.

The suicide attack occurred outside the residential compound where the brothers MAJID
and AMER ALI SULEIMAN live in Ramadi, north-west of Baghdad.

The brothers are two of Ramadi's most prominent tribal leaders to cooperate with US authorities.

The attack follows warnings to Iraqis who cooperate with the Americans.

Meanwhile, two US soldiers were killed while disposing of explosives outside Sinjar
near the northern city of Mosul.

And US officials say al-Qaeda operatives are plotting to disrupt a US power transfer
to Iraqis by trying to create a civil war between different groups.



PAKISTAN NUCLEAR (SEOUL)

North Korea has denied receiving nuclear weapons technology from Pakistan, accusing
the United States of a smear campaign.

A spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry says the claim is nothing but groundless
propaganda.



KAZAA (SYDNEY)

Internet music group Kazaa has tried to delay Australian proceedings for alleged copyright
breaches until a similar case in the US is finalised.

Kazaa is the world's largest file sharing network, and faces charges brought against
it by the Australian record industry.



SHOTS (SYDNEY)

A Sydney couple cheated death when one of two bullets fired into their Sydney home
hit their bedhead as they slept last night.

Police say the couple, aged in their 60s, appear to be the victims of a random attack.



PLANE BODIES (MELBOURNE)

Police search and rescue divers have located two bodies near the wreckage of a light
plane which crashed into Lake Eildon north-west of Melbourne on Saturday.

Divers located the body of one of the four occupants of the aircraft on Saturday.

Meanwhile, two pilots are seriously injured after their helicopter plunged almost 300
metres into mangroves north of Brisbane.



KATSAMBAS (ADELAIDE)

Police have made one of the largest ever seizures of pseudoephedrine in Australia,
saying they believe the seized drugs could have been eventually worth $36 million.

The drugs were found during a South Australian police raid on an eastern Adelaide house
last week, and 31-year-old GEORGE KATSAMBAS has appeared in Court over the matter.



MARS AUST (HOBART)

A NASA spokesman says Australia has unlimited scope to participate in proposed US-led
missions to the moon and Mars.

NASA's representative in Australia and Southeast Asia, NEAL NEWMAN, says Australia
has a remarkable talent in areas including ground-based astronomy, satellite receiver
technology and planetary sciences.



AND BRIEFLY . . .



Rebels in Haiti have pushed their uprising into 10 cities, leaving at least 41 people
dead in what the government is calling an attempted coup.




Queensland Premier PETER BEATTIE has announced the first change in his post-election
ministry, with GORDON NUTTALL appointed the new health minister.




Dumped Northern Territory Opposition Leader DENIS BURKE has been moved back into the
shadow ministry in a reshuffle.




In a move that could further cripple Sydney's rail network, CityRail station staff
will meet this week to formulate an industrial campaign.




Experts say hackers have developed a new version of the powerful Mydoom Internet worm
that attempts to use infected computers to launch attacks on Microsoft.




And . . . Japanese police have arrested an undertaker for killing his aunt because
he needed to drum up business for his cash-strapped funeral company.



AND IN SPORTS . . .


CRICKET WARNE RAIN (MELBOURNE)

Rain has stalled SHANE WARNE'S cricket comeback before the champion legspinner had
a chance to bowl.

Queensland was 1-87 in its first innings in reply to the Victorian 2nd XI score of
5-379 when players left the field an hour after lunch on day two of their four-day game.

WARNE, who joined the Victorian team this morning after a 12-month doping suspension,
made 11 runs batting at No.6 before being caught behind, then took a good overhead catch
at first slip.



SHIELD VIC (Melbourne)

South Australia has lost its first wicket just after lunch on day three of the Pura
Cup cricket match against Victoria at the MCG.



ATHS AUST PITTMAN (MELBOURNE)

World 400 metres hurdles champion JANA PITTMAN will almost certainly bypass Thursday's
Telstra A-Series athletics meet in Melbourne.

Pittman has been battling injury and says she doesn't want to risk her recovery from
a misaligned pelvis.



HOOKES ARREST (MELBOURNE)

Victoria police have not ruled out the possibility of a second bouncer being arrested
over the death of former Australian test cricketer DAVID HOOKES.



ENDS EVENING ROUND-UP

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KEYWORD: EVENING ROUND-UP

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