AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 7

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2007
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 7
Midday Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1130


Plane (SYDNEY)

The pilot of a light plane is feared dead after the aircraft crashed into a lake in
the NSW Hunter region.

Police say the pilot .. in his seventies .. is missing after the plane went down at
Lake Liddell north-west of Singleton at 9.40am (AEDT).

A NSW Ambulance Service spokeswoman says two passengers survived the crash and managed
to escape from the plane.

She says they're being treated at the scene .. but aren't badly injured.

Police divers have been called in.

Air Services Australia says the converted fire-bomber was being used for aerial photography
when it crashed.



Gay McClelland (CANBERRA)

Federal Attorney-General ROBERT McCLELLAND has raised the possibility of more discussions
with states and territories on same-sex civil unions.

Mr McCLELLAND is meeting ACT Attorney-General SIMON CORBELL today to thrash out proposed
laws allowing same-sex civil unions in the territory.

The meeting comes after former Attorney-General PHILIP RUDDOCK used his power to block
ACT laws .. saying they contradicted the federal Marriage Act.

Mr McCLELLAND says he'll be looking to the Tasmanian civil union register as a model
that could be used in the ACT and possibly other states and the Northern Territory.

Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD has already promised not to block the ACT's next attempt
at civil union legislation.




Cocaine (MELBOURNE)

Federal police say it was difficult to track down an alleged king pin of an international
drug ring importing cocaine into Australia.

The 40-year-old Melbourne man has been arrested in Amsterdam .. after the AFP tipped
off Dutch authorities.

He's alleged to be the head of a drug ring operating in Australia .. Canada .. and
the Netherlands.



Vitkovic (MELBOURNE)

As America tries to come to terms with another mass shooting in which eight people
were killed in Omaha .. Melbourne will quietly mark the 20th anniversary of the Queen
St massacre tomorrow.

Failed law student FRANK VITKOVIC murdered eight people and then plunged 11 floors
to his death at the Australia Post building in Queen St in Melbourne's CBD on December
8 .. 1987.

It was Australia's biggest mass killing at the time .. coming four months after JULIAN
KNIGHT shot seven people in Hoddle Street .. only five kilometres away in inner city Clifton
Hill.

Survivors and the families of those killed have chosen against a public memorial ..

instead a private wreath laying ceremony will be held tomorrow at the Memorial Window
to mark the anniversary.

Queen St hero FRANK CARMODY .. a clerk in the finance department who wrestled the gun
from VITKOVIC .. says he rarely relives the day.

But he says events like the shootings in Omaha bring the memories back.



Stallions Qld (BRISBANE)

Restrictions on horse movements in south-east Queensland's red zone will be significantly
eased today .. the most important development since the outbreak of equine influenza.

Areas in the existing red zone including Maroochy Shire .. Dalby and Stanthorpe ..

will be reclassified amber .. allowing free movement within the zones.

But a permit is still required to move horses out of the amber zone.

Red zone restrictions have also been lifted in Gympie .. Goondiwindi and Nanango.



Rail Graham (SYDNEY)

RailCorp chief VINCE GRAHAM denies only aging trains will be used on Sydney's newest
rail link .. because the gradient is too steep for newer trains.

News Limited reports the Epping Chatswood rail line will be serviced by 30-year-old
trains .. which the NSW government has promised to phase out .. because engineers have
bungled construction of a tunnel .. now too steep for modern trains.

But Mr GRAHAM says all of RailCorp's trains could run on the line .. although the Tangara
isn't suited to the gradient and the story's simply wrong.



US Grammys (LOS ANGELES)

Australian KEITH URBAN has been nominated for another grammy award.

He's up for best male country vocal performance for his song .. Stupid Boy .. off his
Love Pain and The Whole Crazy Thing album.

Rapper KANYE WEST has won the most nominations .. with eight .. including best album of the year.

AMY WINEHOUSE has six nominations .. and the Foo Fighters .. VINCE GILL and HERBIE
HANCOCK will also contest best album at the 50th annual awards in February.



Briefly in other news ..




Two teenage boys .. who bashed to death another teen in the NSW Riverina town of Griffith
on New Year's Day .. have been jailed for a maximum six years.




Salvage crews in Queensland have successfully refloated a bulk carrier that's been
stuck in mud in Gladstone harbour for more than five days.




Police say a 22-year-old Kangaroo Island man died as he fled a raging bushfire on the
island's southern coast .. he was found dead in his burnt out truck near Vivonne Bay yesterday.




NASA has postponed today's planned launch of space shuttle Atlantis just hours before
it was due to blast off .. because of problems on the external fuel tanks.




A new study shows nearly one in three young adults in New Zealand has a drinking problem.




The Vatican's discovered a lost drawing by Renaissance master MICHELANGELO of a design
for the dome of St Peter's Basilica.

The small drawing .. done in the spring of 1563 when MICHELANGELO was 88 .. is believed
to be his last known sketch before he died the next year.



in Finance ..



US Subprime Aust (CANBERRA)

Treasurer WAYNE SWAN says Australia remains well-placed to deal with the global economic
fallout from the US sub-prime housing market crisis.

US President GEORGE W BUSH has unveiled a wide-ranging mortgage relief package to help
1.2 million distressed homeowners.

The plan has been unveiled amid fears a rising tide of home-loan defaults would lead
to a surge in re-possessing .. and have a cascading effect on the economy.

Mr SWAN's told ABC radio .. the woes in the US remain a concern for Australia .. but
because of our first-class financial regulators we're well placed to cope with the fallout.

He says the second and third round effects on growth internationally will have some
impact on the Australian economy .. but the outlook is far better than some have predicted.





in Sport ..



AFL Kangaroos (MELBOURNE)

The AFL intends starting work on a 17th club to be based on the Gold Coast as soon
as today after the Kangaroos' final rejection of a move north.

The Kangaroos board last night voted to remain in Melbourne rather than relocate to
Queensland, spurning a multi-million proposal from the AFL.

AFL chief executive ANDREW DEMETRIOU has told Southern Cross radio work will begin
"as of today" on establishing a new team.

DEMETRIOU says the 17th club will be up and running post 2010, the same time frame
the AFL had given the Kangaroos to relocate.



ENDS MIDDAY ROUND-UP

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