AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, April 17

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2009
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, April 17
Midday Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1130


Boat Wrap (SYDNEY)

Darwin police say the investigation into the explosion aboard a boat carrying 47 asylum
seekers off northern Australia will start today .. with the arrival of a navy patrol boat
carrying 13 of the least injured.

HMAS Albany is expected in Darwin harbour between 11 am and 1 pm local time.

Several Australian sailors who were slightly injured are also on board .. as well as
the bodies of at least two of the three asylum seekers killed in the explosion.

The 13 will be checked at Royal Darwin Hospital .. and an investigation by Northern
Territory and Australian Federal Police will begin.

More than 30 of the asylum seekers .. believed to be mostly Afghani men .. were injured
in the explosion on board the boat near Ashmore Reef yesterday.




Eight people are now in Royal Darwin Hospital with injuries ranging from life threatening
to moderate.

Six are being treated in Royal Perth Hospital .. and one's in Broome Hospital .. with
another 16 to arrive in Perth this hour (1000 WST).

The first medical emergency plane carrying two of the most seriously injured touched
down in Darwin shortly after midnight .. followed by six others on two separate flights.




Opposition Leader MALCOLM TURNBULL says the government's relaxed immigration policies
are putting people's lives at risk.

The boat involved is the sixth such arrival this year.

Mr TURNBULL's told ABC radio the government's immigration policies have caused the
hike in arrivals .. increasing the danger for people in small boats.

But refugee groups say there's been an international spike in the number of people
seeking asylum.

TIM IRWIN .. a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees .. has told ABC
Radio there was a 12 per cent jump in people worldwide making asylum claims over the past
two years.



In other news ...



Ngo (SYDNEY)

Former Sydney councillor PHUONG NGO will stay behind bars .. after a judicial review
dismissed doubts raised over his conviction for murdering New South Wales MP JOHN NEWMAN
.. 15 years ago.

The 211-page report of former District Court judge DAVID PATTEN has been released ..

following his review of NGO's conviction for arranging the 1994 political assassination.

Mr PATTEN says nothing in the matters raised at the inquiry casts doubt on .. or raises
a sense of unease or disquiet in respect of the former councillor's conviction.

Mr NEWMAN was gunned down outside his home in Sydney's suburban Cabramatta .. as he
returned from a Labor party branch meeting.

NGO was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted in 2001 of ordering the killing.

Two other men who were tried with NGO were acquitted of the murder.



Pantic (ADELAIDE)

A court's been told a series of pornographic DVDs were bought for an Adelaide man as
a bit of a joke .. even though some showed sex acts involving animals.

PETAR (Petar) PANTIC .. a key witness at the inquiry into the cruise ship death of
DIANNE BRIMBLE .. claimed he didn't know it was an offence to bring the pornographic discs
into Australia.

But in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today .. the 32-year-old's been fined five thousand
dollars for his actions .. and ordered to pay another 13 hundred dollars in court costs.

PANTIC had pleaded guilty to one count of importing prohibited DVDs in 2007 .. which
Magistrate JOSEPH BALDINO said showed cruelty .. violence and revolting phenomena.



Hit (MELBOURNE)

A 24-year-old man will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today over a hit-run
incident on Easter Sunday involving two motorcyclists .. that left a woman in a critical
condition.

Police say MARK MACCAR of suburban Mill Park .. was arrested last night.

The woman in her 60s sustained injuries to her upper body and a fractured leg .. and
remains in a critical condition in Royal Melbourne Hospital.



Dams (BRISBANE)

Water authorities in Queensland say recent rainfall in the state's southeast has left
dams agonisingly short of the 60 per cent drought cutoff.

The total water in southeast Queensland dams is currently at 59.05 per cent .. just
short of the 60 per cent figure required for Premier ANNA BLIGH to officially call an
end to the drought.

A spokesman for SEQ Water has told ABC radio there were some increases last night ..

but nowhere near as large as the Easter long weekend where falls of up to 200 millimetres
were recorded in some Sunshine Coast areas.



US Betsis (LOS ANGELES)

Los Angeles prosecutors are yet to decide if Australian father GEORGE BETSIS will be
charged with kidnapping his son.

BETSIS has been on the run for almost two weeks in Los Angeles .. after picking up
10-year-old TOMAS from school.

The Sydney-based advertising executive is embroiled in a custody battle with ex-wife
and TOMAS' mother .. celebrity "baby whisperer" PRISCILLA DUNSTAN.

In interviews from secret locations with various Australian media organisations ..

BETSIS has claimed he took the extreme decision because he was desperate to spend time
with his son.

An LA lawyer hired by BETSIS has arranged for TOMAS to be handed back to LA police
.. but BETSIS remains in hiding while awaiting a decision by the Los Angeles District
Attorney's office.



Briefly in other news ..



Rescue (BRISBANE)

A Queensland man who jumped into fast flowing water below a dam wall to save his dog
has been rescued by helicopter together with the pooch .. after spending the night on
a rocky outcrop.



US Interrogate (MEXICO CITY)

The administration of US President BARACK OBAMA has launched an attack on former president
GEORGE W BUSH .. saying his actions after the 9-11 attacks weakened America's moral authority
and made it less safe.



Somalia Pirates (WASHINGTON)

A teenage pirate from Somalia .. captured by US Navy forces during a high-seas hostage
drama last week will .. reportedly face charges in a New York court.



Canada Leap (OTTAWA)

A distressed passenger's leapt to his death from a small aircraft seven thousand metres
above the Canadian Arctic .. after forcing open its cabin door.



US Spears (CALABASAS)

Authorities in Los Angeles have arrested a camouflage-wearing .. camera-toting woman
they say was caught peeking into BRITNEY SPEARS' windows.



in Finance ..



At 11.15 am AEDT, the benchmark Standard and Poor's ASX 200 index was UP 66.1 points at
3841.8 .. while the broader All Ordinaries Index ROSE 62.4 points to 3788.0.

The Australian dollar was at 72.03 US cents, DOWN from yesterday local close of 72.35 US cents.

It was at 54.74 euro cents, down from 54.92 euro cents yesterday.

The spot price of gold in Sydney was $US873.25, DOWN $18.95 from $US892.20 per fine ounce.



in Sport ..



Soccer UEFA (KIEV)

The semi-finals of the UEFA Cup will be all Ukrainian and German affairs.

Dynamo Kiev reached the last four of the tournament for the first time with a 3-0 aggregate
win over Paris St Germain.

Dynamo will play Shakhtar Donetsk in the semis.

The other semi will pit Werder Bremen against SV Hamburg.

Hamburg won their quarter-final 4-3 on aggregate despite losing the second leg 2-1
to Manchester City.



Dajka (ADELAIDE)

A funeral will be held in Adelaide today for former world cycling champion JOBIE DAJKA
.. who died this month aged 27.

His family previously printed a notice in the local newspaper .. informing Cycling
Australia officials they wouldn't be welcome at the service.

Cycling Australia chief executive GRAHAM FREDERICKS has said he's not surprised at
the edict .. and that they'll respect the family's wishes.



ENDS MIDDAY ROUND-UP

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