AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Aug 4

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2001
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Aug 4
Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430


Cars Mitsubishi (TOKYO)

The thousands of workers at Mitsubishi car factories in Adelaide can rest easy this
weekend, with their jobs safe for at least four years.

The Japanese parent company has announced it will go ahead with a $70 million revamp
of the Magna and Verada range, ending months of uncertainty over the two Adelaide factories.

The decision was unveiled by executives at a meeting with Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD in Tokyo.

Mr HOWARD says it means job security until at least 2005.



Cars (Sydney)

Meanwhile - the company at the centre of a car industry dispute says it has offered
to purchase an insurance bond to protect employee entitlements if it ever becomes insolvent.

The insurance bond proposal by TriStar Steering and Suspension is a compromise move.

The company had refused to put the entitlements into a trust fund run by the Australian
Manufacturing Workers Union.

More than 300 workers at TriStar walked off the job nine days ago.



Clinic Name (MELBOURNE)

Residents of the small New South Wales town of Molong believe the man who has been
charged with killing an abortion clinic guard is a local hermit.

Locals have seen pictures of the man labelled Mister X after he refused to reveal his
name when arrested for shooting dead a security guard at a Melbourne abortion clinic last
month.

Former Molong mayor JOHN FARR has told the The Age that a hermit resembling the man
had lived in a bush camp nearby for a decade.



Child (Sydney)

Police in Sydney are hunting for at least two men who stole a car with a child strapped
into the back seat.

The mother has now been re-united with her two-year-old after she was assaulted in
her driveway by at least two men who stole the car.

Police found it with the child inside 45 minutes later.

The mother from Rooty Hill has described one of the attackers as a being of European
appearance, in his early 20s, with crew cut brown hair, 180cm tall, medium to solid build
with a tattoo on the back of his neck.

The men were driving an early model white Holden Commodore before they stole the silver
sedan Daihatsu.



Royals Charles fall (LONDON)

Prince CHARLES has been taken to hospital after falling off his horse during a charity
polo match.

His office at St James' Palace says the Prince is NOT believed to have broken anything
but is having checks.

Sky Television reports that the Prince was briefly knocked unconscious when he fell
and will be kept in hospital overnight.

The 52-year-old heir to the throne was playing in a charity match in Cirencester, west
England, with his two sons, Princes WILLIAM and HARRY.

Meanwhile the Prince's grandmother, the QUEEN MOTHER, spent a night in hospital this
week after undergoing a blood transfusion for anaemia, as she prepares to celebrate her
101st birthday today.



Diana (MELBOURNE)

Meanwhile the family of the late PRINCESS DIANA has launched court action in Melbourne
to block a London-based charity selling roses under her name.

The Herald Sun reports the Federal Court action has been started by Diana's mother
FRANCES SHAND KYDD and her sister SARAH MCCORQUONDALE.

They've used a pseudonym in the hope of avoiding publicity over their appeal against
a decision by the Australian Trade Marks Office to register a trademark.

The London-based Royal National Rose Society wants to raise $A56 million to create
a memorial garden next to its headquarters by selling trademarked Diana's Legacy Roses
on the internet.

The Australian trademark registration is the first in what was intended to become a
worldwide series.



UK bomb (LONDON)

Anti-terrorist police in London are stepping up the hunt for the dissident Irish group
blamed for a car bomb that injured 11 people.

The blast in suburban Ealing has soured efforts to resolve the crisis in the stalled
Northern Ireland peace process.

London police are appealing for people to be extra vigilant against a repeat attack
- as politicians debate a make-or-break plan floated by the British and Irish governments.

Police have blamed the incident on the Real IRA, which opposes the peace efforts.



Thai PM (BANGKOK)

Thailand's Constitutional Court has voted in a knife-edge decision to clear Prime Minister
THAKSIN SHINAWATRA of graft charges.

The decision ends months of damaging uncertainty and allows him to stay in power.

Court President PRASERT NASAKUL says that by the slimmest of margins judges found THAKSIN
not guilty of deliberately concealing assets in the 1990s when was a cabinet minister.



Backburn (SYDNEY)

An inquiry into the deaths of four people in a bungled backburn in Sydney has been
told the operation was marred by last-minute decisions and poor planning.

Four firefighters died after the backburn by National Parks and Wildlife officers in
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park went wrong on June the 8th last year.

Operation leader KEN BLADE has told the coronial inquiry the decision to burn along
the Wallaby trail was a last-minute option.

He says the trail hadn't been checked and wasn't marked accurately on the maps given
to parks and wildlife officers.



Malaysia Metal (KUALA LUMPUR)

A Malaysian state will issue an Islamic edict banning a form of heavy metal music.

Authorities in Negeri Sembilan state claim the music's influence has led Muslim teenagers
to dabble in the occult.

They say their state government fully supports a decision taken by senior clerics declaring
the music forbidden to Muslims.



BRIEFLY



New Indonesian President MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI has issued a decree widening the scope
of a special court to try those behind the bloodshed surrounding East Timor's 1999 vote
for independence.




Indonesian security forces have shot dead 10 suspected separatist rebels in various
clashes in the flashpoint province of Aceh.




The Code Red computer worm has slowed internet traffic in Southeast Asia after disrupting
servers in the United States.




About 80 people have been evacuated from a Sydney hotel following a gas leak.




The Australian Taxation Office is standing by its controversial ruling which denies
concessions to investors in the hit movie Moulin Rouge.




American adventurer STEVE FOSSETT is preparing to launch his balloon in Western Australia
today in a sixth attempt to fly around the world.



IN SPORT



AFL Tigers (MELBOURNE)

Richmond is almost through to its second finals appearance in 19 years after beating
Collingwood by 20 points in a sloppy AFL match at the MCG.

The Tigers held Collingwood to only one goal in the second half to register their 12th
win of the season.




League Storm (SYDNEY)

Melbourne Storm coach MARK MURRAY says his side can cause plenty of damage in the National
Rugby League finals series if they get there.

The Storm can move into a share of sixth place by beating the Northern Eagles at NorthPower
Stadium tonight while the Bulldogs host Wests and North Queensland Cowboys meet Canberra
in Townsville.

Parramatta disposed of St George Illawarra 32-12 last night at Parramatta Stadium.




Swim Aust (PERTH)

IAN THORPE has started his Australian shortcourse swimming championships assault with
gold in the men's 200 metres freestyle final last night.

GRANT HACKETT finished second and MICHAEL KLIM third after HACKETT began yesterday
by wiping almost ten seconds from KIEREN PERKINS' 800 metre world shortcourse record.



AAP RTV ge

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