HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, April 5 = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2007
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, April 5 = 2

SAN FRANCISCO - The parents of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh have called on
US President George W Bush to free their son, contrasting his 20-year jail term with the
nine-month sentence given to Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. (Hicks US
Lindh N/L)



AUCKLAND - Roofs were blown off houses and school children narrowly escaped a mudslide
through their school as Tropical Cyclone Cliff struck Fiji yesterday. (Cliff Fiji)

Cliff Nightlead to come



SYDNEY - Google has opened its map making application to millions of net users wanting
to customise their own maps for personal use and sharing on the web. (US Google Nightlead)



BRISBANE - A team of Queensland animators are putting the final touches on a 3D animated
children's series to launch to the global television and trade market in Cannes, France,
this month. (Animalia)



CANBERRA - The federal government has defended its decision to allow British firebrand
Yvonne Ridley, who has reportedly praised suicide bombers as martyrs, to enter Australia.

(Muslims)



CANBERRA - Australian troops in southern Iraq won't have to expand their area of operations
now that Britain has passed responsibility for another province back to the Iraqi authorities,
Army chief Lieutenant General Peter Leahy said today. (Iraq Aust)



CANBERRA - Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce says the federal government should overlook
Treasury's advice more often when making policy decisions. (Water Joyce)



CANBERRA - The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) says it will not help fund an advertising
campaign to promote the federal government's controversial Work Choices laws. (Workplace
Industry)



CANBERRA - Education Minister Julie Bishop has urged all states to follow NSW's lead
and support reforms to school teachers' pay. (Teachers)



CANBERRA - Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull is travelling to the United States
and Indonesia over Easter to discuss Australia's global forests initiative. (Climate Turnbull)



CANBERRA - Using timeless Anzac imagery and a rousing soundtrack, the army has moved
to differentiate itself from the other services which sail ships and fly aeroplanes. (Army
)



SYDNEY - Newly appointed NSW Liberal Leader Barry O'Farrell says providing solutions
to fix Sydney's transport problems will be a top priority for his party. (OFarrell)



SYDNEY - Talkback host Alan Jones will fight to avoid paying damages to defamed former
NSW Police assistant commissioner Clive Small at a court hearing later this year. (Jones)



SYDNEY - A Sydney eye surgeon who downloaded more than 10,000 images of child pornography
to his home computer over a six-year period has been allowed to continue practising medicine.

(Wingate)



SYDNEY - More than 35,000 exhibits, from livestock and domestic animals to art and
a belly-dancing midget, are on display at Sydney's Royal Easter Show from today. (Show

Daylead)



SYDNEY - A man has been charged with attempting to abduct a teenage girl on the NSW
central coast. (Abduct)



MELBOURNE - The younger brother of fugitive drug lord Tony Mokbel has been ordered
to stand trial for allegedly blackmailing and threatening to kill a property developer
and his wife. (Mokbel Nightlead)



MELBOURNE - Victoria's health authorities are investigating two confirmed cases of
legionnaires' disease in Melbourne's west. (Legionnaires)



MELBOURNE - Victorian Premier Steve Bracks today admitted that a health department
bungle over a man charged with deliberately spreading HIV could have been handled better.

(Neal)



MELBOURNE - A funding shortage has forced nine Victorian hospitals to close for elective
surgery for at least two weeks, prolonging the state's waiting lists, the state opposition
claims. (Hospitals. N/LL to come)



MELBOURNE - A 19-year-old Scottish tourist who sparked a major hunt in the rugged Otway
Ranges south-west of Melbourne has been found. (Hike. N/L to come)



MELBOURNE - Former mining executive Hugh Morgan says there should be an internationally-owned
and run nuclear waste facility in Australia, with the ideal site an area of land across
the South Australian and West Australian border. (Nuclear Morgan)



BRISBANE - The father of Brisbane student and champion ice skater Morgan Innes, who
died in the Sydney Harbour ferry disaster, has offered words of comfort to his daughter's
school mates. (Ferry Innes)



BRISBANE - Doctors and the Queensland opposition say a move by the state government
to send public patients to private hospitals for elective surgery is a band-aid solution
to cut waiting lists. (Surgery Nightlead)



BRISBANE - A hotel bouncer has been charged with murder after a fatal incident in Brisbane's
south on the weekend. (Titoa)



BRISBANE - Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has urged boaties to be careful over Easter,
saying the recent tragic Sydney ferry crash was a reminder accidents can happen on the
water. (Easter Boats)

BRISBANE - Volunteer surf lifesavers have issued a warning to Queensland beach goers
in the lead up to Easter, to swim only between the flags during patrol hours and not venture
out past their depth. (Easter Beaches)



BRISBANE - Australian chocolate lovers may soon be able to eat home-grown Easter chocolate
treats with the establishment of a cocoa industry in north Queensland. (Cocoa)



ADELAIDE - David Hicks would be allowed to stand as a candidate for the South Australian
Democrats after his release from jail, the party's leader says. (Hicks Democrats)



ADELAIDE - South Australian unions are taking their campaign to end exploitation of
child workers to the state Industrial Relations Court in Adelaide. (Children)



PERTH - A parliamentary inquiry into the Esperance lead contamination crisis is likely
to be a government whitewash, the West Australian opposition MP who proposed the inquiry
says. (Birds)



HOBART - The grey headed albatross could become extinct in Australia if funding delays
continue for pest eradication on the World Heritage listed Macquarie Island, conservationists
warned today. (Macquarie)

AAP jlw

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL 2 SYDNEY

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.