HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, April 7

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-2008
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, April 7

WILMINGTON, Delaware - A US financial services firm has honoured John Howard with a
$US50,000 ($A54,300) award, citing Australia's economic strength during his time as prime
minister. (US Howard)

LOS ANGELES - Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have bought a multi-million dollar mansion
in Los Angeles, raising speculation the glamour couple's first child will not be born
in Australia. (US Kidman)

LOS ANGELES - Olivia Newton-John's daughter has spoken about her battle with anorexia
and how her early life was not all rosy. (US Lattanzi)

PORT MORESBY - Two men went on trial in Papua New Guinea today accused of murdering
an Australian expatriate in his home. (PNG Murder)

SYDNEY - French electronic duo Air have payed their Aussie fans the highest compliment
a Frenchman can give: they are well-dressed and elegant. (Air, to come)

SYDNEY - Gladiators is continuing to win over audiences with viewers making it the
most watched program in the nation last night. (Ratings, to come)

CANBERRA - Organisers of the Australian leg of the Olympic torch relay are bracing
themselves for the possibility of violent protests from pro-Tibet activists. (Oly08 Flame
Aust Nightlead, to come)

CANBERRA - The nation's waterfront has as many workers today as it did 10 years ago
despite efforts to cut numbers, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) says. (Waterfront
Crumlin. See also Waterfront Bostick exSydney)

CANBERRA - Youth homelessness has doubled in the last 20 years and it will take money,
and lots of it, to fix the problem, a national inquiry has revealed. (Homeless - embargoed
until 0600 AEST Tuesday)

CANBERRA - The death of a 20-year-old Canberra man from the illegal designer drug PMA
has raised concerns among doctors of a possible shift in drug use towards the "more lethal"

substance. (PMA)

CANBERRA - The greater incidence of breastfeeding by mothers on paid maternity leave
is among key issues to be discussed by a federal inquiry into parental leave. (Parental)

CANBERRA - The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is aiming to boost the number of indigenous
recruits with a broadranging strategy that could include "welcome to country" ceremonies
and improved provisions for members to gain leave for distant family events. (Defence
Indigenous, to come)

SYDNEY - Sydney can expect unprecedented disruption in July, when the Catholic Church's
World Youth Day turns the city into a combination of APEC and the Olympics. (Youth Nightlead,
to come)

SYDNEY - Experts have cast further doubt on the verdict of a man convicted of the killing
of NSW MP John Newman fourteen years ago, in what was dubbed Australia's first political
assassination. (Ngo - embargoed to 1800 AEST today)

SYDNEY - Dancing with the Stars judge Todd McKenney has lost his licence and been fined
for drink driving in central Sydney. (McKenney)

SYDNEY - The house where Sydney woman Lauren Huxley was bashed and left for dead was
set on fire after petrol was splashed around the house, a court has been told. (Farmer)

SYDNEY - New staffing policies for NSW schools will strengthen public education despite
causing classroom disruptions tomorrow, the state government says. (Teachers NSW)

SYDNEY - Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson will not be drawn on rumours that
long-serving Liberals are on the brink of quitting but says he would like Alexander Downer
and Peter Costello to stay on. (Liberals Nelson)

SYDNEY - Employers must change the way they view working arrangements if they are to
retain good staff at times of near-full employment, a grandparenting forum has been told.

(Grandparenting)

SYDNEY - Parents suing over their son's death on a NSW school trip claim the resulting
nervous shock led to the loss of up to $300 million by companies selling new cleaning
products. (Chaina)

MELBOURNE - One of the closest confidants of drug baron Tony Mokbel has been sentenced
to 10 years' jail for drug trafficking and other offences. (Mansour. N/L to come)

MELBOURNE - Melbourne's The Alfred hospital has the final report on the surgical and
billing practices of one of its top doctors, Professor Thomas Kossmann, but would not
comment today on the findings. (Surgeon. N/L to come)

MELBOURNE - Australian mufti Sheik Fehmi Naji Elimam has joined a Vietnamese social
worker, an Aboriginal elder and other prominent men to star in a new campaign against
domestic violence. (Violence. N/L to come)

MELBOURNE - Victorian Education Minister Bronwyn Pike says her government is willing
to pay for the state's ongoing costs as part of a $1 billion federal plan to give high
school students laptops. (Computers Pike)

MELBOURNE - DNA samples will have to be sent from Pakistan as police try to identify
a severed leg washed up on a beach at Phillip Island in Victoria. (Wave Lead. Seeking
more)

MELBOURNE - Zoos Victoria has today given conditional support to a roller-coaster amusement
park proposed for its Werribee Open Range Zoo on Melbourne's western fringe. (Park Daylead)

MELBOURNE - Residents of about 1,000 Melbourne homes still without power after last
Wednesday's storms have been warned not to try any re-connections themselves. (Wind Power)

BRISBANE - Consumers are reminded to be alert for metal objects in prepackaged meat,
particularly sausages, after a contamination scare revealed on the weekend. (Meat)

BRISBANE - A Taser stun gun lost by a senior Brisbane police officer on the weekend
has been handed in at a police station. (Taser Lead. N/L to come)

BRISBANE - A police officer was lucky to avoid contracting hepatitis C after being
pricked by an uncapped needle while searching a car, a court has been told. (Covill)

BRISBANE - A Defence Force aircraft had to be called in to fly a morbidly obese woman
to a Queensland hospital to save her life because she could not be moved any other way,
Queensland Health says. (Obese, to come)

BRISBANE - A Queensland archaeologist is studying stone tools from India in the hope
of pinpointing how and when people first arrived in Australia. (Stone)

ADELAIDE - Unions in South Australia have lodged a $26 a week pay claim for the state's
lowest paid workers, mirroring an ACTU claim at the federal level. (Wage SA)

PERTH - A mine plan will be altered to preserve a rock shelter where Aboriginal tools
dating back to 35,000 years ago were found, a Rio Tinto spokesman says. (Tools Rio Lead,
to come with pix)

PERTH - Unions have criticised the West Australian premier for ignoring local Labor
Party members and backing a prominent Perth journalist for preselection in the next state
election. (Whitby Unions)

PERTH - Police say the whereabouts of a missing West Australian family remains a mystery
despite dozens of calls regarding their disappearance. (Family, to come)

DARWIN - Claims that Aboriginal students in the Northern Territory are being failed
by an apartheid education system are "insulting and offensive", Australia's most senior
indigenous politician says. (Indigenous Education)

AAP nf

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL 2 SYDNEY

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