AAP Internet Bulletin 1530 Thursday Dec 24, 1998

AAP General News (Australia)
12-24-1998
AAP Internet Bulletin 1530 Thursday Dec 24, 1998





[A][TOLL NATIONAL][FED]

Car crash man walks 33km for help

A man walked through the night over inhospitable West Australian desert terrain in a vain
attempt to save the life of his woman passenger after crashing his car.

The 19-year-old man rolled his utility 250km south of Halls Creek, 2,855km north of Perth,
late on Tuesday afternoon, after torrential rain rendered many north-west roads impassable.

"It's a gravel road, he's come around the corner and hit a puddle, lost control and
rolled," Halls Creek's Senior Constable Neil Gordon told AAP.

"The passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and she was thrown clear."

The man thought the 51-year-old Broome woman Doreen Ann Howard might be dead, but set out
on the 33km walk to Balgo community.

"He arrived at Balgo at 7.45 (AWST) the next morning and called police," Const Gordon said.

"He was lucky - the amount of rain we have had kept the desert cooler, otherwise he
probably would have perished in the summer heat without water."

A local nurse and a priest with ambulance training set out on a one-hour drive to the
accident site, but by the time they arrived Mrs Howard was already dead.

Police had to fly to the site, as further rain made the road impassable.

"That road's closed now due to excessive water, and will probably be closed for another few
days," Const Gordon said.

The uninjured man was taken to his parents' home in Halls Creek, where police planned to
interview him after Christmas.

The death brought to 26 the number of people killed in accidents on Australia's roads over
the national Christmas-New Year holiday period.

New South Wales recorded the most fatalities since Friday, with six people dead in holiday
season road accidents.

Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia have each recorded four road deaths for the same
period, while South Australia and Tasmania have had three road deaths each.

There had also been one death in the ACT.

Only the Northern Territory remains fatality-free.





[A][TAVERN DECISION][NSW]

Man guilty of stabbing policeman

A man was found guilty today of the stabbing murder of Sydney policeman David Carty, but a
jury cleared his brother of murder and found him guilty of a lesser charge.

Dawood Odishou, also known as Gilbert Adam, 32, of Fairfield, was convicted of Constable
Carty's murder at the Cambridge Tavern, Fairfield, early on April 18 last year.

His brother Richard Adam, 30, also of Fairfield, was found not guilty of murder, not guilty
of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm with the intent to do so, but guilty of
maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Const Carty was stabbed to death in the hotel's carpark, and the crown case was that
Gilbert Adam inflicted the fatal knife wound to his heart and Richard Adam was among a number
of men who punched and kicked the policeman as he lay dying.

The New South Wales Supreme Court jury of eight men and four women brought in its verdicts
after retiring for more than two-and-a-half days at the end of a trial lasting nearly 11
weeks.

Justice James Wood remanded both men in custody for sentencing in February.

Four other men charged with Const Carty's murder will face a separate trial next year.





[A][DEATHS DEMOCRATS][FED]

Youth suicide top priority: Democrats

The Australian Democrats today called on the federal government to spend more money on
efforts to reduce Australia's alarming youth suicide rate.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday revealed that Australia
continued to record one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world.

The data also showed that last year 28 per cent of deaths were caused by heart disease and
27 per cent by cancer.

Deputy Democrats Leader Natasha Stott Despoja said the data was alarming when contrasted
with the irony that most Australians were living longer.

"I would suggest it's the challenge for the next century for this government to reduce
these numbers and in doing so increase funding and attention to this particular problem,"
Senator Despoja told ABC Radio.

"It should be a national priority."

Peter Burlison, from the Mental Health Foundation, said it was too early to says if recent
youth suicide prevention programs had failed.

"I don't think the figures cover things up as much as they might have once," Dr Burlison
told ABC Radio.

"It's far less likely that a suicide will be missed or will be recorded as something else.

"I think people are far more aware than they used to be about it."





[A][REPUBLIC HOWARD ARM][FED]

Strong republic interest: Turnbull

Australian Republican Movement chairman Malcolm Turnbull today said many people would not
raise the Republican issue with Prime Minister John Howard because of his well-known
monarchist stand.

Mr Howard said yesterday he was convinced there was no great passion for Australia to
become a republic and only the media had raised the issue with him in the past six months.

Mr Turnbull said Mr Howard had said this before.

"And I think that I observed at that time that when you're the prime minister and you're a
noted monarchist and certainly a noted, not very interested person in the issue, it's hardly
surprising that people aren't running up to you and saying let's talk about the republic," Mr
Turnbull told ABC Radio.

But there was a real level of interest, he said, especially among older Australians, with
plenty of debate in the community in the wake of the Constitutional Convention this year.

"When you're the prime minister you tend to hear what you want to hear.

"That's no criticism of him, but I don't think many people would put the republic on the
top of the list of issues they'd like to raise with him."

Yesterday, Mr Howard told ABC Radio only the media had raised the issue with him in the
past six months.

"I don't incidentally find any great interest in the Australian community at present in the
issue," he said.

"I can't remember in the last six months one person other than members of the media raising
the issue of the republic.

"It is never raised by Australians I mix with, and I mix with a very wide cross-section of
the Australian community. The issue is never raised on either side.

"There is no great passion against it, but equally there's no passion for it."





[A][TRANSIT][NSW]

STA strike breakers rewarded: council

The New South Wales State Transit Authority gave $100 gift vouchers to managers who refused
to take part in a recent bus and ferry strike, the Labor Council of New South Wales said
today.

Labor Council secretary Michael Costa said about 50 senior officers who worked through the
strike by white-collar Australian Services Union (ASU) members last Thursday afternoon and
Friday were given the vouchers.

The council would investigate whether there were grounds to prosecute the STA for breaching
the industrial award for non-payment of overtime, he said.

"Offering rewards to strike-breakers is clearly an inappropriate use of taxpayers' money,"
Mr Costa said in a statement.

"Further, for this to happen under a Labor government shows a complete lack of sensitivity
from STA management," Mr Costa said.

"Workers are entitled to take industrial action in support of their legitimate claims for
wages and conditions and the Labor Council would hope that all government agencies respect
these rights."

Mr Costa called on Transport Minister Carl Scully to demand an explanation for "this
outrageous decision" from the highest levels of STA management and for those responsible to be
brought to account.

"Labor Council will not stand by and allow taxpayers' money to be used to undermine
legitimate industrial action," he said.

The ASU strike involved about 450 staff, including clerks and supervisors, and followed a
dispute with STA management over an enterprise bargaining agreement.

A response from Mr Scully was expected later today.





[A][PATIENTS ACT][FED]

Hunt for last 10 patients in HIV scare

The final 10 women of the 255 caught up in a contamination scare at Canberra Hospital were
urgently being sought today.

An ACT Health Department spokesman said 245 women patients had tested negative to HIV and
Hepatitis B and extensive efforts were being made to find the final 10.

Another 13 women patients from Gosford Hospital in NSW came into contact with the same
health worker who recently tested positive for HIV and Hepatitis B.

However, health authorities have stressed that the risk of any of the women contracting the
viruses is extremely low.

The phone hotline, 1800-818-507, which was set up for people who feared they may have been
involved in the Canberra or Gosford hospital HIV scares, will operate over the Christmas
period.

All the women were treated at Canberra between January 6 and December 11 this year, or
Gosford hospital between May 1997 and December last year.

A spokesman for the NSW Health Department said 12 of the 13 Gosford patients had now been
tested and cleared and the health department expected to make contact with the final woman
shortly.





[A][ISRAEL COLLAPSE][FED]

Call for Maccabiah resignations

An Australian barrister has told an Israeli inquiry into the Maccabiah Games bridge
disaster he has rarely witnessed such a mean-spirited reaction to a public issue.

Appearing at the Knesset inquiry, Robert Kaye demanded the resignation of Maccabiah World
Union (MWU) officials, saying it was imperative they bear some responsibility for the
accident.

The special committee of the Israeli parliament studying the bridge disaster backed Kaye's
call on the heads of the MWU to resign.

"Such an act would greatly alleviate the anger of the victims' family," said a statement
published by the bipartisan committee.

Four Australian athletes were killed and several others seriously injured when the bridge
collapsed during the games opening ceremony in July last year.

Mr Kaye said the resignation of MWU chairman Uzi Netanel and president Ronald Bakalarz
would help ease the burden of the victims and their families, and demonstrate sensitivity.

"These are people who feel they have been abandoned by the MWU and what is worse, have been
cast as the villains for daring to voice criticism," he told the inquiry in Tel Aviv.

Mr Kaye said the MWU had engaged in a public relations war in an attempt to discredit the
father of one of the victims as "some sort of lying rogue".

Colin Elterman, whose 17-year-old daughter Sasha suffered horrific injuries, has been one
of the leaders in a worldwide fight by Australia's Jewish community against the MWU.

"This tactic vividly demonstrates the MWU's poor judgment and indeed lack of bona fides,"
Mr Kaye said. "It does not serve to mend fences or restore confidence.

"Mr Elterman is no more or less than an extraordinary man who, with his wife, has
endeavoured to shepherd their daughter through a maze of demoralising medical procedures.

"The fact he has often served as the spokesperson for the other victims' families is merely
a symptom of the physical and emotional exhaustion experienced by the others.





[A][LEGIONNAIRES][VIC]

Legionnaires disease source found

Melbourne companies whose air conditioning cooling towers breached government regulations
may face legal action in the wake of a Legionnaires disease outbreak.

Victoria's chief health officer Dr Graham Rouch said three towers in north suburban
Thomastown had tested positive for the bacteria which causes the disease.

The tests were carried out after 17 people in the Thomastown area contracted the disease in
late October.

Dr Rouch said bacteria from one of the three towers, at Kats Refrigeration, a cold storage
business in Norwich Road, had matched samples taken from eight of the 17 victims.

Attempts to match the samples with bacteria from a second tower, at chicken processing
company La Ionica, in Lipton Drive, had prove inconclusive so it could not be ruled out as a
source.

The bacteria in the third tower, at a location which has not been revealed, had been
different so it was not the source.

The towers have now been decontaminated.

Samples were taken from 74 cooling towers, most of which had complied, or tried to comply
with government regulations.

"However the Department of Human Services is considering possible action where the
regulations may have been breached," Dr Rouch said.

"All businesses will be revisited in the new year to ensure that they are in full
compliance," he said.





[A][OCEANS HILL][FED]

Hill denies Aust ocean crisis

Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill today denied Australia's oceans were facing an
environmental crisis and downplayed the reliance of his national oceans plan on the further
sale of Telstra.

Senator Hill yesterday revealed the government would spend $50 million over three years to
help implement the Australia's Oceans Policy.

A National Oceans Ministerial Board would be set up to include all relevant federal
ministers, and a National Oceans Office would operate from the Environment Department and
report to the board, he said.

Senator Hill today dismissed the Australian Conservation Foundation's claim of a threatened
environmental crisis.

"I don't think there's a crisis," Senator Hill told Radio National today.

"Certainly, they're under pressure from obviously extended use - fishing, tourism,
shipping, the lot - but I think most people would say we're actually managing that challenge
as well as, if not better than anyone."

Yesterday the conservation foundation warned Australia's playground, the beach, was under
threat.

ACF marine campaigner Margie Prideaux said the 1998 International Year of the Ocean had
raised community awareness of important issues, but had been a failure in terms of industry
and government response.

"Australia's marine environment is under threat from land-based pollutants such as
chemicals and pesticides and increased nutrient levels; from the continuing over-exploitation
of our fish stocks; and coastal mining and increasingly, from climate change," she said.

Senator Hill also downplayed the reliance of half the government program's $50 million
funding on the second part of the planned sale of telecommunications giant Telstra.

"We spend a lot of money on the challenge at the moment and what we are committing is
further public expenditure over the next three years - $30 million that's not subject to the
sale of Telstra," he said.

"And it's to develop a program which will really be the first country in the world to try
to do and it's to ensure we don't make the same mistakes with our ocean resources that we've
made with the land.

"That we develop economic opportunities consistent with the ecologically sustainable base
of our natural resources."





[A][YACHT ALONE][FED]

Lame French yacht fighting gale

Embattled French solo sailor Isabelle Autissier can expect gale-force headwinds in the
Southern Ocean as she coaxes her damaged yacht towards Hobart for repairs.

An Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) spokesman said today the 42-year-old
yachtswoman was expected to reach Tasmania on Christmas morning where she would make emergency
repairs to her yacht's mainsail and damaged electrical equipment.

Within hours, she intends to set sail again for Auckland to complete the second 7,000
nautical mile leg of the around-the-world Around Alone race.

However, gale-force northerly winds in excess of 33 knots ahead of a cold front due to pass
over the island state on Saturday threaten to slow the progress of a yacht which, because of
damage, cannot increase or reduce it mainsail.

"She will experience, if not gale-force, very close to gale-force winds tomorrow," an
Australian Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman said.

"The northerly winds will intensify throughout tomorrow as the cold front approaches the
coast. It could make headway quite difficult."

Around Alone race director Mark Schrader said Ms Autissier was experiencing milder
conditions after an uncomfortable Tuesday night.

"Conditions aren't as drastic as they were a couple of days ago," Mr Shrader said.

"There were 50-to-60 knot winds, sleet and a big swell. It was very uncomfortable out
there.

"There's still 30 knot winds and squalls but it's no longer the heavy-duty stuff."





[I][US IRAQ REVOLT]

Saddam forestalling revolt: US

What Iraqi President Saddam Hussein feared most as U.S. and British airstrikes approached
last week was a revolt in his own ranks, the U.S. commander in the Persian Gulf said today.

Saddam moved Iraqi ground troops into four widely separated sectors and placed loyal and
ruthless lieutenants in charge, according to Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, head of the U.S.
Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. Forces in the Persian Gulf region.

Zinni, who based his conclusions on intelligence reports, cautioned that there are no signs
of an imminent overthrow of Saddam.

The four-star general briefed reporters accompanying Defence Secretary William Cohen on a
morale-boosting holiday visit to the U.S. Force of about 20,000 that remains on guard in the
Gulf.

The shifts in Iraqi forces and changes in their command, Zinni said, raise questions about
Saddam's "faith in the Iraqi military to be able to execute their duty."

U.S. Intelligence analysts, noting troop movements monitored from satellites and U-2 spy
planes, concluded that Saddam's main aim was to avert any uprising from within once the
British and American airstrikes began.

"That decentralisation was done so they ensured they had control," and "to prevent
plotting," Zinni said. "I think it was done more for internal reasons and internal military
problems they thought they might have than for any military preparations they had for us."

Cohen on Tuesday ordered a halt to additional emergency deployment of U.S. Forces to Gulf
but said a sizable force would remain in the region.

In Washington, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger made clear Wednesday that the goal
was to contain Iraq and its president. If Iraq rebuilds its weapons of mass destruction, "we
will come," Berger pledged in a speech at the National Press Club.





[I][MALAYSIA ANWAR TRIAL]

Tapes prove Anwar conspiracy: defence

Lawyers defending Malaysia's ousted deputy prime minister sought permission Thursday to
play a tape-recording of a conversation they said would point to a political conspiracy
against him.

Excerpts of the recording were read Wednesday but Judge Augustine Paul, who is trying Anwar
Ibrahim, barred the press from reporting the conversation that the defence claimed involved
Ummi Hafilda Ali, the prosecution's star witness.

Paul said he would rule later Thursday on whether the transcript of the conversation was
admissible as evidence.

When the trial resumed Thursday, defence lawyer Gurbachan Singh sought permission to play
the tape so that he could get Ummi to agree to making all the statements contained in the
recording.

The judge asked the defence to prove inconsistencies in Ummi's testimony so far before he
would allow them to play the tape.

Ummi, a 31-year-old advertising executive, is the prime mover of all the charges against
Anwar. She wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and distributed copies of it last
year. It contained allegations that Anwar was sleeping with his secretary's wife.

Much of the prosecution case hinges on Ummi's testimony and her credibility because she
also helped Azizan Abu Bakar, a former driver in Anwar's household, to write out a declaration
that Anwar repeatedly sodomised him.

Anwar's lawyers have accused Ummi of acting out of jealousy because of her unreciprocated
love for the 51-year-old politician. She denied the she was crazy about Anwar and kept a
photograph of him under her pillow.

Singh had read out bits of a conversation that Ummi was alleged to have had in June with
Malaysian businessman Sng Chee Hua. It was unclear if Ummi knew their conversation had been
recorded.





[I][CHINA DISSIDENTS][CHN]

Chinese leader vows to crush dissent

The trials of three outspoken dissidents over, Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin signaled
today that China will sustain a crackdown on dissent throughout next year.

In his second hardline speech in six days, Jiang vowed to crush any challenges to Communist
Party rule and preserve social stability. He demanded that officials "talk politics" a
euphemism for following party orders.

The speech, to senior law enforcement officials, used uncompromising language heard less
frequently over the past 18 months as Chinese leaders sought to improve relations abroad.

Jiang's harsh tone punctuated the summary trials and convictions for subversion this week
of three political critics who tried to form an opposition party.

To underscore the party's intolerant mood, national newspapers ran brief accounts yesterday
and today of the 13-, 12- and 11-year prison terms given to Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin and Wang
Youcai. Dissidents are rarely mentioned by official media, and the reports served as a warning
to China's 1.2 billion people.

In the speech, reported by state television, Jiang said stability was crucial over the next
year. He noted two key events on the political calendar: the 50th anniversary of Communist
Party rule on October 1 and China's recovery of the Portuguese colony of Macau on December 20.

"We must strengthen the ideological and political education of officials and raise their
awareness of and resistance to the sabotaging acts of hostile domestic and foreign forces,"
China Central Television quoted Jiang as saying.

"Whenever any element that undermines stability raises its head, it must be resolutely
nipped in the bud."

Jiang did not exclusively target political enemies. He likened their threat to that of
white-collar and ordinary criminals and ticked off a list of potentially volatile problems
inefficient state industries, legions of laid-off workers, stagnating farmers' incomes and
corrupt officials.

The emphasis on stability and warnings to those who would disrupt it were reminiscent of
party pronouncements in the waning years of Jiang's mentor, Deng Xiaoping.





[T][CRICKET ENGLAND][CRIK]

McGrath battles mystery virus

Pace spearhead Glenn McGrath underwent tests today on a mystery virus as Australian
cricket's fast bowling injury plague spread.

Fellow speedster Jason Gillespie faces four weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury,
making McGrath's health more crucial for the Boxing Day Test against England at the MCG.

Already having plucked a novice paceman with just seven first class matches experience,
national selectors face a quandary should McGrath be ruled out of the fourth Test.

Test candidates Michael Kasprowicz and Paul Reiffel both sufferered leg injuries during the
Australian XI's victory against England in Hobart earlier this week.

The pair's ailments are not serious but with the final Tests against England contested with
just two days break, Kasprowicz and Reiffel's Ashes hopes are over.

Queenslander Adam Dale is the best performed in Sheffield Shield ranks but with Damien
Fleming and swinger-come-spinner Colin Miller, Australian selectors would be loathe to select
three bowlers of similar ilk.

The dearth of fit fast bowlers has struck Australia for the second consecutive summer
despite a special pacemen's camp at the Australian Institute of Sport early last winter.

Australian captain Mark Taylor was today hopeful McGrath would be fit for the fourth Ashes
Test while upbeat about unheralded West Australian quick Matthew Nicholson's chances of
playing.

Taylor said McGrath complained of a virus on the final day of the third Test win in
Adelaide that secured Australia the Ashes for a sixth consecutive time.

"He's had a week off and he's feeling a lot better," Taylor said.





[T][TENNIS OPEN ASIAN][TEN]

Japanese, Korean Aust Open wildcards

Tennis Australia's policy of fostering Asian talent continued today when Japan's Takao
Suzuki and Korean Sung-Hee Park were granted wildcard entries into next month's Australian
Open.

TA president Geoff Pollard said the Asian wildcard policy has been an outstanding success
and followed entries over the past two years to Chen Li of China and Indians Leander Paes and
Nirupama Vaidyanathan.

"It has enhanced interest from our neighbouring countries and it has led to a greater
appreciation of the game in this region in addition to giving players coveted development
opportunities," he said.

Tournament director Paul McNamee said the Asian wildcard typified the Open's intentions to
provide a role model for tennis within the region.

"We stage the greatest tennis event within the Asia Pacific region so it's quite
appropriate to extend an invitation to our neighbours to ensure their participation," McNamee
said.

Suzuki, 22, won three challenger titles this year while Park, who represented Korea in The
Fed Cup and Olympic Games, has won seven Korean titles.





[A][YEAR]

The Year: Susie gets a cigar, Monica sells out

Susie Maroney, Shane Warne and Andy Thomas pulled off some of this year's most bizarre
coups.

Maroney got a cigar from Fidel Castro, but had to swim from Mexico to Cuba to get it.

Warne got a cargo of 2,000 cans of baked beans in India, all because he found the local
cuisine too great a gastronomic challenge.

And Thomas "ran across Australia" in 20 minutes - many times - though in fairness he was
harnessed to a jogging machine inside the Mir space station at the time.

Not-so-famous Australians made news every bit as odd.

A Queensland woman was jailed for six years for attempting to murder her third husband so
she could return to her first husband, before eventually remarrying her second husband.

A Queensland man copped eight years for stealing $2.5 million from parking meters in one of
the year's tales of true persistence.

He didn't go around the whole of Brisbane nicking the coins himself; that would have been
far too unAustralian.Rather, he waited until all the collectors had milked their machines,
then skimmed the proceeds.

As a city council employee, he simply turned up early for work every day - another dead
giveaway, in hindsight - and purloined the public purse before official counting began.

At least he wasn't a grave robber, like some in Sydney.

Authorities there discovered some morgue workers subjecting accident victims and the like
to one final indignity - picking their pockets as they lay stiff and cold on the mortuary
slab.

Doubtless if they had drills handy they would have separated their unwilling clients from
their gold fillings as well.

Searching for gold could be easier than searching for elephants, if the experience of a
circus in central Victoria is anything to go by.

A team of 30 police, SES personnel and circus staff using six four-wheel drive vehicles
took 16 hours to locate an Indian elephant which decided to sample life on the run at Dunolly.

More amazing was the owner's explanation that elephants can camouflage themselves: "They
can just stand alongside a gum tree and you can walk right past them and you wouldn't know
they were there."

Animals always seem to steal the show in Australia, where pigs can talk - in films at least
- and where the first artificially inseminated koala gave birth this year.

A 36-year-old man faced court in Coober Pedy charged with drink driving - on a camel -
after he allegedly leapt onto the beast "John Wayne-style" yelling "Yahoo! Yahoo!"

The outback story of the year, though, concerned a Northern Territory school that shut down
because of an Aboriginal curse on its tuckshop.

The traditional owner was upset either that he had not been consulted about tuckshop
operations, or that some of its profits were not shared with the community, depending on who
you listen to.

But the power of his curses is such that none of the school's 182 students dared turn up -
and authorities saw no point in keeping the school open with no students.

"The last time he put a curse on something," said a government spokesman, "was on a local
store, and the whole store had to be taken out of the community, along with everything in it."

Everything underneath it also had to be removed - the concrete slab it was on, and even the
gravel and dust under the concrete.

Australia's biggest link to international notoriety also turned to dust when a modest flat
was sold in Sydney's working-class Bankstown.

No longer does the national register of real estate owners include the name of Monica
Lewinsky.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 1530 resending

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.