AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Dec 9

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2007
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Dec 9
Evening Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630


Fireworks Squad (SYDNEY)

The bomb squad has secured the site of a fireworks factory blast .. west of Sydney.

Police and fire crews have been unable to enter the property at Wallerawang near Lithgow
.. in the NSW central west .. after a container of fireworks exploded about 10pm (AEDT)
yesterday.

The blast was heard 30km away and eight homeowners about one kilometre from the factory
had their windows and doors blown off from metal debris.

A NSW Police spokesman says the bomb squad will try to secure the site so investigations
into the cause of the fire can start.

Police suspect an intruder may have caused the blast .. and if so the person would
not have survived.



Train (MELBOURNE)

A seven-year-old boy wandered away from his Melbourne home and was playing on rail
tracks in his pyjamas .. when he was hit and killed by a train this morning.

The boy's father reported his son missing at 7.50am (AEDT) .. just five minutes before
he was struck by the train at the nearby Strathmore railway station .. in Melbourne's
north-west.

Police say the male driver of the single-carriage sprinter train was unable to stop in time.



Protest (SYDNEY)

Anti-war protesters in Sydney have warned Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD not to allow the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to become his government's legacy.

About 50 people .. including former Guantanamo Bay detainee MAMDOUH HABIB .. have gathered
near Sydney Town Hall today .. for Stop the War Coalition's first protest under the new
RUDD government.

Organiser ALEX BAINBRIDGE welcomed the political change .. urging Mr RUDD to withdraw
all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan immediately.

Mr HABIB was met with cheers when he labelled former prime minister JOHN HOWARD a war criminal.

Meanwhile .. a planned rally in Melbourne to call for the return of Australian troops
in Iraq has failed to attract many supporters today.

Barely a handful of supporters turned out for the rally .. which was also organised
to mark International Human Rights day tomorrow.



Workplace Mine (BRISBANE)

The Australian Workers Union says BHP Billiton has tried to entice its workforce at
a Queensland mine to sign five-year AWAs.

It comes days after the Federal Workplace Ombudsman warned bosses not to undermine
the government mandate .. warning they'll be prosecuted if they try to force AWAs onto
workers before their abolition.

AWU national secretary PAUL HOWES says members at the Cannington silver and lead mine
.. near Cloncurry in north-west Queensland .. were last week given a presentation on a
10-thousand dollar bonus on offer.

It said the new bonus will only go to those who reject their collective agreement ..

and sign AWAs effective to 2012.

The workers have rejected the offer.



Poll07 McEwen (CANBERRA)

Former tourism and small business minister FRAN BAILEY will tomorrow appeal for a recount
in the federal electorate of McEwen .. after she lost the count by seven votes.

Labor candidate ROB MITCHELL's won the two-party preferred vote in the Victorian seat
with a swing to the ALP of 6.42 per cent.

The Australian Electoral Commission says it will consider the request and base its
decision on the reasons given.



Briefly in other news ..




Two teenagers have been arrested over the stabbing death of a police dog .. at Corrimal
on the NSW south coast.




Police say the rail line from Brisbane to the Gold Coast has re-opened .. after the
death of man on the tracks at Helensvale earlier today.




Three people .. including a child .. have died after the car they were travelling in
collided with a road train in Western Australia.




Seven people have been injured .. three seriously .. after a balcony collapsed at a
house in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne.




UK police say JOHN DARWIN .. who walked into a London police station five years after
his apparent death at sea .. has been charged with life insurance fraud and lying to get
a false passport.




Three days after a gunman killed eight people and himself inside a mall in the US state
of Nebraska .. it's re-opened with extra security on hand .. and shoppers waiting at the
doors.




And .. the Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog have announced a joint
inquiry .. into the spy agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected
terrorists.



in Finance ..



Jobs Olivier (MELBOURNE)

An online jobs survey says the Reserve Bank's latest interest rate rise may have led
to a downturn in hiring last month.

The Olivier Internet Job Index flattened in November .. with 13 out of the 21 industry
sectors surveyed falling.



Westpac Morgan (MELBOURNE)

Westpac Banking Corporation's boss DAVID MORGAN .. who'll step down from the post next
month .. says it's unlikely a powerful Asian bank could seize one of Australia's big four
banks.

However Dr MORGAN says exposure to competition from foreign banks is good for Australian banks.



in Sport ..



Cup NSW (SYDNEY)

The Ford Ranger Cup one-day cricket match between NSW and South Australia has been
abandoned without a ball bowled due to a waterlogged playing surface at Wollongong's North
Dalton Park.

Officials waited more than three hours after the scheduled start time before finally
calling off the match.

Both teams get two points which leaves NSW on the bottom of the interstate one-day
ladder and extended their run of limited-overs matches without a win to 12 while South
Australia is fourth.



Rugby Aust (SYDNEY)

New Zealander ROBBIE DEANS has officially entered the race for the Wallabies coaching
job and will be interviewed for it this week.

The Australian Rugby Union says DEANS .. an unsuccessful All Blacks coaching applicant
.. has sent an expression of interest in the Australian position .. vacated by JOHN CONNOLLY
after the Rugby World Cup.

An ARU panel has already interviewed LAURIE FISHER .. ALAN JONES .. EWEN MCKENZIE ..

JOHN MUGGLETON and DAVID NUCIFORA.



Rowing Aust Awards (SYDNEY)

World champion DREW GINN has capped off a brilliant year by winning the Australian
Rowers' Rower of the Year award.

GINN Claimed the award .. decided on votes from all rowers who represented Australia
in 2007 .. ahead of his men's pair partner DUNCAN FREE and adaptive rower KATHRYN ROSS.

South Australians AMBER HALLIDAY and MARGUERITE HOUSTON were named Australian Female
Crew of the Year after their world championship gold medal in the lightweight double sculls.



Swim Aust Open (SYDNEY)

Athens Olympian TRAVIS NEDERPELT has produced a blistering last 25 metres to snatch
the Australian open water 5km swimming championship at Sydney's Penrith Lakes today.

NEDERPELT .. whose main focus is to qualify for the 200m butterfly at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics .. finished third in yesterday's 10km event behind GRANT HACKETT and KY HURST.

In the women's event .. ALEXANDRA BAGLEY outsprinted world championship bronze medallist
KATE BROOKES-PETERSON to claim her first Australian title.



ENDS EVENING ROUND-UP

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