HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, April 29 =2

AAP General News (Australia)
04-29-2008
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, April 29 =2

SYDNEY - After months of public and political debate, Telstra's CDMA mobile phone network
was switched off in the early hours of this morning with barely a whimper. (CDMA)

SYDNEY - Climate change is the latest threat to the world's growing HIV epidemic, say
Australian experts who warn of the "grim" outlook in the fight against the infectious
disease.(HIV - Embargoed)

SYDNEY - Half of Australians most vulnerable to developing serious flu complications
don't get vaccinated to avoid the virus, a survey by influenza specialists has revealed.

(Flu - embargoed, with factbox)

LONDON - They were young, scared and sent to the other side of the world. (UK Evacuees)

BEERSHEBA, Israel - Australia's place in Israeli history has been honoured with the
opening of a memorial in the southern city of Beersheba. (Isarel Jeffery)

SYDNEY - This year's new-look Big Brother appears unlikely to return the show to its
glory days, with the launch ratings the worst in its history. (Ratings Brother)

SYDNEY - Some of the country's leading ladies of fashion, Lisa Ho and the Zimmermann
sisters, have showed off their vastly different collections - from tailored jackets to
frills and florals. (Fashion Ladies, to come, N/L to come)

AUCKLAND - A New Zealand lawyer representing nine women abused as children on Pitcairn
Island who are seeking compensation for their ordeal has urged Australian victims to join
the action. (Pitcairn Compensation)

CANBERRA - The first shipment of Australian wheat bound for Iraq since the AWB kickback
scandal is being loaded today in Geelong. (Wheat. N/L to come)

CANBERRA - Scrapping tax deductibility for donations to political parties could save
taxpayers $10 million a year, a committee has heard. (Donations to come)

CANBERRA - The Defence Department has been cleared of allegations it was warned of
faulty engine parts fitted to HMAS Westralia before a deadly engine room fire that killed
four sailors. (Westralia )

CANBERRA - The jobs boom has landed the public service in a "war for talent" that research
shows it is losing, with most departments struggling to recruit workers with the necessary
skills. (JOBS APS to come)

CANBERRA - The number of women entitled to paid maternity leave has fallen leading
to renewed calls for a publicly-funded national scheme. (Maternity)

CANBERRA - A bush landscape of violet and gold by well known artist Fredrick McCubbin
is the latest acquisition by the National Gallery of Australia. (McCubbin to come)

SYDNEY - Plans to close the Players biscuit and chocolate factory in Sydney have raised
concerns about Campbell Arnott's plans for future manufacturing operations in Australia.

(Campbell)

SYDNEY - A crown prosecutor whose body was found in bushland in NSW appeared to have
been swept away when trying to drive his four-wheel drive across a flooded causeway, colleagues
say. (Clout Nightlead )

SYDNEY - NSW Premier Morris Iemma says he hasn't called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
to help solve an internal party revolt over electricity privatisation plans. (Electricity
Iemma. N/L to come)

SYDNEY - Author Bernie Matthews suffered a broken nose and two black eyes when police
raided his home on the NSW south coast, a court has been told. (Matthews)

SYDNEY - Up to 700 units will be built in inner Sydney under a $260 million affordable
housing partnership signed by the City of Sydney and the NSW government. (Housing. N/L
to come)

SYDNEY - A shortage of beds for mental health patients at a Sydney hospital has led
to staff assaults and emergency department congestion, the NSW opposition says. (Health
NSW. N/L to come)

NEWCASTLE - New South Wales will be marketed as Australia's surf capital in a move
to draw more international travellers and backpackers to the state and beyond Sydney,
a tourism conference has been told. (Tourism NSW)

MELBOURNE - A Melbourne taxi driver has been found covered in blood and with stab wounds,
lying several hundred metres from his crashed vehicle, say police. (Stab. N/L to come)

MELBOURNE - Melbourne CBD cleaners will protest against low wages and short shifts
today, as they demand a nationwide collective agreement for cleaners. (CLEANERS. N/L to
come.)

MELBOURNE - A train commuter pulled a knife and fatally stabbed a fellow passenger
in an unprovoked attack, a Melbourne court heard today. (Acuna. N/L)

MELBOURNE - The former boss of the now disbanded Victoria Giants National Basketball
club will have to register as a sex offender after being convicted of downloading explicit
images of under-age girls. (Hind)

MELBOURNE - Victoria's country rail passenger numbers have climbed to a record high. (Trains)

MELBOURNE - Melbourne's clearways will be more heavily policed, buses will have greater
priority and new bike tracks will be built under a new state government plan to reduce
congestion. (Roads Vic. N/L to come)

BRISBANE - The Queensland government has established a bipartisan committee to examine
the "opt out" approach to organ donation. (ORGAN. N/L to come)

BRISBANE - The Queensland government has referred a scandal over the Labor Party's
use of a train to the state's corruption watchdog, after the opposition failed to do so.

(Train Referred. N/L to come)

BRISBANE - Patients of former Queensland surgeon Jayant Patel are visiting state parliament
today to call for an inquiry into compensation. (Patel. N/L to come )

BRISBANE - A teenager who stabbed a student in the heart during a roadside robbery
has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in detention. (Kuo)

BRISBANE - Changes to liquor, police and indigenous justice laws introduced to the
Queensland parliament today will help rid indigenous communities of alcohol. (Indigenous
Qld)

BRISBANE - Queenslanders who spot fire ant nests will be in line for a cash reward
in a new drive to banish the pest from Australia. (Fireants)

BRISBANE - The Queensland government has delayed a decision on the multi-billion dollar
North Bank project in Brisbane's CBD after concerns were raised about its design. (Northbank.

N/L to come)

BRISBANE - Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says it may take weeks to determine the extent
of damage to homes caused by 19th-century underground mines. (Subsidence Bligh. N/L to
come)

BRISBANE - Piracy on the high seas and duelling have been taken out of Queensland's
criminal code. (PIRATES to come)

BRISBANE - Lawyers representing former terror suspect Dr Mohamed Haneef have accused
federal police of attempting to re-write history following claims investigating officers
were caught unaware by a decision to cancel his work visa. (Haneef)

PERTH - A 10-year-old West Australian boy has been pulled from a burning house by a
passing motorist who saw flames and heard the boy's cries for help. (Rescue)

PERTH - Specialist drugs liaison officers should be assigned to hospital emergency
departments to cope with the growing problem of ice and speed use, the Australian Medical
Association says. (Meth. N/L to come)

PERTH - A man has died from the mosquito-borne virus Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE)
in Western Australia's far northern Kimberley region. (Mosquito)

PERTH - A Perth finance broker has been charged with fraud for allegedly transferring
more than $23,000 from his employer's bank account into his personal account, police say.

(Fraud)

ADELAIDE - South Australian teachers will begin industrial action next month as negotiations
with the state government over pay and conditions breakdown . (Teachers SA )

ADELAIDE - South Australian Premier Mike Rann has urged the Reserve Bank to hold off
on any further increase in official interest rates. (RATES RANN)

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KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL 2 SYDNEY

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