AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Dec 26

AAP General News (Australia)
12-26-2007
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Dec 26
EVENING ROUND-UP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630


SUBMARINE (SYDNEY)

Australia will invest billions of dollars in a new high-tech submarine fleet and air
force to protect national security.

Defence experts say by the time Australia's six existing Royal Navy Collins-class submarines
are retired in 2025 .. Pacific countries will be vying for global power.

Defence Minister JOEL FITZGIBBON says he's ordered the planning of a new generation
of submarines that will be better than the existing Collins fleet.

He says it's important to start planning now because our Asian neighbours have access
to better technologies.

Defence experts have welcomed the decision and estimate the new subs will cost at least
25 billion dollars over the next 20 years.


SAIL SYDHOB (SYDNEY)

Line honours favourite Wild Oats Eleven is continuing to set the early pace in the
Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

The New South Wales boat leads from the other two maxis .. the UK's City Index Leopard
and Victoria's Skandia.

The three maxis have already opened up a useful lead over the remainder of the 82-boat fleet.

Wild Oats Eleven, which is bidding to become only the second boat to take line honours
three consecutive years, was the first boat through Sydney Heads.



SOLOMONS MOTI (HONIARA)

Australian lawyer JULIAN MOTI is set to be deported from the Solomon Islands to Australia
tomorrow to face child sex charges.

MOTI was sacked from his position as Solomons attorney-general by the new government
of Prime Minister DEREK SIKUA on the weekend.

He is expected to be on a flight from Honiara to Brisbane tomorrow afternoon.

Moti is wanted in Australia on charges he raped a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.

He denies the charges .. saying they were dismissed in a Vanuatu court and revived
by Australian authorities to prevent him becoming attorney-general.



TOLL NATIONAL (MELBOURNE)

Two more road deaths today have brought the national holiday road toll to 16.

In Melbourne .. a garbage truck has been seized by police investigating a fatal accident
on a freeway this morning.

A 27-year-old man died after being hit by three vehicles when he walked onto the Monash
Freeway in Melbourne's east at about 4.40am (AEDT).

Victoria has the highest toll of all states at this stage .. five.

Meanwhile .. New South Wales police are praising the state's motorists .. with this
years road holiday road toll at two .. and down on last year.

Queensland and the ACT have so far one fatality each .. South Australia two .. one
person has died in the Northern Territory .. and four have died on Western Australian
roads.

No deaths have been recorded in Tasmania.



BRAWL (PERTH)

A 49-year-old man's been killed and another man seriously injured in a brawl during
a cricket game on a Western Australian beach.

The brawl between two groups of Christmas revellers occurred last night at Sunset Beach
in Geraldton.

Police say the 49-year-old and his family were playing cricket when they were approached
by a group of people and an argument started .. which led to beer bottles .. rocks and
sticks being thrown.

The 49-year-old man was knocked unconscious when he was hit in the head with a cricket
bat .. while his 29-year-old future son-in-law was slashed in the face with a broken bottle
.. and had his jaw and collarbone broken.



THREAT (sydney)

Police have searched a Sydney train after a passenger overheard a conversation about
making a bomb threat.

Police say a commuter on a citybound train from western Sydney overheard another passenger
making the comments on his mobile phone .. at Strathfield station at about 9.30am (AEDT).

The commuter reported the man's comments to authorities .. but left the train at Redfern
before officers could speak with him.

As a precaution the train was searched at nearby Central station .. but police failed
to find anything suspicious.

The man's been described as being of European appearance .. about 35 years old .. and
wearing a black imitation leather coat.



SALES VIC (MELBOURNE)

As shoppers splurge during Boxing Day sales in Sydney .. Victorians are expected to
part with about 1.5 billion dollars in post-Christmas sales.

The Australian Retailers Association says shoppers across Australia will spend seven
per cent more than at the same time last year .. that's 6.2 billion from Boxing Day to
mid-January.



US TIGER (SAN FRANCISCO)

A tiger which escaped its cage at the San Francisco Zoo .. killing one visitor and
injuring two others .. has also been killed.

The tiger was shot dead after the attack .. which resulted in the zoo being evacuated.

Meanwhile .. a Chinese zoo has lost at least seven tigers to starvation .. sickness
or fight wounds in the last four years.



EGGS (SYDNEY)

Improper use of raw eggs has been blamed for 50 cases of food poisoning in NSW in the
past three weeks.

A group of 35 people fell ill after eating homemade fried icecream with a coating made
of raw egg batter at a party.

There were also 11 cases from another gathering where raw egg was used in caesar salad
dressing and chocolate mousse.

And three children became ill after drinking affected egg nog.



UK SANTAS (LONDON)

Redundant Santas across the UK are being targeted by a hotel chain wanting to fill
vacancies for jobs as managers.

Travelodge has put out the call for people who have been working as a Santa because
they have good communication skills and strong leadership qualities.

The firm's hoping to recruit a hundred managers under a plan which will see 40 new
hotels open next year.



TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARI (CALANG)

Survivors HAVE prayed at mass graves and mosques to mark the third anniversary of the
Asian tsunami.

The waves on December 26 .. 2004 spawned by the mightiest earthquake in 40 years ..

killed around 230 thousand people in 12 Indian Ocean nations.



BRIEFLY IN OTHER NEWS ..




Authorities are investigating the assault of a correctional officer at a central Queensland
prison.




The bodies of a California man .. his 13-year-old daughter .. and their Panamanian
pilot have been found after a small plane crashed in Panama's mountains at the weekend.




14 sailors feared dead in chilly waters off South Korea still haven't been found ..

after their cargo ship is thought to have sunk in high seas yesterday.




Nepalese authorities have intensified their search for the dozens of people feared
missing in yesterday's bridge collapse .. as the death toll reaches at least 16.




AT least 61 people have been killed in western Indonesia today .. after hours of heavy
rain triggered landslides.



IN SPORT ..



CRICKET AUST WARNE (MELBOURNE)

Australian leg-spin legend SHANE WARNE will have an official leadership in cricket role.

Cricket Australia has announced WARNE will help coach young spin bowlers around the country.



LEAGUE RULE CHANGES (SYDNEY)

Fewer interchanges and the elimination of the grapple tackle are among rule changes
for the N-R-L in 2008.

The N-R-L announced today two experimental rule amendments, reducing the use of the
interchange bench from 12 to 10 replacements.

Ball stripping will also be allowed when the ball carrier is trying to ground the ball for a try.



TENNIS HOPMAN FRANCE (PERTH)

Veteran Frenchman ARNAUD CLEMENT will partner TATIANA GOLOVIN at the mixed teams Hopman
Cup tennis event starting in Perth on Saturday.

GOLOVIN was to be partnered by explosive 21-year-old GAEL MONFILS, but he has succumbed
to a knee problem and was forced to withdraw from the tournament, throwing his Australian
Open campaign into doubt.



ENDS EVENING ROUND-UP


BROADCAST DESK INQUIRIES 24 HOURS: 02 9322 8714


AAP RTV wz

KEYWORD: EVENING ROUND-UP

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