AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 30

AAP General News (Australia)
12-30-2001
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 30
Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430

Bushfires NSW (SYDNEY)

Fire chiefs have pleaded with residents to remain calm today in what the New South
Wales premier says could be the most dangerous day in the state's history.

Premier BOB CARR cut short his holiday to China and returned home yesterday to tour
already devastated areas of the Blue Mountains and defend the government's bushfire hazard
reduction policy.

He says if fires are today flamed by predicted strong winds and 40 degree heat, it
may be the most dangerous day ever for NSW residents.

Firefighters have installed containment lines and extensive backburning operations
have been carried out in preparation for today.

Residents in high risk areas have been advised to pack their cars with their most prized
possessions in the event they need to evacuate.

With more than 100 blazes still raging across the state, fires on the central coast
and south west of Sydney are causing authorities the most concern.

The Rural Fire Service warns there's a risk that a fire in the Spencer area on the
central coast will jump the Hawkesbury River and threaten properties on the edge of the
Hornsby shire -- bringing the fires closer to urban Sydney.



Bushfires NSW Arson (SYDNEY)

A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of lighting fires at Armidale in the
mid-north of New South Wales.

He's been remanded in custody and is due to appear in Armidale Local Court today.



India Pakistan (NEW DELHI)

The leaders of India and Pakistan insist they don't want to start a war, as military
tensions continue to escalate between the two nuclear rivals and the global community
issues urgent appeals for calm.

Prime Minister ATAL BEHARI VAJPAYEE says India will do its utmost to avoid a war, but
warns the country to be prepared for any situation that may arise.

And Pakistani President General PERVEZ MUSHARRAF's vowed that Pakistan won't launch
a first strike.

The two countries, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in
1947, are both conducting large troop buildups along their borders.

Military tensions have escalated after a December 13 attack on the Indian parliament
by five armed gunmen in which 14 people died.



Terror (KABUL)

Afghanistan's government wants an end to bombing raids, saying Osama bin Laden has
probably fled to Pakistan and his fighters are scattered.

The call came even as foreign security troops prepare for full deployment in the capital Kabul.

Officials say Afghan fighters of the Northern Alliance that swept the Taliban out of
the city and UN-mandated foreign security troops are preparing to hold their first joint
military exercises.

Interim leader HAMID KARZAI has welcomed the force, as have several commanders, tribal
elders and ordinary Afghans eager to have international troops on the scene to prevent
a return to the warlord conflicts of the early 1990s.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister MOHAMMAD FAHIM says the world's most wanted man has probably
left Afghanistan for the Pakistan and urged a quick end to US bombing raids blamed for
killing hundreds of civilians since October 7.



Afghan culture (KABUL)

Afghanistan's new authorities hope soon to rebuild the giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan
destroyed by the Taliban.

The fundamentalist Taliban rulers dynamited the two Buddha statues in the central mountain
region of Bamiyan in March, despite the pleas of other Muslim nations and Western leaders.

The Taliban considered the statues, hewn out of rock in the third and fifth centuries
AD and standing up to 50 metres high, to be depictions of a false god forbidden by their
severe interpretation of Islam.



Mideast (JERUSALEM)

Israeli soldiers have fired tear gas and warning shots at groups of Palestinians and
foreign demonstrators protesting in the West Bank against Israel's blockade of Palestinian
areas.

And in a separate development, Palestinian police say they've arrested three Islamic
Jihad militants and confiscated weapons.

The move is a response to intense Israeli and international pressure on Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat to crack down on the militants.

Israeli soldiers meanwhile have confronted about 100 demonstrators, including Palestinians
and British, French and Italian citizens, who set ablaze an empty army post near Ramallah.

Organisers of the protest say dozens of Britons, Italians and French helped escort
Palestinian students to nearby Bir Zeit university.



Quake (CANBERRA)

Seismologists have warned that small aftershocks can be expected around the West Australian
wheatbelt today, following an earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale.

Geoscience Australia seismologist CVETAN SINADINOVSKI says the epicentre of yesterday's
quake was at the small town of Burakin, 200 kilometres north-east of Perth.

He says the tremors struck at 12.31am (AEDT) yesterday, shaking an area of about 50 kilometres.

There've been no reports of injuries or serious damage.

An earthquake measuring 5.1 struck the same area on September 28.



Toll National (SYDNEY)

The national Christmas-New Year road toll has risen to 36 after a woman was killed
in a car crash in New South Wales.

The crash, involving three cars on the Pacific Highway south of Bangalow in the state's
far north about 5pm (AEDT) yesterday, also left a young child critically injured.

The woman's death -- the fifth on New South Wales roads in just over 24 hours -- takes
the state's holiday road toll to 17.

There've been seven road deaths in Queensland, five in Victoria, three in the Northern
Territory and two each in South Australia and Western Australia.

The ACT and Tasmania remain fatality free.




BRIEFLY......




Officials say eighteen soldiers have been killed in an accidental blast while undergoing
training to defuse landmines on India's western border.




Heavy fighting has broken out in the Somali capital Mogadishu, leaving nine dead --
including three civilians.




Twelve policemen have been wounded and 33 people detained during protests against Argentina's
government.




Medical officials say they've confirmed a new Ebola case and suspect another in Gabon,
raising fears that the deadly disease could still be spreading weeks after an outbreak
began in Central Africa.




Leaded petrol will be banned under new national laws which come into force on New Year's Day.




AND IN SPORT......



Cricket Aust (MELBOURNE)

Australia has won the second cricket Test against South Africa by nine wickets at the
MCG, taking an unbeatable two-nil lead in the best of three series.

The Aussies claimed victory with a day to spare after the visitors were bowled out
for 219 in their second innings.

The home side quickly polished off the ten runs needed to win for only the loss of
JUSTIN LANGER with man of the match MATTHEW HAYDEN hitting the winning runs.



Cricket Aust Waugh (MELBOURNE)

Australian cricket captain STEVE WAUGH says a misunderstanding has resulted in unfair
criticism of his behaviour in the second Test against South Africa in Melbourne.

WAUGH was fined $5,500 for dissent after he was slow to leave the field when given
out by DARRELL HAIR on the third day of the match.



Yacht MelHob (HOBART)

PETER BLAKE-skippered yacht KONTROL has taken out line honours in the Melbourne to Hobart race.

KONTROL crossed the finish line shortly after 2am today, well ahead of her nearest rival.



Tennis Hopman Hewitt (PERTH)

World No.1 LLEYTON HEWITT will kick off Australia's campaign at the Hopman Cup mixed
team tennis tournament at Perth's Burswood Dome today when he takes on defending champion
Switzerland's ROGER FEDERER.

HEWITT has been partnered by ALICIA MOLIK while MIROSLAVA VAVRINEC will team with FEDERER.

Meanwhile, Italy has beaten Greece to clinch the final berth in the Hopman Cup.




ENDS BULLETIN
AAP RTV rp

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