AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 23

AAP General News (Australia)
12-23-2001
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 23
Midday Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1130


US Plane (BOSTON)

Flight attendants and passengers on a flight from Paris to Miami have overpowered a
man who appeared to be trying to blow the plane up with explosives packed in his shoes.

US aviation officials say American Airlines Flight 63 carrying 185 passengers and 12
crew was diverted to Boston's Logan Airport after the mid-air drama over the Atlantic.

Officials at the international airport have told a news conference that a man who appeared
to be an Arab travelling on a false British passport has been arrested.

TOM KINTON, director of aviation at Logan International airport in Boston, says a flight
attendant was alerted by the smell of sulphur from a lit match.

Another spokeswoman says passengers helped flight attendants belt the man him into
his seat and two doctors used the airplane's onboard medical kit to sedate him.



Terror Karzai (KABUL)

Afghanistan's new leader HAMID KARZAI has been sworn in.

After a ceremony in Kabul, attended by 2,000 tribal leaders, cabinet members and foreign
diplomats, KARZAI appealed for billions of dollars in aid to rebuild the war-torn nation.

Australia has said it's giving $1 million to support the six-month interim government.



Terror Convoy probe (WASHINGTON)

US military officials are looking into reports that dozens of civilians and tribal
elders have been killed in air raids on an eastern Afghan village.

Residents of Asmani Kilai in eastern Paktia province say seven hours of strikes killed
50 to 60 people and destroyed 15 vehicles from a convoy of tribal elders bound for Kabul
for the inauguration of Afghanistan's interim government.

But US officials insist the convoy opened fire on US aircraft just before it was bombed
and was carrying leaders of OSAMA BIN LADEN'S al-Qaeda network.

The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General TOMMY FRANKS, says that at this
point they believe it was a good target.




Meanwhile, it's been reported that a US flight instructor warned the FBI in August
about the possibility of a terror attack using a commercial plane.

The New York Times reports the Minneapolis instructor informed the FBI in urgent tones
about what he saw as a threat posed by one of his students, ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI, who's
since been indicted on charges over the September 11 attacks.




And Britain says it has yet to find any dangerous cargo aboard a ship seized in the
English Channel amid fears that it was carrying materials for a terror attack.



Terror Aust (SYDNEY)

ASIO officers are preparing to interrogate an Australian al-Qaeda fighter captured
in Afghanistan two weeks ago.

Adelaide man DAVID HICKS is being held on a US warship in the Indian Ocean together
with American Taliban recruit JOHN WALKER and at least two other prisoners.

Foreign Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER has said from London that investigators from ASIO
and federal police are now able to get to the ship to talk to HICKS.

He's told Channel Nine that not much is known about HICKS's actions before he was captured
by Northern Alliance troops.

But he says HICKS is in good health and his fate will become clearer once he is interviewed
by Australian authorities.



Boat (CANBERRA)

The Australian government has defended its so-called Pacific solution after an outbreak
of malaria among asylum-seekers sent to Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

A government spokesman says there's a good chance several of the asylum-seekers diagnosed
with malaria already had it after travelling through malaria-prone regions of South-East
Asia.

He says treatment and preventative medicines are being made available for those on Manus Island.

Immigration Minister PHILIP RUDDOCK'S office has confirmed that five of a group of
216 mainly Iraqi asylum-seekers in PNG are being treated for malaria.

The outbreak has prompted renewed calls from human rights groups, the Refugee Council
of Australia and Amnesty International, for an end to the government's strategy of sending
Australia-bound asylum-seekers to Pacific islands for processing.



Boat Indon Aust (Canberra)

The Australian government isn't commenting on a report that 135 asylum-seekers bound
for Australia have landed in Indonesia.

The Indonesian news agency Antara says their boat broke down near Papela village on
the eastern shores of Rote island on Friday.

It says the asylum-seekers from the Middle East are being housed in a police school
compound at Kupang in West Timor.

A spokesman for Australian Immigration Minister PHILIP RUDDOCK says he cannot comment
on the authenticity of the claims.

He says the movement of people through Indonesia in order to get to Australia is nothing
new and he cannot say whether the government has specific information in relation to this
group.

Howard Kids (SYDNEY)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD is reportedly focusing on children in a planned overhaul
of the social welfare system.

The reforms could include testing all four-year-olds for developmental problems and
free child care for low income families.

The Sunday Telegraph says the reforms will be a major platform of Mr HOWARD's third
term in office.

The paper says the prime minister wants to transform the way families, expectant mothers
and young children are affected by government policies before he retires.



TOLL NATIONAL UPDATE (SYDNEY)

The national holiday road toll has risen to nine with the deaths of an elderly cyclist
in Queensland and a pedestrian in Victoria.

An 18-year-old pedestrian was hit and killed by a car on the McIvor Highway in Bendigo
in Victoria's north west early today, taking the state's holiday road toll to four.

Earlier, Queensland police said an 84-year-old Bundaberg man died in hospital after
his bicycle was hit by a car yesterday.

Queensland's toll for the holiday period now stands at three and New South Wales and
South Australia have each recorded one death.

No deaths have been reported in Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory.



Mideast Arafat ban (JERUSALEM)

Israel's security cabinet is expected to decide late today whether to let Palestinian
leader YASSER ARAFAT go to Bethlehem for Christmas.

That's according to an Israeli political source.

ARAFAT, who has been virtually confined to the West Bank city of Ramallah since an
Israeli military offensive began two weeks ago, has told Voice of Palestine radio he will
go to Bethlehem even if he has to walk there on foot.



India Pakistan Mir (ISLAMABAD)

Pakistan says its air force is at full combat readiness, as troops move into strategic
positions on a war footing.

Tensions with India are escalating after the December 13th attack on India's parliament
by five gunmen which India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring.

Both nuclear rivals have reinforced their border defences on the ground, despite international
pleas for restraint.



Briefly in other news...

A 29-year-old man has drowned while trying to swim to shore from a boat in Melbourne's
Port Phillip Bay.



A major air and sea search is continuing for two fishermen missing off the mid-north
NSW coast, but there's little hope of finding them alive.

Queensland police have stepped up the search for a 21-year-old man who escaped custody
in an unmarked police car on Friday.

A catering company is reportedly under investigation after 200 people came down with
suspected food poisoning at four Christmas parties in Canberra.



IN SPORT
Cup Vic (MELBOURNE)

Victoria has lost two wickets in two balls after being being sent into bat by Western
Australia in their ING Cup match at the MCG.

After 11 overs the Bushrangers are struggling at two for 32 after former Victorian
speedster BRAD WILLIAMS dismissed opener ROB BARTLETT and BRAD HODGE in successive balls.

BARTLETT was caught in the gully for eight while HODGE edged his first delivery through
to wicketkeeper RYAN CAMPBELL.

Skipper MATTHEW ELLIOTT is not out on 19 and has just been joined at the crease by IAN HARVEY.



Cricket SAfrica (Sydney)

South Africa is 1-112 - an overall lead of 225 runs - going into today's final day
of the tour cricket match against NSW at the SCG.

HERSCHELLE GIBBS made an effortless 75 off 84 balls - 64 coming in boundaries - yesterday
before he was trapped lbw by STUART MACGILL.

GARY KIRSTEN is 34 and JACQUES RUDOLPH is two, while MACGILL has 1-27 off nine overs.

AAP RTV tb/jmt

KEYWORD: MIDDAY ROUND-UP

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