AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 6

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2011
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 6
Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430


Legal: Assange (LONDON)

WikiLeaks founder JULIAN ASSANGE has won his fight to take his legal battle over extradition
to Sweden to the Supreme Court.

The decision means the 40-year-old Australian won't, for the time being, be extradited
to Sweden on sex allegations brought by two women.

Two UK High Court judges have ruled his case raises a question of general public importance
which should be decided by the highest court in the land as quickly as possible.

ASSANGE was in the London court for the ruling.



Uranium CME (PERTH)

Western Australia's Chamber of Minerals and Energy has urged the state's opposition
to change its anti-uranium stance.

There are currently no uranium mines in WA, where the COLIN BARNETT-led Liberal government
in 2008 lifted a six-year ban on uranium mining that was imposed by the previous Labor
government.

Opposition Leader ERIC RIPPER has told Fairfax radio in Perth he doesn't support uranium
mining in the state, but the CME says state Labor's position undermines investment certainty,
jobs and the economy and there's no reason not to develop and sell uranium.



Network (CANBERRA)

The ABC has been awarded a permanent contract for the federal government's Australia
Network broadcasting service.

Sky News and the ABC had both bid for the 10-year 223 million dollar contract to broadcast
the Australia Network to 44 nations in Asia and the Pacific.

But the federal government announced on November 7 it had cancelled the tender and
called in Federal Police to investigate media leaks which suggested the evaluation board
had recommended the contract be awarded to Sky.

The ABC was originally set to continue to provide the service until August next year
but Communications Minister STEPHEN CONROY says the government's decided Australia's international
broadcasting service should be delivered by the national broadcaster.

Australian News Channel, owner of Sky News, says the company will want to be reimbursed
for its costs.



Essential (CANBERRA)

An online poll reveals almost half of the voting public now believes the Labor government
should run its full course until 2013.

But the latest Essential Research poll also shows the coalition continues to hold a
commanding lead.

The weekly poll found 47 per cent of those surveyed believe the government should run
its full term, up from 40 per cent when the question was asked in September.

Those who believe an election should be held now declined to 41 per cent from 48 per cent.

The survey also shows 54 per cent will back the coalition if there was an election
now on a two-party preferred basis, compared with 46 per cent for Labor.



Bones (ADELAIDE)

A second human leg bone has been found in the Adelaide Hills as police sift through
20 tonnes of loam quarried south of the city.

The bone was found yesterday at the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens in the Adelaide Hills
after police combed through soil sourced from quarries on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

The search was prompted after a human leg bone was found at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens
in the city last week in mulch sourced from the Mount Lofty site.

Police say the bones could be Aboriginal remains, dating back more than 200 years,
but could also be much younger.



Blaze WA (PERTH)

An inquiry headed by former Federal Police Commissioner MICK KEELTY will begin immediately
to determine the cause of the Margaret River bushfire and the prescribed burn that got
out of control.

The November 23-24 blaze burnt destroyed 32 houses, nine chalets and four sheds in
Western Australia's southwest.

Premier COLIN BARNETT says the inquiry will focus on the causes of the bushfire and
Mr KEELTY will report to the Public Sector Commissioner by late January.

The blaze has also claimed its first scalp with Emergency Services Minister ROB JOHNSON
dumped from the portfolio and replaced by Transport Minister TROY BUSWELL.



CFA Chemicals (MELBOURNE)

Carcinogenic chemicals stored at the Country Fire Authority headquarters in regional
Victoria in the 1970s and 1980s have been linked to the deaths of nine staff.

An investigation by the Herald Sun newspaper reveals no-one at the CFA's Fiskville
training base, northwest of Melbourne, was told of the dangers, despite repeated warnings
that they should.



Phil Rodwell (ZAMBOANGA)

Gunmen have kidnapped an Australian man living in the violence-plagued southern Philippines.

Regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel RANDOLPH CABANGBANG says several armed
men abducted WARREN RODWELL, who ran a store in Ipil on the island of Mindanao, about
6pm (local time) last night.



Murray SA (ADELAIDE)

A High Court challenge from South Australia remains on the table after the state's
key stakeholders got together yesterday to discuss the plan to save the Murray.

Irrigators, environmentalists, scientists, state government ministers and community
leaders agreed the Murray-Darling Basin draft plan needed improvements to be fair to SA
and meet the state's needs.

Premier JAY WEATHERILL says South Australia will now build a response to the plan but
will also continue to take more legal advice on the nature and details of a possible legal
challenge.



BRIEFLY IN OTHER NEWS:


Abduct (BRISBANE)

A woman says her 10-year-old daughter knew what to do when a man tried to abduct her
on the Gold Coast yesterday afternoon because DANIEL MORCOMBE's parents visited her school
last week.



CSG Blockade (SYDNEY)

Farmers in the NSW Hunter Valley are setting up a blockade to stop a coal seam gas
company from entering a local dairy farm, despite it having permission from the dairy
farmer to do so.



IN FINANCE:


Tax (SYDNEY)

Most companies would pay no corporate tax under a shake-up being planned by a working
group set up by federal Treasurer WAYNE SWAN.

Fairfax reports the changes, if fully implemented, would render the minerals tax redundant.

The head of Treasury's revenue group, ROB HEFEREN, compared the change to the introduction
of the GST in 2000, saying it would be a more radical change.

Mr HEFEREN'S told a tax conference at the University of Canberra there was a clear
path to follow when Australia introduced a consumption tax, but this is not like that,
warning we need to be careful about unknowns.

However, he says the imperative for the change may well be stronger.



RBA (CANBERRA)

Treasurer WAYNE SWAN has announced two new appointments to the Reserve Bank board.

Former Assistant Governor PHILIP LOWE has been appointed as the bank's deputy governor
and Australian Industry Group chief executive HEATHER RIDOUT will be a board member.



Petrol (CANBERRA)

Economists say motorists can expect petrol prices to drop by up to two cents a litre
this week despite retailers withholding some of the recent falls in fuel costs.



AND IN SPORT:


CRI KATICH (MELBOURNE)

Former Test opener SIMON KATICH has been reprimanded by a Cricket Australia (CA) disciplinary
hearing after pleading guilty to making detrimental public comment.

He was charged by Cricket Australia after telling reporters he thought a physical clash
with current Australian captain MICHAEL CLARKE two years ago contributed to him losing
his contracted player status.



SHIELD VIC (MELBOURNE)

Queensland coach DARREN LEHMANN has blasted his last-wicket pair after they failed
to attempt a vital extra run in the team's dramatic Sheffield Shield draw with scores
level against Victoria at the MCG.

BEN CUTTING and LUKE FELDMAN were unaware at the time that if they'd attempted a second
run and been run out, three points would have been awarded to each side for a tie.



SOC GALAXY (Melbourne)

Soccer superstar DAVID BECKHAM says he's no closer to deciding his future as he prepares
for what may be his last match as an LA Galaxy player against Melbourne Victory tomorrow
night.

BECKHAM is about to come out of contract and the 36-year-old is believed to be weighing
up a huge offer to play for French club Paris St Germain, or stay in the United States.



TEN MEDAL (MELBOURNE)

US Open champion SAMANTHA STOSUR hopes her breakthrough year marks the start of another
successful era for Australian tennis.

STOSUR was awarded the Newcombe Medal as the country's best player for the second consecutive
year at the Australian Tennis Awards in Melbourne tonight.



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