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

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2003
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45 = 2

CANBERRA - Australian authorities today said they had smashed an international drug
trafficking ring and seized ecstasy worth $11.5 million. (Ecstasy)

CANBERRA - Former Australian Rugby League captain Mal Meninga is set to plead not guilty
to an assault charge in the ACT Magistrates Court. (Meninga)

CANBERRA - Olympic champion Lauren Burns today pleaded with burglars who stole her
gold medal to find it in their hearts to give it back. (Taekwondo Burns Daylead)

CANBERRA - The Commonwealth and TenixToll Defence Logistics today signed a contract
worth almost $1 billion to handle the storage and distribution of defence supplies. (Logistics)

CANBERRA - Every year 30 Australian children die and another 600 end up in hospital
because of farm injuries. (FARM to come)

CANBERRA - Australia faced very little risk from an isolated case of the killer pneumonia
SARS in Taiwan, which killed nearly 1,000 people globally earlier this year, authorities
said today. (SARS Aust)

BRISBANE - A leading tourism risk management expert today warned against complacency
over infectious diseases including SARS. (SARS Aust Tourism)

SYDNEY - Shipping line P&O is reviewing on board security for schoolies cruises but
today stood by a captain's decision to offload troublemakers from a rebel-rousing south
Pacific voyage. (Cruise Nightlead)

SYDNEY - The ANZAC Cove area of Gallipoli in Turkey will be the first place nominated
for inclusion on a new National Heritage List, Prime Minister John Howard announced today.

(Heritage Lead, NIGHTLEAD to come)

SYDNEY - Thousands of HSC students across NSW were woken by the beeping of their mobile
phones today as results were sent out by text message for the first time. (HSC SMS, HSC
NIGHTLEAD to come with factbox)

SYDNEY - Taxi drivers would have to take bookings without knowing the passenger's destination
under changes to be introduced next year to improve taxi service levels, NSW transport
minister Michael Costa said. (Taxi)

SYDNEY - NSW opposition leader John Brogden today defended his criticism of south-west
Sydney health services, after doctors accused him of exploiting problems for political
gain. (Hospitals Brogden, HOSPITALS NIGHTLEAD)

SYDNEY - Telstra Corp Ltd's performance in fixing telephone faults improved significantly
during the September quarter, according to a report from the Australian Communications
Authority. (ACA Telstra)

MELBOURNE - Hundreds of mourners, including members of Melbourne's underworld, are
expected to gather tomorrow for yet another funeral for a slain crime figure. (Kinniburgh
Funeral)

MELBOURNE - Victorians put record demands on electricity supplies yesterday as air
conditioners struggled to cope in the state's third straight day of over 30 degree temperatures.

(Heat Vic)

MELBOURNE - A national park will be created on controversial former defence land at
Point Nepean in Victoria after the federal government cancelled lease negotiations with
a Queensland property developer. (Nepean, NIGHTLEAD to come)

MELBOURNE - A disqualified drink-driver who was on the wrong side of a freeway when
he killed the driver of an oncoming car was jailed for seven and a half years today by
a Melbourne court. (DiNunzio)

MELBOURNE - Victorian farmers are to be paid to plant native trees to soak up carbon
dioxide under a state government scheme to help slow global warming. (Carbon)

MELBOURNE - A drunk Canadian who assaulted flight attendants and urinated in the aisle
during a flight to Melbourne this month was jailed today. (Villatoro)

BRISBANE - Nine victims of a paedophile priest, who was transferred from parish to
parish by the Catholic Church even after confessing to preying on children, have received
a $500,000 compensation package. (McArdle Nightlead (Pix available))

BRISBANE - US helicopter giant Sikorsky would set up a $500 million manufacturing base
in Queensland if it won a major defence contract, the company said today. (Sikorksy)

BRISBANE - From George Bush and John Howard to Pauline Hanson and Peter Hollingworth
- nobody is sacred to Australia's top political cartoonists. (CARTOONS to come)

BRISBANE - Retractable syringe maker Occupational and Medical Innovations (OMI) Ltd
has finalised an agreement with a major distribution company to supply the product across
Australasia. (OMI, NIGHTLEAD to come)

BRISBANE - A psychiatric patient has been charged with assisting another patient's
suicide after allegedly taking rat poison into hospital in Brisbane. (Moore)

BRISBANE - Op scores are only two days away but for thousands of school leavers the
message is - don't panic! (OP to come)

ADELAIDE - A coroner has lashed out at South Australian prison authorities over Aboriginal
deaths in custody, saying defects in the system identified by a royal commission 12 years
ago remain unresolved. (Lindsay)

ADELAIDE - Adequate steps had been taken to eradicate a swarm of bees that later attacked
and killed an Adelaide chimney sweep, a pest controller told a coronial inquest today.

(Bees)

ADELAIDE - South Australian landholders are saving 45 million litres of water a day
by reducing evaporation and seepage. (Water)

PERTH - Patients waiting for cosmetic surgery in Western Australia's public hospitals
will be told to go elsewhere in a government bid to reduce waiting lists for elective
procedures. (Surgery)

PERTH - An investigation into a shipment of 100,000 Australian sheep uncovered disturbing
cruelty that had since been reported to West Australian police, an animal welfare group
said today. (EXPORT to come)

HOBART - Stopping illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean was crucial as global demand
for the resource increased, an internationally acclaimed scientist said today. (Fishing
Tas)

HOBART - Recruitment drive begins for pioneering ice pilots. (ANTARCTIC to come)

DARWIN - A cyclone is expected to develop off the Northern Territory's north coast
later today, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned. (Cyclone)

AUCKLAND - An Australian man has become the first person in New Zealand to be convicted
of having sex with an underaged prostitute. (NZ Underage Lead)

AUCKLAND - The New Zealand government today promised $1.0 billion in new spending in
the next budget, after sharply upgrading its surplus and growth forecasts. (Budget NZ)

AAP mo

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL 2 SYDNEY

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