AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 22

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-2011
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Dec 22
Midday Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1130


Boat Wrap (CANBERRA)

Attorney General NICOLA ROXON says the government isn't setting boundaries for discussing
a workable offshore asylum seeker processing regime with the opposition.

Ms ROXON says Immigration Minister CHRIS BOWEN has been very public in declaring the
government and opposition need to sit down and talk in a bid to break the deadlock.

She's told ABC radio the terrible tragedy off Indonesia shows what can happen if we
don't have a successful offshore processing system.

The Australian newspaper's reported today the government's now prepared to accept sending
asylum-seekers to Nauru as part of a deal with the coalition to legislate its Malaysia
Solution and reinstate offshore processing.

Ms ROXON says the government's been clear about its preferences but it may have to compromise.

Opposition Leader TONY ABBOTT has welcomed that but says any proposal should be put
in writing by Prime Minister JULIA GILLARD.



Moodys Swan (CANBERRA)

Australia's top level AAA credit rating has been reaffirmed by international ratings
agency Moody's.

Treasurer and acting prime minister WAYNE SWAN has called it another resounding endorsement
of Australia's public finances and strong economic fundamentals.

In its statement, Moody's says Australia's AAA ratings are based on the country's very
high economic resiliency, very high government financial strength and very low susceptibility
to event risk.



Naden (SYDNEY)

Police hunting fugitive MALCOLM NADEN believe the accused murderer and rapist may have
broken into an empty house in northern NSW.

They responded to reports of a break-in at the house on a rural property west of Nowendoc
yesterday and have since established a crime scene.

Police were close to catching him on December 7 at a remote campsite near Nowendoc
when an officer took a bullet in the shoulder.



Legal: Garg (MELBOURNE)

A teenager who murdered an Indian student, causing a straining of relations between
Australia and India, has been jailed for 13 years.

21-year-old NITIN GARG was fatally stabbed as he walked through a park in the Melbourne
suburb of Yarraville in January 2010.

He died early the next day in hospital.

Justice PAUL COGHLAN has today ordered GARG's 17-year-old murderer serve at least eight
years in prison before being eligible for parole.



Avouris (SYDNEY)

Police investigating an unsolved murder say a man found dead in a NSW country town
with a bullet in his head was probably killed because of his association with the Rebels
bikie gang.

CHARLES AVOURIS was shot dead at his home in Mumbil in the state's central west in July 1996.

No-one has been arrested, but police say they have now identified a number of potential suspects.

They're also re-examining forensic evidence which they hope will lead to his murderer.



Train (BRISBANE)

The Queensland government's promised a thorough investigation into how a five-year-old
boy fell from a moving train in the state's far north.

The Queensland Rail investigation will focus on how the boy could have accessed an
open door on the Cairns-bound Sunlander train around 7pm (AEST) yesterday.

The child was found near the train tracks between Deeral and Aloomba, about 30 kilometres
south of Cairns, and was treated in Cairns Base Hospital for a cut to his head and bruising.



Toll NSW (SYDNEY)

A toddler and a woman have been killed, and three others have been injured in a car
crash in Sydney's west.

Police believe a Toyota Prado and sedan collided on Wallgrove Road, Eastern Creek last
night, before the Prado ran into the back of a street-sweeping truck on the road's shoulder.

A two-year-old girl and a 57-year-old woman in the Prado died at the scene, while the
28-year-old female driver and two girls, aged three and six, were trapped in the wreckage.



Cyclone (DARWIN)

Christmas Eve is firming up as the time a cyclone is likely to form off Australia's
northern coast, with its winds hitting the mainland soon afterwards.

The low is about 100 kilometres from the Australian mainland, and is increasingly looking
like it will become a cyclone.

MICHAEL FOLEY from the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Darwin says their latest
advice is that it will be most likely early Saturday, though there's still some risk it
could develop faster and be a cyclone tomorrow.



Czech Havel (PRAGUE)

Thousands of silent mourners have accompanied the body of VACLAV HAVEL through central
Prague as the Czech Republic begins three days of national mourning for the icon of the
Velvet Revolution.

About 10 thousand mourners mostly in black, some carrying Czech or Slovak flags, joined
a solemn procession taking the former president's coffin from a church through narrow
cobbled streets to Prague Castle.

HAVEL died on Sunday aged 75 and a number of foreign dignitaries including French President
NICOLAS SARKOZY, British Prime Minister DAVID CAMERON and US Secretary of State HILLARY
CLINTON will be attending his state funeral tomorrow.



Crisis (FRANKFURT)

Banks have borrowed nearly half a trillion euros on the cheap from the European Central
Bank but analysts aren't convinced the record amount will be enough to solve the debt
crisis.

More than five hundred banks borrowed a record almost 638 billion dollars in loans
for which the ECB will charge annual interest of just one per cent over a period of three
years.

Analysts say the three-year funds will help ease tensions in the banking system, at
least in the immediate term, but they're sceptical it'll provide the long-lasting boost
to confidence that markets had been looking for.



Briefly in other news ..



Body (MELBOURNE)

Police are trying to identify a man who died after being shot near Frankston Hospital
in the city's southeast.



Containers (SYDNEY)

More drugs have been found in shipping containers in Padstow in Sydney's southwest
after drug squad detectives yesterday found enough pseudoephedrine to make 75 million
dollars worth of the drug ice stashed in the frames of containers.



Cleaners (SYDNEY)

Shopping centre cleaners in Sydney are planning to walk off the job to continue their
fight for better for better pay this afternoon.



NZ Kiwi (WELLINGTON)

A second rare white kiwi has hatched just months after the first, in captivity in New Zealand.



in Finance ..



Kathmandu (SYDNEY)

Adventure wear retailer Kathmandu has forecast a drop in earnings because of weaker
than expected Christmas trading.

Kathmandu says it expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
in the six months to January 31 to be less than the previous corresponding period's 17.82
million dollars.

The company says sales in the five weeks since mid-November have been less than last year.




At 1119 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was DOWN 44.6 points at 4,094.9, while
the broader All Ordinaries Index was DOWN 43.5 points at 4,146.7.

The Australian dollar was at 100.73 US cents, DOWN from yesterday's local close of 101.45 cents.

The price of spot gold in Sydney is $US1,612.90 per fine ounce, DOWN from yesterday's
local close of $US1625.65 per ounce.



in Sport ..



Soc EPL (LONDON)

Manchester City have maintained their two-point lead at the top of the English Premier
League with a 3-0 defeat of Stoke as rivals Manchester United destroyed Fulham 5-0 to
stay in touch.

Fifth-placed Arsenal went level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea after a 2-1 win
over Aston Villa.



ENDS MIDDAY ROUND-UP

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