NSW: Terrorist plot to target Olympics

AAP General News (Australia)
08-26-2000
NSW: Terrorist plot to target Olympics

New South Wales Police have confirmed they are following New Zealand's investigations
into a possible terrorist plot during the Olympics against Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear
reactor.

The state's police has the overall control of Games security and a spokesman says all
threats and security issues are being treated seriously, but refuses to comment further.

Reports from New Zealand say terrorists plotted to attack Australia's sole nuclear
reactor during the Olympic Games.

New Zealand detectives reportedly foiled the plot which they say was hatched by Afghan
sympathisers of the western world's most wanted terrorist OSAMA BIN LADEN.

The New Zealand Foreign Minister PHIL GOFF says for security reasons he cannot comment
on details of the investigation.

Australian Attorney-General DARYL WILLIAMS says official inquiries show at this stage
no credible threat to Lucas Heights or the Olympics.





News of the plot comes just a day after the International Olympic Committee withdrew
an invitation to Afghanistan's hardline Taliban militia to send two official observers
to the Olympics.

Fears of a possible terrorist threat to the Sydney Games were raised in May when police
arrested a man whose home near the Olympic Village was packed with explosives.

AAP jo/wz

KEYWORD: OLY TERRORIST (SYDNEY)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Crik: Cricket scandal wake up call, Xenophon says

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-2000
Crik: Cricket scandal wake up call, Xenophon says

South Australian MP and gambling critic NICK XENOPHON says the latest cricket's scandal
involving match-fixing allegations is a wake-up call for Australian authorities amid an
explosion in sports betting.

The Independent member of the state upper house has called for state and federal governments
as well as sporting codes to ensure any potential for match fixing in Australia is eliminated.

Mr XENOPHON says new forms of betting -- such as spread betting, where you can punt
on the size of a team's win -- increase the risk that attempts will be made to fix matches.

He says this could destroy the integrity of sporting codes in Australia just as performance
enhancing drugs have tainted Olympic events.

Mr XENOPHON's comments follow the sacking of South African cricket captain HANSIE CRONJE
after he admitted taking money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for match information.

Mr CRONJE has denied allegations of match fixing.

AAP RTV vm/rt/jn

KEYWORD: CRICKET FIX XENOPHON (ADELAIDE)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

VIC: Power supplies adequate: Thwaites

AAP General News (Australia)
01-14-2000
VIC: Power supplies adequate: Thwaites

The Victorian government says power supplies are adequate despite the Yallourn Energy
dispute dragging on.

Acting Premier JOHN THWAITES says the government has received advice there is sufficient
power and there are no signs of possible restrictions.

Maintenance bans by the Electrical Trades' Union and Australian Manufacturing Workers'
Union have forced the closure of Yallourn Energy, which provides 20 per cent of the …

VIC: Kennett arrives at Government House

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-1999
VIC: Kennett arrives at Government House

MELBOURNE, Aug 24 AAP - Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett has arrived at Government House.

He is now expected to call a September 18 election later this afternoon.

MORE ra/jlw/hu/br

KEYWORD: POLLVIC ARRIVE

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Clarence election result expected today

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-1999
NSW: Clarence election result expected today

SYDNEY, April 5 AAP - New South Wales Regional Development Minister Harry Woods will learn
today whether he has retained the north coast seat of Clarence.

Mr Woods finished 89-votes ahead of National Party candidate Steve Cansdell yesterday at
the end of the formal count of primary votes for last month's state election.

A formal distribution of preferences, expected yesterday, was deferred until today.

The result is expected to be known this afternoon.

Media reports today said Labor scrutineers were last night claiming victory in the seat.

But a spokesman for Mr Woods told AAP he had not yet claimed the seat.

Mr Woods won the seat two years ago in a by-election.

Meanwhile, a formal distribution of preferences will determine if Labor's Wayne Smith has
won the Liberal seat of South Coast.

AAP km/lk/kr/br

KEYWORD: POLLNSW CLARENCE

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD: Power walker hit by cyclist loses court battle

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-1998
QLD: Power walker hit by cyclist loses court battle

BRISBANE, Dec 16 AAP - A member of a Sunshine Coast power walking group has lost his court
battle against a fitness centre after being run down by a cyclist.

Leslie John Heil, now 63, had sued the Suncoast Fitness Centre, at Maroochydore, after he
was injured during one of their organised power walks.

He was walking in a group of four led by fitness centre employee referred to only as Gay
on January 6, 1995, on a path at a park at Alexandra Headlands, frequented by walkers,
joggers, bike riders and rollerbladers, when he was run down by a cyclist coming over a crest
of a hill.

It was alleged Gay should have told Mr Heil to remove himself from the path as they
approached the crest or to fall back and walk in single file.

Mr Heil was appealing a personal injuries action he had lost in the District Court, which
if he had won would have seen him awarded $35,791.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal saying neither the fitness centre nor its employee
was responsible for preventing the accident.

"It was not suggested Gay had any greater skill, expertise or experience than Heil when it
came to assessing a situation of possible danger," Justice Glen Williams wrote.

"It could not be said that Gay was a person of authority as far as Heil was concerned."

He said Mr Heil was in just as good a position to appreciate the risks of the undertaking.

"I have difficultly in comprehending how an employer in the position of the respondent here
could be said to be exposing those participating in one of its organised walks to a risk
arising from the conduct of the undertaking.

"The only exposure was to the ordinary risks to which every user of a park is exposed, and
with respect to which every user is capable of taking avoidance measures."

AAP smk/sd/bjm

KEYWORD: HEIL

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:March quarter GDP could be negative:Gruen

AAP General News (Australia)
02-24-2011
FED:March quarter GDP could be negative:Gruen

CANBERRA, Feb 24 AAP - The impact of this summer's floods and Cyclone Yasi could see
negative growth recorded in the March quarter, the department of Treasury estimates.

"The floods in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, and Cyclone Yasi have had a
material impact on Australia's near term economic outlook," Treasury executive director
of the macroeconomics group David Gruen told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

He said Treasury estimates the combined impact of these natural disasters will reduce
gross domestic product (GDP) growth by around half a …