HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, Dec 12 =2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-2007
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:45, Dec 12 =2

LOS ANGELES - Will Cate Blanchett be snubbed again and can Nicole Kidman breathe life
into a flagging Oscar campaign? (US Globes)

SYDNEY - ABC TV has nabbed SBS star producer Debbie Lee to join a line-up of women
heading its arts, entertainment and comedy department in 2008. (Lee)

PORT MORESBY - Papua New Guinea's Tourism Minister Charles Abel has added his voice
to concerns that a proposed gold and copper mine could damage the famed Kokoda Track.

(PNG Kokoda)

PORT MORESBY - A man has been killed by a crocodile in Papua New Guinea's Oro Province
where authorities are warning people to watch out for crocs and snakes displaced by recent
heavy flooding. (PNG Floods)

PORT MORESBY - A man was killed instantly when he ran into the spinning propeller of
a twin-engined plane on a remote airstrip in Papua New Guinea. (PNG Propeller)

CANBERRA - Members of the Liberal Party's federal executive have arrived in Canberra
for their first meeting since last month's election loss. (Liberals Meeting. More on merit)

CANBERRA - There is Bomber Beazley and Kevin07 but it's not so easy to come up with
a nickname for the acting prime minister. (Gillard)

CANBERRA - A doctor convicted of having sex with an underage girl he thought to be
17 years old has had his appeal dismissed by the High Court. (WGC)

CANBERRA - Greenpeace has urged the Australian government to send a naval vessel to
the Antarctic, as the environmental group prepares to harass Japanese whaling vessels
with its own ship. (Whaling Greenpeace)

CANBERRA - Mandatory reporting of all suspicious transactions will be crucial in tackling
crime, the nation's anti-money laundering regulator says. (Laundering Austrac)

CANBERRA - Males are two thirds more likely to acquire a brain injury during their
life than females, a new report has found. (Brain Injury)

SYDNEY - Billions of dollars could be lost when the NSW government privatises the electricity
industry, NSW opposition finance spokesman Mike Baird says. (Electricity Hedge)

SYDNEY - A Sydney man who used a popular video website to threaten students at his
old high school has been described as "sick" by a magistrate. (Cousins)

SYDNEY - The NSW auditor-general has sounded an alarm about recovering $223 million
owed to NSW taxpayers by the operator of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. (Tunnel)

SYDNEY - International websites are selling "paper steroids" promoted as being undetectable
by Australia's customs officers. (Steroids)

SYDNEY - A two-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest and died after arriving on an
international flight to Sydney. (Flight. N/L on merit)

MELBOURNE - Victorian Treasurer John Lenders has ruled out any more poker machines
in the state. (Pokies Vic. N/L, reax and factbox to come)

MELBOURNE - Four people have been charged over the death of a man believed killed with
a samurai sword and whose body was dumped by the side of a road in northern Victoria.

(Arrests. N/L to come.)

MELBOURNE - The Victorian government is flush with cash, revising its budget surplus
up by more than $500 million. (Budget Vic)

MELBOURNE - The owner of a cat which was sexually abused and set alight in Melbourne
says she hopes the perpetrator rots in jail. (Cat)

MELBOURNE - A body wrapped in plastic has been discovered by workers in Melbourne's
south-east. (Plastic. N/L to come)

BRISBANE - A jealous man has been jailed for almost 25 years for lighting a house fire
which killed three people, including his own son and former partner. (Hayes)

BRISBANE - Queensland Rail (QR) services north of Brisbane will be disrupted until
Friday because of concerns about dangerous substances in a derailed freight train. (Derail)

BRISBANE - Eight years of negotiations have finally paid off for a north Queensland
indigenous group with the recognition today of their native title rights over an area
south of Cairns. (Native)

BRISBANE - Accused Palm Island rioter Lex Wotton will go to trial in April next year. (Wotton)

BRISBANE - Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says she is disappointed that explosives maker
Dyno Nobel Ltd has suspended its Moranbah project indefinitely because it no longer meets
the group's financial criteria (DYNO NOBEL BLIGH) to come

GOLD COAST - After being described as an eyesore and temporarily shut down because
of safety concerns, the Sea World Eye is about to be closed for good. (EYE)

ADELAIDE - Former psychiatrist jailed for the murder of SA mental health chief Margaret
Tobin makes final appeal to the High Court. (Gassy)

ADELAIDE - A drug addicted mother who bit and hit her six-month-old daughter during
a fatal assault has been jailed for at least five years. (Christensen)

ADELAIDE - A potentially large uranium deposit has been found in an area near Whyalla
on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula. (Uranium SA)

ADELAIDE - Firefighters are making good progress in their efforts to contain three
bushfires still burning on South Australia's Kangaroo Island. (Bushfires SA Daylead )

ADELAIDE - Mother charged with manslaughter of baby daughter to be sentenced. (Christensen)

PERTH - Construction union official Joe McDonald has been awarded $5,000 in costs after
being cleared of another trespassing charge. (McDonald)

HOBART - The Labor Party has seized one Tasmanian Senate seat from the former government,
with final election results declared today. (Poll07 Tas)

AAP sp

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL 2 SYDNEY

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