AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Feb 14

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2004
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Feb 14
EVENING ROUND-UP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630


CENTRELINK (CANBERRA)

Centrelink has defended itself from charges it is a mistake-prone organisation, with
claims of 1.13 million errors in the past four months.

The Weekend Australian newspaper says Centrelink is an organisation intimidated by
hostile customers and riddled by bureaucratic inefficiencies.

It mentions poor training, staff laziness and poor accountability.

The report by Melbourne consultants DBM shows more than 700,000 Centrelink customers
were hit by mistakes last year.

The federal Opposition says the report is the latest of many which had found major
problems in Centrelink.

But Centrelink spokesman HANK JONGEN says the report misrepresents the sample taken
and that it is biased towards people who have reported errors in the past.



HOWARD TAS (ULVERSTONE)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says Australia is experiencing its strongest economic conditions
since the end of World War II.

Speaking on his two-day visit to Tasmania's north and north-west, Mr HOWARD told a
mature-age crowd that the nation must continue to embrace reform and change.

Mr HOWARD says the economy is stronger now than the often referred to golden era of
the 1950s and 1960s when it was more dependent on handouts and subsidies.

He says globalised trading and the removal of high tariff barriers have allowed Australia
to prosper economically.

His comments follow the recent signing of the free trade agreement with the United
States this week.



WEALTH (CANBERRA)

A federal government survey says most of Australia's wealth is held by middle-aged
people working and saving for their retirement.

The survey of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia has also found the
poorest 10 per cent of Australians have debts which exceed their assets.

It's found the bottom 10 per cent of households have an average net debt of just under $6,000.

But the wealthiest 10 per cent have an average net worth of $1.56 million.



IRAQ WMD AUST (BRISBANE)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD is still standing by intelligence given to him before the
Iraq war, despite a report that key information was ignored.

The Age newspaper has quoted an unnamed senior spy source as saying Mr HOWARD was told
several weeks before the war that there was not enough evidence of weapons of mass destruction
to support an invasion.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman KEVIN RUDD says Mr HOWARD's credibility is now in tatters.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has ruled out early elections in Iraq, ignoring a plea
by leaders of the Shi'ite Muslim majority.

And a US military policeman has been killed and two others wounded by a bomb near the
Abu Gharib district on the outskirts of Baghdad.



US GAYS (SAN FRANCISCO)

A judge has refused to stop hundreds of gay couples from getting married at San Francisco's
City Hall in defiance of California state law.

The refusal has guaranteed that the weddings will continue into the Valentine's Day weekend.

State Superior Court Judge JAMES WARREN says there is not enough evidence showing that
immediate damage would be done by allowing them to get married.

Hundreds of gays have been lining up at City Hall since yesterday to wed in a direct
challenge to a law passed by California voters in 2000.



US VOTE (WASHINGTON)

United States Democratic front-runner JOHN KERRY is gaining ground after gaining the
support of a key union and former rival, WESLEY CLARK.

He's also attracted positive polling towards victory in next week's Wisconsin primary.

North Carolina Senator JOHN EDWARDS is vowing to remain in the race well into March,
and HOWARD DEAN is campaigning for votes from Wisconsin's dairy farmers.



TERROR BUSH (WASHINGTON)

The White House says United States President GEORGE W BUSH has agreed to meet privately
with members of the commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks.

But they say he's declined to give public testimony.

The commission chairman, THOMAS KEAN, and the vice chairman, LEE HAMILTON, have pressed
the White House for a public discussion of pre-war intelligence.



IRAN NUCLEAR (WASHINGTON)

The United States has accused Iran of continuing to hide its nuclear activities from
the international community.

State Department spokesman RICHARD BOUCHER says the US doeasn't believe Iran has abandoned
its efforts to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State JAMES KELLY says a key covert North Korean
nuclear program may be more advanced than the US had believed.



TRAINS AMWU (SYDNEY)

More than 300 train maintenance workers in New South Wales are set to stage a 24-hour
strike on Friday over what they say are faulty new drug and alcohol tests.

Members The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union have still to vote on the strike
proposal, but they're expected to approve it.

The strike threat comes after the state government smoothed out problems with drivers,
who caused a week of train cancellations when they refused to work overtime.

New South Wales Opposition Leader JOHN BROGDEN says the strike threat highlights the
government's failure to fix the problems with the rail system.



SUSTAINABILITY (MELBOURNE)

The director of Melbourne's Sustainable Living Festival says the good turnout shows
Melburnians are embracing the concept of sustainability.

Director LUKE TAYLOR says 70,000 people are expected to visit the three-day festival
which started yesterday at Federation Square and showcases sustainable practice and technology.



HOWARD VALENTINE (ULVERSTONE)

Australia's first lady JANETTE HOWARD looks set to celebrate Valentine's Day with a
hamper of Tasmanian chocolates.

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD received the gift today as he wound up a two-day visit to
the island state, with his wife of 32 years sure to benefit.

Mr HOWARD says it's a bit of an open secret that he and JANETTE met some years ago
on Valentine's Day, but he wouldn't say how many.

In the Philipppines, more than 5,000 couples in the Philippines have kissed simultaneously
for 10 seconds to welcome Valentine's Day and set a new world record.

And in Britain, two survivors of a London train crash that killed 31 people are to
mark the day by getting married.

But it's not all good news today ... as many busily devour their Valentines Day chocolates,
new research shows the cocoa plant is being threatened by disease.

A deadly white fungus that deforms the trees, called witches' broom, is responsible
for almost destroying Brazil's cocoa crop in the early 1990s.

Brazil now imports more chocolate than it exports and overall global production for
2004 is expected to fall 0.3 per cent after a decline of 2.4 per cent in West Africa.



AND BRIEFLY . . .



A lone 67-year-old Japanese yachtsman has been plucked from wild seas in the Southern
Ocean with the help of a jet owned by Australia's second-richest person, RICHARD PRATT.




The Asian bird flu is feared to have jumped to more exotic species, possibly killing
a leopard and cranes in Thailand and pheasants in Taiwan.




Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have agreed to resume talks on ending the 30 year
partition of their island.




China plans to relocate 108,000 people this year to make way for the Three Gorges dam.





AND IN SPORTS . . .


LEAGUE PANTHERS (HUDDERSFIELD)

English Super League champion Bradford has trampled all over Penrith to win the World
Club Challenge 22-4 at Huddersfield.

Bradford crossed for three first half tries and held the NRL premiers to one after
the break with superb defence to win its second world title in three years.



CRICKET AUST ARRIVE (COLOMBO)

Australian cricketers have arrived in Sri Lanka early Saturday for three Tests and
five one-day internationals.

This series will be RICKY PONTING's first as captain of both Tests and one-day internationals,
after STEVE WAUGH'S retirement in January.



TENNIS INDOOR (LONDON)

Australia's MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS and Briton GREG RUSEDSKI have pulled out of next week's
World Indoor Tournament in Rotterdam for personal reasons.

PHILIPPOUSSIS'S relationship with singer DELTA GOODREM has been the subject of media
scrutiny in recent weeks and the world number nine looked out of sorts in losing both
his singles matches in Australia's surprise 4-1 Davis Cup defeat by Sweden last weekend.

RUSEDSKI is waiting to discover the outcome of the ATP hearing he attended in Montreal
on Monday following his positive test for the banned steroid nandrolone last July.



ENDS EVENING ROUND-UP

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