AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 11

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2010
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 11
Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430


WikiLeaks Wrap (SYDNEY/LONDON/CANBERRA/STOCKHOLM)

It's been revealed that mining giant BHP Billiton lobbied the federal government to
block a 21-billion dollar deal between its rival Rio Tinto and the Chinese government-owned
Chinalco.

A confidential US embassy cable obtained by WikiLeaks .. and released to Fairfax newspapers
.. shows that the chief of staff to Treasurer Wayne Swan told embassy officials BHP had
outmanoeuvred its rival to orchestrate the collapse of the Chinalco deal.

Fairfax says the revelation is embarrassing for BHP .. which has consistently refused
to be drawn on suggestions it engaged in a campaign .. to persuade ministers not to approve
Chinalco's push to double its stake in Rio Tinto.

Attorney-General ROBERT MCCLELLAND has compared a possible Australian Federal Police
investigation into WikiLeaks activities to the probe into former Treasury mole GODWIN
GRECH's OzCar affair last year .. saying it could take more than a year.

Meanwhile a lawyer for JULIAN ASSANGE says the WikiLeaks founder has been moved to
a segregation unit of the London prison for his own safety.

Russian Prime Minister VLADIMIR PUTIN says the fact that ASSANGE is in custody shows
the West has its own problems with democracy .. while Brazilian President LUIZ INACIO
LULA DA SILVA says he's surprised there's not more of an outcry against ASSANGE'S arrest.

And a former WikiLeaks worker says he is planning to launch a rival secret-spilling
site that will help anonymous sources deliver sensitive material to media.



Floods Wrap (SYDNEY/MELBOURNE)

Much of Australia's eastern seaboard remains flood-affected .. as heavy rain continues
to lash rural areas .. forcing more evacuations and prompting grim predictions of a soggy
Christmas.

Four deaths have been recorded so far as the nation's east endures its worst flooding
in decades .. ruining crops and causing millions of dollars of damage.

Forty-eight disaster areas have been declared across the nation.

There've been fresh evacuations in Victoria's northeast in the Alpine Shire 300 kilometres
northeast of Melbourne .. and in New South Wales there are now 33 declared natural disaster
zones with Orange .. Tumut and Liverpool Plains shires added to the roll-call.

And residents south of Shepparton in Victoria have been warned they could be isolated
by flood water today.



Nobel (OSLO)

The head of the Nobel committee has placed this year's peace prize on an empty chair
.. as he called on Beijing to free the new laureate LIU XIAOBO from his Chinese prison
cell.

Speaking from Oslo last night .. Nobel Committee chairman THORBJOERN JAGLAND insisted
54-year-old LIU is an innocent man.

In China .. live broadcasts of the event by CNN and the BBC were blacked out by censors
and last year's laureate .. US President BARACK OBAMA .. hailed Liu as a representative
of "universal" values.

Mr OBAMA called on China to release the jailed dissident "as soon as possible".

LIU is an author and former professor who was at the forefront of the 1989 Tiananmen
Square protests.



Brough (CANBERRA)

Former HOWARD government minister MAL BROUGH has joined the Queensland LNP .. which
he once described as an abomination.

Mr BROUGH says most people would be aware of his criticism of the LNP in the past ..

but says it needs to be seen in the context of the developments at the time.

The former member for the federal seat of Longman says he'll run for pre-selection
for the federal seat of Fisher and has aspirations to be a minister in the coalition and
harbours ambitions to be the prime minister.

LNP director MICHAEL O'DWYER says Mr BROUGH application has met with acceptance by
LNP members and there is a level of excitement about him and his wife SUE joining the
party.



McMahon (SYDNEY)

New South Wales MP for Shellharbour LYLEA MCMAHON says she's quitting and won't contest
the state election in March.

This means Labor's down 20 state MPs .. who've announced they're retiring .. excluding
backbencher ANGELA D'AMORE .. who was dumped by KRISTINA KENEALLY over doubtful staff
expenses claims.

On Wednesday .. TANYA GADIEL said she won't recontest her western Sydney seat.



Classification (CANBERRA)

The federal and state governments are to draw up guidelines for a possible new R18+
computer game classification .. after a meeting of federal and state Attorneys-General
failed to endorse the Canberra's proposal for the new R18+ rating.

But Home Affairs Minister BRENDAN O'CONNOR says the meeting was still a step forward
.. because ministers agree on the need to better protect children and for better guidance
for parents what to buy for children.



Zentai (PERTH/SYDNEY)

The federal court has ruled 89-year-old Perth man CHARLES ZENTAI .. who's wanted for
questioning in Hungary for alleged war crimes .. could soon be reimbursed the court costs
he accrued fighting his extradition.

ZENTAI is accused of being one of three Nazi-backed Hungarian soldiers who assaulted
and murdered Jewish teenager PETER BALAZS in Budapest in November 1944.

In July .. Justice NEIL MCKERRACHER found the Home Affairs Minister's decision to extradite
Mr ZENTAI was beyond his jurisdiction and war crime is not an extradition offence for
which he can be surrendered.

The government has now been ordered to pay Mr ZENTAI'S court costs.

Meanwhile Nazi hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre say they'll continue to press
for Mr ZENTAI's extradition to Hungary.



Cocaine (SYDNEY)

Almost a kilogram of cocaine has been discovered hidden inside a consignment of suncream
posted from Lebanon.

The package was intercepted by customs officials a week ago .. and Federal Police say
the substance was in bottles labelled as Carrot Sun Oil and jars labelled as Carrot Sun
Cream.

Police searched a premises in Bass Hill in Sydney's southwest on Thursday and have
arrested two men .. who've appeared at Sydney's Central Local Court.



Thelin (MELBOURNE)

Lung drug Thelin has been taken off the Australian market after concerns it could be
linked to life-threatening liver damage.

Its manufacturer .. Pfizer .. issued a statement early this morning saying it was withdrawing
Thelin .. used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.

It's also stopping clinical trials of the drug globally.



AFI (MELBOURNE)

Crime thriller ANIMAL KINGDOM .. has won three Australian Film Institute industry awards.

It's up for a record-breaking 18 AFI nominations .. and the high profile awards continue
tonight during a star-studded ceremony in Melbourne.



Briefly in other news ..



Abuse (SYDNEY)

A suspected paedophile will appear in court today charged with the sexual assault of
two teenage boys in Sydney's north-west.



Flasher (MELBOURNE)

Police hope the public will help them catch a flasher who exposed himself to primary
school children in Melbourne's southeast.



in Sport ..



CRICKET ENGLAND (MELBOURNE)

England's batsmen will be in an attacking mood when play resumes with the tourists
one for 50 chasing Victoria's sporting declaration of 216 on day two of their three-day
game at the MCG.



CRICKET ENGLAND ODI (MELBOURNE)

England have stepped up their World Cup campaign by naming a 16-man squad for next
month's one-day series against Australia.

Test skipper ANDREW STRAUSS will lead the one-day side in the seven-game series which
runs from January 16 to February 6 .. two weeks ahead of the World Cup on the sub-continent.



WC22 QATAR (PRAGUE)

UEFA president MICHEL PLATINI says he's OK with the idea of shifting the 2022 World
Cup in Qatar from summer to winter to avoid the extreme desert temperatures.



SOCCER AL ADUTD (ADELAIDE)

Adelaide United have narrowed the gap on first-placed Brisbane to four points with
a 2-0 victory over A-League cellar-dwellers North Queensland in Adelaide.



ENDS BREAKFAST ROUND-UP

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