AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, April 10

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2004
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, April 10
Evening Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630

Iraq (KERBALA)

More than a million Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims will mark the holy day of Arbain in the city
of Kerbala today, prompting fears among US officials of more chaos and bloodshed.

Arbain comes 40 days after the religious period of Ashura, when suicide bombers in
Baghdad and Kerbala killed 171 people.

And it's likely to intensify the Shi'ite uprising by followers of radical cleric MOQTADA
AL-SADR, in which more than 200 people have been killed since Sunday.

Gunfights have also been raging in the Sunni cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, and in
western Baghdad guerrillas have killed nine people in an attack on a fuel convoy.

Meanwhile, in other developments...an aide to radical Shi'ite cleric MOQTADA AL-SADR
has denied that SADR's Al-Mahdi militia is behind the kidnapping of three Japanese civilians
in southern Iraq.

And Iraq's Governing Council has demanded an immediate ceasefire in a sign of a split
between US-picked Iraqi leaders and American administrators.

US forces have been fighting a two-front battle this week, against Sunni militants
in Fallujah and AL-SADR'S militia in the south.



Iraq Howard (CANBERRA)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says Australian forces will remain in Iraq until they have
completed their tasks.

He says any talk of withdrawing troops from Iraq could encourage insurgents to take
more hostages.

MR HOWARD says he's not talking in terms of a particular exit strategy, but in terms
of completing assigned tasks in the near and medium term.

MR HOWARD says there's an elevated risk to Australian civilians in Iraq and they should
keep in touch with Australian officials.



Iraq Latham (PERTH)

Opposition Leader MARK LATHAM has criticised Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD for trying
to make domestic political capital out of the Japanese hostage situation in Iraq.

Mr LATHAM has called for Australian troops to be brought home from Iraq before Christmas.

But Mr HOWARD has said any talk of exit strategies at the present time could encourage
more hostage taking.

Mr LATHAM says it's totally inappropriate for Mr HOWARD to be making domestic political
points in the circumstances of the Japanese hostages.



Iraq Nettle (SYDNEY)

Australian Greens Senator KERRY NETTLE says escalating violence in Iraq has forced
her to cancel her planned fact finding mission.

Senator NETTLE, who is returning home from Bangkok, says she's disappointed she couldn't
get to Iraq.



Thai bombs (BANGKOK)

Two bombs have exploded in Muslim-majority southern Thailand, hours after Australia,
the US and Britain issued warnings of possible terrorist attacks.

Police say no-one has been killed or hurt in the bombings.

The first bomb was planted in a garbage bin opposite a police station in Narathiwat
province's Waeng district and exploded at 6.45pm, damaging a nearby restaurant.

The second blast occurred an hour later in Takbai district, near the Malaysian border,
at the gate of an apartment complex housing police and customs officials.

Thailand has put itself on high alert ahead of its traditional new year holiday Songkran.




Terror Bush (WASHINGTON)

It's been reported that US President GEORGE W BUSH was told more than a month before
the September the 11th terrorist attacks that supporters of OSAMA BIN LADEN planned an
attack within the United States.

The New York Times says a secret briefing that BUSH received on August the 6th, 2001,
also warned that BIN LADEN's Al-Qaeda group planned to hijack areoplanes.

The report appears to contradict the White House's repeated assertions that the president
didn't receive any specific briefing about the al-Qaeda threat.



Asylum Barns (CANBERRA)

A refugee advocacy group says it's pleased the federal government will consider letting
up to 4,000 Iraqi refugees stay in Australia.

But it says the decision should have been made sooner.

The government says it will consider allowing Iraqi temporary protection visa holders
to stay permanently in Australia.

The temporary visas are only valid for three years after they are issued.

A Just Australia spokesman GREG BARNS says he's pleased with the government's change
of heart but thinks it should've happened sooner.



Critical (BRISBANE)

Four teenagers have appeared in court in Brisbane charged with manslaughter after a
man was bashed while walking home from his local pub early yesterday.

Three boys aged 16 and 17 and an 18-year-old man are each charged with one count of
manslaughter and two counts of bodily harm in company while armed.

They have been released on bail with curfew conditions imposed.

Thirty-four-year-old JAMES BACHELARD was just 100 metres from his home at Chermside
in northern Brisbane when he was allegedly assaulted.



Gangland (MELBOURNE)

Victorian opposition leader ROBERT DOYLE says there's little weight in claims by underworld
figure CARL WILLIAMS that corrupt police officers are working to have him killed.

Mr DOYLE says WILLIAMS has virtually no credibility.

WILLIAMS is on bail on charges of trafficking amphetamines and threatening to kill
a police officer.

He says four police officers have threatened to kill him.

But Mr DOYLE says WILLIAMS' claims shouldn't be afforded much importance and the police
investigating Melbourne's gangland murders have his full support.



Passion (BRISBANE)

Brisbane Catholic Archbishop JOHN BATHERSBY says the explicit violence in MEL GIBSON's
controversial film The Passion of the Christ detracts from the story of Jesus.

Archbishop BATHERSBY has praised the film in general but says the amount of violence
in its portrayal of the last hours of Christ takes away from its effectiveness.

But other church leaders disagree.

Cardinal George Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic priest, says the debate over
violence in the film has drawn attention to the story of Christ.

And the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, PETER WATSON, says criticism of the film's
depiction of Christ's suffering ignores the awful reality that this this is what life
is like for many people in today's world.



BRIEFLY ..........




Relief workers in Sri Lanka are distributing emergency supplies to thousands of people
who have fled from fighting between rival Tamil Tiger groups.




A US Air Force plane has left McMurdo Station on the Antarctic coast carrying a sick
worker to hospital in New Zealand.




The national road toll for the Easter holiday period remains at three, with no deaths
reported today.



IN SPORT.........



Golf Masters (AUGUSTA)

STUART APPLEBY and STEPHEN LEANEY are the only Australians from a field of seven to
make the cut at the US Masters golf in Augusta, Georgia.

PETER LONARD, ROBERT ALLENBY, CRAIG PARRY, NICK FLANAGAN and ADAM SCOTT all missed
out at Augusta National.

Meanwhile Englishman JUSTIN ROSE -- the youngest player at just 23 -- has a two shot
lead after the second round.

Spaniard JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL and Czech-born German ALEX CEJKA are equal second on 140.



Cycling Cup (MANCHESTER)

Australia has won four gold medals on the opening day of the third leg of cycling's
World Cup series.

BRADLEY MCGEE, MARK RENSHAW and KATE BATES won the first three finals of the meeting,
while SHANE KELLY took gold in the keirin later in the night.



Surfing World (SYDNEY)

Marginal surf conditions along the Victorian coast have forced the postponement of
today's competition in the Rip Curl Pro world surfing championship at Bells Beach.



ENDS AAP RTV gjr

KEYWORD: EVENING ROUND-UP

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