AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Dec 27

AAP General News (Australia)
12-27-2007
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, Dec 27
EVENING ROUND-UP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630


SOLOMONS MOTI (HONIARA)

Former Solomons Island attorney general Julian MOTI is on his way back to Australia
to face sex charges.

Reports from Honiara say MOTI was taken by a police escort .. with sirens wailing ..

to the airport this afternoon .. and his flight is expected to touch down in Brisbane
before 6pm tonight.

The alleged child sex offender was detained earlier by immigration officials amid a
confrontation between his supporters and police at his home.

MOTI is being deported to Australia to face charges he raped a 13-year-old girl in
Vanuatu in 1997 .. although he denies the charges.

MOTI was sacked as attorney-general by the new Solomons government of Prime Minister
DEREK SIKUA at the weekend .. and is expected to face court promptly following his arrival
in Australia.



INDON LANDSLIDE (JAKARTA)

Rescuers have dug through mountains of mud in search of survivors from landslides that
struck western Indonesia yesterday .. killing at least 78 people.

Some of the rescuers have been forced to use their bare hands because blocked roads
have delayed the arrival of heavy-lifting equipment.

Most of the victims were killed in a single landslide in the Karanganyar district ..

burying a group of residents who were dining together after cleaning up a mud-covered
home.



EVACUATION (SYDNEY)

Hundreds of holidaymakers .. evacuated from the New South Wales Central Coast early
today amid fears of a massive explosion .. have now been allowed to return.

Bottles of highly flammable gas were discovered in a burning stolen utility .. in the
car park of Toowoon Bay Surf Life Saving Club at 4.30 (AEDT) this morning.

Fearing the heat-affected bottles would explode .. police evacuated more than 200
people from 15 nearby homes and the Kims Beach Hideaway Hotel .. and established a 200
metre exclusion zone.

Fire authorities say all residents had been cleared to return home at midday.



ANTHRAX (SYDNEY)

Authorities in New South Wales are investigating an anthrax outbreak .. saying its
discovery in the Upper Hunter region is surprising but not suspicious.

The potentially deadly disease has been detected on four farms at Rouchel .. near Scone
.. since Christmas Eve .. and about ten animals have died.

The Department of Primary Industries says up to six naturally occurring anthrax outbreaks
are expected in the state every year.

But it says they generally occur within a known area in the state's west.



SAIL SYDHOB/MELHOB (HOBART)

Wild Oats Eleven is stretching its lead at the front of the Sydney to Hobart yacht fleet.

Striving for a third successive line honours win .. the New South Wales maxi is almost
16 nautical miles clear of second placed City Index Leopard.

Only three of the 82 starters have been forced to retire.

Meanwhile .. more than 80 boats have set off in perfect conditions from Portsea to
battle for honours in the Melbourne to Launceston and Melbourne to Hobart yacht races.

For the first time the two races have been combined with the Hobart race running down
the east coast of Tasmania.

The race for line honours is expected to be the most competitive for years with the
opportunity for one boat to win both races at the same time.



KAYAKERS (SYDNEY)

Two men attempting to become the first Australians to paddle across the Tasman are
battling physical and emotional exhaustion .. as well as the likelihood a competing craft
will deprive them of the honour.

Eight metre swells continue to swamp their custom-built kayak as Sydneysiders 25 year-old
JAMES CASTRISSION .. and 24 year-old JUSTIN JONES .. paddle towards Auckland in rough
conditions.

The pair set out on their two-thousand-200 kilometre journey on November 13 from Forster
.. on the NSW mid-north coast.

They're now 540-kays from Auckland .. but their support team estimates the men have
paddled an extra one-thousand kilometres as a result of their unplanned detours.

But there's more bad news for them .. from the other side of the Tasman .. the four-man
rowing team of STEVEN GATES .. ANDREW JOHNSON .. KERRY TOZER and surf boat champion SALLY
MACREADY are now just 370-kays from Sydney Harbour.



US SHOOTING ARRESTS (SEATTLE)

Police in the US say they've arrested a man and a woman .. in connection with the Christmas
Eve shootings of six people in a rural community in northwestern Washington state.

They say a couple is being held .. following the grisly discovery of the bodies at
a remote home in Carnation .. about 33 kilometres east of Seattle.

The victims include a six-year-old girl and three-year-old boy .. and represent three
generations of the same family.

Police say the alarm was raised after a co-worker of one of the victims visited the
property on Wednesday .. when a colleague had failed to arrive for work.



TOLL NATIONAL (SYDNEY)

The National holiday road toll stands at 22 tonight .. with Tasmania recording its
first fatality this season.

Six people have died on Victoria's roads since December 21 - the highest state holiday
road toll so far.

Five people have died in New South Wales .. five in Western Australia .. two in South
Australia .. and one in Queensland .. the Northern Territory .. the ACT and Tasmania.



BRIEFLY IN OTHER NEWS ..




A survey has found many working Italians are more interested in cheating on their partner
at lunchtime .. than in grabbing a bite to eat.




Police say two security officers have been threatened and police were injured .. after
a dozen men went on a rampage at a tavern in Queensland's far north.




Two Zambian women have been charged with drug offences after allegedly flying into
Sydney on Christmas Day with more than 100 pellets of heroin in their stomachs.




Virgin Blue says it'll increase its fuel surcharge from February 2008 .. due to continued
increases in fuel prices.



IN SPORT ..



SOCCER (SYDNEY)

Sydney FC coach JOHN KOSMINA says his side must start on the front foot in their A-League
clash against his former club Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

Overseas .. TIM CAHILL has continued his rich run of form in the English Premier League
with a goal in Everton's 2-0 win over Bolton.

CAHILL scored the Toffees' second in the 70th minute after PHIL NEVILLE had put them
ahead shortly after the break at Goodison Park.

And Manchester United have taken top spot in English Premier League after a 4-0 victory
at Sunderland.



NFL AUST (SYDNEY)

BEN GRAHAM faces an uncertain future in the NFL with the former AFL star under pressure
to keep his job at the New York Jets.

GRAHAM was benched in favour of rookie punter JEREMY KAPINOS in the team's loss to
Tennessee this week and is again likely to a spectator when New York play their final
game of the season against Kansas City on Monday (Australian time).



ENDS EVENING ROUND-UP


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