FED:Job losses part of painful adjustment:Swan

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2011
FED:Job losses part of painful adjustment:Swan

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government was aware of the pressures the high
Australian dollar had placed on differing sectors of the economy.

Sectors such as manufacturing, tourism and education have slumped as the currency soared
past parity with the greenback.

"We have been talking about patchwork pressures in our economy for months and months
and months," she told reporters.

"This is something we have understood for a long period of time, which is why we calibrated
the May budget in the way we did."

Ms Gillard said the government created the Department for Regional Australia and Regional
Development because of "patchwork pressures" in the national economy.

MORE el/rl/de

KEYWORD: BLUESCOPE FEDERAL 2 CANBERRA

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Police plan new blitz after 824 arrests last weekend

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-2008
NSW: Police plan new blitz after 824 arrests last weekend

By Ed Logue

SYDNEY, Feb 19 AAP - Police will move into another stage of a crackdown on anti-social
behaviour after more than 800 arrests in a weekend blitz across the state, the NSW government
says.

Police Minister David Campbell and NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione today revealed
the outcome of Operation Mega Vikings, in which 3,500 extra police patrols targeted wanted
criminals, street crime and anti-social actions.

The operation was divided in two phases, Mr Campbell said, targeting known offenders
during the day and anti-social activities at night.

He said 824 arrests were made during the three-day blitz, with police enforcing outstanding
warrants, locking up criminals, policing licensed premises and manning extra random breath
testing units.

About 2,000 people were searched, leading to the seizure of 30 weapons, he said.

Mr Scipione said the blitz succeeded in catching repeat offenders, who were responsible
for much of the state's crime.

"Many of those people that were identified had warrants outstanding or had breached
bail," he said.

"We know 80 per cent of our crime is committed by 20 per cent of our people."

The extra 800 police for the crackdown had been found by offering shifts to officers
with days off, Mr Scipione said.

"We extend the availability by putting them on overtime and cancel the rest days," he said.

Operation Vikings would roll into Vision 3, targeting rail crime using police and rail
security in a three month operation.

"We will be moving from Mega Vikings which was running for the last three days to Vision
3, which is around 200 police working our transport system," Mr Scipione said.

Mr Campbell said it would entail a concentrated effort of law enforcement between NSW
police and state rail officers.

While transit officers were not railway police, they were "there to provide some revenue
enforcement and they are also there as security guards", he said.

"They can disrupt, they don't have the right of arrests."

AAP el/was/sco/de

KEYWORD: SOCIAL

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:UNHCR says it will speak to detainees on ground

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2011
FED:UNHCR says it will speak to detainees on ground

The United Nations refugee agency says it'll talk to the three detainees at Sydney's
Villawood Detention Centre if they come off the roof.

Negotiations between the three men and officials have so far been unsuccessful in coaxing
the detainees off the roof .. where they've been for six days.

The UNHCR says its role is to monitor Australia's obligations as a signatory to the
1951 Refugee Convention .. and is prepared to discuss any grievances or concerns from
asylum-seekers or refugees.

But it says officials are unable to undertake discussions with anyone engaged in or
threatening protest action .. and they can't make guarantees on the outcomes of asylum
claims.

The three men have been protesting since Wednesday .. when a riot involving 100 detainees
left nine buildings gutted by fire.

AAP RTV el/tm

KEYWORD: DETAINEES UNHCR (CANBERRA)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW:Man steals flood donation bucket

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2011
NSW:Man steals flood donation bucket

A Sydney man will face court next month .. charged with stealing a flood-relief donation
bucket from a shopping centre in the city's inner west.

CCTV footage of a man stealing the Queensland Premier's Relief Appeal bucket last Friday
at Broadway Shopping Centre was handed in to centre management today.

Later in the day police arrested a 24-year-old man in Glebe .. and he's been conditionally
bailed to face Newtown Local Court on March 15 charged with larceny.

AAP RTV tr/tm

KEYWORD: DONATION (SYDNEY)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:Pakistan takes security precautions

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2010
FED:Pakistan takes security precautions

Former Australian cricket captain IAN CHAPPELL has urged Australians to donate money
to flood ravaged Pakistan.

CHAPPELL has had a long association with Pakistan and says Australians should be generous.

He's told ABC Radio what's happened has been soul-destroying for the Pakistanis who
have always been very hospitable people.

A 180-member Australian military health team is now setting up a medical facility in
the Punjab area as strict security measures are implemented in the country to ensure the
aid effort isn't hindered by fundamentalist groups.

Pakistan's Sydney consul-general HAMID KHAN says the very last thing Pakistan needs
is for villains to impede the relief effort.

AAP RTV mb/sw

KEYWORD: PAKISTAN AUST (CANBERRA)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Lose only a few kilos to restore "lean" immune system

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2010
FED: Lose only a few kilos to restore "lean" immune system

Researchers say Australia's epidemic of overweight and obese people has reached crisis point.

Associate Professor KATHERINE SAMARAS says half of the nation's adult population are
now well over a healthy weight .. raising their risk of type 2 diabetes .. heart disease
and some cancers.

Dr SAMARAS says being obese is known to spark damaging changes in a person's immune
system .. but losing just a few kilograms is enough to dramatically turn this situation
around.

Dr SAMARAS and colleague Dr ALEX VIARDOT .. from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical
Research .. studied the immune system functioning of obese people with type 2 diabetes
or prediabetes who were put on a restricted calorie diet.

She says the study showed how even minor lifestyle changes could avert the development
of life-threatening illness.

AAP RTV dr/crh

KEYWORD: OBESITY (SYDNEY)

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Keneally reappoints Roozendaal as treasurer

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2009
NSW: Keneally reappoints Roozendaal as treasurer

SYDNEY, Dec 6 AAP - Eric Roozendaal has become the first person selected to serve in
NSW Premier Kristina Keneally's cabinet.

Mr Roozendaal will continue in his role as treasurer, a statement from Ms Keneally's
office said on Sunday.

Ms Keneally was sworn in as premier on Friday after Nathan Rees was rolled in a Labor
caucus meeting the previous night.

Mr Roozendaal has been treasurer since Mr Rees became premier in 2008.

The full cabinet is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday afternoon.

AAP pbc/cdh

KEYWORD: LABOR NSW CABINET

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Fourteen South Australians tested for swine flu

AAP General News (Australia)
04-28-2009
SA: Fourteen South Australians tested for swine flu

ADELAIDE, April 28 AAP - Fourteen South Australians, who had influenza-like symptoms
after travelling overseas, have been tested for the deadly swine flu virus.

An SA Health spokeswoman on Tuesday confirmed the 14 people, who ranged through from
primary school age to their early 60s, had been tested for the virus, which has so far
killed more than 150 people in Mexico.

There are yet to be any confirmed cases of the virus in Australia.

Two of the South Australians tested have been given the all clear, while the other
12 remain in home quarantine, the spokeswoman said.

The state's chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said there was a low possibility of
any of the tests returning a positive result for swine flu.

He said all South Australian hospitals were implementing procedures to triage potential
swine flu patients.

"And we have alerted all GPs to be on the lookout for potential cases," he said in
a statement released on Tuesday.

Professor Phillips urged members of the public to get flu vaccines to protect against
more common strains of influenza.

"The more people who are vaccinated and don't get seasonal flu, the less pressure there
will be on our health system," he said.

AAP lcs/ht

KEYWORD: FLU SA

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Man to face court over Sydney drug lab

AAP General News (Australia)
12-24-2008
NSW: Man to face court over Sydney drug lab

A 51-year-old man is due to face court today in connection with a 20 million dollar
drug lab discovered in north-west Sydney nearly four years ago.

It's also been three years since a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Police discovered the lab in a Maroota farm shed in January 2005 .. seizing amphetamines
with an estimated street value of 10 million dollars .. as well as precursor chemicals
worth another 10 million.

The man was finally caught yesterday at 11.45am (AEDT) in a Hassell St carpark in Rosehill.

He's expected to appear in Parramatta Local Court after being charged with manufacturing
a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

AAP RTV ab/crh

KEYWORD: LAB (SYDNEY)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Senator admits he "jumped the gun" on fuelwatch

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2008
Fed: Senator admits he "jumped the gun" on fuelwatch

Federal Independent Senator NICK XENOPHON admits he "jumped the gun" in supporting
moves to introduce FuelWatch into South Australia four years ago.

Senator XENOPHON now says he won't support a national FuelWatch scheme and the government's
legislation as it currently stands.

He's told the Nine Network .. when he was a South Australian politician he believed
FuelWatch was a good idea.

But he says following a parliamentary inquiry .. he now believes the best way to tackle
fuel prices is to tackle the issue of competition amongst the big four oil companies.

AAP RTV srj/tm/

KEYWORD: PETROL XENOPHON (CANBERRA)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

The main stories on today's 1900 ABC TV news

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2008
The main stories on today's 1900 ABC TV news

The main stories on ABC television's 1900 news:





1. America's top commander in Iraq says progress in Iraq is significant but fragile,
as General Petreus was grilled by the US Senate.





2. One trillion dollars could be lost in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, according to the IMF.





3. Economists are warning that house prices in Sydney could drop by as much as 25 per
cent over the next two years.





4. State parliament erupted into a slanging match today over political donations.





5. 16-year-old Brock Curtis-Mathew is being nominated for a bravery award, for his
efforts in trying to save his friend Peter Edmonds from a shark attack.





AAP RTV tm/wz

KEYWORD: MONITOR 1900 ABC NEWS

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Grieving mother angry at sentence for daughter's killer

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2007
Vic: Grieving mother angry at sentence for daughter's killer

By Charisse Ede

MELBOURNE, Dec 6 AAP - A grieving mother whose partner killed her three-year-old daughter
in a fit of anger is outraged he was not charged with murdering her pride and joy.

Dieu Lam said her daughter, Liliana, was a defenceless toddler but died because Phong
Gia Quach got angry that she would not listen to him.

"He totally wrecked my life and I don't have my daughter, and my daughter was my joy
and pride, my everything and now she's gone and (I) just can't live without her," she
said.

"He should have got charged for murder for what he did."

Quach, 23, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Liliana, his stepdaughter, on May 3, 2006.

Liliana died after Quach pushed her against a bathroom sink and onto the bathroom floor
at their house in Noble Park, in Melbourne's south-east, after she had vomited on herself.

She died from a ruptured mesentery - attached to the abdomen wall - causing her to
bleed to death.

The Victorian Supreme Court today jailed him for 11 years with a non-parole period
of eight years.

In sentencing Quach, Justice Bernard Teague said Liliana was defenceless in her stepfather's
hands and had become scared of him.

Justice Teague said he was troubled that Quach, who was addicted to amphetamines and
ice, felt that because he had been accused by Liliana's grandparents of assaulting her,
he "might as well do it".

He said the sustained punishment the toddler endured was more insidious than other
forms of assault and fathers and stepfathers must be discouraged from abusing their power.

Liliana's tearful mother said it was wrong that Quach was not charged with murder.

"I think it's bullshit that he got manslaughter and he only got eight years, I don't
think it's right," she said.

"I don't think it's fair that my daughter's defenceless, she can't friggin' help herself
and he said that he got angry and hit my daughter because she wouldn't listen.

"But kids do that, kids don't know any better."

Quach wrote an apology to his victim's family, but Ms Lam said she wasn't interested
in reading it.

"(An) apology is not going to make me feel any better, it's not going to bring back
my daughter, there's no point in saying sorry," she said.

The Victorian government this week introduced legislation creating a new office of
child homicide that reflects the seriousness of killing children.

The new offence will have the same 20-year maximum penalty as manslaughter but will
underline that the victim was a child of six years or under, enabling the court to impose
sentences closer to the maximum.

AAP ce/gfr/jt/bwl

KEYWORD: QUACH NIGHTLEAD (PIX AVAILABLE)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Benign producer prices hold out hope for tame CPI outlook

AAP General News (Australia)
04-23-2007
Fed: Benign producer prices hold out hope for tame CPI outlook

By Colin Brinsden, Economics Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 23 AAP - Homebuyers and the government will be hoping for benign inflation
readings tomorrow to head off another interest rate rise next month.

And data released today suggests their prayers may be answered.

The first quarter consumer price index (CPI) is released tomorrow and is expected to
show a pick-up in prices from the surprisingly weak outcome in the final three months
of last year.

The extent of that pick-up will decide whether the central bank raises rates at its
May 1 board meeting, or keeps them on hold, as they have over the past five months.

Homebuyers have already suffered four interest rate rises since the 2004 election,
and the coalition's claim of being the government of low rates will look fairly flimsy
if there is yet another rate hike.

The country goes to the polls in October or November.

However, data released today shows prices for materials paid by business in the first
three months of this year grew at their slowest pace in two years, a sign that manufactured
goods at least won't be rising substantially over the coming months.

Prices were unchanged at the final stage of production in the first quarter compared
to the previous three months, to be 2.8 per cent higher than a year earlier, the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said today.

Final stage producer prices grew 3.5 per cent over 2006.

Economists had expected the producer price index (PPI) to rise 0.6 per cent in the
first three months of the year.

While economists stressed that there is no direct correlation between the PPI and the
CPI, they say it does suggest there could be lessening price pressures down the track.

"The benign PPI outcomes for the last two quarters suggest some downside risk to final
prices as measured by the CPI," Royal Bank of Canada senior economist Su-Lin Ong said.

Financial markets wound back expectations for a May rate hike to below a 50 per cent
chance on the PPI report.

Economists expect the CPI to show that inflation rose 0.6 per cent in the first quarter,
for an annual pace of 3.1 per cent.

Such a result would compare with a surprise fall of 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter.

But on an annual basis, inflation would be slower than the 3.3 per cent growth recorded
over 2006.

This would reflect key inflationary drivers from the first quarter of 2006 - such as
petrol and banana prices - dropping out of the calculations.

But the annual rate of inflation would still be above the central bank's two to three
per cent inflation target.

Shortly after the CPI, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will release its own preferred
measures of underlying inflation, that smooth out volatile price swings such as in food
and petrol prices, and signal whether price pressures have become embedded in the wider
economy.

Economists expect the average of the two measures - the trimmed mean and weighted median
- to have risen about 0.7 per cent in the quarter and 2.9 per cent over the year.

"If the CPI is moderate tomorrow ... then these benign PPI outcomes will be seen as
a good thing for a low inflation outlook," National Australia Bank chief economist for
markets Rob Henderson said.

AAP cb/ks/sp

KEYWORD: ECONOMY NIGHTLEAD

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

National Newslist for Friday, December 22, 2006

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-2006
National Newslist for Friday, December 22, 2006
Good Morning News Editors and Chiefs of Staff.

AAP's National Newslist for today (not for publication).

This is a guide only and stories are subject to change.

AAP's news editors can be contacted on (02) 9322 8611 or (02) 9322 8610.

NATIONAL:
BASHIR:
CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard says he's upset for the families of the 88 Australians
killed in the 2002 Bali bombings after Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was cleared of any
involvement.

CANBERRA - The decision to clear Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir of involvement in the
2002 Bali bombings is unsurprising: Keelty.

CANBERRA - Labor leader Kevin Rudd says he can understand the outrage from the families
of 88 Australians killed in the 2002 Bali bombings after Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir
was cleared of any involvement.

OTHERS:
CANBERRA - Australia has no plans to send extra troops to Iraq, despite suggestions the
US is planning an extra deployment.

CANBERRA - A gun buy back in East Timor could work to reduce the amount of violence in
the troubled nation: Keelty.

SYDNEY - A disgraced former AWB senior executive damned by the Cole report has been singled
out for praise by an American military officer for his role in handing out $71 million
in cash to Iraqis soon after the US-led invasion.

COURTS:
SYDNEY - Following court hearing for P-plater Tyler Green (name suppressed) who crashed
near Lismore, killing four of his mates.

PERTH - Expected court appearance by two teenage women facing wilful murder charges over
the discovery of a body, believed to be that of a missing 16-year-old girl, stuffed into
a bin at a Perth house.

CANBERRA
- Prime Minister John Howard has played down the discovery of a suspicious package in
his Sydney office.

- Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell is sticking to his plan to consult everyone
involved before deciding how much, if any, of the historic Burrup Peninsula rock art will
be saved.

- Even if it is a scorching day on Monday, Prime Minister John Howard and his family will
sit down to a traditional roast turkey Christmas dinner.

- Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty visits Australian officers on postings
in south-east Asia and the Pacific ahead of Christmas.

- Mick Keelty presentation and possible doorstop.

- Peter McGauran announcement re AWB.

- The ACT's budget deficit for 2006-07 is set to be half the size expected.

- Ian Campbell to make announcement regarding heritage listing for Burrup Peninsula.

- More reax to Bashir decision.

SYDNEY
- Half a metre of hail dumped in a freak storm in northern NSW has destroyed an exhibition
centre and damaged 150 homes at Armidale.

- The cost of providing tax concessions to special interest groups is set to rise by 27
per cent to $52 billion a year by 2010, new Treasury figures reveal.

- A union is threatening to pursue higher wage claims following the $11 million private
equity bid for Qantas Airways.

- One man is dead and two teenagers are clinging to life after two separate NSW crashes.

- A man has been charged with attempting to bribe a Sydney police officer.

- Police are searching for a man who attempted to abduct a woman who was walking along
a Sydney street.

- Many red light cameras in NSW operate only half the year or less, with revenues dropping
$26 million since 2005, new figures show.

- A father and son have been fined $35,000 for assaulting a food authority officer inspecting
their chicken abattoir.

- NSW Environment Minister Bob Debus says a delay in work on a key project has not interfered
with the government's plans to solve Sydney's water problems.

- Former Ansett workers still owed more than $90 million following the airline's collapse
in 2001 have delivered an angry Christmas message to Prime Minister John Howard.

- John Watkins and Vince Graham to announce New Year's Eve Sydney travel arrangements.

- Kevin Rudd doorstop.

MELBOURNE
- Fierce winds at Mount Hotham and Mount Buller will test control lines in Victoria's
bushfires today.

- A woman has died and another is in a serious condition after a car smashed into a tree
in Melbourne's north-west.

- A woman was allegedly threatened with a fake pistol during a road-rage incident in Melbourne
early today.

- The Ashes Urn to be installed into an exhibition at Melbourne Museum by cricket legend
Bill Lawry. (1000)
- Victoria Police and cricket authorities to discuss crowd behaviour at the Boxing Day Test. (1015)
- A deal has been reached for a company to take over car parts maker Ajax in Victoria
that went into liquidation last week.

- Australian cricket team captain Ricky Ponting will meet 15-year-old leukaemia sufferer
Allan Wallace, through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (1600)

BRISBANE
- Police are searching for a man who sexually assaulted a teenage girl as she walked with
a friend in Brisbane's bayside.

- A woman has a suspected fractured skull following a domestic dispute in Queensland's Cape York.

- A woman was sexually assaulted as she stood at an intersection in Brisbane's bayside.

- A woman is due to appear in Caloundra Magistrates Court today over fraud offences she
allegedly committed 15 years ago.

- ABC management has defended criticisms it did not act soon enough after an alarming
rate of breast cancer was discovered among staff at its Brisbane headquarters.

- Premier Peter Beattie to announce new fellowship in memory of late Go-Betweens frontman
Grant McLennan (9am)
- Beattie to hold general presser at 10am.

ADELAIDE:
- Several nightclub patrons in Adelaide have been taken to hospital with breathing difficulties
after a chemical spray was discharged at a suburban bar.

- Severe storms have lashed the Eyre Peninsula with 1,000 homes still without power.

- Liberal Opposition says SA water usage up 23 per cent in the past year.

HOBART:
- Two men have been charged over a series of deliberately lit fires that broke out north
of Hobart yesterday.

FINANCE
EQUITIES NEWS:
SYDNEY - Seven Network Ltd holds an extraordinary general meeting for shareholders about
its proposed restructure.

PERTH - Shaw River Resources Ltd lists on the Australian Stock Exchange.

PERTH - Convergent Minerals Ltd lists on the Australian Stock Exchange.

SYDNEY - Australian Stock Exchange trading ceases at 1415 AEDT.

ROUTINERS:
Stocks, dollar, credit.

SPORT:
CRICKET
MELBOURNE - Ashes news ahead of Boxing Day Test as England team trains and Australian
team reassembles.

SYDNEY - Glenn McGrath says media trying to push him into retirement.

MELBOURNE - Adam Gilchrist presser.

HOBART - Pura Cup match: Tas v WA, Bellerive Oval, day 4.

ADELAIDE - Preview Ford Ranger Cup match SA v Vic.

SYDNEY - Rugby league star Andrew Johns at SCG nets 1020AEDT preparing for his Twenty20
debut for NSW in Newcastle on Jan 7.

SYDNEY - More on Stuart MacGill in wake of Shane Warne's retirement announcement including
his chances of playing Sydney Test.

SAILING
HOBART - News ahead of Sydney to Hobart race starting Boxing Day.

SOCCER
KUALA LUMPUR - Asian Champions League draw involving 2 A League teams.

SWIMMING
MELBOURNE - Australian Open water swimming championships (world championship trials),
St Kilda, day 2.

BASKETBALL
BRISBANE - NBL investigates Brisbane Bullets complaint over an alleged elbowing incident
involving South Dragons player-coach Shane Heal.

CAIRNS - NBL match: Cairns v Wollongong, 2040AEDT.

LAWN BOWLS
SYDNEY - Bowls Australia will stage the inaugural World Team Cup next year after successfully
pitching the concept to the sports international authority, World Bowls.

AAP de

KEYWORD: NATIONAL NEWSLIST

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Abattoir has "no money in bank"

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2006
NSW: Abattoir has "no money in bank"

Workers at Cowra Abattoir have been told the closed meatworks has no money in the bank.

An administrator's officially taken over the abattoir today .. after owner DAVID MULLIGAN
closed the plant yesterday.

The 200 workers were formally sacked this morning .. and most have formed a long queue
at the local Centrelink office.

Union delegate GARY BRYANT says the administrator told them .. there's no money in the bank.

Mr BRYANT says workers are worried about their entitlements.

They were paid last Thursday .. but are still owed for their work on Thursday and Friday
of last week.

AAP RTV pmu/hn/cp/bart

KEYWORD: ABATTOIR (SYDNEY)

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Beazley says good fences make good neighbours

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2006
Fed: Beazley says good fences make good neighbours

KIM BEAZLEY is backing joint Australian-Indonesian maritime patrols to deal with Papuan
asylum seekers .. declaring good fences make good neighbours.

The opposition leader says Indonesia needs to be clearly told Australia has no interest
in seeing the nation dismantled.

He's also told the Ten Network .. Papuan asylum seekers could have been better controlled
had the government adopted Labor's policy of creating a national coast guard.

Mr BEAZLEY rejects suggestions he and Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD are caving in to Indonesia
.. which is angry over Australia's decision to grant a boatload of Papuans temporary protection
visas.

AAP RTV mb/jmt

KEYWORD: PAPUA LABOR (CANBERRA)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: PM pays tribute to ailing pontiff

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2005
Vic: PM pays tribute to ailing pontiff

MELBOURNE, April 2 AAP - Pope John Paul II should be remembered both as a freedom fighter
against communism and a great Christian leader, Australian Prime Minister John Howard
said today.

Mr Howard's comments came as the pontiff lay near death in his Vatican apartment after
suffering heart failure.

Speaking in Melbourne at a state Liberal Party conference, Mr Howard said the Pope
had been an inspiring leader not only to the one billion Catholics around the world.

"He's been a great example of Christian dedication to people of all Christian denominations
and indeed of all faiths," Mr Howard said.

"He will also be remembered as a person who helped lead the fight for freedom, which
led to the fall of the Berlin Wall."

Mr Howard said the Pope would always be remembered for the role he played in bringing
freedom to his native Poland.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet Imperialism were the great defining
moments of post-WWII politics, he said.

"As we think of this wonderful man in his hour of trial we think not only of his contribution
to the worldwide church and to Christianity but we think of his contribution to the worldwide
cause of freedom, which has helped shape the lives of all of us in the last 60 years."

AAP nl/arb

KEYWORD: POPE AUST HOWARD

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

semi-variable cost

semi-variable cost An item of expenditure that contains both a fixed-cost element and a variable-cost element. Consequently, when activity is zero, the fixed cost will still continue to be incurred. For example, in the UK the cost of gas is made up of a standing charge plus a cost per unit consumed; therefore while the consumption of gas varies with production the fixed standing charge will still be incurred when production is zero.

Iowa-Based Telecom Provider Introduces Business Services in Tulsa, Okla.

Tulsa World, Okla. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 25--McLeodUSA Inc., the Iowa-based regional telecommunications provider with operations in Tulsa, is introducing business-class broadband services to the Tulsa market.

McLeod will offer dedicated Internet access, dial-up Internet access, Web hosting, virtual private networks, frame relay and co-location services, officials said Thursday.

"McLeodUSA offers Tulsa businesses a strong local team approach to voice, data and Internet services from first contact through every step of the customer relationship," said Ladona Lambert, McLeodUSA's local manager.

"This team approach delivers personalized service that meets each of our customers' telecommunications needs and ensures that McLeodUSA is ready to help them meet their future needs."

McLeodUSA serves Tulsa business customers through the company's local sales office at 7666 E. 61st St.

More information on McLeodUSA's data service options can be obtained by calling 249-8297 or visiting the company's Web site at www.mcleodusa.com.

To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com.

(c) 2001, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

MCLD,

Houston-Based Accounting Firm Merges with Six Other Companies.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)

Jul. 19--After two years of negotiations, the largest Houston-based accounting firm has merged with six other companies to create the nation's 13th largest accounting firm.

Mann Frankfort Stein & Lipp joined forces with four other accounting firms and two consulting companies to form Centerprise Advisors, based in Chicago.

"Mann Frankfort will still handle all clients in Houston, but if our offices don't have an expertise, they will seek help from our affiliates," said Milton Frankfort, the firm's managing director.

The deal, announced Tuesday, comes after the accounting firms scrapped plans late last year to create the same company and take it public.

All but one of the firms will retain their names. Brunswick Integrated Computer Solutions, which has its principal offices in Dallas and Akron, Ohio, will change its name to Centerprise Information Solutions.

"They've formalized something that other firms are doing informally -- setting up alliances with other CPA and service providers," said Arthur Bowman, publisher of the Atlanta trade journal Bowman's Accounting Report.

"There is a lot of belief that the one-stop shop is the way to go, but the jury is still out if (Centerprise's) way is the best way to do it, or to do it through soft alliances," he says.

Centerprise will target its consulting and tax services to privately held companies with revenues of $5 million to $100 million.

The new umbrella firm will be headed by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Basten and Vice Chairman Richard Stein, a member of the management committee at Mann Frankfort.

Before spearheading the Centerprise deal, Basten was CEO of American Express Tax and Business Services, the division of the financial services giant that began the consolidation trend among regional accounting firms.

Originally, the Centerprise deal was conceived as a merger of 11 regional accounting and consulting firms. The principals in the firms were going to swap their ownership stakes for stock in Centerprise.

Then, an initial public offering of 10.5 million shares in Centerprise was going to be taken to the market priced between $11.50 and $13.50 per share.

Despite getting the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the filing, Basten called off Centerprise's IPO in November. At the time, he cited poor market conditions.

Several factors came together to make it a less than ideal time to take an accounting business public. At the end of 1999, investors enamored of Internet stocks paid scarce attention to anything without a dot-com appendage.

Plummeting stock prices for Century Business Services, a publicly held consolidator that has grown by following the American Express model of buying the tax and consulting portions of certified public accounting firms, further dried up interest.

The final complication may have been the SEC's ruling that Centerprise would have to write off its good will -- the premium paid for acquisitions exceeding the book value -- in 15 years rather than the old 40-year timeframe.

But the formation of Centerprise lays the groundwork for an effort to revive Wall Street interest in the company.

"There are no immediate plans to take it public," Frankfort said, "but the ultimate goal is that Centerprise will grow and become a public company."

To underscore that commitment, Mann Frankfort has offered its 225 employees stock options in the privately held Centerprise.

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(c) 2000, Houston Chronicle. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.