Radio and Television Breakfast Round Up

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-1999
Radio and Television Breakfast Round Up
BREAKFAST ROUND-UP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430.



OLY BRIBES AUST (SYDNEY)

Australian IOC delegate PHIL COLES has stood aside from SOCOG activities while an
investigation is held into claims of unethical conduct during Salt Lake City's Winter Games
bid.

Olympics Minister MICHAEL KNIGHT has issued a statement saying that Mr COLES will stand
aside from SOCOG activities until the completion of an IOC investigation.

And he says Mr COLES is anxious to minimise any adverse publicity for SOCOG.

A Salt Lake City Board of Ethics report has revealed Mr COLES visited Salt Lake City four
times during the city's bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

Mr COLES, who is facing his third games controversy in recent months, was cited in the
report as an example of IOC members who treat site visits more like vacations.

But Mr COLES -- through his lawyer -- has denied making the visits.

Australian Olympic Committee lawyer SIMON ROFE says it's difficult to respond to the
allegations because the extensive report contains only one short paragraph relating to Mr
COLES.



FLOODS QLD (BRISBANE)

Seven people are dead as Queensland starts counting the cost of major flooding that has hit
the south-east corner of the state this week.

A flood in the Mary River which yesterday gave the city of Gympie its worst flood for 100
years is now sweeping downstream towards Maryborough, with a peak expected about 3pm (AEST).

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD has offered sympathy to victims, saying the federal government
is prepared to offer extra emergency funds if necessary.

Queensland Premier PETER BEATTIE and Emergency Services Minister MERRI ROSE are planning
visits today, as are Regional Services Minister JOHN ANDERSON and his opposition counterpart
CHERYL KERNOT.



ECONOMY (CANBERRA)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD has described the unemployment rate as still too high, ahead of
January labour force data due out today.

Economists expect the data to show continued employment growth despite an unemployment rate
rising to a predicted 7.7 per cent.

The expectation follows a dramatic drop in December when employment rose 53,600 and the
unemployment rate fell to 7.5 per cent, its lowest level since September, 1990.



CHILD (MELBOURNE)

Victorian police are desperate for public help to locate missing 15-month-old JAMES DEAN
SETTE (pron: SETTY) who was last sighted with his mother on Sunday.

They believe JULIE JANE SETTE, 31, abandoned her son somewhere in northern Victoria.

Chief Inspector ROD COLLINS says Ms SETTE allegedly took JAMES on Sunday from near
Daylesford, central Victoria, where she'd gone to meet a couple who were about to adopt him.

On Monday police found Ms SETTE and her car at a hotel at Moama, but JAMES was missing and
bloodstains in the car have heightened fears for his safety.

The couple who were about to adopt JAMES have made an emotional plea to the public to help
find their boy.



FRANCE AVALANCHE (CHAMONIX, France)

Rescuers in France's Mont Blanc region are digging through tonnes of snow for survivors
after an avalanche swept away ski chalets, killing at least 10 people.

The avalanche destroyed 17 chalets yesterday in the hamlets of Le Tour and Montroc, near
the popular resort of Chamonix, carrying some of them as far as 400 metres.

Rescuers equipped with helicopters, snowploughs, bulldozers and dogs say it will take days
to clear the mass of snow some six metres deep and 200 metres wide.



CONDUCT (CANBERRA)

The federal opposition says Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD's new code of ministerial conduct
could let ministers make decisions which improve their investment and family wealth.

But Mr HOWARD has accused the ALP of playing the politics of envy, as he defends the move
to allow ministers to retain shares in companies linked to their portfolios.

The code changes follow the forced resignation of three frontbenchers over conflicts of
interest and the resignation of four others over incorrect travel claims.



TENT (CANBERRA)

Protesters from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy are outraged after police extinguished a
ceremonial fire they had lit on the lawns in front of New Parliament House.

Police have also confiscated 211 spears representing what protesters say was each year of
genocide in Australia.

Tent embassy protesters moved from their regular location across from Old Parliament House
to the new parliament building earlier this week when federal parliamentarians returned for
the first sittings of the year.



IRAQ US ATTACK (WASHINGTON)

A US defence department spokesman says US fighter jets have pounded two Iraqi air defence
sites in the southern no-fly zone and returned safely to their bases with no damage.

Air Force Major JOE LAMARCA says the latest incident incident was in response to Iraqi
fighters flying in the southern exclusion zone.



US CLINTON (WASHINGTON)

With the television cameras gone and the public galleries emptied of spectators and
reporters, the US Senate has resumed debate over whether President BILL CLINTON should remain
in office.

As the closed-door deliberations continue, signs are emerging that support may be waning
for the perjury and obnstruction of justice articles and a censure of the president.

Senate Majority Leader TRENT LOTT says he'd like to set a vote for late tomorrow on whether
to convict CLINTON on the two charges, stemming from the MONICA LEWINSKY affair.



INDON TIMOR AUST (CANBERRA)

Foreign Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER has responded to criticism of the government's position
on East Timor by saying Australia will accept it becoming independent from Indonesia.

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD has come under fire after warning independence for East Timor
could create instability and conflict in the troubled province.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman LAURIE BRERETON says that sends a disturbing signal to
pro-integrationist militia groups in East Timor.



BRIEFLY IN OTHER NEWS....


The Federal Court in Melbourne may decide today whether Esso Australia can keep secret the
identity of the experts it used following last year's Longford gas explosion.


Lamb producers and the federal government have vowed to fight a US move to restrict imports of
Australian lamb, accusing the US of punishing Australia for providing a superior product.


Rescue teams in Indonesia have searched in vain for up to 312 people aboard a passenger ship
that sank in stormy seas between the islands of Borneo and Sumatra on Saturday.


A British coronial inquiry into the deaths of Australian ANDREW THIRSK and three Britons in a
bungled hostage rescue in Yemen last year has been delayed for a further six weeks.



AND IN SPORT....



TRI AUST (SYDNEY)

Queenslander cricketer STUART LAW will be rushed to Melbourne today after Australia lost
one-day finals hero MICHAEL BEVAN to a dislocated finger last night.

Australian paceman GLENN MCGRATH and captain SHANE WARNE inspired last night's thrilling
10-run win over England the first tri-series final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Australia leads the best of three series 1-0 with the second encounter at the Melbourne
Cricket Ground tomorrow.



GOLF MASTERS (MELBOURNE)

GREG NORMAN says he'll play the bare minimum number of golf tournaments in the US this year
as his off-course commitments gradually take priority in his life.

NORMAN will be chasing his seventh Australian Masters crown when he tees off at 12.10pm
today at Melbourne's remodelled Huntingdale course.

Teeing off with him on the first day will be New Zealander MICHAEL LONG, winner of the GREG
NORMAN International last week, and PETER O'MALLEY from New South Wales.



ENDS THE BREAKFAST ROUNDUP

AAP RTV mcm

KEYWORD: BREAKFAST ROUND-UP

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