AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, June 4

AAP General News (Australia)
06-04-2011
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, June 4
Midday Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1130


NZ Blast (Auckland)

New Zealand emergency services say the explosion which killed one man and injured six
others in a tunnel in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga was caused by an unidentified gas.

Superintendent GEORGE FRASER says the explosion happened four meters into a tunnel
where a new water main was being connected .. adding one of the injured men is in a critical
condition .. another is serious and the other four are still being assessed.

Auckland fire acting area commander STEVE LAKIN says they haven't determined which
gas caused the explosion.



Public NSW (SYDNEY)

The New South Wales Government has defended its decision to shut down a debate in the
state's upper house .. saying the filibustering of Greens and Labor MPs was an abuse of
parliament and waste of taxpayers money.

The government used a century old provision today to guillotine the debate on its public
sector wage reforms .. which began on Wednesday... and force the bill the committee stage.

The upper house will now debate amendments to the government's industrial relations
changes .. which controversially strips the Industrial Relations Commission of its power
to set public sector wages.

The government is now seeking a vote to restrict debate in the committee stage.. with
Finance Minister GREG PEARCE saying Labor had handed him 152 amendments.

The industrial relations bill is expected to eventually be passed by the upper house
.. with the support of cross bench MPs from the Shooters Party and Christian Democrats.



Afghan Poll (Sydney)

There's been another poll confirming Australians are getting fed up with the war in Afghanistan.

An exclusive Galaxy Poll for the Herald Sun has found 62 per cent of people want to
see all Australian troops home within six months.

The paper says the poll found that 19 per cent want an immediate pull out .. and 43
per cent want troops home by Christmas.

The poll of 500 people was taken on Wednesday and Thursday .. and came in a week when
two more Australians in Afghanistan were killed and a Victorian soldier was buried.



US Edwards (RALEIGH)

Former presidential hopeful JOHN EDWARDS has pleaded NOT guilty to charges of using
850-thousand dollars in campaign funds to cover up an extramarital affair.

The 57-year-old has been charged in a courthouse in Winston-Salem in North Carolina
in a six-count indictment for allegedly participating in a scheme to violate federal campaign
finance laws.

The former US senator .. who fathered a child in the affair with a film producer ..

says he's innocent and did not break the law.

The charges came after two years of investigations.



US Shootings (YUMA)

A 73-year-old Arizona man who gunned down his fifth ex-wife .. her lawyer and three
of her elderly friends has claimed in court filings that she and her friends harassed
him.

CAREY HAL DYESS also wounded his ex-wife's best friend in the shooting rampage on Thursday
in south-western Arizona before he killed himself.

DYESS and 61-year-old THERESA LORRAINE SIGURDSON married in 2002 and divorced five
years later... the two had also made allegations of domestic violence against each other.



US Girl (LOS ANGELES)

A logo on a piece of clothing and a Google search has helped track down an Australian
girl US police believe was one of many young victims of alleged US child predator STEPHEN
VOSILLA.

23-year-old VOSILLA is locked up in a Tennessee jail facing 30 years in prison for
allegedly sexually exploiting children he met in internet chat rooms.



McNEILL

The Australian Federal Police are reportedly investigating new evidence in the murder
of the Sydneysider JANELLE PATTON on Norfolk Island in 2002 and might send a forensic
team to the island.

The Sydney Morning Herald says GLENN MCNEILL .. the imprisoned New Zealander convicted
of the murder in 2007 .. says that a man and woman who were drug dealers on the island
killed Ms PATTON.

He claims he disposed of the body because he was threatened .. but did not commit the
murder .. and has given details to a New Zealand television program Investigator.



Briefly in other news ..



Yemen (SANAA)

Dissidents in Yemen have shelled the presidential palace compound .. wounding embattled
President ALI ABDULLAH SALEH.



Kylie (BRISBANE)

The Australian leg of Kylie Minogue's 25-million-plus dollar Aphrodite Les Folies tour
opened in Brisbane last night.



in Finance ...



Wall Close (NEW YORK)

US stocks have dropped sharply after a dismal report on the country's jobs situation in May.

In closing trades the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 97.29 points (0.79 per
cent) at 12,151.26.

The broader S&P 500 index lost 12.78 points (0.97 per cent) to 1300.16 .. while the
tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gave up 40.53 points (1.46 per cent) to 2732.78.

The sharp drop follows the latest dismal job figures .. indicating a slowing of the economy.



in Sport ..



Ten French Men (PARIS)

ROGER FEDERER will play defending champion RAFAEL NADAL in the final of the French Open tennis.

FEDERER advanced by ending NOVAK DJOKOVIC'S 43-match unbeaten streak .... the Swiss
winning 7-6 6-3 3-6 7-6.

Top seed NADAL earlier beat fourth seed ANDY MURRAY 6-4 7-5 6-4.



Gol PGA (DUBLIN, Ohio)

Australian golfer ROD PAMPLING has catapulted 50 places up the leaderboard to a share
of second place after the second round at the US PGA Tour Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

PAMPLING shot the round of the day, a blistering bogey-free six-under par 66, to move
to six-under for the tournament but a hole-in-one by American STEVE STRICKER on his penultimate
hole helped steal the lead at nine-under-par.

PAMPLING is tied with Northern Ireland's RORY McILROY and Americans RICKY BARNES and
JONATHAN BYRD three back of STRICKER while AARON BADDELEY is the next best Australian
in a tie for sixth.



Super Waratahs (SYDNEY)

The NSW Waratahs have lost their place in the Super Rugby top six to the Bulls after
a 23-17 defeat by that team in Pretoria.

The Bulls scored two tries to one against a Waratahs side which finished the game with
14 men after replacement lock PAT O'CONNOR was sent off for a head butt.

The Waratahs, who also lost four players to injuries, are now two points behind the
Bulls, with two rounds remaining.



AFL Eagles (PERTH)

Gold Coast will be aiming to celebrate skipper GARY ABLETT'S 200-game milestone in
grand style when they take on AFL surprise packets West Coast in Perth today.

The Eagles finished with the wooden spoon last year but have won five of their nine
matches this season to be on track for a finals appearance.

Unbeaten Geelong host the struggling Western Bulldogs, Brisbane play Sydney and Collingwood
take on St Kilda at the MCG.



AFL Hawks (MELBOURNE)

Hawthorn star LANCE FRANKLIN is a late withdrawal from tomorrow's AFL match against
Fremantle with a calf muscle injury.



ENDS MIDDAY ROUND-UP

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