AAP Internet Bulletin 1500 Sunday, Dec 13, 1998

AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-1998
AAP Internet Bulletin 1500 Sunday, Dec 13, 1998

[A][THAI CRASH][FED]

Three Australians expected to recover from Thai crash

CANBERRA - An Australian woman who ran through the agony of a cracked vertebra and three
broken ribs to escape an airline crash in Thailand said today she was only now coming to terms
with how close she and her two compatriots came to death.

"Ive looked at photos in the newspaper today of whats left of the plane and I really cant
believe were still around," Melanie McNamee, 24, told AAP from her bed in the Bandon
International Hospital at Surat Thani, 500km south of Bangkok.

Ms McNamee was the worst injured of the Australians aboard the flight.

Her travelling companion Lucinda Rhodes, 24, of Sydney, and 21-year-old Andrew Sharrock,
also from Sydney, suffered minor injuries.

All three were expected to make complete recoveries but would remain in hospital for some
days, Ms McNamee said.

"I had surgery on my back yesterday and Im told it went well and Ill be completely all
right. Im so lucky I only broke my spine, not my spinal column," she said.

"Ill be here for another week but Im just happy to be going home for Christmas."

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman today said there was almost certainly no
other Australians aboard the Thai Airways Airbus A310-300 which crashed while attempting to
land at Surat Thani airport on Friday, killing 101 people.

Forty-five people survived the crash.

"But positive identification of the final 12 victims could take some time," the spokesman
said.

Ms McNamee described the crash as a split-second event that gave her and her close friend Ms
Rhodes little warning of the disaster ahead.

"We knew something was wrong. Cindy was holding my hand and said: somethings going to
happen," she said.

"Then there was the enormous impact - falling from who knows whatever height.

"People were screaming. I knew I was hurt. My back and ribs were killing me and I couldnt
breathe."

Ms Rhodes said she was wedged between seats before she was able to free herself then help
her friend to a rip in the fuselage.

"We could hear the screaming. I could see people bleeding. I think they were dead. The
little kids were screaming," Ms Rhodes said.

"I don't remember seeing much else, we moved to just keep each other alive."

Ms McNamee said absolute fear gripped her after her friend helped her through the fuselage.

"When we were trying to get out of the plane it was already up in flames; we knew it was
going to explode and it was sheer terror," she said.

The fuselage was scorching to touch as the women climbed out. They lowered themselves with
vines into a thigh-deep swamp through which they dragged themselves to safety.





[A][COAL][FED]

National coal strike from midnight

SYDNEY - Up to 20,000 coal miners across Australia will strike for 48 hours from midnight
tonight in protest against a cut in the price of coking coal.

Construction, Mining, Forestry, and Energy Union national president Tony Maher said three
leading coal exporters had agreed to a $US9 ($A14.60) a tonne, or 18 per cent, price cut.

He said the new coking coal price agreement by North Goonyella Mine, Mt Isa Mines (MIM) and
Shell was made in Britain to "avoid scrutiny".

"Coal is Australias biggest export earner - it earns $10 billion a year for the country so
a 20 per cent drop means $2 billion lost to Australia," Mr Maher said.

He said the price cut would mean further job losses in an industry already reeling from the
loss of 4,000 jobs in the past 12 months.

"For every mine worker lost, another three jobs are lost from the flow on effect - that
means 16,000 jobs lost," he said.

"Now therell be many more on the scrapheap."

Mr Maher believes the problems in the coal industry stem from an oversupply of coal.

"Theres 20 million tonne excess capacity coming out of Australia," he said.

"Were allowing too many new mines to come on stream and the government just sits back and
lets them open up new mines."

In accepting the price cut, mine owners had made a "blind grab" for market share instead of
price, Mr Maher said.





[S][OLY BRIBE][OLY]

Atlanta officials deny bribery claims

ATLANTA - Atlanta Olympic organisers and government officials angrily denied
charges today that International Olympic Committee members were bribed during the city's
successful bid for the 1996 Centennial Games.

"No payments, direct or indirect," said Billy Payne, who led Atlanta's bid for the 1996
Games and was chief of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. "No scholarships, direct
or indirect. ...

"I have never heard of that and will state positively, unequivocally, Atlanta did not do
that."

Marc Hodler, a senior member of the IOC Committee executive board, told reporters in
Switzerland that organisers in Atlanta and other host cities paid for the votes of IOC members
during the bidding process.

The 80-year-old Swiss lawyer said agents work on the behalf of IOC members seeking the best
possible deal. Hodler charged that payments were sometimes made in the form of college
scholarships to relatives of IOC members.

Hodler said other organising committees, including 1998 Winter Games host Salt Lake City,
also bribed IOC members.

The board of trustees overseeing the Salt Lake City Olympics will meet in emergency session
next Friday to discuss the controversy, bringing forward its planned January 14 meeting.

In his 1996 book, "The New Lords of the Rings," British journalist Andrew Jennings said
that ACOG paid the tuition for the stepson of a powerful Russian Olympic official.

Andrei Smirnov, the stepson of then-IOC executive committee member Vitaly Smirnov, enrolled
at the University of Georgia in 1991, a year after Atlanta won the bid.

On Saturday, Payne said he worked on the younger Smirnov's behalf but never made payments.
He said the aid never went beyond offering contact names and phone numbers.





[A][BIKERS][NSW]

Biker movie rally ends in road death.

SYDNEY - One motorcyclist was killed and 14 others were injured when a motorcycle collided
with a car, causing a 50-bike pile-up during a 20,000-strong motorcycle rally just north of
Sydney on Saturday.

Rock veteran Angry Anderson was one those injured when a car and motorbike clipped each
other, toppling up to 50 other riders in the group travelling the F3 motorway near Tuggerah.

Police named the dead man as Craig Witherspoon, 29, of Abermain, in the New South Wales
Lower Hunter region, who was also a member of the Maitland Gladiators club.

The victims were part of a motorcade of up to 20,000 bikies from throughout the nation on a
road trip commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Australian cult classic film Stone.

The noon pile-up near the Cobbs Road overpass north of Tuggerah came less than halfway
through their journey from Berowra to Raymond Terrace.

Coincidentally, the accident occurred on an extended stretch of the F3 featured in the
bikie film.

Police said it appeared a car may have been involved in the tragedy, which killed a
Maitland Gladiators group member, whose name has not been released, and injured 14 others.

"Our initial inquiries indicate that possibly some sort of collision between a motor
vehicle and motorcyclists ... has caused a concertina, domino effect," a spokesman said.

An ambulance spokesman said two people with spinal injuries had been airlifted to Sydneys
Royal North Shore Hospital and Newcastles John Hunter Hospital.

Three people sustained serious head injuries, three had multiple limb injuries and six had
minor injuries.

Angry Anderson was believed to have suffered minor injuries.

the 50-year-old Anderson, the frontman of the band Rose Tattoo, was taken to Gosford
Hospital with what his manager, Matthew Ellard, would only describe as non-life-threatening
injuries.

Mr Ellard said Anderson, as lead singer of one of Australias leading bands in the 1970s
and early 1980s, had a lot of bikie friends.

"Rose Tattoo is a bikie band, these guys just would have called and asked to come for the
ride. It being for charity, Angry wouldnt have been able to help himself," Mr Ellard said of
the singer who had recently done a national tour with the reformed band.





[T][CRICKET BRIBES][CRIK]

ACB waiting on Pakistan summons for Waugh and Warne

The Australian Cricket Board is tight-lipped over a request for Shane Warne and Mark
Waugh to give evidence at a Pakistan judicial inquiry into match fixing.

The judge in charge of the inquiry has issued a summons for the pair to appear before him
in Lahore on December 19 but the ACB says it won't comment until it receives the summons.

Waugh and Warne this week admitted they took money from an Indian bookmaker for providing
information on Australia's tour of Sri Lanka in 1994.

ACB officials have previously said it's unlikely either will go to Pakistan to give
evidence but say the decision will be up to the players.





[A][TYRES][FED]

Wrong tyre pressure poses huge safety risk: survey

SYDNEY - Almost 80 per cent of car tyres are incorrectly inflated, posing a major threat to
safety, a national survey has found.

The annual survey of 1,000 drivers also revealed close to three quarters of all cars on
Australian roads were technically unroadworthy because of poor tyre condition.

Tread on front and rear tyres was considered dangerous in 67 per cent of tyres studied, the
Beaurepaires Safe Tyre Indicator found.

Beaurepaires general manager John Lindsay said the findings were a concern for motorists
because vehicles deemed unsafe due to tyre faults were a major hazard to all road users.

"Motorists are constantly reminded about the importance of wearing seat belts, observing
posted speed limits and refraining from drinking and driving," he said in a statement.

"However, it demonstrates that when it comes to tyres, drivers are just not as serious."

The survey also found 77 per cent of spare tyres over or under inflated.

This demonstrated that because of incorrect inflation, motorists could not rely on the
performance of the tyres, it said.

Just over half the drivers checked their tyre pressures at least once every three months,
with 15 per cent of the drivers surveyed admitting they never checked the pressure.





[I][CLINTON IMPEACH][US]

Clinton impeachment push progresses

WASHINGTON - Plagued by partisanship to the end, the House Judiciary Committee today
approved a fourth and final Republican-drafted article of impeachment against President Bill
Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Democrats demanded a lesser punishment of censure in advance of next week's historic
showdown in the full House over charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misuse of
power.

By a vote of 21-16, the committee accused the president of abuse of power, saying he had
"given perjurious, false and misleading" answers to some of the 81 questions the panel recently
asked about his relationship with the former White House intern.

The vote was along straight party lines, in keeping with yesterday's approval of three other
articles alleging perjury and obstruction of justice.

Clinton, who told the nation yesterday he would accept rebuke or censure from Congress, was
overseas at the time of the vote.

An aide, Gregory Craig, stepped before cameras outside the White House with a stinging
statement of rebuttal: Impeachment, he said, will "divide the country, gridlock the government
and defy the will of the people."

In a suggestion that Republicans may pay a political price for their actions, he added, "in
the end, the American people will make the final judgment about whether the impeachment of the
president is in the national interest."

Inside the committee room, the debate grew sharper as the panel neared the end of its
historic inquiry into the behaviour of the nation's 42nd president.

Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan told committee members: "This does, sometimes to
some people, begin to take on the appearance of a coup."

With no doubt about the outcome of the committee's deliberations, all sides were focusing on
a vote expected on Thursday in the House the first presidential impeachment proceedings to
get that far since Andrew Johnson sat in the White House in 1868.





[A][WAVERLEY][VIC]

Bailout plan for embattled Waverley Park

MELBOURNE - The embattled Waverley Park football ground may yet survive if a sports stadium,
planned as part of Melbournes 2006 Commonwealth Games bid, is built there.

The Victorian government plans to build the stadium at Royal Park, on the edge of the CBD.

But the Save Waverley Park Group wants the government to move the project to the ailing
football ground in Melbournes outer east.

The AFL plans to close Waverley, which has been home to both Essendon and Hawthorn clubs,
sell off the land for real estate and pour the money into the new Docklands stadium in the
city.

And while ardent footy fans have formed the lobby group in an attempt to keep a football
ground in the eastern suburbs, their fight has seemed all but lost.

However, the Royal Park Protection Group supports the idea that a new sports stadium should
be built at Waverley.

"Waverley Park is a sports park and the AFL is saying that its not a viable ground,"
spokeswoman Angela Munro told ABC radio.

"But if it gets this injection of $25 million for the construction of a hockey and netball
stadium with gridiron, televised sport and so on, theres a capital injection of funds plus the
potential for revenue, which makes it viable."

She said the plan would justify the building of a long-promised rail connection between
Melbourne and Waverley Park and Monash University.





[I][TOWER][EUR]

Pisa holds breath as work begins on leaning tower

PISA, Italy - After nearly a decade of delays, work has begun to ensure that the famed
Leaning Tower of Pisa does not topple over.

But residents whose livelihoods depend on the hordes of tourists who flock to Pisa for a
view of the tower are holding their breath - hoping nothing will go wrong to jeopardise their
future.

"After all these years of study upon study, I just hope they have chosen the best
procedure," Fabio Magagnini, a taxi driver, said yesterday.

"Around town everyone is saying, "Let's hope they don't make it fall."

According to an ambitious - and risky - plan, the 12th-century tower will be straightened by
a half-degree, enough to stabilise it but not enough for the naked eye to detect.

If the project succeeds, as the international committee that devised the plan predicts,
tourists might soon be allowed to again make the dizzying climb up the tower's spiral
staircase.

Visits to the interior of the tower were banned in 1990 for fear the monument could
collapse.

The first phase of the project, meant to safeguard the tower for centuries to come, foresees
the attachment of two sets of steel "suspenders".

Yesterday, a huge crane raised a 5cm thick and 103m long cable above the tower. Workers
attached it to a giant hook fixed to the third of the tower's eight stories of arches, about
30m above the ground.

The cables are anchored to giant winches dug into the ground about 100m from the tower.





[I][MIDEAST CLINTON][MID]

Clinton in Mideast, meeting Netanyahu and Arafat

JERUSALEM - After a defiant but warm welcome from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
US President Bill Clinton is trying to get the crisis-plagued Wye River peace accord back on
track.

At a late-night arrival ceremony for Clinton yesterday, Netanyahu said he hoped the
president's visit would "contribute to true peace". Again, the Israeli leader accused the
Palestinians of ignoring commitments in peace accords.

Clinton opens talks with Netanyahu today and with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat tomorrow
in the Gaza Strip.

"Mr President," Netanyahu said, speaking in Hebrew. "The truth has to be told. In recent
weeks the Palestinians again constantly, systematically and intentionally violated all their
commitments. We are not entitled, not able and not prepared to forego fulfillment of those
commitments."

Netanyahu, who is facing political turmoil in his hard-line coalition government, said he
could not accept "a phony peace on paper" which is "not honoured in practice".

Since Clinton presided over its signing in Washington in October, the land-for-security
agreement he helped broker at Wye River, Maryland, has hit one snag after another.

Israel then froze implementation of the accord altogether, accusing Arafat of violating the
deal and inciting violent street protests.

Clinton said peacemaking has opened historic opportunities to Israel. The president said the
United States shares Israel's concerns about security.

"Peace is not simply an option among many but the only choice that can avert still more
years of bloodshed, apprehension and sorrow. That is why I'm here." He said "both sides now
must face the challenge of implementing Wye."

Accompanied by his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, the president flew from the airport on
Marine One to Jerusalem where they will stay during the three-day trip to Israel and
Palestinian territories.





[F][BANKS][FED]

Aust investors to focus on bank annual meetings

SYDNEY - Investors are expected to seek more details this week from National Australia Bank
Ltd chief executive Don Argus on the banks threat to move offshore unless the big bank federal
anti-merger policy is removed.

Australias most profitable bank holds its annual general meeting on Thursday in Melbourne,
and shareholders will be hoping that Mr Argus provides more information on the banks strategy
on the anti-merger policy, known as Four Pillars.

Senior executives from the bank, including Mr Argus, have orchestrated a high-profile
campaign in the past month, including selective media leaks and on-the-record interviews on
behind-closed-doors talks with federal government ministers and policy advisers.

The media reports, ranging from speculation to unnamed bank executives to direct quotes from
named NAB executives, have caused banking stocks to surged higher in the past month.

To allay the banks concerns on being left behind in the global scramble for scale and size
as offshore banks become bigger through mega-mergers, Treasurer Peter Costello recently said
the government would oppose a foreign takeover of a major Australian bank.

Still, Mr Costello and Prime Minister John Howard have been consistent in their calls for
more competition among the banks in interest rate pricing before the government even considers
unwinding the Four Pillars policy.

Also on Thursday, Westpac Banking Corp Ltd holds its annual general meeting in Sydney. Its
chief executive, Bob Joss, has argued that business lending rates - a key government issue -
are already more competitive here than in the US or Hong Kong.

"I have been in banking all my career, in America and Hong Kong, and credit spreads for
small business in Australia are better than those other markets," Mr Joss said.

Despite the market favouring a merger between NAB and ANZ Banking Group Ltd, as indicated by
its share price recently, NAB executives have been talking up interest in either Westpac or
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd.

And CBA officials have examined the costings on several possible bank acquisitions in case
the government does change its policy, but the bank has not aired any details.





[A][TRAVEL][NSW]

Whelan says wife not part-owner of agency under scrutiny

SYDNEY - New South Wales Police Minister Paul Whelan has denied reports that his wife was
part-owner of a travel agency at the centre of an inquiry into claims that politicians were
lobbied to use the business to take trips.

The Sun-Herald reported that the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was
looking at politicians use of Perfect Travel as an example of an "inappropriate use of a
travel agency" by politicians.

An ICAC report highlighted claims that MPs were "encouraged to favour" the agency in an
"inappropriate" arrangement that "was not in the public interest", the paper said.

It said the agency was part-owned by Mr Whelans wife, Colleen Whelan.

Mr Whelan said last night his wife had no interest in and derived no benefit from Perfect
Travel.

"This has been the case since 1988," he said in a statement.

"She has never been to the office pictured (in the newspaper) and doesnt even know where it
is."

He said no-one from the ICAC had approached him or Mrs Whelan about the matter since it
began its inquiry almost 12 months ago.

He said Mrs Whelan had never spoken to any member of parliament about, or encouraged any
member of parliament to use, Perfect Travel.





[A][PHONES][FED]

Businesses unhappy with telecommunications carriers

CANBERRA - Many small and medium-sized businesses in New South Wales were unhappy with the
service provided by their telecommunications carriers and the costs they charged, a new survey
revealed.

Australian Business said a survey of 1,050 businesses had shown 62 per cent of the 159
groups that responded could have changed their carrier if they had had more information to
compare costs.

But Australian Business policy manager Paul Orton said 63 per cent of respondents had stated
they did not have enough information to select the carrier offering the best deal for them.

"It is surprising that 62 per cent of firms had considered using different
telecommunications carriers," Mr Orton said.

"This compares with about one-third which were considering changing banks in the financial
market."

He said it was possible businesses were remaining with their current providers to avoid the
burden of changing service providers.

Costs were the greatest concern for 82.6 per cent of businesses which responded to the
survey.

This was followed by service at 82.1 per cent, billing issues at 66.6 per cent, number
portability at 60.4 per cent and choice of carrier or provider at 56.7 per cent.

Despite the promises of lower costs because of competition between carriers, Mr Orton said
the survey found 69 per cent of firms experienced higher total costs.

But part of this increase could be explained by increasing reliance on telecommunications
for firms.





[A][DEGREES][QLD]

School leavers beware of bogus courses - Minister

BRISBANE - Queenslands 35,000 school leavers could be at the mercy of commercial tricksters
peddling illegal higher education qualifications, state Education Minister Dean Wells warned
today.

Mr Wells advised school leavers and their parents to check the accreditation of
organisations or institutes offering any form of training or higher education, after a spate of
official warnings were issued to organisations advertising or conferring illegal awards.

"Young people are under considerable pressure to get formal qualifications as a basis for
their future employment and an increasing number of organisations are taking advantage of the
naivety of some individuals," he said.

Mr Wells said students had been tricked into wasting thousands of dollars to get degree
qualifications which were not worth the paper they were written on.

If the shonky qualifications are used to get a job or enter another education institute,
students face legal action and fines of up to $7,500.

"In the past twelve months, the department has issued warnings to nine organisations for
advertising or conferring awards illegally," he said.

"Penalties of up to $15,000 for individuals or organisations found to be offering or
conferring awards illegally can be applied."

Mr Wells told of a group of students who believed they were undertaking apprenticeships at a
health clinic.

At the end of two years of study, they were presented with a certificate claiming to be a
bachelor degree.

"The award was not worth the paper it was written on," he said.

In another case, Mr Wells said, people had answered advertisements claiming a PhD can be
earned in two years at a particular institution.

"Two years down the track, the student receives the award, but at the same time finds out
the award not only has been issued in another country, but will not be recognised as an award
at the PhD level in Australia," he said.





[I][DIANA INTELLIGENCE][US]

Diana file no big deal, say US spooks

WASHINGTON - Documents compiled by the US National Security Agency over many years name the
late Princess Diana on 1,056 pages.

But today intelligence officials said the references are casual and incidental and that she
was never a target of US intelligence efforts.

"It's what we would call incidental mentions," said an official of the National Security
Council - who like most spooks, wouldnt give his name.

"This is just a famous person."

The fact that NSA agents picked up mentions of Diana in its international electronic
monitoring was disclosed when the agency denied an Internet news service's Freedom of
Information Act request for any intercepts mentioning her - but acknowledged in the process
that such intercepts existed.

The Daily Mirror in London said: "America's spy chiefs admitted ... they snooped on Princess
Diana for years - and learned some of her most intimate love secrets."

Agency officials said the facts are not that lurid but that they could not disclose details
without compromising sources and methods of intelligence collection.

"There may be classified documents that mention Lady Diana," the intelligence official
said.

"But intelligence officers did not target her. It's all just a matter of her name being
mentioned here and there. People attending her funeral would be a good example."

The high page count of Diana listings "can be extremely misleading," the official asserted.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 1500

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