Highlights of the AAP newsfile, Thursday morning

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-1999
Highlights of the AAP newsfile, Thursday morning
KOSOVO (BELGRADE)

NATO has stepped up its bombing campaign while dismissing
Yugoslav President SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC'S unilateral ceasefire with
ethnic Albanian rebels.

This is while Cypriot leader SPYROS KYPRIANOU says he is close
to arranging the release of three US soldiers captured by Yugoslav
forces.

KYPRIANOU says he may be going to Belgrade tomorrow to secure
the release of the three US soldiers to Cyprus, which would hand
them over to US authorities.

Yugoslav authorities, meanwhile, appear to be moving away from
forcing ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo.

Authorities have closed the main route that refugees have been
taking into Albania, forcing tens of thousands of people back
inside the embattled province.

In Macedonia, a border enclave where tens of thousands of
Kosovo refugees have been trapped for days in squalid conditions
has been emptied.

NATO has continued its bombing raids overnight despite
MILOSEVIC'S declaration of a unilateral ceasefire in his war with
the rebels in Kosovo.

The government says the ceasefire, which took effect last
night, is to honour the Orthodox Easter holiday this weekend.

But Western leaders have denounced the ceasefire offer as a
sham, pledging to press ahead with airstrikes until MILOSEVIC
accepts Western terms.



KOSOVO AUST (CANBERRA)

The federal opposition says plans to house Kosovo refugees in
remote military camps are a disaster while local Albanians compare
the proposal to concentration camps in their homeland.

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD admits the government has still to
work out details of what to do with 4,000 temporary refugees from
Kosovo.

Victorian Premier JEFF KENNETT has reportedly offered to take
all refugees into his state.

The Herald Sun quotes Mr KENNETT as saying regional centres
across Victoria may be used as temporary homes for the refugees.

He says Victorians should do their part in the worldwide
humanitarian effort to help ethnic Albanians fleeing the crisis.

And he's signalled Victorians may need to shelter the refugees
longer than the three months anticipated by the HOWARD Government.



Meanwhile ...

A 25-year-old Bonnyrigg man will face Liverpool Local Court
today after being charged in relation to a Serbian protest outside
the American Consulate in central Sydney on April 28.

He was charged yesterday at Green Valley Police Station in
Sydney's west with stealing an American flag and causing malicious
damage to a flagpole.



PREMIERS (CANBERRA)

State and territory leaders are on their way to Canberra for
tomorrow's Premiers conference, with drugs and the GST at the top
of their agenda.

Several premiers intend to press Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD to
reverse his opposition to a legalised heroin trial in a bid to
counter Australia's growing illicit drug problem.

And the carve up of GST revenue remains a key issue, with
Queensland and Tasmania warning they don't want to be left out by
the bigger states.

Northern Territory Chief Minister DENIS BURKE was expected to
fly in last night to prepare for his first premier's conference.

Victorian Premier JEFF KENNETT arrives today to address the
National Press Club.

Also winging their way into Canberra today will be newly
re-elected New South Wales Premier BOB CARR, Queensland's PETER
BEATTIE, South Australia's JOHN OLSEN, West Australia's RICHARD
COURT and Tasmania's JIM BACON.

ACT Chief Minister KATE CARNELL will drive to the conference.

A leaders' forum will be held at the Hyatt Hotel this
afternoon.



RESHUFFLE (SYDNEY)

New South Wales Premier BOB CARR'S new-look ministry will be
sworn in today after being finalised at Labor's first caucus
meeting since last month's resounding election win.

Mr CARR yesterday received a standing ovation at the meeting in
parliament house, but dumped Environment Minister PAM ALLAN was a
notable absentee.

The Premier is yet to publicly reveal the extent of the
reshuffle which is expected to increase the cabinet to 21 and give
the ministry a fresh look by promoting six MPs.

Labor powerbroker JOHN DELLA BOSCA is tipped to be given a
wide-ranging brief as Special Minister for State.

And Deputy Premier ANDREW REFSHAUGE is likely to swap his
health portfolio with Urban Affairs Minister CRAIG KNOWLES while
Corrective Services Minister BOB DEBUS could add Ms ALLAN'S
environment portfolio to his responsibilities.

Public works is expected to go to MORRIS IEMMA, with upper
house MP EDDIE OBEID likely to get fisheries and mineral
resources.

JOHN WATKINS will probably get the sports portfolio and SANDRA
NORI would be a natural for fair trading after serving as a
parliamentary secretary on small business.

Upper house MP CARMEL TEBBUTT is expected to take
responsibility for juvenile justice, a meteoric rise for an MP who
has been in parliament for less than a year.



JOBS PREVIEW (SYDNEY)

The Australian labour market is expected to show further signs
of improvement when figures for March are released today.

But economists predict the gain in the number of people
employed is unlikely to be as substantial as last month despite
the country's general economic strength.

In February, employment grew by 32,900, the unemployment rate
fell to a seasonally adjusted 7.4 per cent from 7.5 per cent
previously.

Experts say the combination of firmer employment and more
people seeking work could account for a slight rise in the
unemployment rate to 7.5 per cent.



ROYALS AUST (SYDNEY)

Queen Elizabeth will reportedly visit in the first half of next
year in what may be her final royal tour as the constitutional
monarch of Australia.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper says it's understood the Queen's
tour, the first in seven years, had been delayed to avoid royal
embarrassment from the republic debate.

The referendum on replacing her with a commoner president as
Head of State will be held in early November.

The newspaper says Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD will formally
report the referendum's outcome to the Queen at a Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting in South Africa later that month.

The Telegraph says Mr HOWARD, an outspoken monarchist, has
wanted to host a royal visit since his Coalition Government won
power in 1996.

It says the timing of the visit confirms Mr HOWARD'S direction
that the Prime Minister will open the Sydney Olympics and not the
Queen, who's unlikely to visit twice in the same year.



TOW (SYDNEY)

A man charged over the murder of a Sydney tow truck driver will
appear in court today.

Police say they have charged a 27-year-old Brighton Le Sands
man over what they call the execution-style killing of 31-year-old
ALBERT BRIKHA.

Mr BRIKHA was shot dead in the driveway of his Liverpool home
after returning from work on February 20 last year.

The spokesman says the arrest follows lengthy inquiries by
Crime Agencies detectives attached to Strike Force Goldfield
investigating organised crime.



PANCAKE (MELBOURNE)

A major public health education campaign is being planned to
help prevent food poisoning prepared by volunteers following the
recent death of an elderly Victorian man.

Health officials say the Victorian Government will release a
set of health guidelines for volunteers preparing food for public
sale within the next month.

The guidelines, currently open to public comment in draft form,
are part of a public education campaign to prevent food poisoning
prepared by volunteers.

Victorian human services department head of disease control Dr
JOHN CARNIE says volunteer groups who cook food for the public may
underestimate the deadly risks.



BRIEFS:


Unionists plan to bring a long-running strike at an outback
Queensland mine to Sydney today.


Forensic scientists in Adelaide are today expected to release the
results of an examination on a baby dolphin thought to have been
stabbed to death.


The New South Wales Farmers' Association says allowing more
foreign-trained doctors to practice medicine will solve
Australia's rural doctor crisis.


A report on the environmental effects of staging the 2000 Olympics
volleyball competition at Bondi Beach will be available for public
review and comment from tomorrow.



AAP

KEYWORD: BREAKFAST ROUND-UP

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.