FED: Police officer, QC part of child abuse network

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2008
FED: Police officer, QC part of child abuse network

A retired QC from Victoria .. a police officer from New South Wales and a childcare
worker are among people arrested as part of an investigation into a global internet child
abuse ring.

More than 15-thousand videos and 500-thousand images of child abuse have been seized
as a result of the 12-month investigation.

Police say the images are among the worst they have seen .. and involve children as
young as 12 months old.

The investigation .. dubbed Operation Resistance .. has so far resulted in the arrest
of 19 men across New South Wales .. Victoria and Queensland .. and more arrests are expected.

Two children in NSW had been removed from contact with alleged offenders.

Retired 74-year-old QC .. NEIL JAMES WILLIAMS .. of Newham in central Victoria .. is
one of the people facing child pornography charges as part of the investigation.

AAP RTV srj/kms/pmu/wz/crh

KEYWORD: PORN (CANBERRA)

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

Main stories in today's AM program

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2008
Main stories in today's AM program

SYDNEY, Aug 8 AAP - Main stories in today's AM program:

* In China, the flag has been raised in Tiananmen Square on the first day of the Beijing
Olympics.

* A large crowd gathered at Tiananmen Square, shouting patriotic and pro-Olympic slogans.

* Yesterday a BBC pollution reading suggests that air pollution levels in Beijing were
worse than World Health Organisation standards.

* The World Anti-Doping Authority has issued a stern warning to sprinters - clean up
the sport or become irrelevant.

* The Rudd government is moving to distance itself from the previous government's attitude
towards the United Nations.

* Attorney-General Robert McClelland says he is moving Australia towards becoming a
good international citizen by supporting the outlawing of "water boarding". The government
could be placed in a difficult position by supporting a UN protocol against torture -
tasers are banned under the protocol.

* School principals say a decision on what goes into a national primary school curriculum
will be politicised and overcrowded.

* As the world's attention turns to the Olympics, candidates in the Northern Territory
will be focusing on the finish line of their very short election campaign.

* With the world running out of oil, attention has turned to the ownership of the North Pole.

* The National Rugby League and Canterbury Bulldogs will again go to court to attempt
to stop Sonny Bill Williams playing rugby union in France.

AAP pbc/rl

KEYWORD: MONITOR ABC AM

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

NT: Bob Collins took own life, coroner finds

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2008
NT: Bob Collins took own life, coroner finds

The Northern Territory Coroner has found former Labor senator and alleged paedophile
BOB COLLINS .. took his own life using a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol.

Mr COLLINS died at the age of 61 .. three days before he was due to face court on child
sex abuse charges dating back 30 years.

The charges included possessing child pornography .. indecent assault .. carnal knowledge
and sexual intercourse without consent.

His death last September followed a long battle with bowel cancer .. which had delayed
legal proceedings against him.

In a statement issued today .. Northern Territory Coroner GREG CAVANAGH said the former
senator had taken his own life.

AAP RTV tr/rt/bart

KEYWORD: COLLINS (DARWIN)

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

NSW: Paramedics may strike during APEC, unions warn

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2007
NSW: Paramedics may strike during APEC, unions warn

New South Wales ambulance officers may walk off the job during next month's APEC summit.

Their union claims the latest pay offer from the state government is insulting.

The Health Service Union says ambulance officers have waited two years for a pay deal
.. and have been presented with an offer which will leave most of them worse off .. some
by 88 dollars a week.

Union members will meet next Saturday to decide their next step.





HSU general-secretary MICHAEL WILLIAMSON says a strike next week is entirely possible.

He says it can't be ruled in .. or out.

Mr WILLIAMSON says the ambulance service has failed to ensure sufficient staff to meet
usual requirements.

He says the situation will only be made worse during a major event like APEC.

AAP RTV nr/was/ibw/bart

KEYWORD: PARAMEDICS UNION (SYDNEY)

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

Vic: Video abuse scandal now embroils elite school

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2007
Vic: Video abuse scandal now embroils elite school

Melbourne's prestigious Xavier College has been embroiled in a new scandal .. this
time over a video of classmates kicking .. pushing and taunting a 15-year-old fellow student.

A relative of the victim says he believes police will begin investigating the source
of the video today.

News Limited papers report the bullying was filmed last October by another student
on a mobile phone .. and was distributed to others via other phones and the internet.

It was also briefly uploaded to the YouTube video sharing website.

Five Xavier students have been suspended over the incident .. which the college's development
director GRAHAM SHARP describes as a prank that got out of hand.

Two days ago it was revealed one Xavier student was expelled for allegedly selling
marijuana at the school .. while others had been suspended for allegedly buying it.

AAP RTV jrd/tm

KEYWORD: XAVIER (MELBOURNE)

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

Fed: Gift ideas for a green and meaningful christmas.

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2006
Fed: Gift ideas for a green and meaningful christmas.

Want to give someone a Christmas present that'll also help combat global warming?

A company's come up with an idea for gift certificates .. that work in the same way
as carbon emissions trading.

Under the climate-neutral gift certificates .. individuals or businesses calculate
how much carbon they produce.

They then buy credits that help fund projects .. to cut the same amount of carbon.

The certificates are the idea of Climate Friendly Australia .. an emissions offsetting
company which supports two projects .. the Challicum Hills wind farm in Victoria .. and
the Te Apiti wind farm in New Zealand.

Environmental scientist and director of Climate Friendly Australia .. JOEL FLEMING
.. says the gift certificates are a practical way to support clean energy solutions.

AAP RTV sld/sb/imc/nf/rt/tm

KEYWORD: XMAS CLIMATE (CANBERRA)

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

Fed: Milestones of the Week

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2006
Fed: Milestones of the Week

SYDNEY, Aug 4 AAP - Milestones of the Week:



INCREASED - Interest rates by the Reserve Bank by a quarter of a percentage point to
a six-year high of six per cent.



THWARTED - Treasurer Peter Costello's leadership ambitions as John Howard announces
his decision to stay on as prime minister to contest his fifth consecutive election.



CHARGED - Australian-raised Oscar winner Mel Gibson with drink driving after being
arrested on Friday night when he made highly controversial anti-Semitic comments to arresting
officers.



APPOINTED - Glenn Stevens to governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, replacing outgoing
Ian Macfarlane.



CROWNED - Queen of the turf, Makybe Diva, named Australian Champion Racehorse for the
second consecutive year, despite being in retirement.



AAP kaj/jlw/grc/bwl

KEYWORD: MILESTONES

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