Qld: Shooting "unavoidable", police

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2008
Qld: Shooting "unavoidable", police

A senior officer says two north Queensland policemen had no choice but to shoot a man
.. who was running at them with a knife.

A 31-year-old man is in a serious but stable condition in Cairns Hospital .. after
he was shot three times outside a home in Edmonton .. south of Cairns .. about three am
(AEST).

Cairns Acting Superintendent MAURICE CARLESS says the officers had unsuccessfully attempted
to negotiate with the man .. before he ran at them.

Superintendent CARLESS says the two senior constables are receiving counseling .. but
says it appears their actions were necessary.

Premier ANNA BLIGH says she won't jump to any conclusions about whether police used
excessive force .. and the public can be assured a thorough investigation will be carried
out.

AAP RTV ews/tm

KEYWORD: SHOOTING (BRISBANE)

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

NT: No evidence to support claims of child sex trade, police say

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2008
NT: No evidence to support claims of child sex trade, police say

Northern Territory police say there's no evidence to support claims of a child sex
trade .. at a remote mining town in the Northern Territory.

Indigenous leader GALARRWUY YUNUPINGU has claimed Aboriginal girls as young as 13 have
been having sex with non-indigenous workers for drugs .. alcohol .. taxi rides and cash.

He says 12 girls are currently working as child prostitutes at Nhulunbuy .. about 650
kilometres east of Darwin.

The reports prompted the federal government to send a child abuse taskforce to the
remote Arnhem Land town.

But Northern Territory Acting Assistant Police Commissioner COLLEEN GWYNNE says there's
no evidence to support the claims .. even though there is a rumour in Nhulunbuy these
things are occurring.

AAP RTV tr/wz/tm

KEYWORD: NHULUNBUY (DARWIN)

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

Vic: 11 years jail for father who killed stepdaughter, 3,

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2007
Vic: 11 years jail for father who killed stepdaughter, 3,

MELBOURNE, Dec 6 AAP - A Melbourne man has been jailed for 11 years for killing his
three-year-old stepdaughter in a fit of rage.

Liliana Lam died after Phong Gia Quach pushed her against a bathroom sink at their
house in Noble Park, in southeast Melbourne, on May 3, 2006, after she had vomited on
herself.

Liliana died from a ruptured mesentery - attached to the abdomen wall - causing her
to bleed to death.

Quach, 23, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

In sentencing Quach, Victorian Supreme Court judge Bernard Teague said Liliana was
defenceless in her stepfather's hands.

He said the sustained punishment the toddler endured was more insidious than other
forms of assault and fathers and stepfathers must be discouraged from abusing their power.

"The unintended killing of small children in these circumstances is a product of the
children being small and powerless and their fathers or father figures being big and powerful,"

Justice Teague told the court.

Quach was sentenced to 11 years in jail with a non-parole period of eight years.

AAP ce/szp/gfr/bwl

KEYWORD: QUACH (PIX AVAILABLE)

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

NSW: More pokies in problem gambling areas a concern: Salvos

AAP General News (Australia)
04-23-2007
NSW: More pokies in problem gambling areas a concern: Salvos

The Salvation Army says an increase of pokies in problem gambling areas .. shows a
statewide cap on the number of machines isn't enough.

Publicans are reportedly transferring poker machines from country areas to Sydney pubs
.. particularly in inner-city and south-west areas.

Figures show despite a statewide cap introduced in 2001 .. the number of poker machines
in hotels in Sydney has risen from 13 thousand 318 to 13 thousand 499.

The Salvation Army's GERARD BYRNE says while caps reduced the number of machines statewide
.. numbers in problem areas have increased.







The Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing says the figures showing an increase in Sydney
only include hotels and not clubs .. where numbers have fallen .

It says the total number of machines has fallen by one thousand 300 in the past six years.

The office says the statewide cap is 104 thousand machines .. and there's currently
six thousand pokies less than that throughout the state.

AAP RTV nr/was/bart

KEYWORD: POKIES (SYDNEY)

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

Fed: Australia cannot change Indonesia's ruling on Bashir: PM

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-2006
Fed: Australia cannot change Indonesia's ruling on Bashir: PM

The prime minister says he feels for the families of the 2002 Bali bombing victims
.. after Muslim cleric ABU BAKAR BASHIR was cleared of any involvement.

But JOHN HOWARD says he has no power to overturn the decision.

Yesterday Indonesia's Supreme Court ruled BASHIR did NOT give his blessing to the bombings
.. overturning his conviction on conspiracy charges in the attack that killed a total
of 202 people.

Mr HOWARD's told the Nine Network .. it's the court system of another country .. which
we can't change.

But he says those who carried out the bombings have been convicted.

(EDS: reissued to replace previous story sent in error)

AAP RTV kc/tm/cp

KEYWORD: INDON BASHIR HOWARD (CANBERRA) (REISSUES)

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

WA: Girl, 8, critical after mother's car stolen from driveway

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2006
WA: Girl, 8, critical after mother's car stolen from driveway

PERTH, Aug 15 AAP - An eight-year-old girl was critically injured when run over by
a teenage thief as he stole her mother's car from the driveway of a West Australian home.

Police say the mother had left her daughter and one-year-old son in the car, with the
engine running, in the driveway of their grandparents' house in Esperance yesterday.

She had been checking the house was secure, while the grandparents were away on holiday.

While the woman was away from the car, police media spokesman Ian Hasleby said a 19-year-old
man got into the vehicle and reversed it out of the driveway at high speed.

"A short distance from the house, the eight-year-old was thrown out of the vehicle,"

Mr Hasleby said.

It was not clear if the child had fallen, jumped or been pushed, he said.

But she was run over as the man continued to reverse the car down the street, until
it hit a tree.

The driver tried to run away, but was intercepted by an onlooker.

Both children were taken to hospital in Esperance, before the girl was airlifted to
Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth.

The boy was uninjured.

Mr Hasleby said police were interviewing the 19-year-old man.

AAP lk/sp/srp/sp

KEYWORD: DRIVEWAY

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

Vic: Prince Christian to queue for MCC membership

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2006
Vic: Prince Christian to queue for MCC membership

Princess MARY's son .. Prince CHRISTIAN of Denmark .. won't be able to leapfrog Melbourne
Cricket Club's time-honoured membership waiting list.

The tiny prince has been nominated for membership at the MCC .. one of Melbourne's
greatest sporting institutions.

But the Sunday Herald Sun reports .. Prince CHRISTIAN will join another 160 thousand
people on the MCC waiting list.

It will take about 15 years to become a restricted member before at least another five-year
wait to be granted full membership.

AAP RTV jat/smt

KEYWORD: PRINCE (MELBOURNE)

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