AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Aug 12

AAP General News (Australia)
08-12-2010
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Midday, Aug 12
Midday Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1130


Jobs (SYDNEY)

Figures out today show Australia's unemployment rate has jumped to a seasonally adjusted
5.3 per cent in July .. compared with an unrevised 5.1 per cent in June.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says total employment rose by 23-thousand-500 to
11.23 million in July .. seasonally adjusted.

Full-time employment fell by four-thousand-200 to 7.86 million in the month .. while
part-time employment was up by 27-thousand-700 to 3.36 million.

The forecast had been for total employment to have risen by 20-thousand .. but for
unemployment to be steady at 5.1 per cent.



In election news ..



Poll10 Broadband (CANBERRA)

The federal government's national broadband network will be able to provide speeds
of one gigabit per second .. that's 10 times faster than originally planned.

NBN Co chief executive MIKE QUIGLEY announced the turbo-charged capacity .. following
consultations with broadband retailers.

Communications Minister STEPHEN CONROY says the gigabit broadband speeds would benefit
businesses who required greater bandwidth for video conferencing.

Senator CONROY is with Prime Minister JULIA GILLARD in Tasmania .. where the NBN Co
is rolling out the 43-billion-dollar network.



Poll10 Budget (CANBERRA)

The coalition will today ask the Australian Federal Police to investigate how a confidential
analysis of its planned budget savings was leaked from Treasury.

A Sydney newspaper revealed the document .. which suggests the coalition overestimated
by 800 million dollars the amount it would save by scrapping Labor's national broadband
network.

The coalition is refusing to submit 20 policies for costing .. until the source of
the leak is investigated.

Labor campaign spokesman CHRIS BOWEN says it's a pathetic stunt and the opposition
will do anything to avoid economic scrutiny.



Poll10 Economy (CANBERRA)

Federal Labor has rejected Reserve Bank director WARWICK MCKIBBIN'S claim that the
government didn't save 200 thousand jobs through its stimulus spending at the height of
the global financial crisis.

Mr MCKIBBIN says fiscal policy couldn't have created the jobs because it was relatively
small at the time.

But Labor campaign spokesman CHRIS BOWEN says the Treasury analysis is clear .. the
stimulus saved 200 thousand jobs .. and that's a conservative estimate.



Poll10 Tax (CANBERRA)

Opposition Leader TONY ABBOTT is using a school on Sydney's north shore to ram home
the coalition message that billions of dollars of stimulus money has been wasted by Labor.

He also says .. if elected .. the coalition would give every taxpayer a receipt showing
details of Australian government debt and how tax money is spent .. because taxpayers
rightly feel they're being ripped off.



And in other news ..



Body (SYDNEY)

Police are searching bushland in western Sydney .. after a woman's body was discovered
in a reserve at Doonside last night.

Detectives and local police are investigating .. while riot squad officers are scouring
bushland and police divers are searching waterways for evidence.

Police are also appealing for anyone with information about the death to come forward.



Toll Vic 200 (MELBOURNE)

Police say it will take a miracle to bring Victoria's road toll under control .. as
the 200th person this year died in an early morning collision.

The state now has 19 more deaths on its roads this year compared to last year .. after
a 19-year-old driver died when his car hit a tree lying across the road in Melbourne's
southeast.

Deputy Commissioner KEN LAY says the state could end up with as many as 350 dead this
year .. which hasn't happened since 2005.



Raids (MELBOURNE)

Victoria Police say they've smashed a major drug ring .. seizing millions of dollars
worth of heroin and two-and-a-half million dollars in cash.

They've also arrested 12 people in early morning raids on 14 properties in Melbourne's
inner and western suburbs.

Police say the heroin is believed to have a street value of several million dollars
.. and about 20 million dollars worth of real estate has also been seized.



Weather Vic (MELBOURNE)

This morning's road death is being blamed on Melbourne's wild weather .. which has
knocked trees down across roads .. causing several accidents.

The Bureau of Meteorology says wind gusts reached up to 100 kilometres an hour along
Melbourne's southeast bayside suburbs .. while there was wind damage at Ballarat and flash
flooding at Warrnambool and Port Fairy.



Weather Qld (BRISBANE)

The southern end of Queensland is bracing for another severe 24 hours of weather.

A severe weather warning is current for the state's southeast for wind gusts in excess
of 90 kilometres an hour .. while the Granite Belt can expect sleet and temperatures below
zero early tomorrow.



Heaters (SYDNEY)

The New South Wales government has released a list of 101 schools which will have unflued
gas heaters replaced by next winter .. but it's refusing to announce when it'll extend
the program to the rest of the state.

The government will spend 15-million dollars replacing heaters in schools mainly in
the Southern Highlands .. Central Highlands and Blue Mountains.



Briefly in other news ..



Pakistan Floods (SUKKUR)

The UN has appealed for more than 500 million dollars in emergency aid following Pakistan's
floods .. as the government admits being unable to cope with the scale of the crisis.



in Finance ..




At 1108 this morning the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was DOWN 50.9 points at 4,404.6
points .. while the broader All Ordinaries Index was DOWN 53.4 points at 4,426.3.

The Australian dollar was at 89.62 US cents .. DOWN from 90.45 US cents at yesterday's
local close.

It was at 69.64 euro cents .. UP from 69.34 euro cents yesterday.

The spot price of gold in Sydney was $US1,199 per fine ounce .. UP 48 US cents from
yesterday's close of $US1,198.52.



Telstra (SYDNEY)

Telstra's profits have fallen by 4.7 per cent to three-point-88-billion dollars.

Telstra says earnings will continue fall through 2011 as the industry transforms ..

its forecasts for customer growth and revenue are also flat.

Shares in Telstra have dropped by more than seven per cent.



in Sport ..



Water Polo Six (SYDNEY)

Australia and the United States will play off for the gold medal at the 10th anniversary
women's water polo tournament in Sydney tonight.

It's a rematch of the teams who contested the gold medal game at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
.. in which Australia famously won 4-3.



Soccer Aust (LJUBLJANA)

Australia's generation next wasted a golden opportunity to impress new coach HOLGER
OSIECK with Slovenia beating a lacklustre Socceroos outfit 2-0 in their international
friendly.

The Australian side lacked purpose .. and could well have suffered a larger defeat
if Slovenia hadn't been so wasteful in front of goal.



Soccer Beckham (LONDON)

England coach FABIO CAPELLO has virtually called time on DAVID BECKHAM'S international
career .. saying there's little chance he'll be recalled for the Euro 2012 qualifying
campaign.

BECKHAM missed the World Cup due to an Achilles injury but had hoped to return to England
duty when he was fully fit.

If it is the end for BECKHAM he'll finish his international career with 115 caps ..

more than any England outfield player but 10 short of PETER SHILTON'S overall national
record.



ENDS MIDDAY ROUND-UP

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