Tonight, no end yet to the wool crisis. The superpowers prepare for the summit and an
amazing trek by an amazing man and his dog. Good evening, thanks for joining us on the
National Late Edition. High-level talks in Melbourne have failed to reach an agreement
over the crisis in Australia's wool industry. The Australian Wool Corporation and the Federal
Minister for Primary Industries are still at loggerheads over the best way to market
the mounting wool stockpile. Mr. Caron says no resolution was reached over the future
of the floor price. Despite the uncertainty in the wool market, sales will continue next
week as planned. Recent speculation has caused a loss of buyer confidence in the wool floor
price and many industry leaders have called for the sales to be suspended until the issue
is resolved. The new Chief Executive of Elders IXL, Peter Bartels, is already on his way
to England to check over the group's business interests. Mr. Bartels left Melbourne almost
immediately after taking over from John Elliott, the man who built Elders into one of the country's
biggest corporate empires. His decision to step down came sooner than expected. However,
he will remain as a non-executive chairman. His announcement came after the close of trading
on the stock exchange today where Elders shares finished down two cents. The overall market
indicated drop more than three points while the Australian dollar was steady. Another
high flyer is on his way down. Kevin Parry, who financed the unsuccessful defence of the
America's Cup in 1987, has been ordered to pay the State Bank of Victoria more than nine
million dollars. It's been a long, hard road for Kevin Parry since the heady days of the
1987 America's Cup challenge. At the time, he was on a roll, beating Alan Bond for the
right to defend the Cup and at the helm of a fast-expanding business empire. Things came
undone a year later. Languishing under growing debts, his flagship company, the Parry Corporation,
fell prey to Hong Kong-based predators. The Hang Lung Development Company ousted Mr.
Parry in a bitter boardroom coup. Today, after a six-week hearing, Mr. Parry was ordered
to pay more than nine million dollars to the State Bank of Victoria. The court ruled that
Kevin Parry personally guaranteed the State Bank loan and was personally responsible for
the debt. It rejected his claim that he'd acted as an agent for the Parry Corporation
and the company should indemnify him. American and Philippine officials have agreed to further
negotiations on the future of US bases in the Philippines. The agreement was announced
after five days of talks in Manila on extending the lease on the bases beyond September of
next year. No date was set for the next round of negotiations. A light passenger plane has
crashed into a suburb of Manila, killing 25 people. The twin-engine Beechcraft with 21
people aboard came down three minutes after takeoff on a domestic flight. There were no
survivors. The pilot had radioed the control tower asking for permission to return, but
never made it. The plane nosediving into the house of a Japanese businessman. The aircraft
exploded on impact, breaking in two and killing the sleeping family of four. It was the third
plane crash in Manila in three weeks. The Prime Minister of the Rebel Republic of Lithuania
has finally got to talk with Mikhail Gorbachev. She flew to Moscow not knowing whether the
Soviet president would see her or not. She came to Moscow seeking talks to end ten weeks
of stalemate. Prime Minister Prunskynia wanted a meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev. She was
delivering a new package of concessions. Lithuania would suspend all laws passed since its March
11th Declaration of Independence. It would not, however, revoke the declaration itself.
Gorbachev had been talking tough, earlier telling reporters the declaration must be
repealed and denouncing Lithuania for what he called adventurism. But he did agree to
a meeting. And after a two-hour session, Mrs. Prunskynia said while he suggested Lithuania
revoke its independence declaration, Gorbachev did not insist. He clearly pleased Prime Minister
said Gorbachev agreed that formal talks could begin as soon as Lithuania's Parliament approved
her package of concessions. U.S. Secretary of State James Baker will raise the Baltic
crisis in his talks with the Soviet leader, which have just got underway. He's already
spoken to other Soviet officials on a range of subjects. The Baltics is just one of many
internal problems in the Soviet Union upon which the Bush administration has been expressing
itself. Freedom of religion is another. In an attempt to quiet U.S. criticism, Shevardnadze
today invited Baker to take a brief tour. They visited the historical seat of the Russian
Orthodox Church at Zagorsk, just outside of Moscow. This spectacular showplace of the
church was intended to show Baker there is new tolerance for religion in the Soviet Union.
That message turned into a minor embarrassment for Shevardnadze when he was showing Baker
a nearby village. The two were accosted by a 76-year-old woman who complained that authorities
would not allow her village church to open. It had been closed since World War II. She
also complained that she had to sell her cow because times were so rough and she didn't
have enough money to make ends meet. While Baker remained silent, an uncomfortable Shevardnadze
promised the church would be opened and the old woman's pension increased.
Electioneering in Romania has ended in violence in Timisoara, birthplace of the country's
revolution against the iron fist of Nicolae Ceausescu. Several thousand supporters of
the National Salvation Front gathered in the city's Opera Square. Their rally was disrupted
by a few hundred opponents of the front who claim its leaders remain communists. Some
stormed the podium and pulled down flags. Police and troops in the square did not intervene.
The Romanians go to the polls for the first time in decades on Sunday. Actor Marlon Brando's
son Christian has been arrested over the killing of a Tahitian who was his sister's boyfriend.
Police believe the boyfriend beat up Cheyenne Brando who is pregnant.
Police didn't know what to expect when they responded to a call to 911 made by Marlon
Brando himself. What they discovered was the body of 26 year old Dag Drulli of Tahiti,
shot once in the head. Brando's son Christian was arrested shortly thereafter and booked
for murder. Police say he and the victim got into a heated and deadly argument.
There was an allegation of some mistreatment of Cheyenne Brando, Mr. Brando's 20 year old
daughter by the victim. Exactly what that treatment may have involved I'm not sure at
this point in time. But apparently Christian Brando took exception to that and some sort
of dispute ensued resulting in the shooting. The Japanese businessman who bought a Van
Goff for a record $130 million earlier this week has reportedly snapped up another masterpiece.
Renoir's painting of an outdoor Parisian dance in the 1870s was auctioned in New York. The
winning bidder apparently was the emeritus chairman of the Disho paper company. And that's
a mere $100 million Australian making the Renoir the second most expensive painting
in the world. And now the weather for the start of the weekend rather cold over southeastern
Australia with showers in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. Some showers also for Darwin but
fine in the other capital cities. And that's just about it for later edition. We'll say
farewell this week with a story about an amazing American who's hiking 3000 kilometres along
the Appalachian Mountains. So do have a good weekend. That's of course a safe one from
me until Monday. Good night. A poet said these mountains are kissed by the morning mist.
A natural haze inspires names like the great smokies and the blue ridge. But Bill Irwin
cannot see any of this. He is totally blind. Still with his seeing eye dog he intends to
walk the full length of the trail over terrain that hikers who can see find difficult. It's
just a wonderful spiritual experience for me. Forty-nine years old Irwin has been blind
for more than 20 years from an eye disease. He says God wanted him to walk the trail to
inspire others and to show his faith. Good boy. Orient the seeing eye dog had to be retrained.
In the city the dog stops at objects more than two inches high. Now he's been taught
to lead Bill over rocks and fallen trees, along narrow foot bridges where a misstep
could be disastrous, and to follow the scent of other hikers to stay on course. He knows
by the way I walk whether I'm stumbling or comfortable or whatever. And he adjusts the
walking speed to that. And he knows about what will trip me up. Bill Irwin and his dog
have to leave the trail every week or so for supplies. Local residents or hikers direct
them to stores, help with the shopping, and then direct them back to the trail. Most days
end with a cup of tea with fellow hikers, followed by a simple meal of rice or pasta
before sleep in preparation for another day on the trail. Bill's heightened senses of
will, touch, and presence make these scenes real. You gotta look at being out here in
God's world as being a guest in someone else's home. That you have to blend in with it rather
than trying to get it to blend in with what you want to do. What Bill Irwin wants to do
is to arrive in Maine, the end of the trail, before the end of summer. Sunday rugby this
week has something for everyone. With the French arriving we go back to the famous test
of 1968 at the SCG against Australia. Also we join 50,000 fans at Twickenham for the
Pilkington Cup final between champions Bath and Gloucester. And David Campisi, Mark Eller,
and their Ramwick teammates show us how they won the centenary sevens at Melrose in Scotland.
Sunday rugby at five only on ABC.