Clive Hale from the ABC National Newsroom. Good evening, thank you for joining us.
Heading late edition news tonight, the death toll from Japan's worst earthquake in 70 years
now stands at more than a thousand and will continue to climb.
The quake measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and devastated the heavily populated
Kobiyasaka region where 10 million people live.
600 people remain missing while nearly 4,000 have been injured, many seriously.
Nearly 16 hours after the quake, huge fires continue to burn in Kobiyasaka
where nearly all the fatalities have occurred.
30 major fires are reported out of control with firefighters hampered by broken water mains
and serious damage to their equipment.
Earlier this evening, ABC Tokyo correspondent Walter Hamilton filed this report.
This is what the people of Kobe in western Japan woke up to this morning.
Fires raging out of control after the area's worst earthquake in history.
It struck just before dawn when most people were still asleep and this is what happened.
The destruction covered a wide area of Kobe and Osaka,
one of Japan's most densely populated industrial and residential areas.
This six-lane expressway linking the two cities collapsed in several places,
sending drivers plunging to their deaths.
In this bus, some of the luckiest people still alive.
One whole section of the elevated road simply toppled over,
reminiscent of Los Angeles, exactly a year ago.
Many in Japan believe this couldn't happen.
These structures were supposed to be built to withstand the country's frequent tremors.
The quake was centered under Awaji Island near Kobe,
flattening whole rows of traditional wood and tile houses.
Many died here, crushed before they knew what was happening.
A boy cries for his mother trapped inside their home,
the family still stunned by the disaster.
Rescuers rushed to find people believed still inside their houses,
dangerously weakened by the earthquake.
This woman says there was no warning, just a terrible noise as the quake struck.
This man was asleep.
When he tried to get up, he was knocked to the ground by falling furniture.
In Kobe itself, multi-story buildings buckled under the force.
Others were left hanging precariously.
Narrow roads filled with the rubble of collapsed homes and shops impeded rescue workers.
Fire tenders that could get to the blazes often had little water because of burst mains.
For this Shinto shrine, centuries of tradition laid waste in a few seconds.
With rail and road links cut and communications stretched,
the defense forces were called out to help with rescue work,
as terrifying aftershocks continued throughout the day.
This is one of the most important production centers in Japan,
Kobe serving as a major trading port.
Estimates of the cost of today's earthquake have yet to be made,
but economic losses due to the disruption of services alone will be enormous.
In other news, an armed man has been arrested at the stadium in Port Moresby
where Pope John Paul was conducting a beatification ceremony.
The man was carrying an automatic pistol as he joined the crowd of 25,000.
Ironically, the pontiff had chosen to abandon the bulletproof Pope Mobile,
which he normally uses in favor of a less protected vehicle.
The incident did not disrupt the ceremony as Peter Torret,
a preacher killed by the Japanese in World War II, was beatified.
Pope John Paul will arrive in Sydney tomorrow.
The opposition has joined the Democrats in criticizing Australia's largest arms deal with Indonesia,
the federal government's approved in principle the sale of Steyr rifles,
which are standard issue for Australian soldiers.
But both the liberals and the Democrats say the deal should be scrapped
because of Indonesia's poor human rights record.
If you look at what they've just done over the past few years,
I wouldn't put guns into their hands and feel it was safe.
The government says it's taking human rights concerns into account in its negotiations with Indonesia.
In sport, the Australian senior team has completed a clean sweep over Australia A in the World Series Cup finals.
Australia A batted first and was all out for 226.
In reply, the senior team hit four for 229.
The A team started like a house on fire at one stage, every six and a half runs and over.
However, inspired bowling from Fleming and McGrath,
put the brakes on and kept the senior team in the match.
A century opening stand from Slater and Taylor put the target well in sight,
but the hero was Steve Waugh with a half century after a middle order collapse.
Fittingly, Waugh hit the winning runs with six balls to spare.
Fourth seed Goran Ivanishevich has become the first big-name casualty at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The big serving Croatian went out in straight sets to Germany's Karluwe Steyr.
Joining Steyr in the second round today are three Australians.
Patrick Rafter had a tough battle to overcome Switzerland's Jakob Hlasik in five sets.
Mark Woodford had an easier time against Frenchman Arnaud Bursch,
while Siobhan Drake Brockman also went through.
Two Australians who missed out though were our number one female player Christine Radford and Kerri-Ann Goos.
Top women's seed Aranches Sanchez-Vicario had no trouble disposing of China's Fang Li,
while Andrew Agassi made a successful Australian Open debut.
To finance news and the Japanese earthquakes caused ripples on the local share market.
The insurance index shed 20 points with GII Australia recording a 7% fall.
The all-ordinaries finished the day up just one and a half points.
Japan's Nikkei index lost ground as companies assessed the impact of the earthquake,
but Hong Kong shares were buoyant.
The dollar has firmed over the past few days and is currently about 76.20 US cents.
And now tomorrow's national weather for you.
Rain periods for Darwin, showers for Alice Springs,
showers with the chance of a storm in Sydney, also in Canberra,
mainly fine in Hobart, fine in Adelaide and the other capitals.
And that's late edition news. I'm Clive Hale. Thanks for being with us around Australia.
We're back for you at the same time tomorrow. Meantime do have a nice evening. Good night.