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and National Australia Bank, looking after your bigger picture.
Australia kept in the dark over Russia's wayward probe,
a wave of lost children created by Rwanda's refugee homecoming
and Michael Slater bundled out by run machine Matthew Elliott.
From National 9 News, this is Nightline with Jim Whaley.
Good evening. For a few hours today, Australia appeared to be the bullseye
for a wayward Russian rocket that was supposed to be on its way to Mars,
but instead boomeranged back to Earth.
National emergency teams were placed on alert, but the spacecraft eventually
came down in the Pacific near Easter Island.
It's unlikely it will ever be discovered.
There was relief, but also annoyance in Canberra with the Russian Space Agency
for not giving us an earlier warning.
Laurie Wilson has our report.
The first warning in Australia that something had gone badly wrong
with the Russian spacecraft came when President Clinton phoned the Prime Minister
from Honolulu to break the news.
According to the space tracking facilities of the United States,
the Russian Mars probe could crash on Australian territory.
After liftoff, the rocket failed to clear the Earth's orbit.
As it circled the globe, scientists pinpointed the most likely crash site
near Tipaburra in the northwest of New South Wales.
We're talking about plutonium coming down, so this is a very serious situation.
Before plutonium batteries on board the craft, defense and emergency operations
were placed on standby across the country, even the time of impact still uncertain.
It's impossible to know exactly when that's going to happen,
and of course it's impossible to know exactly where.
By the time that finally did become clear, officials were breathing more easily,
the stricken spacecraft eventually crashing safely in the Pacific Ocean.
It has bypassed Australia, gone over New Zealand and impacted into the ocean
about, I'd say about a thousand kilometers west of South America.
As for the plutonium, it's unlikely that will be recovered.
The prospects are very slim indeed.
John Howard may be annoyed the Russians didn't warn Australia,
but he was delighted the danger had been averted.
I'm also delighted to report the public in Tipaburra provided free beers
for all his customers on hearing that news.
Marie Wilson reporting for Nightline.
Russia's space program wants the pride of the nation has run into enormous
financial problems since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Today's satellite crash is just the latest in a string of failures.
Mark Barlin reports.
It is, as they say, a big planet, in fact supposed to provide comfort as six tons
of Russian misfortune speared earthward potentially toward Australian homes.
Even if it was to come down in Australia, we are so sparsely populated
and the fragments would have been so small that the chances are just tiny.
Reentry was expected to destroy most of the probe, but that doesn't always happen.
In 1979, Skylab rained down across Western Australia with chunks of up to 80 kilograms surviving.
Of more concern in Mars 96, 200 grams of radioactive plutonium
and its potential released on the ground or into the atmosphere.
I think that's why our President called your Prime Minister to warn him that there was,
in fact, a real danger here, and so I'm certainly not going to minimize that.
It's nowhere near a radiation hazard that you would be worried about.
It appears the plutonium remains sealed in special containers.
Regardless, the crash has further damaged Russia's struggling space program.
They put all their best effort into it.
The fact that it's failed is a major setback for their program.
They've made 18 attempts to reach Mars with some fiery failures.
Recent budget cutbacks meant the program was running on a shoestring.
Mars 96 was supposed to be Mars 94.
There was certainly lack of money.
I understand that the spacecraft which was to have gone to Mars
hadn't actually gone through its full set of tests on the Earth.
It remains to be seen if Russia has the money and the enthusiasm to try again.
Mark Barland, The Nightline.
A federal inquiry is underway into a collision between two ships in Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay.
Rough seas forced the 180-meter container ship Columbus Victoria to anchor offshore overnight.
Gale force winds tore the anchor loose and pushed it into the path of an unladen tanker the Samford hoped.
The bow of the container ship smashed into the side of the tanker,
tearing a large gash in its hull before a pilot launch managed to drag the ships apart.
Strong winds and rough seas have caused more damage to an oil rig in South Australia's Gulf St Vincent.
The top half of one of the three legs supporting the rig has broken, destabilizing the structure.
It's now feared that some of the rig's 200 tons of oil and gas products may leak.
Former New South Wales Police Chief Tony Lauer, who long insisted there was no entrenched corruption in the force,
was singing a different tune today at the Royal Commission into Police Corruption.
Mr. Lauer, who retired prematurely last February, said he was sickened by the criminal activity the Commission had exposed.
Mr. Lauer declared two years ago that any investigation would be a waste of time.
Today he claimed he'd been restricted by the system and that new Commissioner Peter Ryan,
who's been granted wider powers, would not encounter the same problem.
A pedophile who boasted he was Melbourne's worst child sex offender was today sentenced to 10 years jail after pleading guilty to 20 offences.
The seven-year non-parole period was severely criticized by one of the senior police officers on the case.
34-year-old Lance Edward Cassidy preyed on boys aged between 13 and 15, mostly from deprived backgrounds.
After police raided his Coburg flat in January, Cassidy pleaded guilty to 20 sex offences against seven boys.
Pornographic material was also seized.
The offences took place inside his flat and in a caravan park after Cassidy gave the youngsters alcohol, marijuana and sometimes $20.
The judge outlined Cassidy's previous convictions for child sexual offences.
The first occurred in 1979. On most occasions he's been given either a bond, probation or suspended sentence.
Today, for the latest 20 offences, he was sentenced to 10 years with a minimum of seven.
Outside the court, the investigating officer expressed surprise.
We're disappointed with the sentence. I don't think it adequately reflects the community's abhorrence with this type of crime.
Senior Detective Burns earlier told the court Cassidy had boasted he was Melbourne's worst pedophile.
On a scale of one to 10, he's probably a 15. Once released, I've got no doubt that he would commence offending again straight away.
Helen Ballard for Nightline.
Michael Jackson has done away with his face mask for his arrival in Brisbane today.
Security had to hold back a screaming mob as the King of Pop arrived at his hotel.
Some fans had to be lifted from the crush and those outside only caught a quick glimpse of Jackson.
Inside, he was serenaded by a school choir before being reunited with his new wife.
After the break, why Olympic cheats are worried about Pauline Hanson and Fergie's claim that diet drugs gave me a foggy brain.
Four people have faced an Adelaide court charged with the murder of a doctor.
The body of 52-year-old Dr. Peter Goh was found in scrub after making a house call early Saturday morning.
21-year-old Leon Maxwell March and three teenagers were later arrested when they were allegedly found in Dr. Goh's car.
They made no application for bail.
A two-hour siege at Melbourne's Pentridge Jail has ended peacefully with a prison guard surrendering his gun.
The man had threatened to commit suicide inside a prison gatehouse.
Witnesses waiting to visit inmates said the man suddenly started yelling, then grabbed a handgun and held it to his neck.
Prison officials denied they'd earlier issued the guard with a redundancy notice.
It took many years for Chinese traditional medicine to achieve acceptance in Australia.
Now a report has recommended a crackdown on novice practitioners claiming treatments which have caused harm are usually the work of untrained herbalists.
Chinese medicine is booming as increasing numbers of Australians seek alternative therapies.
Herb imports have quadrupled over the past four years and there are 2.8 million consultations each year.
Until now the industry's gone unchecked, but a new report recommends state governments start regulating to reduce public risk.
Although the report says the benefits of Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, are well documented,
there were eight deaths over eight years and one injury every 238 visits.
The study found that those patients who experienced adverse effects were most likely to have been treated by practitioners with limited education.
The risk of harm to patients appears to be almost double when TCM is performed by practitioners who have 12 months or less training.
No less than three years of training is recommended as well as registration, a complaints forum and clearer labelling.
A label warning may have saved the life of 11-year-old Deanna Struttmans who died after taking royal jelly for asthma.
It was later found she was allergic to the beehive extract.
Those behind the report however say the death rate is lower than in Western medicine.
It also recommends funding for new research and the translation of Chinese research data.
Karen Hough for Nightline.
In theory the Olympics are meant to be an event unruffled by racism,
but the views of independent MP Pauline Hanson are causing concerns at an Olympic summit in Mexico.
The Pauline Hanson issue was raised by the Olympic movement's top ranking woman and champion of minority rights, American delegate Anita de France.
At a closed meeting she asked Olympics Minister Michael Knight how widespread Hanson's views were in Australia.
His reply, all countries have political outcasts.
The renegade MP he said is isolated.
Afterwards Ms de France said she had no problem with the racial debate in Australia.
I hope that there will be no issue with that come the year 2000 because you had the opportunity to get that out of your system now.
Mr Knight is convinced Pauline Hanson will not damage the IOC's perception of Sydney.
She is a very minor player in Australia and she's an even smaller player on the international scene.
IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said the Olympic movement does not tolerate racism of any sort.
He also urged Aboriginal involvement in organising the Games to quell the threat of protests.
I am sure that all the Australians without exception will support the Games.
Mr Knight expects by the time of the Sydney Games Pauline Hanson will no longer be in Parliament.
But he says even if she was she certainly would not be invited to the opening ceremony.
In Cancun, Mexico, Nick McCallum for Nightline.
The malnourished and foot-sore tidal wave of Hutu refugees continues to stream from eastern Zaire into Rwanda
forcing countries who have pledged troops for a proposed rescue mission to reconsider their commitment.
The human torrent has strained aid agencies to the limit and sadly is leaving hundreds of lost children in its wake.
Hundreds of thousands of people are still making their way home
freed from the gunmen who had held them against their will in camps in Zaire.
But freedom has a price. Orphans.
The International Red Cross has collected almost 2,000 children lost or travelling on their own.
Some had parents killed in the fighting, others have simply been separated in the crush.
If the children know their name and home village, it's put on a list and they get an ID tag.
Eventually they'll find relatives. But some have almost no chance.
Jacqueline says she's seven. The baby sister she's been carrying for two days is a week old.
Her mother and father, she says, both died.
Terrible as it seems, aid workers are surprised it isn't worse.
This clinic is the first real aid on the Exodus route.
The pace is frantic. Water to rehydrate those who stagger in.
Drips for those in worse shape. Medical workers struggle the hardest with the babies.
Finding a vein in a tiny arm isn't easy.
There's a lot of sick people. We've been expecting from the beginning that the most vulnerable would come last.
And coming they are. At least another 100,000 will pass here according to some estimates.
As the latest arrivals settle in for their first damp night back in their homeland,
few, if any of them, probably know or care that a multinational force is or is not coming.
And they don't have to. They've done it on their own.
American researchers have been trialling a new drug, which they hope could help sufferers of Alzheimer's disease.
Older men were given memory tests. They were read odd sounding non-words and asked to recall as many as they could.
Most could only remember one in ten. But this increased to three, the same as for men in their twenties,
after use of the drug Ampicin CX-516.
Further tests are now planned under the scrutiny of American health authorities.
The Duchess of York has blamed slimming drugs taken when she was 16 for her sometimes dubious judgement.
In an interview with US comedian Ruby Wax, 37-year-old Fergie says her personality changed
after taking the diet treatment while on a visit to her mother in Argentina.
She said she almost attacked her mother with a knife.
Well, what happens is that I'm one of those people that has my heart on my sleeve.
And I fell in love with Heinz Beans. Heinz Beans. And Smarties.
Didn't you think, oh God, it's a prince, I've got to get some recipe together?
No, because he's just so down to earth.
Fergie believes she suffered from the toxins until recently when she cleansed her body
with a mixture of asparagus, spinach, watercress and celery juices.
In a moment Bill Clinton heads to Australia. What's it all about? Paul Lyon does a little delving.
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When US Air Force One brings President Bill Clinton to Sydney tomorrow night,
the arrival will trigger a massive security operation involving about 600 American officials and secret service agents.
Because, as Paul Lyon reports, nothing about a presidential visit is left to chance. Not even his golf.
By the time big birds like this fly in carrying the armour-plated limos,
you can safely assume that every step of Bill Clinton's Australian visit has been surveyed
and analysed from every possible direction several times over.
For this trip the pre, pre, pre-advance party arrived in June.
Subsequent waves of officials and secret service agents came in July, early October and finally a fortnight ago.
Every venue has been triple checked. Every planned movement has been paced out and timed.
At Canberra's National Press Club where the US networks are setting up camp,
veteran CBS producer Tom Seam is also hoping that everything runs to plan.
Trouble is though, this president has a habit of suddenly doing his own thing.
Quite frequently that happens. He will go shopping, he will go sightseeing, he will go golfing,
he will, if there is down time on his schedule, he will do whatever he wishes to do.
At every location potential jogging routes have been selected and checked for security problems.
In each city too the golf courses have been checked, not just by the secret service,
but also by the White House Golf Pro, whose job it is to protect the president's score.
Mind you as CBS reported recently, the president's golf score is fairly easily protected,
which hopes to explain why Mr. Clinton can claim to have shot 18 holes in under 80.
Really honestly he did not cheat. If we gave him a few, you know, six, seven footers,
he'd just pick them up, but who wouldn't? What American wouldn't?
Evidence. The president accepts favors known as gimmies from fellow golfers.
You mean all the other guys in the force will say take it?
Take it, that's good. You're the president. I might want to be the ambassador to, you know, Fiji someday.
Golf in Australia? You bet. Tom Seam has no doubt that Bill Clinton's golf bag will be nearby at every stop.
The president has just gone through a very grueling but very successful reelection campaign.
He's tired. He's tried to spend a couple of days in Hawaii.
Where it's rained.
Where it has rained, so he has not really had the kind of fun that he would like to have.
The events that are taking place in Australia are not too demanding,
but what he wanted to do was to see a country that he hasn't seen before,
to spend a little relaxation time. You'll do some golf, you'll do some R&R,
and to emphasize the cooperation between the two countries.
It makes for a nice package of official and non-official things.
Hopefully it will all go to plan. Bill Clinton and John Howard will talk about trade.
The president will play some golf and perhaps go snorkeling,
and then the world will focus on the Apex Summit in Manila.
That's the climax of this trip. Key talks on freeing up trade in our region.
Talks far more important, dare one suggest it, than even the president's golf score. Jim.
Paul Inam, still to come on Nightline, the finance and weather.
And in sport, Michael Slater dumped from Australia's test team.
The Woodies do it again, and Tiger Woods, golf's rising star, arrives for the Australian Open.
Music
To sport now, and it wasn't very long ago, that Michael Slater was Australian cricket's golden boy,
and one of its key promotional tools.
Now the flashy opener finds himself on the outer, dumped from the test team.
He's been replaced by Matthew Elliott, whose run feats have been impossible to ignore.
The body language said it all as New South Wales crashed to an outright defeat in the shield game against Queensland.
Slater already knew of his sacking.
Fusing to comment after the game, Slater clashed with a television news crew.
Mate, you're gonna knock my wife again, pal.
It's not the girl, is it?
With a test average nudging 50, Slater's supporters blasted the selectors' decision.
You know, they've had you on the one day train for the last, like, nine months,
and we came out to an important test match, and, you know, the number one opening batsman's missing.
Elliott received his news as the Australian 11 wrapped up its tour match against the West Indies with a big win.
After starting the season with two centuries, Elliott can't wait for the step up to test cricket.
It's just something I've always wanted to do, and it's just terrific, and I couldn't really explain it at the moment.
Also in Hobart, the team meant relief for Michael Bevan following speculation he was on the outer.
I'm up to it, and it gives me a chance to score some good test runs and cement my spot.
Friday's test will be Jason Gillespie's debut, with fellow quick bowler Michael Kasperwitz expected to be 12th man.
The game also signals the return to international cricket for Shane Warne.
It's up to Warne to come out this week and show him what he's got.
Clinton Fletcher for Nightline.
In shield cricket, South Australia looked anything but reigning champions as they were humbled by Victoria at the MCG today.
The Crow Eaters struggled to 298, an overall lead of just 37.
The Bush Rangers reached the target for the loss of just one wicket.
Victorian all-rounder Ian Harvey was the chief destroyer,
snaring the last four wickets in 14 balls to finish with seven for 44.
Tasmania has taken outright points against Western Australia.
The Warriors dismissed for 258, 142 runs short of victory.
Opener Mike Hussey did his best for the home side.
He was eventually out for 90.
Colin Miller was the pick of the bowlers, snaring four wickets.
Mark Woodford and Todd Woodbridge have retained their number one doubles rating,
beating Sebastian Laro and Alex O'Brien in the final of the World Championship in Connecticut.
They faltered in the second set, then nailed the title in fall.
Mark Woodford and Todd Woodbridge have an imposing doubles record few will ever match.
41 tournament victories this their 12th of the year.
The four set win over Canadian Sebastian Laro and American Alex O'Brien wasn't their finest,
but it's a step towards another milestone.
Woodbridge says they can overtake the record 57 doubles titles won by John McEnroe and Peter Fleming in about two years.
A hollow victory for Yana Novotna, winning a WTA event in Philadelphia when Steffi Graf retired with a back injury.
The world number one succumbed to the pain after losing the first set 6-4.
Obviously I would have wished to show you a little bit more, I'm sorry,
but I was hoping I've had some troubles yesterday in my match and I was hoping I'd be ready for today, I wasn't quite.
And riding track work this morning for the first time in 18 months, jockey Jim Cassidy.
The AJC recently halved his three year suspension for his part in the infamous jockey tapes,
allowing the 33 year old to return to the race track.
There was only going to be one loser and it was me.
And I was saved for racing too because racing has always been my life and I've said that before.
Cassidy hopes to resume race riding on New Year's Day. Charles Christian for Nightline.
Tiger Woods has taken the golfing world by the tail and he certainly means to give it a good shake in the Australian Open.
He arrived in Sydney today and has already upstaged Greg Norman as the tournament's big draw card.
No player in the history of the game, including the Shark, has generated so much publicity so early in a career.
Wood copes with maturity beyond his years, except for one thing.
Just when people start intruding on my dinner or lunch, wine and autograph, I think that's very rude.
Woods was here, Mike, for greatness from almost the day he picked up a club.
Even Nicholas and Palmer are in awe of his potential, but never offer advice unless asked.
It would be intrusive if they brought this knowledge on me, but they know I'm very inquisitive so I'll ask a lot of questions.
It's hard to believe a 70 kilogram frame can generate consistently the longest drive in golf, around 276 meters.
That is huge.
It's also hard to believe there are golf clubs in America who won't allow him to play because of his color.
Being kicked off for just the color of my skin, having hate mail, death threats.
Articulate and intelligent, Woods has now become a role model for black Americans.
I think the game of golf should be like the color of America. It's a melting pot.
That's one area Woods is happy to talk about, but as far as his personal career ambitions...
I'm a person who never shares my goals, but I think they're very private.
And there is little privacy when you're at the top of the heap.
Ken Sutcliffe for Nightline.
Now, finance news and the Australian share market closed three points down today.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell 133 points.
In London tonight, the FT100 is four points down in morning trading.
Gold is fetching 380.25 US an ounce.
And in European trading tonight, the Australian dollar is buying 79.11 US cents, 1.19 Deutschmarks, 88 yen and 47p.
The national weather, and there's a deep low in the Tasman, a high in the Bight, while lows dominate the North.
The forecast, a storm for Darwin, should be fine in Brisbane, fine for Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide, partly cloudy in Melbourne,
some showers for Hobart, and in Perth a fine day ahead.
That's the news this Monday night.
To finish, lone sailor David Dix was back at sea today, but on a different kind of craft.
He went surfing with mates near Perth.
He had trouble finding an even keel, but says he'll be getting lots of practice in the weeks to come.
18-year-old David arrived home yesterday after nine months at sea.
He's the youngest person to sail non-stop round the world.
Good night.
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