Good evening, I'm Sandra Sully.
This is the Late Night News.
Heading the Late Night News, charges of attempted assassination may be laid against the gunman
who fired on the White House.
Bitter words amid new developments in the saga of missing Australian backpacker David
Wilson and the Liberals forced to reconsider their stand on federal intervention in state
affairs.
First tonight, the American Secret Service is still considering whether to charge the
man who fired on the White House with attempted assassination of President Bill Clinton.
26-year-old Francisco Martin Duran was arrested after firing more than 20 shots from an assault
rifle into the building.
They say while Duran has no criminal record, he was dishonorably discharged from the Army
after serving several years in a military prison.
For the second time in two months, a serious breach of White House security.
The gunman, captured here on amateur video, pulls out his weapon and begins firing through
the perimeter fence.
There were two gentlemen that did the initial tackling because the guy was probably ready
to reload that gun.
Moments later, Secret Service agents and White House security staff were running to the scene.
The shooter, 26-year-old Francisco Duran, quickly taken into custody.
More than 20 rounds of ammunition were fired during the attack, shattering windows in the
White House press room, bullets embedded in wooden sills.
The gun used, an SKS Chinese semi-automatic, is one of the assault weapons now banned in
the US.
Senator Bill Clinton was in the residence at the time, watching a football match on
television.
He heard the shots, but at no time was in any danger.
Having just returned from one of the world's hot spots, the President later made light
of the attack.
It was nice to be home in the safety and security of the White House after going to the Middle
East.
But the Secret Service isn't so jovial, already reviewing all security measures at the White
House.
Today's attack is the second major assault on the White House in six weeks.
In early September, a man flew a light plane into the grounds, crashing into a wall just
below the President's bedroom.
The FBI is treating the shooting as an assassination attempt.
Security around the President will be increased.
Louise Cotthgrove, 10 News.
At home, more problems for Ansett Airlines when one of its Fokkers was turned back on
a flight from Norfolk Island to Sydney.
Ansett says the F-28 developed problems with one of its two hydraulic systems.
Ansett says Flight 872 developed landing gear problems soon after takeoff on one of its
four weekly flights from Norfolk.
As a precaution, the pilot turned back, circling the island before touching down just after
8.30 last night.
The aircraft landed safely and was brought to a stop by the pilot.
Well after he landed, he said he couldn't taxi because he'd lost the brakes.
And then there was all fluid running out.
And if you looked out the window you could see that the fiber-guided sprayed the foam
because they'd lost petrol.
Last night's drama came just 10 days after an Ansett Jumbo landed on its nose at Sydney
Airport after turning back on a flight to Japan.
The 38 passengers and four crews stranded on Norfolk overnight arrived back in Sydney
late today, relieved to be home.
Also, we're glad to be back.
Well, it was pretty, yes it was really frightening, but the pilot was marvellous and he had nothing
to worry about.
Ansett engineers have begun a preliminary investigation.
The Bureau of Air Safety will launch its own inquiry once the aircraft is returned to Sydney.
Sean Murphy, 10 News.
A bitter slanging match has developed between the family of Khmer Rouge hostage David Wilson
and Foreign Minister Gareth Evans.
The family has condemned Senator Evans for announcing Wilson is probably dead and accused
the Federal Government of washing its hands of the crisis.
But the Minister has hit back, saying the family's attack was hurtful and the Government
was doing all it could.
The Wilson children in happier times, but today tears after the Government announcement
that brother David is probably dead.
The family believes he's still alive.
It seems to us that they're putting foreign trade relations with Cambodia and their own
personal political ambitious careers ahead of the life of an Australian citizen.
But Foreign Minister Gareth Evans hit back, saying the allegations are hurtful.
I don't think those criticisms would be shared by David's parents with whom we've been most
closely in touch.
But I don't want to be critical in any way of the family.
People do lash out.
Wilson and two other Westerners were kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge more than two months ago.
His family believes he's been moved from a village heavily shelled by the Cambodian military
and that the Government should cut aid to Cambodia to force more action.
But Senator Evans says everything that can be done is being done.
We won't rest in this matter until we either have hopefully proof of life and the safe
release of David and the other two hostages, or in the event that the worst has happened,
we won't rest until we have clear proof of death.
Despite the assurances, the family believes there are too many unanswered questions and
the media hasn't helped by painting a picture of a reckless tourist.
He was going to teach English to the Cambodians and this is there.
We don't appreciate the way the media has described David.
Alan Russell, 10 News.
The Liberal Party is moving for a referendum to stop federal governments overriding the
states.
Debate of Tasmania's anti-gay laws at the Liberal's weekend conference has reopened
raw nerves, forcing leader Alexander Downer to consider the referendum, despite objections
from one of his most senior ministers.
On display today, Tasmania's anger at the use of external affairs powers to override
its criminal laws.
Cheating, scumbag government.
And if that offends a few of you lily-livered liberals, tough titties.
The Tasmanian Premier extended his disappointment to his federal colleagues who had deserted
his government.
And you can say we're wrong about our laws, but please respect our constitution.
Two resolutions for a curbing of the use of the foreign affairs power and if necessary
using a referendum were passed without dissent.
Opposition leader Alexander Downer was forewarned in his closing address he tried to hose down
the issue.
We're going to restore the proper processes of consultation with the states and proper
accountability to the Australian people.
Mr Downer promised to consider a constitutional referendum, but his foreign affairs spokesman
Peter Reath doesn't think that is a good idea.
I have real concerns about the referendum proposal.
And Mr Downer announced the opposition would put the government's human rights credentials
to the test by introducing a bill in parliament to outlaw compulsory unionism.
And there was a tribute to Sir Robert Menzies.
Mr Downer recalled friends had to buy Sir Robert and Dame Patty a house after the former
Prime Minister's retirement.
Now that is an example of putting public service above self interest.
Let me just add it is one from which others could certainly learn.
Paul Bon giorno, 10 News.
When we come back the FBI joins the nationwide search for two toddlers missing after a carjacking
and Moscow still playing down the seriousness of its Arctic oil spill.
In the United States federal agencies have been called into the hunt for two young boys
victims of a carjacking.
Police are mystified they found no trace of the car and two children despite scores of
tip offs in the last five days.
Thank you.
Y'all have a good day.
Even South Carolina is haunted by the memory of two small faces.
Alex and Michael Smith have been missing since Tuesday.
Thousands across the country have called to say they think they have seen them.
Today the FBI installed a new computer system to sort all the tips.
Please help us find Michael.
They'll most likely get more now that this public service announcement has been released
nationwide.
Michael Brown was last seen wearing a red and white striped outfit and a blue and red
coat.
Unfortunately most children abducted by strangers never come home.
In a study of fifteen hundred and forty cases compiled over the past ten years only three
hundred ninety three were found alive.
Two hundred eleven were found dead.
The rest are still missing.
Searchers in Michigan this week were looking for a California boy who disappeared ten years
ago.
They're still getting tips.
For parents the world has become one big scary place.
Jason Smith in Illinois held an emergency meeting this morning after a stranger tried
to snatch three of their children in one month.
Statistically it is a thousand times more likely that a child would be taken by someone
in their family.
Last night police in Florida found the body of a seven year old girl who had been reported
missing and charged her stepfather with murder.
I love her.
Her little brothers miss her so much.
The mother admitted her tears had covered a hoax.
Here in South Carolina some wonder whether Alex and Michael Smith's mother is telling
the truth about how they disappeared.
The sheriff admits there have been some discrepancies in Susan Smith's story but cautions against
jumping to conclusions.
Not only is she the victim in this case but the public is trying to make her the suspect
as well.
That's, that's quite logical in a case like this.
When there is still no hard evidence after four days of searching.
Only a mother's word.
Moscow officials are still playing down the seriousness of the oil spill in Russia's Arctic
region near Yusinsk.
They insist only 14,000 tonnes of oil escaped but haven't revoked their appeal for international
help to handle the leak.
Even as officials were claiming the accident was totally eliminated seven weeks ago we
saw their workers still scraping up sticky black oil from this river.
It looked a hopeless task.
The water flowing through the pipes in the hurriedly erected dam is only marginally cleaner
yet it flows into the water supply of thousands of Arctic workers.
This workman told me he used to catch beautiful red fish in the river.
Now what am I supposed to eat he said?
This black sausage.
The full extent of this oil leak may only become clear in the spring when the snow cover
here melts.
At a news conference the pipeline operators, Kominieft, played down the size of the spillage
but admitted, squirming under questioning, that they'd continued to pump oil through
the damaged pipeline for three weeks after it sprung major leaks.
Now they're hastily building a new pipeline using homemade equipment because the company's
broke.
Confidential figures divulged by a Kominieft engineer show there were five or six hundred
leaks a year in the old pipeline.
They hope to replace the most corroded section by the end of November but that's at least
four years too late for the environment here.
Although American President Bill Clinton has only just returned from his peace mission
in the Middle East, clashes continue between Israelis and Arabs.
The latest fighting occurred on the Israel-Lebanon border when one Israeli soldier was killed
and at least four wounded.
Security sources say militant Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli outpost on the border.
Later one Lebanese civilian died and a dozen more injured when Israeli artillery fired
some 200 shells into rugged hills used by the guerrillas north of the border.
The United Nations has threatened to order NATO air strikes against Bosnian government
forces near the capital Sarajevo after a shelling attack on a French observation post.
The government forces have launched a major infantry offensive against Serb positions
on Mount Ignam overlooking Sarajevo.
Supports by French UN troops actually to demilitarize the so-called demilitarized zone around Mount
Igman have met with repeated failure and frustration.
Today the Bosnian government forces known as the B.I.H. use the area as the launch pad
for a fresh attack on the Serbs.
At 6.45 this morning B.I.H. started an offensive by infiltrating in the south-south-east of
the DMZ, so violating the DMZ.
Support by artillery fire.
In recent months the Bosnian government forces have been gaining in strength.
The arms embargo which had previously hampered them has been leaking like a sieve and they
fielded effective artillery units.
Now the Americans are moving at the UN to lift it all together but there's still opposition.
This is not a resolution that is supported by all the members of the Security Council
but there are members who do support it and there are members who understand the necessity
of moving the process forward and trying to find some resolution to the issue.
The Council still isn't ready to take the vote that the Bosnian government wants.
For those who do not believe that this is the right next step then the simple question
is what other options do they offer?
What other compromises do they offer?
The embargo would not be lifted for at least six months.
A move opposed by the British and French who have most troops on the ground at risk from
Serbian retaliation but the draft resolution calls for a plan for their orderly and safe
redeployment if necessary.
That's UN speak for withdrawal.
Still to come the AMA again rejects proposals to reform Australia's private health system
and controversy over plans for a new spire on Melbourne's Arts Centre.
A four-year-old child has died in a car accident on the Hume Highway in New South Wales.
The child was killed when a car overturned outside Goulburn this afternoon.
A baby suffered abrasions and a woman back and leg injuries in the crash.
Both are being treated in Goulburn Base Hospital.
It was the second fatality on the Hume Highway today.
Earlier a 31-year-old truck driver died when his vehicle smashed into a tree.
The Australian Medical Association has again rejected sweeping reforms to our private health
insurance industry proposed by the federal government.
Doctors say the latest proposals intended to make Australians less reliant on Medicare
would still put private cover out of the reach of low-income earners.
Under the proposed reforms doctors will be able to negotiate direct contracts with insurance
companies.
The move is one of several the federal government wants introduced to ease the burden on an
overloaded Medicare system and to encourage more patients to purchase private cover.
At a meeting of the Australian Medical Association in Canberra has been told the changes will
only benefit the wealthy who often bypass Medicare and pay cash for health services.
And the private sector is going to become not affordable and accessible to pensioners
and low-income earners.
The AMA is also worried the changes will threaten quality and limit patient choices in the private
sector.
It wants the government to introduce a means-tested subsidy to help those who need it the most
afford private insurance.
We're concerned that in the long term doctors may feel that their interests are better served
by looking after the insurance company with whom they have a contract than the patient.
Dr Carmen Lawrence is expected to introduce the health insurance legislation during the
December sitting of federal parliament.
Brendan Stafford, 10 News.
Vietnam veterans are to launch another court challenge for compensation from the federal
government.
This follows new developments surrounding their claims that Agent Orange and other defoliants
are linked to birth abnormalities suffered by many children of Vietnam veterans.
The federal government now accepts that Australian troops who served in Vietnam suffered serious
health problems because of exposure to harmful chemicals.
But what's still at issue is whether defoliants and insecticides like Agent Orange, Claudine
and Dildren caused birth defects in veterans' children.
The veterans say they're about to take that issue before the federal court.
It seems to be a major problem that we're getting a lot of reports to the Association
of the Children of Vietnam Veterans suffering from quite severe abnormalities.
Instead of blaming just one chemical, the veterans' case is that a cocktail of chemicals
they were exposed to caused deformities in their children.
Just from legs missing, limbs missing, spinal bifida, cleft palate shouldn't be quite common.
But the federal government refuses to accept responsibility.
There is no conclusive evidence, as I understand it, to link exposure to herbicides such as
Agent Orange used in Vietnam during the Vietnam War and birth defects.
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence.
The Vietnam veterans intend using this court action as a test case.
And if it's successful, they plan to follow up with a whole series of lawsuits seeking
compensation for veterans' children with birth defects.
John Hill, 10 News.
Canberra's Greek community has commemorated the 50th anniversary of the liberation of
Athens by Greek and allied forces.
It took four years to free Athens from the Axis forces, which invaded the ancient city
in October of 1940.
15,000 Australians from the 6th Division took part in defending Greece, but were evacuated
when the Germans overran the country.
Finally, Greek and allied forces drove the Germans out and restored democracy to Athens.
Today, wreaths were laid in honour of those who died.
Transfers for the new spire on Melbourne's Arts Centre have been unveiled and already
there's controversy over the $4 million addition to the city skyline.
Officials say the new spire is necessary because stress fractures in the original are threatening
to cause it to collapse.
The Arts Centre's 10th birthday coincided with today's unveiling of a new look for one
of Melbourne's most impressive landmarks.
The modifications have been forced by the failings of the old spire.
Stress fractures have been found at its base and the only alternative is to start again.
The cost are mere $4 million.
The new and improved spire is of course being boasted as bigger and better than the original
with an additional 46 metres pushing its overall height to more than 150 metres.
Those behind the project believe the new spire will give Melbourne's cultural headquarters
a more finished look.
They say the old one had to be chopped short because of a lack of funds.
The rebuilding of the top end of the Arts Centre will take about eight months and is
a relatively simple exercise.
The existing spire will be taken down in sections by crane and the new spire will just be erected
in sections, fabricated probably off site and erected in smaller sections and put together.
While some of those who saw the model today believe $4 million could have been better
spent the government believes it's getting value for money.
It pays tribute to the original vision of the architect but at the same time it completes
that vision in a way that the current one doesn't.
Peter Morris, 10 News.
The million dollar replica of the famous Vickers Vimy biplane has finally landed in Brisbane
on the final leg of its epic journey from England.
The plane is an exact copy of the one flown by South Australia's pioneer aviators Keith
and Ross Smith.
They completed the trip from England in just 30 days, a record back in 1919.
Now Australian Lang Kidby and American Peter McMillan have retraced the Smith's route
and today became star attractions at the Brisbane Air Show.
However their journey won't end until they fly their Vickers Vimy to Adelaide and the
Australian Grand Prix.
In a moment the latest on our weather, frogs in the news for the next week and sports tonight
with Bill Woods.
In a moment all the latest cricket from Perth, Brisbane and Pakistan.
There's a new world superbike champion, Miles Stewart wins the biggest triathlon in the
southern hemisphere and Ireland's raid on Australia's biggest racing prize.
Vintage crop still not a certain starter in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup.
It's only bruising, I'm happy that's all it is.
To the weather now and it's been a pleasantly summery day in most of our major centres.
From Cairns almost down to Sydney it was fine and hot then cloudy down to Melbourne.
Fine weather continued right across the south with temperatures rising inland.
The satellite photograph shows a little cloud still around the east and southeast but generally
clear skies.
A cold front is moving up from the southern ocean ahead of a high nearing Perth and pushing
the one in the east over the Tasman.
So tomorrow looks like being fine right down the east coast with again temperatures rising.
Much the same pattern should hold across the southern regions although a change is approaching
Adelaide with that low.
Frogs are about to tell us humans just what we're doing wrong to our environment.
For this is the start of National Frog Week when scientists will be looking to the little
amphibians for crucial information.
In anyone's language tadpoles and frogs are one of the best natural barometers of water
pollution levels particularly because their eggs released into the water are so susceptible
to chemicals.
The more croaks the better that's what it's all about because no croaks means that we've
got real problems in our waterways.
Mr Watton says today's launch of the frog census marks the first community and government
involved study of frogs in Australia.
This week it's expected 600 schools, individuals and community groups including the Frog Watch
organisation will record sounds from areas they think frogs should be.
Whether there are frogs there or not we need to know.
It's expected the results will be collated by the new year and steps taken to increase
frog numbers.
And it's important for the community to be involved in this because this is our waterway
and it's the areas that need to be protected need to be protected by us and the general
community around us.
Stephanie Taylor, 10 News.
And that's all from the 10 Newsroom for this Sunday the 30th of October.
Stay with us.
Sports Tonight is next with Bill Woods.
I'm Sandra Sully.
Thanks for joining us and I'll see you next week.
Good night.