FED:Main stories in Wednesday's AM program

AAP General News (Australia)
04-27-2011
FED:Main stories in Wednesday's AM program

SYDNEY, April 27 AAP - Main stories in Wednesday's AM program:

* Prime minister Julia Gillard has used a speech to a business forum in Beijing to
laud China's economic boom and urge the Asian power to use its influence to encourage
North Korea into abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

* While prime minister Julia Gillard has been overseas, federal opposition leader Tony
Abbott has been touring the country arguing his case against the government's proposed
taxes on the price of carbon and mining profits.

* Federal opposition leader Tony Abbott says thousands of jobs in the South Australian
towns of Whyalla and Port Pirie will be lost under Julia Gillard's carbon tax, adding
that the government has lost control of Australia's borders and cannot stop boats of asylum
seekers from arriving.

* An emergency ship funded by the Australian government evacuated on Tuesday about
1000 civilians from the besieged city of Misrata in war-torn Libya.

* Foreign minister Kevin Rudd says because Australia is not contributing militarily
to the campaign in Libya, the government has decided to assist significantly with humanitarian
efforts.

* Refugee advocates say a man involved in a protest at the Villawood Detention Centre
in Sydney last week has been attacked by other detainees.

* The inquiry examining the reasons why so many people died in the flash floods that
swept through Queensland's Lockyer Valley in January will hear first hand on Wednesday
from witnesses and rescuers.

* The Victorian government is offering to buy land from some flood-affected farmers
around Kerang in the northwest of the state as part of a $21 million recovery package
announced on Wednesday.

* As the finals preparations are made for Friday's royal wedding in London, international
news agencies are pouring into England's capital in anticipation of a ratings and circulations
bonanza around the major event.

* For the first time the US federal chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a news conference
after the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting, one of the most major economic
gatherings in the world.

AAP nep/jcd

KEYWORD: MONITOR AM PROGRAM

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