Web Site Blocks Taiwan, Tibet Chat

AP Online
04-29-2000
Web Site Blocks Taiwan, Tibet Chat

HONG KONG (AP) -- An affiliate of Nasdaq-listed Chinadotcom blocked its chat-room users from discussing Taiwan independence shortly after a top mainland Chinese official warned media to avoid the sensitive subject, newspapers reported Saturday.

Phrases like ``Taiwan independence'' and ``Tibet independence'' were scrambled when they were typed in chat rooms at the Hongkong.com portal, the Ming Pao Daily said.

English letters were replaced by asterisks, Ming Pao said, and Chinese characters were also scrambled, the Apple Daily reported. Messages including those terms posted by Ming Pao reporters on the site's bulletin boards were quickly deleted, the paper said.

The Internet company is a spinoff of Hong Kong-based Chinadotcom, the pan-Asian Internet service provider that is partly owned by Beijing's official Xinhua News Agency. Hongkong.com, part of Chinadotcom's network of portal sites, is listed locally and has 1 million registered users.

Raymond Ch'ien, Hongkong.com's chairman, told Ming Pao that ``there are certain areas that are considered sensitive in every market. Even if there is freedom of speech, it is not absolute.''

Ch'ien is a member of Hong Kong's Executive Council, a top-level body that vets all government policies.

A spokesman for the company told the mass-circulation Apple Daily that ``Taiwanese independence is a very sensitive topic.''

The spokesman, who was not identified, said the company wants users to ``exercise self-discipline.''

Telephone calls to the company from The Associated Press were not answered Saturday afternoon.

Freedom of speech is a sensitive issue in Hong Kong, which has largely retained its free and vibrant media since coming under Chinese rule in 1997.

Taiwan and China have been governed separately since they split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing still claims Taiwan as a renegade province to someday be reunited with the mainland.

Wang Fengchao, deputy director of China's liaison office in Hong Kong set off a furor earlier this month when he told media to avoid mentioning Taiwanese independence or reporting views that diverge from Beijing's official line.

The Hong Kong government echoes Beijing's views that Taiwan belongs to it -- and it insists that Hong Kong's press freedoms and individual rights are intact.

The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved

Vic: Bank of Melbourne defends branch closures

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2000
Vic: Bank of Melbourne defends branch closures

MELBOURNE, Feb 12 AAP - The Bank of Melbourne today hit back at claims that it was
closing branches in country Victoria, saying it was the only major bank still committed
to staying in rural areas.

"The Bank of Melbourne is the only major bank to make a commitment to stay in country
Victoria," the bank's chief executive, Matthew Slatter said in a statement.

"Wherever we currently have a country branch, we will continue to provide our customers
with face-to-face transactional banking services."

Westpac, which trades as the Bank of Melbourne in Victoria, has told staff at 25 branches
in Victoria that their banks will go by May, and up to 40 of its branches will be replaced
with banking services in local shops.

Finance unions have hit out at the latest announcement of bank closures, accusing Westpac
of abandoning country Victorians.

"We are deeply disturbed by these closures," said Finance Sector Union assistant secretary
Paul Schroder.

"They are devastating for staff who will lose their jobs, for customers whose access
to essential financial services will be further reduced and for communities who could
see hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments stripped out of their local economies."

Mr Schroder called on the federal government to intervene and stop the exodus of banking
services from rural communities.

But Mr Slatter said the Bank of Melbourne was "here to stay in country Victoria" and
was merely changing the way it delivered services in some towns.

He said the new in-store mini-branches would provide all "everyday" over-the-counter
transactions and would be fully staffed.

The mini-branches would provide increased banking hours, with small country towns getting
Saturday banking for the first time.

Mr Slatter said 80 per cent of banking transactions were now done via automatic teller
machines, the internet, phone and EFTPOS outlets.

Country branches built in the "horse and buggy days" were no longer necessary.

Mr Slatter said bank staff would be redeployed elsewhere with the bank or offered redundancy
packages.

Regional branches to be shut include Yarram, Yea, Kerang, Tatura, Leitchville, Birchip,
St Arnaud, Beechworth, Mansfield, Sea Lake, Mallacoota, Orbost, Rochester, Castlemaine,
Drysdale, Yarrawonga and Cobram.

Branches in metropolitan Mitcham, Richmond South, Brighton North, Glenroy, Mordialloc
and Pinewood also have been earmarked for closure.

The first wave of the closures start on February 25.

AAP tsc/sj/hmg/ej/bwl
h

KEYWORD: WESTPAC DEFENCE

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Murdered mother and sons to be buried on Monday

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-1999
NSW: Murdered mother and sons to be buried on Monday

SYDNEY, Dec 11 AAP - The funerals for a 27-year-old woman and her two sons, who were
found murdered in their south coast home this week, will be held on Monday.

The bodies of 27-year-old Allison Penrose and her two sons Jake, four, and Travis,
15 months, were discovered in separate beds in their West Dapto home on Monday.

Police said the funeral service for the three would be held at St Lukes Anglican Church,
Prince Edward Drive, Brownsville at 3pm on Monday.

It would be followed by a gathering for family and friends at the Lakes Memorial Park
in Dapto, a police spokesman said.

The family had requested the media respect the family's privacy at this difficult time, he said.

AAP km/bdm

KEYWORD: BODIES (CARRIED EARLIER)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: ITOA reacts to casino tax exemption plan

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-1999
FED: ITOA reacts to casino tax exemption plan

While the federal government is being ridiculed over its decision to grant GST exemptions
for casino high rollers, at least one major tourism body says it's encouraged by the move.

The Inbound Tourism Organisation of Australia says the exemptions for payments and
commissions to high-roller gamblers is a sign the government is weakening its resolve to tax
certain tourist markets.

ITOA chairman PETER DOGGETT says he was taken by surprise by the move, but now believes
there may be some room for negotiations and an opportunity for tourism to voice its case on
the GST.

ITOA has called for a zero-rating for tourism services sold overseas.

It says applying a GST to tour packages sold offshore will wipe $1.6 billion from
Australia's export income.

Mr DOGGETT says the federal government should not single out casinos for special treatment,
and called for the GST exemption to be broadened to include other areas of the tourism
industry.

AAP RTV bja/was/jn

KEYWORD: TAX CASINO ITOA (CAIRNS)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: No investigation of health impact of GST on food

AAP General News (Australia)
02-02-1999
FED: No investigation of health impact of GST on food

Federal Health Department officials have told a Senate inquiry they have not investigated
how the proposed GST will affect the health of Australians.

The federal government is resisting calls for food to be exempted from the GST, arguing
that its compensation package will cover the extra costs arising from the introduction of a 10
per cent GST.

The new regulations will reduce tax on processed food and impose tax on fresh foods.

But dietitians are worried it will discourage people, particularly those on low incomes,
from eating whole foods.

Facing questions from Senators, Health Department first assistant secretary LYNELLE BRIGGS
has told the Senate Community References Committee tax inquiry the department is conscious of
promoting better health.

But she says it has not examined the impact on health of taxing fresh food, and has no
intention of undertaking such research.

The hearing is continuing.

AAP RTV kaw/mfh/lm/jn

KEYWORD: TAX HEALTH (CANBERRA)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

WA:French man charged over stabbing death

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-2011
WA:French man charged over stabbing death

A Frenchman will appear in a West Australian court today, charged over the stabbing
death of a man on Christmas Day in Broome.

32-year-old KRISTOPHER DIXON died after he was stabbed in the chest during a fight
outside the Bungalow Bar in the early hours of Christmas morning.

A 22-year-old man from Paris has been charged with grievous bodily harm and will appear
in Broome Magistrates Court today.

Police say the charge may be upgraded depending on the results of a post-mortem examination.

AAP RTV dmc/ldj/wf

KEYWORD: NIGHTCLUB (PERTH)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: South Australia leads the way in organ donation

AAP General News (Australia)
02-24-2009
SA: South Australia leads the way in organ donation

2008 Organ Donation Rates by State (Donors per million population)



SA 26.8

TAS 16.1

NT 13.6

WA 12.9

VIC …