WA: Main stories in The West Australian

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2000
WA: Main stories in The West Australian

PERTH, April 18 AAP - Main stories in today's edition of The West Australian:

P1: Australian investors are holding their breath after seeing $36 billion wiped off
the value of their shares in yesterday's technology-led stockmarket bloodbath (Canberra).

P2: Indulging in life's pleasures is good for you - but feeling guilty afterwards can
put your health at risk, a British study has found (London).

P3: Winter rainfall in southern WA could fall 30 per cent and temperatures rise 4.5C
if greenhouse gases are not brought under control, according to new CSIRO research. An
Israeli court has convicted five men of causing death by negligence in a 1997 bridge collapse
that killed four Australian athletes during the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games
(Tel Aviv).

World: Police hurled teargas and sprayed pepper to crush protests aimed at disrupting
the final day of talks between world financial leaders in Washington yesterday. Uganda's
decision to buy a $35 million Gulfstream jet for its President has led international lenders
to put off a debt relief program for the country.

Finance: Yesterday's 176-point rout on the Australian Stock Exchange has put a cloud
over some of Australia's biggest corporate deals, including a raft of new floats, but
may also prompt another feverish round of mergers and acquisitions. Woolworths is headed
for a bumper full year result after reporting strong sales growth in the third quarter.

The potential for a market rebound today could be hamstrung because of forced selling
by margin lenders. More than 40 WA technology companies were left battered and bruised
after having at least 20 per cent carved from their share prices yesterday. One trader
would have been licking wounds last night after selling 46,000 Solution 6 Holdings warrants
at 2.5c - about 30c below the real market level.

Sport: AFL: West Coast gave veteran Chris Lewis time off yesterday to consider his
future in the wake of the 31-year-old's revelation that he was on the verge of retirement.

Fremantle's players paid the price for an inept western derby performance in darkness
yesterday morning when summoned to Port Beach for a tortuous training session.

AAP dd/bdm

KEYWORD: FRONTERS WA

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