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13 June 2000
Northern Territory News headlines - another big news day
'Woman's throat slashed in fight'
'Two police officers have saved a woman from bleeding to death after her throat was slashed in a horrific attack. The officers rushed to the woman's aid after witnesses reported she was being strangled. Her throat had been slashed twice with a beer bottle and she had been bashed on the head.' Very sad and unfortunately not atypical of the seedier side of life in the Territory. The incident happened in Tennant Creek. As to its front page worthiness on a Tuesday - the assault occurred on Friday night. But it is a big news day with rehearsals for Swan Lake the other front page story.
'Vegie prices rise as shortages hit'
Repeating a recent story, vegetable price rises were reported today as follows - 'Pumpkins rose $1kg to $2.99, carrots rose 50c to $2.59, lettuce rose $1 to $2.99. Tomato prices remained at $8.99kg and $9.99kg for roma and vine-ripened varieties. Carrots were $2.99, potatoes were $1.49 and apples were between $3 and $4'. Obviously the price of carrots was rising as the story was being written.
'Firebugs add to extreme season'
'Rural firefighters are reporting the busiest start to the Top End bushfire season in more than 10 years. A late wet season which left firebreaks unfinished combined with a spate of deliberately lit fires has been blamed'. Yet another story repeat.
'Wind, cool conditions to continue'
Probably a story some Darwinians don’t mind being repeated. The ever-seeking-publicity Weather Bureau expect that temperatures will remain below average for the next few days, with winds easing by Thursday. Yesterday's maximum was 26C, the lowest recorded June maximum being 24.2C in June 1963. The average is 30.6C.
'Mozzie-swamp gets a spray'
And a follow-up story to the discovery of Australian encephalitis near Darwin. 'Health authorities sprayed the Holmes Jungle swamp and surrounding areas with a bacterial insecticide yesterday in a bid to eradicate the deadly mosquito-borne disease Australian encephalitis'. The story again features the mercurial entomologist Peter Whelan who is fighting the Weather Bureau for being reported the most times in the year 2000.
Lesson in editing no 1 - Amazing headlines
'Hooray, more people'
'WASHINGTON: The world's population - now more than six billion - is on track to jump to nine billion in the next 50 years, taxing the planet's resources and exacerbating poverty, the Population Reference Bureau said yesterday. The 2000 World Population Data Sheet said high birth rates in developing countries were causing the population growth despite high rates of AIDS and some efforts to curb growth'. Hooray indeed - Duh!
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