澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-04-16（在线收听）

Thousands of passengers have been stranded in northern Europe due to mass flight cancellations. A volcanic eruption in Iceland’s caused a huge plume of ash and it's feared it could cause plane engines to fail. Britain's closed its entire airspace, and flights are grounded in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Qantas flights are also affected but the airline says passengers should still go to the airport as normal.

For the first time in British political history, the leaders of the three most popular parties have gone head to head in a live television debate ahead of next month's election. The Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused the Conservatives of threatening the economic recovery with spending cuts and David Cameron has accused Mr. Brown of scaremongering.

Rio Tinto has denied abandoning four employees who’ve been jailed in China for stealing commercial secrets. Some shareholders at the mining giant’s AGM (annual general meeting) have accused the board of abandoning Stern Hu and his three colleagues. But the chairman says that assessment is wrong.

And the Federal Government's promised that no school will be worse off under its review of the schools funding formula. The review will begin at this month and will include all government and independent schools. Education Minister Julia Gillard says when it comes to money per student there'll be no reduction in funding.

And we'll have more news later.