Today’s Top Scoops

Friday, 15 April 2005, 5:16 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
LEAD STORY: Cullen Calculates Transpower and Airways Corp's Worth
Parliament Passes Tougher Penalties For Sexual Offences
QPEC Says Govt Special Needs Funding Less Than 2% Per Year
MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:
Algerian President Proposes Impunity For Crimes Against Humanity
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:

SCOOP COLUMNS:
Bonus Joules: The Confusing World Of Modern "Energy Speak”
Tze Ming Mok & More At Public Address
Brash Caught Somewhere Between Outrage And A Yawn
Daniel Hopsicker: 9.11 Hijacker’s Flatmate’s Legend Uncovered
MORE SCOOP COMMENTARY:

OTHER NEWS (Just Politics)
Controversial Citizenship and Passport Bill Passes Through Parliament
QPEC Says Govt Special Needs Funding Less Than 2% Per Year

LEAD STORY:
Cullen Calculates Transpower and Airways Corp's Worth

“The cross border leases entered by Transpower and Airways Corporation increase rather than reduce the New Zealand tax base and are legitimate tax instruments under United States law,” Finance Minister Michael Cullen said today. “Transpower retains legal title to the asset and has protections in place to ensure that it will retain title should the US investors become financially distressed or the arrangement be terminated,” he said. See... Cullen on Transpower deal [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00355.htm

Parliament Passes Tougher Penalties For Sexual Offences

-Legislation passed in Parliament today toughens penalties for sexual offending, widens protection against sexual predators and makes sexual offences gender neutral, says Justice Minister Phil Goff. "Passage of the Crimes Amendment Bill No 2 ensures that all victims of sexual abuse, regardless of their sex or the sex of the offender, now have equal protection under the law," Mr Goff said. See... Govt strengthens protection against predators [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00336.htm

QPEC Says Govt Special Needs Funding Less Than 2% Per Year

QPEC states that the Government's announcement by the Associate Minister of Education David Benson-Pope of an increase of $30.7 million in government funding for special education is welcome but is still deeply disappointing in terms of the quantum needed for children with special education needs to become effective learners in the classroom. This money is to be spread over 4 years and amounts to an overall increase of less than 2% per year in special education funding over this time. See… Special Ed Announcement Deeply Disappointing [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0504/S00057.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00313.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00314.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0504/S00044.htm

MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0504/S00190.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0504/S00194.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0504/S00191.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00342.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0504/S00193.htm

Algerian President Proposes Impunity For Crimes Against Humanity

[1] Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Center for Transitional Justice, the International Commission of Jurists and the International Federation for Human Rights have warned that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's proposal of a general amnesty for human rights abuses committed in the country's brutal internal conflict may permanently deprive victims or their families of their right to truth, justice and reparation. See... Algeria: Impunity For Humanity Crimes Proposed [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00250.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00250.htm

MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00249.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00245.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00242.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00241.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0504/S00239.htm

SCOOP COLUMNS:
Bonus Joules: The Confusing World Of Modern "Energy Speak”

- They say the darkest hour comes before the dawn. Well it sure has been dark of late. Maybe there are now glimmerings of dawn. This week the unbelievable happened and Don Brash announced they are going to alter their “mad” Electricity Reforms of the 1990s. See... Bonus Joules: Energy Babble [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00135.htm

Tze Ming Mok & More At Public Address

- The venerable Guardian caught stoking the fires of East-Asian thermonuclear war. New Zealand's top Bursary scholar not Chinese for the second year running. These are surely the end times. On the 'big scary China zombie-attack leaping from cupboard' ... See... Public Address 15/04/05 - End Of World And More [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00142.htm

Brash Caught Somewhere Between Outrage And A Yawn

- Don Brash has released National’s education policy to the outrage of all the people who need to be outraged, and to the applause of those like David Farrar and the Education Forum that you’d expect to applaud. The Libertarianz, caught between, have called it a ‘yawner.’ See... Not PC: Brash Has Still Got Education Wrong [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00141.htm

Daniel Hopsicker: 9.11 Hijacker’s Flatmate’s Legend Uncovered

- Crucial details in the biography of "Professor” Abdussattar Shaikh, the San Diego man called the "best chance to uncover the Sept. 11 plot before it happened” by the Joint Congressional 9.11 Intelligence Committee, are untrue, mis-leading, or false, a MadCowMorningNews investigation has discovered. See... UQ Wire: The Secret World Of 9.11 [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00137.htm

MORE SCOOP COMMENTARY:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00139.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00136.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00134.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00140.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00138.htm

Controversial Citizenship and Passport Bill Passes Through Parliament

- Prospective New Zealand citizens will be asked to prove their commitment to this country by waiting a bit longer for citizenship while New Zealand passports will be better protected under legislation passed in Parliament last night. "The Passports Amendment Act ensures New Zealanders can continue to travel on one of the best and most secure passports in the world, while the Citizenship Amendment Act tightens the criteria and vetting processes for New Zealand citizenship," said Internal Affairs Minister, George Hawkins. See… Hawkins: NZ "citizenship that's worth the wait" [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00335.htm

QPEC Says Govt Special Needs Funding Less Than 2% Per Year

QPEC states that the Government's announcement by the Associate Minister of Education David Benson-Pope of an increase of $30.7 million in government funding for special education is welcome but is still deeply disappointing in terms of the quantum needed for children with special education needs to become effective learners in the classroom. This money is to be spread over 4 years and amounts to an overall increase of less than 2% per year in special education funding over this time. See… Special Ed Announcement Deeply Disappointing [1] Increase in funding for special education [2] Special Education funding: Questions and Answers [3] Timing of Special Education Announcement Worrying [4]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0504/S00057.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00313.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00314.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0504/S00044.htm

MORE POLITICS HEADLINES:
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00335.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00338.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00337.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00348.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00343.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00342.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00350.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00357.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00340.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00356.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00354.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00353.htm
[13] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00352.htm
[14] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00351.htm
[15] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00349.htm
[16] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00347.htm
[17] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00346.htm
[18] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00344.htm
[19] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00341.htm
[20] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0504/S00345.htm

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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