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Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics

Published: Mon 5 Dec 2005 04:31 PM
Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics
TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS:
Foreign Affairs: Hostage's Friend Calls All To Evening Vigil
Foreign Affairs: PM Welcomes Turkey's PM To New Zealand
Politics: Benson Pope Speaks On The Police Report
Employment: SuperSizeMyPay Campaign Spreads To KFC
Health: Over 160,000 More Women Receive Breast Screening
MORE HEADLINES
Russian Greenpeace Activists Await Chinese Toxic-Slick's Arrival
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES
Pressure Mounts For Release Of Transcript Of Bush & Blair Discussing Bombing Al Jazeera
SCOOP COLUMNS:
MalcontentX: PlameGate is the Wrong Scandal
No Right Turn Talks Turkey
Public Address: Keith Ng on Hong Kong and Much, Much More
Suzan Mazur on Sotheby's and Provenance
MORE COMMENTARY
OTHER NEWS (Just Politics):
Education: Susan Cullen Welcomes Inquiry Call
Maharey Says NCEA Quirks Under Control
POLITICAL HEADLINES
POLITICAL COLUMNS
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TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
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Foreign Affairs: Hostage's Friend Calls All To Evening Vigil

"I am a personal friend of Harmeet Sooden kidnapped on the 26th of November. I am gathering friends for a vigil for Harmeet and his companions (Monday) at Aotea Square at 6:00 pm, every one is invited regardless of religion or political views. I only want to pray for the life of my dear friend and to see him out of harms way. I can not say how important the presence of the media is in this vigil given the dead line of December 8th for their execution. It maybe our only possible way to have our plea heard by their captors in Iraq." See... Letters: Vigil For Harmeet Sooden 6pm Monday [1] ALSO:Auck University Students for Justice in Palestine [2] PAX Christi Pleads For Life Of Harmeet Sooden [3] New Zealand concern for hostage in Iraq [4] Locke appeals to Iraqi captors [5] Christian Peacemaker Teams - 4 Missing in Iraq [6] Harmeet Sooden Was Working With International Solidarity Movement [7] TEAR Fund Hopes for Safe Return of Iraq Hostages [8] Vigil For Harmeet Sooden 6pm Monday [9] Peace Movement Aotearoa - NZ support for Peacemakers abducted in Baghdad [10] Rosalea Barker - Christian Peacemaker Teams in perspective [11]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00023.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00033.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00070.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00040.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00016.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0511/S00569.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00007.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00023.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00023.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00035.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00029.htm
Foreign Affairs: PM Welcomes Turkey's PM To New Zealand
- Prime Minister Erdogan, you were my host this year at the ninetieth anniversary commemoration of ANZAC Day on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and also in Ankara, and I am very pleased now to host you in New Zealand so soon afterwards. To most New Zealanders, the mere mention of Turkey evokes Gallipoli – and this is without doubt the key feature of our shared heritage. It is events around that peninsula which draw our people to Turkey year after year. See... Address at State Luncheon for the PM of Turkey [1] ALSO:No Right Turn Heralds Turkey's Human Rights Record [2]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00056.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00030.htm
Politics: Benson Pope Speaks On The Police Report
- Cabinet Minister David Benson-Pope says the expected release tomorrow of police files into historic allegations made against him will vindicate his position. Mr Benson-Pope said that throughout the investigation he was careful not to make comment on the investigation. However, now that the investigation had concluded he does not feel constrained talking about the case. Mr Benson-Pope says that his office has talked to a Sunday newspaper about information contained in his police files. See... Minister says report vindicates his position [1] ALSO:Benson-Pope notes change in story by his accuser [2]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00042.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00054.htm
Employment: SuperSizeMyPay Campaign Spreads To KFC
- KFC workers in Balmoral went on strike Saturday in opposition to youth rates, which allow young workers to be paid less for doing the same work as their older counterparts. More than 150 strikers and supporters turned up for the event, which was organised by the Unite workers union as part of the SuperSizeMyPay.Com campaign, with representatives from the Green party, the Maori party, and workers from other KFC stores all aiding the effort. The Post Primary Teachers Association, the union representing secondary school teachers, was also backing the strike. See... KFC Workers Strike Against Youth Rates [1]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00036.htm
Health: Over 160,000 More Women Receive Breast Screening
- More than 160,000 women have been screened for breast cancer since the extension of the screening programme 14 months ago – a 23 per cent increase over the previous 14-month period. See... Breast cancer screening extension meets target [1]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00045.htm
MORE HEADLINES:
Nats Say Another NCEA Exam is ‘Tweaked’ [1] Volunteering needs helpful Government policies [2] Econet to launch cell phone network in Auckland [3] Successful Breeding of Silver Carp at Institute [4] Seventeen Lotto Players Win $16,317 [5]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00044.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00034.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0512/S00040.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0512/S00007.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0512/S00020.htm
Russian Greenpeace Activists Await Chinese Toxic-Slick's Arrival
- Russian-Chinese Border, Russian Federation — Eighteen days after an explosion at a chemical factory in Jilin Provence launched a huge 80 kilometer (50 mile) slick of cancer-causing benzene down the Songhua River, and nine days after the Chinese government admitted to suppressing the news, activists from Greenpeace Russia are in place and awaiting the slick to slide across the border. See... Toxic slick heads for Russia [1] ALSO:Henan Mine Flooding, 16,000 coal mines to be shut [2]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00084.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00082.htm
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:
African nations should support Arms Trade Treaty [1] Kazakhstan: Abuses Mount Ahead of Kazakh Elections [2] Attack against bus in Kosovo, stepped up security [3] AIDS virus outstrips Africa's containment effort [4] UN urges commitment to integrate disabled persons [5]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00079.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00076.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00075.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00074.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00073.htm
Pressure Mounts For Release Of Transcript Of Bush & Blair Discussing Bombing Al Jazeera
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is coming under opposition pressure to release a memo which reportedly show that he dissuaded President Bush from ordering the bombing the Head Quarters of Al Jazeera TV in Qatar, an ally of the United States. See... Pressure to Release "Bomb Al Jazeera" Transcript [1] ALSO: Wikinews - Bush-Blair Transcript Details Stopped [2] Wikinews - Bush-Blair Al-Jazeera Bombing Transcript Leak [3] Scoop Backgrounder - Second Gulf War - Targeting of Journalists [4]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00374.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00364.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00363.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0304/S00223.htm#target
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SCOOP COLUMNS
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MalcontentX: PlameGate is the Wrong Scandal
- Take the case of "outed" CIA agent Valerie Plame-Wilson, and the "crime" for which some senior members of the Bush Administration may be facing jail time. Of all the thoughtful observers I routinely scan across the internet, I have found only two that come close to the heart of the matter. One is a rather brief reflection from a somewhat anonymous observer (who has nevertheless proven his/herself to be consistently astute). The other comes from investigators Ralph Schoenmann and Mya Schoen, who have provided a meticulous and well-documented analysis (in audio format) upon which I will be relying somewhat for my analysis here ... See... MalcontentX: The PlameGate Affair is A Smokescreen [1]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00022.htm
No Right Turn Talks Turkey
- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan touches down in Auckland tomorrow on the first state visit of a Turkish PM to New Zealand. I've been wondering what to say about this since I saw the government's press release on the visit last month. Turkey has a poor human rights record: according to the US State Department's 2004 country report on Human Rights Practices in Turkey, while the Turkish government "generally respected the human rights of its citizens" ... See... No Right Turn: Turkish PM Erdogan In Wellington [1] ALSO:No Right Turn: The Axis of Impunity [2]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00030.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00375.htm
Public Address: Keith Ng on Hong Kong and Much, Much More
- Hong Kong's 'Honkies' aren't really known as the ripping-some-mad-shit-up type. But they try. Around 100,000-200,000 of them took to the streets today in a massive demonstration to protest against plans by the Government to slow down democratic reforms in Hong Kong, perhaps indefinitely. Ahem. Except not quite so confrontational. It was more a... widely attended march "aimed at expressing discontentment over the government's package proposals for Hong Kong's constitutional development". See... Public Address 05/12/05 - Mentor As Anything [1] ALSOPublic Address 01/12/05 - Living Together [2]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00026.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00015.htm
Suzan Mazur on Sotheby's and Provenance
- Proceedings resume December 5 in the trial of the dean of ancient art dealers -- Bob Hecht -- and former Getty museum antiquities curator Marion True. Will Sotheby's be called to answer questions about some of the items listed by Italian prosecutors as looted from Italy -- particularly the Euphronios pieces? The priceless Euphronios cup -- painted with the image of the fallen Trojan war hero Sarpedon -- is the earliest known work painted by the Athenian master, last seen intact publicly in New York in 1990 on the Sotheby's block ... See... Suzan Mazur: Sotheby's & The Signed Euphronios [1]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00017.htm
MORE COMMENTARY:
Marc My Words - 3 December 2005 [1] Jason Leopold: Rove Running Out of Answers, Time [2] David Swanson: An International Peace Movement [3] Another Meaning of Israel’s Political ‘Earthquake’ [4] William Fisher: Forum For The (Distant) Future [5] Narconews: Vicente Fox vs Hugo Chávez [6] Undernews Extract: Bush Al Jazeera Bombing Leak [7] U.S. And Iraqi People Say: Troops Out Now! [8] Spinwatch Congratulates Reuters For GM Corrections [9] William Rivers Pitt: Mystery Train [10] Martin LeFevre: Back in the USSR [11] Qantas & Air New Zealand – Guilty By Association [12]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00024.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00028.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00027.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00014.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00013.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00012.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00011.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00010.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00009.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00008.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00007.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00002.htm
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OTHER NEWS (JUST POLITICS)
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Education: Susan Cullen Welcomes Inquiry Call
- Responding to Bill English’s call for an inquiry into her programmes; Mahi Ora, Lifeworks and Kiwi Ora, Susan Cullen said today she’d welcome the chance to finally get the truth told. The programmes of Te Wananga o Aotearoa are the most successful innovations to tertiary education. “There are no models like them currently in the world”, she said. The success for the students and communities is evidenced by the halving of Maori unemployment in the last four years. See... Wananga Chiefs Daughter welcomes calls for inquiry [1] ALSO: Rongo Wetere - No Fraud Found in Wananga Audit [2] Radio Waatea - “Rongo Wetere Exclusive IV with Willie Jackson” [3]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0512/S00012.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0512/S00018.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0512/S00043.htm
Maharey Says NCEA Quirks Under Control
- Education Minister Steve Maharey has reassured students that the NCEA system is working and that there is no cause for concern around this year's biology exam. "In the case of the Biology exam there has been a routine adjustment made to the marking schedule after looking at a test batch of scripts," Steve Maharey. "The process has not been stopped and the papers have not been reassessed. "It is very important people understand that issues will arise around NCEA. What is also important is that NZQA is dealing with these issues quickly and as part of the system. See... Minister reassures students on biology exam [1]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00057.htm
POLITICAL HEADLINES:
Govt - Peachey apologises, not for being wrong [1] Govt - Helping community groups manage legal liabities [2] Govt - Minister acknowledges true impact of volunteering [3] Govt - Community groups manage legal liabilities [4] Nats - Collins concerned by apparent privacy breach [5] Nats - Further explanation sought on NCEA ‘scaling’ [6] Nats - Broaden terms of Housing NZ boarder review [7] Nats - Another NCEA exam is ‘tweaked’ [8] ACT - Labour's Healthline Merger Fails [9] Greens - Don't allow trolley buses to die, say Greens [10] Greens - Proposed WTO rules could crash grid [11]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00051.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00047.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00046.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00043.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00050.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00049.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00048.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00044.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00041.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00053.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00052.htm
POLITICAL COLUMNS:
ACT - ACT's The Letter - 5 December 2005 [1]
[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00055.htm
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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