Today's Top Scoops – June 27, 2007
LEAD STORY:
NZ POLITICS:
QUESTIONS OF THE DAY:
BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH:
WORLD:
COMMENT:
LIFESTYLE:
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LEAD STORY------------
Security & Foreign Affairs: - Joseph Barratt reports that the New Zealand High Court review process on who or what can be considered a terrorist or
a terrorist group will be by-passed under a new law proposed by the Labour-led Government. The Terrorism Suppression
Amendment Bill, if passed by Parliament, will see New Zealand follow the United States of America and Australia in
empowering a nation's political leader (the Prime Minister in New Zealand's case) to decide who is a terrorist. More >> [1]
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NZ POLITICS------------
QUESTIONS OF THE DAY:
Questions For Oral Answer - Wednesday, 27 June 2007 [1] Questions And Answers - Tuesday, 26 June 2007 [2]
Scoop Satire: Open Letter To Closed Parliament - Dear Mags, I hear you're banning satire. About time! The last thing we need is the Media arrogantly assuming the
right to denigrate the institution of Parliament or make its members appear ridiculous. No! By long tradition, the power
to make Politicians appear absurd in the eyes of the public rests entirely with the Politicians themselves. More >> [1] ALSO:Standing Orders Committee - Report: Television coverage of the House [2] Maori Party - Party Welcomes Proposals to Manage Broadcasts [3] Commonwealth Press Union - Camera Coverage Of The House -- CPU [4] EPMU - Union says Speaker should scrap satire ban [5] Lindsay Perigo - NZ Politicians United in Fascism [6]
Privacy: Activist Groups Lay Complaint About Spies - Three groups laid a complaint today with the Private Investigators Registrar, asking that the matter of the spies
employed by private investigators Thompson and Clark be referred to the Police for a criminal investigation. More >> [1] ALSO:SAFE - Advocacy group condemns use of spies [2] Green Party - Solid Energy stoops to new low [3]
Crime: Dunne Tackles 'Grand Theft Auto' Style Rampage - United Future leader Peter Dunne today broke the news in Parliament that one of the officers at the centre of the
‘Grand-Theft-Auto’ style rampage in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, is lucky to be alive. More >> [1] ALSO:National - Trust in trouble before over CYFS contract [2] CYFS - Child, Youth and Family acts on allegations [3]
Roger Awards 2007: May the Worst Man Win! - Nominations are now open for this most prestigious and keenly contested annual Award (won by Progressive Enterprises
in 2006) Nominations close on October 31. The criteria for judging are by assessing the transnational (a corporation
which is 25% or more foreign-owned) that has the most negative impact on New Zealand. More >> [1]
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BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH------------
Spareroom: Eleven Reasons I Hate Renting - Last week’s talkback frenzy over the potential cruel fate to be dished out to “hobbyist” property investors, who may
have to make do with just huge capital gains instead of tax breaks, was a one note symphony. The property owning
talkback crazies valiantly tried to defend their greed, with one concluding that it was just “too bad” for those who are
locked out of the housing market. More >> [1]
Retail: Plastic Bags Checkout Time - Whichever supermarket you shop in- you will be challenged to Make a Difference by thinking before you take
that plastic bag. Grocery retailers Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises today announced a joint campaign to Make a
Difference to the environment by decimating the number of plastic bags used at their checkouts. More >> [1] ALSO:Foodstuffs Limited - Foodstuffs campaign to reduce plastic bag use [2] Greens - Parliamentarians pleased with progress on plastic [3] Ministry for the Environment - Retailer partnership to cut waste welcomed [4] Plastics New Zealand - Plastics Industry supports bag reuse and recycling [5]
Retail: Research Company Works Out Grocery Shoppers Mind Games - According to a new Shopper study from The Nielsen Company, consumers experience up to four different shopping ‘modes’
during grocery shopping – and knowing how these change between supermarket aisles will help FMCG companies and marketers
achieve greater leverage from their point-of-purchase marketing. More >> [1]
Images: Dunedin Becomes A Winter Wonderland - The onset of colder weather has seen power demand hit record levels across New Zealand. However on the plus side it
has also seen New Zealand turned into a magical winter wonderland much like Narnia under the White Witch's rule. More >> [1] ALSO:Transpower - Cold snap sends power demand to record levels - [2] MetService - Icy Roads a Risk for Drivers [3] NZ Police - South Otago: Snow, treacherous driving conditions [4] Nelson Media Agency - Music Event Falls Victim To Cold Snap [5] Wanaka Winter Marketing Group - Whiteout over Lake Wanaka Ski Fields [6]
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WORLD------------
Paris: Talks on Darfur Generate Momentum - A high-level meeting in Paris bringing together over a dozen countries concerned about the situation in the
war-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan has helped generate additional momentum towards ending the suffering of the people
there, Secretary-General ... See... More >> [1] ALSO: State Dept. Secretary Rice Travels to Paris for Sudan Conference [2]
Southern Afghanistan: Opium Production Strong - Afghanistan continues to monopolize the global industry in illegal opium and is increasingly capable on its own
territory of processing the poppy into heroin and morphine, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned
today... More >> [1]
Dr Congo: UN Bolsters Security Measures - The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is taking measures to help
the authorities bolster security in the country’s troubled eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, a spokesperson for
the world ... See... More >> [1]
Southern Lebanon: Ban Ki-Moon Condemns Attack - The Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have
strongly condemned yesterday’s bomb attack in southern Lebanon that killed six UN peacekeepers and seriously wounded two
others. See... More >> [1]
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COMMENT------------
Suzan Mazur: Bishop Romney's Sadistic Anti-Abortion Counseling - When Mormon feminist Judith Dushku learned that Mitt Romney, her former bishop and friend, counseled a woman to come
to full term with her sixth pregnancy -- despite overwhelming medical advice that the life of mother and child were
seriously endangered... More >>
ALSO:Mexican Drug Policy: Internal CorruptionMazur: LDS Church -- Mexico Drug Money Connection? Suzan Mazur: Big Love, Romney, Bush & Mormons
John Chuckman: China’s New Weapons - In military matters, China has taken America by surprise a number of times recently, and surprises of this nature are
not things with which Americans deal well, some portion of America's political establishment becoming irritable and
uncomfortable. It is not clear how much of this is based on genuine analysis and how much on the kind of paranoid
reaction which characterizes America's attitude towards Arabs since 9/11.... More >>
Michael Moore: 'SiCKO' Sneaks Across America This Saturday! - Would you like to go to a sneak preview of my new film, before it opens on June 29th? Well, if you live anywhere near
the 32 cities listed below, this Saturday night, June 23rd, our movie studio is going to hold sneak screenings... More >>
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LIFESTYLE------------
Americas Cup: Alinghi 1, Emirates Team New Zealand 2 - After a nail-biting race, Alinghi, having snatched back the lead in Race 3 of the 32nd America’s Cup Match, lost it
in the last few minutes to Emirates Team New Zealand by 25 seconds in increasingly fluky conditions. The race, in which
the lead changed hands six times, was sailed in a 7-9 knot east/southeasterly and a lumpy sea. More >> [1] ALSO:America's Cup Media - Emirates Team New Zealand earns a stunning victory [2] Royal Society of NZ - Science Headlines - America's Cup [3] America's Cup Media - Alinghi wins first race, grabs lead in Match [4] America's Cup Media - The 32nd America's Cup Match starts on Saturday [5]
Arts: Kiwi Writer Wins Balkan Fiction Prize - Wellington writer Barbara Strathdee is just back from Italy where she picked up the prestigious ‘ Trieste Frontier
Writing 2006 ’ fiction prize for her first published novel Cafe Wars. This international award, in its ninth year,
promotes literature that develops understanding between different cultures in the border areas of Austria, Bosnia,
Croazia, northeast Italy and Slovenia. More >> [1] ALSO:Montana Poetry Day - Emerging poets celebrated on Montana Poetry Day [2] Manukau Institute of Technology - Glittering national recognition for MIT jeweller [3]
Arts: From Puppets to Pixels At The Film Archive - From Puppets to Pixels is an interactive exhibition that transforms the age-old tradition of shadow puppetry into the
digital world - to cyberspace and beyond. The exhibition runs throughout the July school holidays. Over the past six
months puppeteer Rebekah Wild has created a series of puppets based around characters from the traditional Eastern
European fairy tale Baba Yaga, including a wicked witch, a cat, a young girl and a house made of chicken bones.More >> [1]
Health: Teen smoking rates halved in less than a decade - Figures released by ASH New Zealand show that teen smoking rates have halved in the last 8 years. In 2006, 14.2
percent of Year 10 New Zealand teenagers said they were smokers, down from 28.6 percent in 1999 according to the Year 10
Smoking Survey conducted by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) New Zealand, and the Health Sponsorship Council (HSC). More >> [1] ALSO:Smokefree Coalition - Tobacco control leaders to set future agenda [2] NZ Govt - Halving of smoking rate among teens [3]
ENDS