Today's Top Scoops - July 17, 2007
QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: Questions For Oral Answer - Tuesday, 17 July 2007
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LEAD STORY------------
Legislation: Govt Puts Therapeutic Products Bill "On Hold" - The Government is not proceeding at this stage with legislation that would have enabled the establishment of a joint agency with Australia to regulate therapeutic products, State Services Minister Annette King announced today. Ms King says the Therapeutics Products and Medicines Bill has been postponed, but will remain on the Order Paper to be revisited when sufficient parliamentary support is available. More >> [1]
ALSO:National - Failure of bill shows Labour is lame duck Govt [2] Greens - Government backdown a victory for democracy [3] NZ First - An Opportunity Lost [4] SOIL and HEALTH Assn of NZ - Activist's visit a natural sweetener [5] NZNO disappointed at Bills failure [6] Out-Link - Hard News: No Bills [7]
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NZ POLITICS------------
QUESTIONS OF THE DAY:Questions For Oral Answer - Tuesday, 17 July 2007 [1]
Flooding: Schools Evacuated In Hastings - Heavy rain causing flooding in Hastings District including areas to the west of Napier. Puketapu School and Puketapu
Child Centre have both been evacuated by NZ Army unimog to the Puketapu Hotel... Maraekakaho School has also been
evacuated by unimog. More >> [1]
ALSO:Hastings District Council - Flooding in Flaxmere [2] Canterbury Civil Defence - Household Emergency Planning Made Easy [3]
The Ahmed Zaoui Case - Injustice On The Cheap - Gordon Campbell writes: Unless you’re talking about money, New Zealand seems fairly relaxed about the potential abuse of state power. The
Auditor-General, IRD and Treasury may be funded sufficiently to keep an eye on how money is being spent and recouped -
but the agencies supposed to protect our rights as citizens have to get by on starvation rations and, in some cases,
with a questionable level of independence. That is especially so with the Office of the SIS Inspector-General. More >> [1]
ALSO:Scoop Full Coverage - The Ahmed Zaoui Case – The Gordon Campbell Series [2] (95bFM Audio): Jose & Gordon Campbell on IG's Zaoui Hearings [3] (Scoop Doco):Algeria Amnesty & An Intel Turntable [4] (KiwiFM Audio): Wallace & Selwyn Manning on IG's Secret Hearings [5] (KiwiFM Audio): Wallace & Helen Clark on IG's Zaoui Hearings [6]
Regulation: NZFSA Takes Nutricia To Task Over Infant Formula - The New Zealand Food Safety Authority announced today that Karicare’s line of Gold Plus formulas including Gold Plus
Ready-to-Feed, Infant, and Follow-On contain non-compliant substances called fructo-oligosaccahrides (FOS) or
prebiotics. More >> [1]
ALSO:NZFSA - Infant Formula does not meet New Zealand Standards [2] Nutricia - Karicare Formulas continue to be a safe choice [3] National - Warning on baby formula far too late [4] Green Party - Baby food breach breathtaking [5]
Govt News: Rating review underlines need to save - Finance Minister Michael Cullen today welcomed the decision of Standard & Poor’s to reaffirm its AA+/A-1+ foreign currency and AAA/A-1+ local currency sovereign credit ratings on New Zealand.
“This is good news and underscores the wisdom of the Labour-led government’s prudent fiscal management and especially
our savings policies,” said Dr Cullen. More >> [1]
- Spotless Services Ltd will lock out 800 cleaning, kitchen and orderly workers from midnight tonight. The lockout was
confirmed after a brief mediation today. SFWU spokesperson Alastair Duncan said Spotless came to mediation unwilling to
changes their position. Once again they are standing outside the framework of a national settlement reached with every
other employer in the sector. More >> [1]
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BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH------------
Travel: Grabaseat Celebrates Birthday With $1 Fares - One-dollar fares to celebrate grabaseat’s first birthday today sparked a frenzy of online activity as Kiwis snapped
up Air New Zealand’s cheapest-ever domestic fares. Special offers on grabaseat.co.nz included $1 each-way flights from
Auckland to Dunedin and Christchurch to Nelson. More than 115,000 seats have been sold exclusively on grabaseat since it
was launched in July 2006. More >> [1]
Real Estate News: Iconic Bluff ‘Paua House’ Sells - Following strong ongoing interest from both the local community and a number of potential buyers, the internationally
renowned iconic ‘Paua House’ in Bluff has been sold. More >> [1]
Media News: TVNZ 6 will feature up to 75% local content - TVNZ 6 will feature up to 75% local content TVNZ 6, the first of TVNZ's two new digital channels for the Freeview
platform will feature advertising-free programming with between 50% and 75% local content. More >> [1]
Agri News: Bumper Season for Barley - North Island barley growers are predicting a bumper season after two years of low prices and poor yields, said Grains
Council representative for the lower North Island Hew Dalrymple. More >> [1]
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WORLD------------
UN Report: Climate Change Will Be Key Topic - On the eve of his meeting in Washington, D.C. with United States President George W. Bush, Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon today said the two will discuss climate change ahead of a special session on the issue planned for September in
New York and a global conference to be held two months later in Bali. More >> [1]
United States Government: Interview With Maria Bartiromo on CNBC - Interview With Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's Closing Bell Secretary Condoleezza Rice Washington, DC July 6, 2007
QUESTION: Secretary Rice, good to have you with us. Thanks for joining us. SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Nice to be with
you, Maria. More >> [1]
ALSO:United States Governemt - Interview on ABC's Good Morning America [2] United States Governemt - Interview With Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends [3] United States Governemt - Interview on CBS's Early Show with Harry Smith [4] United States Governemt - Interview on NBC's The Today Show With Matt Lauer [5]
UN Report: UN Agency Forced to Double Aid Target - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) announced today that it is doubling to $123
million its budget to help the hundreds of thousands of uprooted Iraqis who are either internally displaced or living in
neighbouring states. More >> [1]
Socialist Alliance: Indigenous leader agrees with Maori MP - “I completely agree with New Zealand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira that Prime Minister John Howard, by attacking
marginalized Aboriginal communities, is a ‘racist bastard’,” Aboriginal leader and Socialist Alliance Indigenous
spokesperson Sam Watson said in response to Harawira’s controversial comments. More >> [1]
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COMMENT------------
Mark Drolette: Don’t even start calling things Bushian - I’m sick of lefties snidely comparing the grim totalitarian society of George Orwell’s 1984 to today’s
freedom-spewing United States, a country few Americans would dare call dystopian, even if they could define it. The
following analysis exposes these aspersions as utterly specious. Unfounded, even... More >> [1]
William Rivers Pitt: We're All Gonna Die! - Who can forget the incredible scandal that erupted back in May of 2002? Around about the middle of that month,
details began to emerge about the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing that specifically warned Bush about Osama
bin Laden's... More >> [1]
Scoop - Michael Collins: Full Frontal Assault – The Vitters Square Off? - Senator David Vitter, the family values politician from Louisiana, admitted that he’d committed “a serious sin” and
strayed from his marriage. There are always consequences. Vitter may be sleeping lightly with good reason. In a 2000
interview, wife Wendy wowed to take action, Lorena Bobbitt Style, if she ever discovered that her husband David ever
strayed from the marriage. In a 2000 interview, wife Wendy wowed to take action, Lorena Bobbitt Style, if she ever
discovered that her husband David ever strayed from the marriage.... More >> [1]
Scoop Link: US will back Israeli strike on Iran - - Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday that he received the tacit blessing of Europe
and the United States for an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. “If we start military operations
against Iran alone, then Europe and the US will support us,” Lieberman told Army Radio following a meeting earlier in
the week with NATO and European Union officials... More >> [1]
David Swanson: Hillary for Emperor - I've decided to drop my advocacy for the impeachment of Cheney or Bush and focus on something more realistic: making
Senator Hillary Clinton our next emperor. After all, when the candidate is someone good, you should want them to have as
much power as possible. Bear with me a minute, and I think you may agree... More >> [1]
Bill Berkowitz: Wolfowitz - Return to Sender? - Recently forced out as president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, one of the primary architects of U.S. President
George W. Bush's Iraq war, is heading back to familiar surroundings. And the Washington-based American Enterprise
Institute (AEI), one of the United States' premier conservative think-tanks, is more than pleased to welcome him back... More >> [1]
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LIFESTYLE------------
Art: To Japan With Love - - “To Japan with love” is an exhibition of over 30 Japan-inspired artworks by local artists that officially opens this
Saturday 14 July at the Thistle Hall Community Centre’s gallery, 293 Cuba Street and runs until 21st July. The artworks
include Japanese modern art, calligraphy, ikebana, photography, sculpture and more. More>> [1]
Music News: American Ambassador Snubs Burt Bacharach In Sydney - At Thursday night's official function preceding An Evening with Burt Bacharach at the Sydney Opera House, the Guest
of Honour was the American Ambassador to Australia, Robert C McCallum Jnr. The VIP guest and his wife Mimi expressed
immense excitement in anticipation of their impending private introduction to the bona-fide legend, to be held backstage
following the show. More >> [1]
Dance: Around the World in 80’s Outfits - The World Recording breaking, May Day Cup holding, Lycra clad dance sensations, The Real Hot Bitches are bursting out
of the winter drizzle to bring you one of the most ambitious and anticipated shows of 2007! More>> [1]
Media: Alt TV To Audition New Hosts Live To Air - Throughout July and August, budding music television presenters will be given the chance to audition live on-air as
Alt TV seeks a replacement host to fill the void left by Lucy Hunt. More >> [1]
Kiwi Pride: No Need For Drugs When You Have 624 Hugs - Record breaker Alistair Galpin has done it again. With 624 hugs, Galpin broke the world record for most hugs in an
hour beating the previous record by 12 hugs. More >> [1]
ALSO: Good Morning - Cucumber Destroying World Record Holder Needs A Hug – Today! [2]
And those were the Top Scoops on this day, July 17, 2007
:)
ENDS