Today's Top Scoops - August 21, 2007
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LEAD STORY------------
Neighbourly Relations: Oz Heavy Post-Cabinet Question Session - The Prime Minister took a number of Australian related questions at this week's post cabinet media conference. Initially the PM expressed some surprise and annoyance at actions taken by Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. Mr Downer had called in NZ 's High Commissioner after the NZ Government had expressed anger that New Zealand's national carrier Air NZ had been ferrying Australian troops to the Middle East and Iraq in particular. More >> [1]
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NZ POLITICS------------
QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: Questions For Oral Answer - Tuesday, 21 August 07 [1]
Welfare: WINZ Rotorua Staff Seek Inspiration From Victorian Workhouse - Green Party Social Development Spokesperson Sue Bradford said she was shocked to hear today of two Rotorua teenagers
who were told by Work and Income that they were not eligible for the unemployment benefit. "I have also heard of this
happening in at least one other region," Ms Bradford says. More >> [1]
Corrections: Rational Debate Sought On Prisons - "It's time Sensible Sentencing and Rethinking Crime and Punishment got together and had an informed discussion about
what really works in prisons. We need to get rationale - there are some things we can agree on - let's find out what
they are". That was Kim Workman's response to last night's Campbell Live's coverage of the Sensible Sentencing Trust's
visit to Joe Arpaio's Tent City, Arizona. More >> [1]
Trade Disagreements: NZ To Take Australia To WTO Over Apples - The Government will initiate WTO dispute settlement proceedings against Australia to resolve the long-standing apples
dispute, Trade Minister Phil Goff and Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton announced today. Both Phil Goff and Jim Anderton
attended the Prime Minister's regular post cabinet media briefing and took turns explaining NZ's position as well as
taking questions from the media. More >> [1]
ALSO:NZ Govt - NZ To Take Australia To WTO Over Apple Access [2] Labour - Barker welcomes WTO apple decision [3]
Corporate Watch: Street Theatre Salvo Launched At ANZ - The Green Party is urging New Zealanders to cut links to ANZ unless the banking group stops supporting a huge
tropical rainforests logging company. The first protest ran from 8am to 9.30am today (Monday) outside the ANZ branch in
lower Lambton Quay, Wellington, and featured tropical trees, a "grim reaper", an "orangutan", bankers with giant
chainsaws and "cheques" handed out to the public. More >> [1]
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BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH------------
Statistics: Mega -Cities Just Around The Corner For Exploding NZ Population? - The estimated resident population of New Zealand was 4,228,000 at 30 June 2007, Statistics New Zealand said today.
The population increased by 43,400 (1.0 percent) in the June 2007 year. More >> [1]
Business Confidence: NZ Urged To Get Some Asian Inspiration- If New Zealand is to return into the top half of OECD nations, it needs to make wealth creation the top strategic
priority in the way some Asian nations have done, says a new Asia:NZ report. More >> [1]
Robots: Science Project To Protect School Against Gas Leak - A year 12 Manurewa High School student, Megan Gildersleve, has rolled up her sleeves and got on with the business of
science as she works on her project for the upcoming MIT Manukau Science and Technology Fair. Megan, who has always had
an interest in science, has created a robot that is able to detect gas leaks, called RoboGas. More >> [1]
ALSO:Victoria University of Wellington - Fair to showcase young science talent [2] Robot-Hosting - Robots Now Able to Prevent Loss of Life in Mines [3]
Broadband: TSO review document 'next step' in overhaul - Minister of Communications David Cunliffe today announced the release of a discussion document for a review of the
Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) regulatory framework. More >> [1]
ALSO:NZ Govt - Rural, tourism sector feedback urged on b'band [2]
Safety: Flaming, Formaldehyded Kids Clothes Concerns - Recent safety concerns over imported children's clothing and toys highlight the need for importers to be vigilant.
'Child safety is enormously important and we welcome the opportunity to assist the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on this
issue,' says Grant Thomas, Chief Operating Officer, Standards New Zealand. More >> [1]
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WORLD------------
Globo Cops: UN & International policing experts gather in Australia - Top United Nations and international police officers, along with law enforcement and human rights experts will gather
in the Australian capital Canberra on 30 August for two days of closed-door meetings to discuss ways of improving
international policing through strengthening cooperation between the world body and Member States. The Canberra meeting
will be the third of the International Policing Advisory Council (IPAC). More >> [1]
Riders on the Storm: UN Ready To Help In Caribbean After Hurricane Dean - The United Nations has deployed a team of disaster assessment and coordination experts to the Caribbean to assist
countries hit by Hurricane Dean which has left a trail of death and destruction in its rampage past St. Lucia, the
Dominican Republic, Dominica, Martinique, Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and on towards the coast of Mexico. More >> [1]
Trial and Tribulation: The War Crimes Trial Of Charles Taylor Postponed - The war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor has been postponed until early next year after
judges at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) agreed today to give defence lawyers more time to study
the evidence. Mr. Taylor's counsel applied for a delay until 7 January More >> [1]
Fizzing: Kerala State Govt. Confirms Support Against Coca-Cola - In a significant government move against the Coca-Cola company, the chief minister of Kerala, Mr. V. S. Achutanandan,
has promised full legal support to the community campaigning for the permanent closure of the Coca-Cola bottling plant
in Plachimada in the south Indian state of Kerala. The state government would offer full support for the case against
Coca-Cola which will be heard by the Supreme Court of India. More >> [1]
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COMMENT------------
BuzzFlash Editorial: Bush Admin Wiretapping for Political Purposes - In an under covered trial in a California courtroom, a Constitutional drama of major significance is unfolding. It is
a federal lawsuit filed by Americans who claim that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of AT, illegally spied on them. The Bush Administration has taken the Orwellian position that the trial must not be allowed
to proceed because it would require the White House to reveal if they indeed have illegally monitored the plaintiffs... More >> [1]
Leahy: Cheney Told GOP-Led Congress It Was "Not Allowed to Issue Subpoenas" - Today in a press briefing, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) revealed that the White House had missed its 2:30 PM deadline to
turn over documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding legal justifications for the National Security Agency's
eavesdropping program. The Committee had already pushed back the original July 18 deadline twice after the White House
requested more time... More >> [1]
William Fisher: Editorials Mostly Ignore Padilla Verdict - The conviction of Jose Padilla - whose larger implications are being labeled by legal experts as one of today's most
significant constitutional issues - has been largely ignored by editorial writers at the nation's newspapers. While
hundreds of US dailies ran the story of the guilty verdict handed down against the Brooklyn-born... More >> [1]
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LIFESTYLE------------
Spareroom Opinion: Made In NZ Goes Nuts - By Ana Samways: New Zealanders can't get a locally made big brand peanut butter for love or money, so how come ETA is
claiming their salted peanuts are locally made by plastering the "Buy NZ Made" logo on its packaging?... For More, See Spareroom.co.nz >>
Punk: Ear Damaging Rockers Unleashed On Godzone - In the 27 years since The Exploited's resounding call-to-arms declaration of "Punk's Not Dead!" (which was the #1
independent album of 1981 reaching #20 in the UK national charts), the band have been tear gassed by German cops, banned
from Holland, arrested in Spain, and caused more ear-wrecking damage than a multi-car pile up. More >> [1]
Lattes: Surprise Win at NZ Coffee Festival - An unknown barista from the tiny Manawatu town of Sanson was the surprise winner of the inaugural EQUAL New Zealand
Latte Art Championships at the New Zealand Coffee Festival in the Auckland over the weekend. More >> [1]
And those were the Top Scoops on this day, August 21, 2007
:)
ENDS