Today's Top Scoops - 28 January 2008
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LEAD STORY------------
Justice: Bipartisan Outrage Over Kuchenbecker Legal Aid - Justice Minister Annette King says she is alarmed that the Legal Services Agency has asked the widow of Karl Kuchenbecker to repay up to $19,000 granted in legal aid for the inquest into his death. Mr Kuchenbecker was murdered by Graeme Burton on January 6 last year. "If the legal aid system is producing this sort of result for victims, it has to be changed urgently," she says. More >> [1]
ALSO:National - Victims come second again under Labour [2]
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NZ POLITICS------------
Scoop Satire: Reasons 'Kiwi Party' Is An Appropriate Name - # The new party and the flightless bird are both endangered. # Both are freakish throwbacks, representative of a
species that their advocates think can only thrive in a protected environment. # Both have a problem with rodents in
their nests... More >> [1]
ALSOUnited Future - Dunne: Just one resignation to go, Gordon [2] Gordon Copeland - Copeland steps down as co-leader of Future NZ [3] The Kiwi Party - New Name & New Leader [4] Electoral Commission - The Kiwi Party - Application to register [5] Out-Link - The Kiwi Party [6]
Crime: Two Manurewa Murders In Two Day; 10 In NZ This Month - A 50 year old man has been arrested in relation to the fatal stabbing of a 15 year old youth in Southview Place,
Manurewa on Saturday night. Details of events leading up to the altercation are still being investigated. More >> [1]
ALSO:Police - Manurewa: 16yr old youth charged with murder [2] Police - Operation Waikato [3] Police - Operation Kenny Release 6 [4] Police - Committed to Solving Marie Jamieson Homicide [5] Sensible Sentencing Trust - Where Are The Liberal Do-Gooders Now?? [6] pillars - Prisoners' children key to stopping cycle of crime [7] SOLO - Spate of NZ Murders = Backfire of Collectivism [8]
Roads: New Road Safety Tool Launched - New Zealand's latest road safety tool has been launched by the AA and government transport agencies. KiwiRAP is an
internationally recognised road assessment programme (RAP) that aims to raise awareness of the risk of being involved in
a crash on New Zealand's state highways. More >> [1]
ALSO:Candor Trust - Candor Trust Road Safety PR [2]
Education: UF Promises Better Deal For Students This Year - UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne says there will be a better deal for students this year. he was speaking to this
afternoon's student rally at Parliament. More >> [1]
ALSO:NZ Union of Students' Associations - Massive student debt increase since 2004 [2] NZ Govt - Student support improves every year under Labour [3] Greens - Loans simply to live: Greens join student protest [4] United Future - Turner: Can you live on $8/week? [5] Student Job Search - Tertiary Students seek more work [6]
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BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH------------
Housing: Price Falls No Help To Home Loan Affordability - House prices may be falling and wages improving, but higher interest rates kept New Zealand home loan affordability
near its worst levels ever in December, according to the monthly Fairfax Media Home Loan Affordability report.
Affordability for first home buyers remained at a record low. More >> [1]
ALSO:Alliance Party - Alliance Party calls for capital gains tax [2]
The Good Oil: Take A Leaf From The Books of Ancient Healers - A new olive leaf product being launched in New Zealand, Comvita's Olive Leaf Complex, aims to blend the benefits of
the world's oldest cultivated tree with modern extraction processes that use only fresh, natural olive leaves. More >> [1]
Agriculture: NZers Wolfing Down Piggies - >New Zealanders consumed a record 21.4kg of pork per capita last year according to the Board's recently released
Annual Report for the Year Ending 30 September 2007. This represents an increase of 0.8kg over the previous year. More >> [1]
Industrial Relations: Work Stoppages Decrease - Twenty-nine work stoppages ended in the September 2007 year, Statistics New Zealand said today. This compares with 50
stoppages for the September 2006 year. Stoppages in the September 2007 year involved 6,979 employees, and losses of
16,678 person-days of work and $2.9 million in wages and salaries. More >> [1]
Technology: New Engine For Fast Straight Crossing Attempt - A new attempt at setting the record for the fastest crossing of the Cook Strait in an amphibious vehicle has been
scheduled for Tuesday, this time with a brand new engine. More >> [1]
ALSO:Sealegs Corporation - Outboard Failure Prevents End to Strait Crossing [2]
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WORLD------------
Health: Avian Flu Remains Global Threat, Cautions UN - Despite advances in controlling the virus, recent avian influenza outbreaks in more than one dozen countries reveal
that it is still a global threat More >> [1]
Legal: "Emulate The Model Of Massachusetts School Of Law" - A prominent legal authority has called publicly upon the nation's law schools to shift their teaching approach from
the 'academic' or research model most now use to one designed to train ''good lawyers,'' citing the example of the
Massachusetts ... More >> [1]
World: Bosnian Serb To Serve Jail Term In Norway - A former Bosnian Serb army commander convicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
over his role in the notorious Srebrenica massacre in 1995 was transferred today to Norway to serve the remainder of his
prison sentence. More >> [1]
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COMMENT------------
Greg Palast: South Carolina Primary Colors - Black And White? - There's an awfully good reason for Black folk to vote for one of their own. This is the chance to even the historic
score in this land of lingering Jim Crow where the Confederate Flag flew over the capital while the longshoreman faced
Southern justice. But maybe there's more to South Carolina's story than Black and White. More >> [1]
Charming: National Wooing Indians After 100 Years Of Neglect - The mood generally in the increasingly politically aware Indian community is of a growing concern of not having one
of their own representatives in parliament. A great section in the camp wonders at this lack of representation despite
having seen their numbers grow to over 100,000 in the last 150 years. National has woken upto this disparity only
recently. More >> [1]
Michael Collins: Democrats Pass On Secret Vote Counting In South Carolina - South Carolina's state constitution is clear, if not elegant, in its definition of the basic elements of elections: "All elections by the people shall be by secret ballot, but the ballots shall not be counted in secret.". These touch screen "ballots" are nothing more than a computerized record (not a ballot). After the election, citizens
almost always lack the right to examine that computerized records and are typically barred from reviewing the paper
forms they mark for optical scan voting machines. More >> [1]
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LIFESTYLE------------
Raciness: 25,000 at Trentham for Cup Day - An estimated 25,000 people packed Trentham Racecourse for the final day (subs: Saturday 26 January) of the Century
City Developments 2008 Wellington Cup Carnival, according to Wellington Racing Club president, Mike Brown. More >> [1]
Sevens: Alcohol Fuelled Disorder Not To be Tolerated - People who use next week's NZI Sevens festivities in Wellington as an excuse to drink too much and disrupt the
enjoyment and safety of others can expect a firm response from Wellington Police. More >> [1]
And those were the Top Scoops on this day, 28 January 2008
:)
ENDS