Today's Top Scoops - 03 March 2008
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LEAD STORY
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Marae Digipoll: Maori Party Leading In All Maori Seats - Dr Pita Sharples is excited that the Marae Digipoll announced today indicates all seven Maori electorate seats will go to the Maori Party in Election 2008. "This is a huge vote of confidence for us" said Dr Sharples. "The Digipoll shows a complete swing to the Maori Party - a result which consolidates the very positive trend in our direction over the last three digipolls". More >> [1]
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NZ POLITICS
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Happy Ministers: Settlements In Education "A Major Achievement" - Education Minister Chris Carter has welcomed the ratification of all the major collective employment agreements for
teachers and principals in the education sector. "The ratification of these claims is extremely good news," Chris Carter
said. More >> [1]
ALSO:NZEI - Ratification of Education Sector Settlements [2]
Diplomacy: Scoop Talks To Our Man From Havana - Ambassador José Luis Robaina Garcia - Scoop caught up the Cuban ambassador to discuss a wide variety of events including the election of Raul Castro as Cuban President [1] and the historic signing today of two human rights treaties [2] by the Cuban Foreign Minister in New York. More >> [3]
Children: Govt Supports Cross Party Kids Issues Caucus - Labour supports the call from Every Child Counts to establish a cross-party caucus to discuss issues affecting
children, says Minister of Social Development, Ruth Dyson. More >> [1]
ALSO:Greens - Greens support call for children's caucus [2] Barnardos - Call for cross-party caucus for children [3] Every Child Counts - Every Child Counts celebration of children [4]
The Smokefree Coalition is calling an alcohol promotion involving a cigarette tin give-away scurrilous, underhanded and
reprehensible. More >> [1]
ALSO:Massey University - Images on cigarette packets 'will be effective' [2]
Political Sequels: The Return Of Sir Roger - ACT Leader Rodney Hide in his latest newsletter was delighted to announce that Sir Roger Douglas has committed his
skills and experience to the 2008 ACT Campaign More >> [1]
Smacking: Petition Captured By "No Mandate" Party - "As one of the small handful of MPs that opposed the amendment of section 59 I feel sidelined by the petitioners
today, said Mrs Turner, "I can only assume that this petition is now seen as the property of Gordon Copeland and his new
party." More >> [1]
ALSO:The Kiwi Party - Largest petition collecting exercise in 20 years! [2] Family First - Unreasonable Force [3]
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BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH
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Goaticide: Move To Save Unique Goats Of Arapawa Island - Time is running out for the unique goats of Arapawa Island, as a DOC cull looms. In response, a group of concerned
rare breeds enthusiasts from around NZ, the UK and the USA have come together to try to raise enough money to rescue as
many goats as possible before the cull takes place in March. More >> [1]
Leisure And Pleasure: Boat Show Introduces The Dutchess - The words "Pleasure craft" are beginning to take on new meaning in New Zealand with the arrival of "Dutchess", a new
76ft motor Yacht built in Holland for an Auckland based businessman. More >> [1]
Advertising: Oxfam Campaign Leads To Creative Rewards - Spectacularly increasing donations on a shoestring budget for Oxfam's innovative pre-Xmas 'Unwrapped' campaign has
won TEQUILA the top RSVP Grand Prix award at the NZ Direct & Interactive Marketing Awards for the third consecutive year. More >> [1]
Media: Current Affairs And Beeb Docos For New TVNZ Channel - Six months after launching its first digital channel TVNZ 6, TVNZ is shortly to launch its second digital channel.
Advertising-free digital channel TVNZ 7 will launch on Sunday 30 March 2008 with an event and live broadcast from
Parliament. More >> [1]
Environment: Precious Froglets For Leap Day - What looks at first to be a slimy mess in a Petri dish represents a highly-significant advance in conservation and
restoration ecology. Ecologists from both Karori Sanctuary and Victoria are celebrating the arrival of the first Maud
Island frogs (Leiopelma pakeka) to hatch on mainland for many years. More >> [1]
ALSO:Greens - Time to stop our frogs from croaking [2] Auckland Zoo - Zoos leap into action to help save frogs [3]
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WORLD
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Gaza: Health System On Brink Of Collapse - Following a weekend of continuous airstrikes, shellings and limited land strikes, hospitals in Gaza are now finding
it almost impossible to function due to massive overload of injured people continuing to arrive for admission . More >> [1]
United Nations: Worsening Conflict In Gaza Leaves Children At Risk - UNICEF today voiced its deep concern at the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip, warning both Israel and the
Palestinians to ''take all feasible measures'' to ensure the protection and care of children caught up in the violence. More >> [1]
Greenpeace: Pacific People To Name International Marine Reserves - The proposed marine reserves cover extensive areas that include biologically rich undersea mountains, migration
routes of tuna species, habitat of endangered leatherback turtles and breeding areas of skipjack, albacore and bigeye
tuna. More >> [1]
Horn of Africa: Eritrean Obstruction Strands 100+ Blue Helmets - Eritrea's latest obstruction of the efforts by the United Nations peacekeeping mission to temporarily relocate across
the border in Ethiopia have resulted in more than 100 blue helmets being stranded inside the Temporary Security Zone
(TSZ). More >> [1]
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COMMENT
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Uri Avnery: Good Morning, Hamas - It is ironic that the Israeli leadership is now supporting the PLO in the hope of undermining Hamas. There is no
better evidence for the stupidity of our "experts" as far as Arab matters are concerned, stemming from both arrogance
and contempt. Hamas is far more dangerous to Israel than the PLO ever was. More >> [1]
The Holy Land: Gaza Militants Risk 'Holocaust', says Israeli Minister - The Israeli army plans to implement the same strategy it used in Lebanon in 2006 - massive bombardment of Gaza strip
and hundreds of thousands of civilians will flee to Egypt. Afterwards it would be easier for the Israeli army to apply
the German Wehrmacht's strategy against the Warsaw ghetto of burning or destroying in a different way the Palestinian
strongholds. More >> [1]
Scoop News: Scandinavian Makes Bid For Afghanistan Envoy Role - Candidates are beginning to appear for the vacant role of United Nations Special Envoy for Afghanistan after the
collapse of the candidature of prominent British politician Lord Paddy Ashdown. Norway's Ambassador to NATO) in
Brussels. More >> [1]
Sam Smith: The Perils Of An Early Primary Season - Those wise guys in the Democratic Party who rigged the primaries so they'd be done by Easter may be in for some
unpleasant surprises. The way things are going, Obama will soon by out there alone, unprotected by a reasonably polite
intramural game, ... More >> [1]
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LIFESTYLE
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Arts Festival: Celebrity Stars For Bro'Town Live - Bro' Town Live on Stage, the world's first reality stage show (about a cartoon!), will be a star-studded affair. The
crew have roped in famous faces from the show to help them tell their story, including Scribe, Flight of the Conchords,
Neil Finn, Lucy Lawless, John Campbell and Carol Hirschfeld. More >> [1]
ARTS FEST REVIEWS:Tyler Hersey on Resonances [2] Nick Tipping on Hayes and Cahill [3] Lyndon Hood on Lifeboat [4]
Arts: And Best Of Fringe Announced - The winners of the Fringe 2008 awards were announced at the Fringe wrap-up party on Sunday night. "Apocalyptic romp" March of the Meeklings took home the supreme award. More >> [1]
Keep NZ Beautiful: Environmentalist Of The Year Named - Keep New Zealand Beautiful and Fonterra have named Mosgiel's Lester Harvey as their Environmentalist of the Year. His
efforts to beautify 10 kilometres of rail track at Mosgiel, just south of Dunedin, have turned a transport corridor into
virtual parkland, the independent judge decided. More >> [1]
ALSO:Keep NZ Beautiful - Westland District Council wins Barnita Trust trophy [2]
The Blues: Try A Natural High Instead - If medication isn't helping with your depression, why not try a new sport or activity instead, suggests New Zealand
Recreation Association chief executive Brendon Ward. More >> [1]
And those were the Top Scoops on this day, 03 March 2008
:)
ENDS