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LEAD STORY------------
Department of Labour Chief Executive Christopher Blake is welcoming the findings of the State Services Commission report
into the Department’s handling of matters relating to the family of the former head of Immigration New Zealand, Mary
Anne Thompson. “The State Services Commissioner has summarised the report’s outcomes well,” Mr Blake says. “There was
inappropriate behaviour which was dealt with ineffectively, partly because Ms Thompson herself was not forthcoming about
the extent of her involvement in her family’s immigration activities.
More »[1]
ALSO:
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NZ POLITICS------------
Lyndon Hood writes: It has come to my attention that other things were happening while Winston Peters' various donations were dominating
the news. More »[1]
New Zealand First has called on National and the Maori Party to come clean about their plans for trying to sort out a
coalition deal. Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says the National candidate for Mana, Hekia Parata, is openly touting for
party votes for the Maori Party and he says she would not be doing this without the approval of the National leadership. More »[1]
ALSO:
Animal rights activists have liberated two lambs, two broiler chickens and ten battery hens from pastoral and factory
farms to mark both world vegetarian day (Oct 1st) and world farm animals day (Oct 2nd). More »[1]
The first phase of the government's personal tax cut package will deliver tax cuts of between $12 and $28 a week for
full-time workers, delivering some relief for households hurt by skyrocketing global commodity prices this year, says
Finance Minister Michael Cullen. More »[1]
ALSO:
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0809/S00443.htm [10]
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0809/S00598.htm [11]
[14] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0810/S00035.htm [14]
[15] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0810/S00002.htm [15]
[16] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0810/S00006.htm [16]
[17] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0810/S00005.htm [17]
[18] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0809/S00450.htm [18]
[19] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0809/S00455.htm [19]
[20] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0809/S00341.htm [20]
[21] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0809/S00436.htm [21]
[22] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0809/S00678.htm [22]
New Zealand should be training more doctors as part of a wider approach to meeting the changing and growing needs of our
health system. The Medical Training Board is suggesting medical schools create an extra 100 places over the next four
years... More »[1]
ALSO:
Nudity is really not an issue on beaches in Wellington City - and we're not expecting a sudden rampant increase in
nudity as a result of the withdrawal of the bylaw. Generally, for example, people do not go fully nude on Oriental Bay
beach. More »[1]
ALSO:
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BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH------------
Fonterra Brands New Zealand confirmed today that it will lower the price of its dairy products in the coming months. More »[1]
Waterways in many areas are more polluted than they were five years ago when the voluntary Clean Streams Accord was set
up, according to a report released today by Forest & Bird and Fish & Game New Zealand. More »[1]
ALSO:
Energy producer Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd has reported an after-tax profit of $34.4 million (2007: $96.4 million) for
the year ended 30 June 2008. More »[1]
ALSO:
The 'alarming' power price rises announced by Contact Energy for South Island customers will be put under the microscope
by government, Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel and Energy Minister David Parker said today. More »[1]
ALSO:
Now specialist recruiter Robert Half has released a podcast with winning tips for great CVs aimed not just at new
entrants to the job market, but also more senior candidates who need to refresh their resumes. More »[1]
The Minister of Fisheries’ catch limit reductions for orange roughy on the East and South Chatham Rise announced
yesterday are the result of a long term plan, said George Clement, chief executive, The Deepwater Group Ltd (DWG). More »[1]
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COMMENT------------
The debate about the television debates rages on. In the television election debates this year, it seems that Helen
Clark and John Key will only be presented in a one-on- one format by TV3 and TVNZ. More »[1]
I've been having bits and pieces of communication with former NASA Astrobiology Institute chief Bruce Runnegar in recent
weeks in between his field trips to Australia -- sometimes via his wife Maria, a biochemist at the University of
Southern California. Runnegar ... More »[1]
It does not take too many states to hijack an election as witnessed in 2004 when four crucial GOP targeted states showed
Kerry leading substantially in polls on election day ~ only to have the states flip to Bush. More »[1]
The McCain campaign has carelessly served a fat pitch down the middle, and if Barack Obama doesn’t hit it out of the
park, perhaps he doesn’t deserve to win the election. More »[1]
Ohio 2008 has opened with a surge of first-time voters and the subpoena of a shadowy Bush electronic operative who may
have helped steal the White House, a subpoena that may be followed by one for Karl Rove. More »[1]
There's been so much happening politically -- the daily scandals, flippity-floppities, hypocrisies, lies -- that it's
hard to know where to begin. Let's start with quick reactions to Obama vs McCain, Round 1, then move on to the upcoming
Palin-Biden debate... More »[1]
In April, Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), wrote that pharma's
influence on medicine ''is so blatant now you'd have to be deaf... More »[1]
If you've ever read Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, ''The Handmaid's Tale,'' you will recall the key role that was
played by the women assigned to be the ''Aunts.'' The story revolves around a futuristic American society in which
fundamentalist Christians ... More »[1]
A recent article details information about the pending subpeona of (GOP computer technician) Mike Connell in connection
with a transfer of the Ohio election results server to a partisan server in 2004... More »[1]
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LIFESTYLE------------
New Zealand School of Dance student Katherine Grange has been awarded first place in the National Ballet Award. Her
fellow NZSD student Kase Craig was placed second. More »[1]
Mitchell Green has a problem. He's the beloved Hollywood hero all the ladies want to be with and all the men want to be
(and maybe be with as well). But he isn't who he says he is. More »[1]
Over 100 women attended the Silver Ribbon Foundation's inaugural event 'Silver Lining' to support New Zealand women
living with a gynaecological cancer. More »[1]
Currently transforming the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery's front window space is the elegant work of John Ward Knox. More »[1]
Auckland’s Leonie Nicolaou-Purdie is a model mother even before her twin babies arrive. After a six week search the
31-year old from Orakei has been chosen as the most beautiful mum-to-be in the 2008 EGG Model Search. More »[1]
With the global economy on the brink of collapse, what better time to ask people to hand over their hard earned money to
escape the world for a day. And who better to prove to you that investing in music is safer and returns much more than
banks any day: the man who has seen it all, Neil Young. More »[1]
ALSO:
In a special collaboration between the Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran and the Wellington City Council, the New
Zealand Film Archive is pleased to present a selection of outstanding films produced in Iran in recent years. More »[1]
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WORLD------------
United Nations attack helicopters firing rockets went into action in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
today after rebels attempting to advance against the Government opened fire on UN reconnaissance planes. More »[1]
The UN World Food Programme is expanding its relief operations across hurricane-devastated Haiti, supplying enough
stocks of food to reach 500,000 people as the Caribbean country tries to recover from the recent series of deadly
storms. More »[1]
Greenpeace today launched an online database of fishing vessels involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU)
fishing, and the companies that own them. More »[1]
With more than two million people dying from alcohol-related causes annually, the United Nations World Health
Organization (WHO) is launching a month-long online forum to give a voice to the public on how to curb harmful
consumption. More »[1]
A UN food convoy today crossed into the Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka, the scene of recent clashes between
Government forces and rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to offer a lifeline to an estimated 200,000 displaced
civilians. More »[1]
An independent United Nations human rights expert today began a four-day visit to assess the current situation of those
displaced by last month’s conflict in Georgia, which uprooted some 192,000 people from their homes. More »[1]
On November 27, 2005, in the tightest presidential election in the Central American country’s history, Manuel “Mel”
Zelaya of the center-left Partido Liberal (PL) party was elected president of Honduras. Zelaya was able to take office
by a 4 percent ... More »[1]
ENDS