Top Scoop Stories – 12 December 2008 News Summary
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LEAD STORY------------
ACT leader Rodney Hide says streamlining the Resource Management Act (RMA) is off to a good start with yesterday’s
announcement of the RMA Technical Advisory Group to support the Government’s programme of reform of the Resource
Management Act. More »[1]
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NZ POLITICS------------
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Justice Minister Simon Power says he will run “an iron ruler” over the cost of Wellington's new Supreme Court building
after being told the Government has inherited a $12 million increase on the project. More »[1]
Energy and Resources Minister, Gerry Brownlee, has told Parliament today the ban on traditional light bulbs is being
lifted. "This government has real concerns about telling people they have to move to energy efficient light bulbs by
decree," he said. “It has been well signaled and will come as no surprise that the government is lifting the ban on
traditional or incandescent light bulbs,” said Mr Brownlee. More »[1]
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Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully will talk with Fiji's self-appointed Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama this
afternoon in a bid to defuse an escalating diplomatic stoush. Cdre Bainimarama sent a terse message to Wellington last
week, saying if a visa was not granted to the son of a senior official in Suva, New Zealand's acting high commissioner
Caroline McDonald would be expelled. More »[1]
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Global Peace and Justice Auckland is not surprised at the abuse of police powers evident in Sunday’s newspaper the
Sunday Star-Times with revelations that police have paid people to infiltrate and spy on groups involved in community,
environmental, political protest and activism. More »[1]
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The subject of this letter will come as no surprise to you. We have held serious concerns about the Peter
Ellis/Christchurch Civic Creche Case for a long time. In our view, the time is long overdue for the Minister responsible
for our justice system to demonstrate the political will and moral courage necessary to ensure that a comprehensive and
genuinely independent inquiry is held... More »[1]
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BUSINESS SCIENCE & TECH------------
The New Zealand dollar jumped after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates to a record-low range of zero and 0.25%,
and stated it will use any means available to end the recession. More »[1]
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[2] - http://business.scoop.co.nz/?p=1758 [2]
[3] - http://business.scoop.co.nz/?p=1724 [3]
[5] - http://business.scoop.co.nz/?p=1736 [5]
Lindsay Shelton writes: TelstraClear rang me the other day. They wanted to offer me a deal for telephone and internet which they said I
couldn’t refuse. I told them I was ready to accept their deal, but first I wanted them to remove their thick and ugly
black cable which ... More »[1]
Endangered native birds are at risk of losing their instinct to recognise and flee mammalian enemies when moved between
predator-free and predator-filled sites, says a Massey researcher. More »[1]
Dec. 16 - New Zealand’s economy will shrink 0.2% in the 12 months ending March 31, the weakest since 1992 on a slump in
housing and rising unemployment, according to a survey by New Zealand Institute of Economic Research More »[1]
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[2] - http://business.scoop.co.nz/?p=1647 [2]
The Environmental Risk Management Authority has revoked the approvals for the insecticide endosulfan and prohibited its
importation, manufacture and use in New Zealand. The Authority’s decision will come into effect on 16 January 2009. More »[1]
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''If there is one magic bullet guaranteed to transform the New Zealand economy it is water storage,'' says Federated
Farmers water spokesperson, Hugh Ritchie. More »[1]
The TAB's new betting product - the First4 - will be available from this Wednesday (17 December), giving punters the
chance to win big dividends. More »[1]
A little spotted kiwi from Kapiti Island participating in the BNZ Save the Kiwi programme that has been convalescing at
Pukaha Mount Bruce after succumbing to the toxic effects of karaka berries. More »[1]
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COMMENT------------
Remi Kanazi writes: I can't lie. I've watched Iraqi journalist Montather Al-Zaidi whip those two shoes past George Bush's head more times
than I can count. I loved it; I even got into the corny jokes about the Red Sox drafting Al-Zaidi in the spring
(cementing my belief that Iraqis... More »[1]
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Binoy Kampmark writes: It’s being touted as the biggest fraud in history. This is quite something, given the competition U.S. financial trader
Bernard Madoff is up against in this year’s financial rogue sweepstakes. Madoff, founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment
Securities ... More »[1]
Given the fates of the other two members of Bush's axis of evil, some would argue that the best defense Iran could have
would be a nuclear bomb. They would, however, be wildly wrong. The best defense Iran could have would be awareness in
the minds ... More »[1]
Truth be told, this observer, along with one suspects plenty of others, was miffed at Hezbollah this past Wednesday
morning. As I looked up at sunrise at Sammin Mountain above Beirut on... More »[1]
President-elect Obama should drop his plans to escalate the war in Afghanistan, a country that never attacked America,
out of pity for a helpless civilian population that will only suffer increasing misery from an expanded... More »[1]
This is the question now raised in Iraq: If they throw shoes at your face are you a combat troop or a noncombat troop?
The answer may be important in helping to guide President Elect Obama's strategy of reducing but continuing the
genocidal occupation ... More »[1]
Sixteen years ago, President-elect Bill Clinton headed for Washington with a national security team that was unprepared
for a new age of foreign policy marked by the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet
Union. Clinton ... More »[1]
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LIFESTYLE------------
Chugg Entertainment today confirmed that Coldplay will visit New Zealand following their eleven arena shows in Australia
next March. The show will be part of their “Viva La Vida” world tour, in support of their new album of the same name. More »[1]
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Car wrecks, discarded furniture and other urban detritus barricaded Stout Street at the corner of Lambton Quay in
central Wellington for 24 hours on Sunday. This large-scale art intervention, created by British artists Heather and
Ivan Morison, was part of the year-long One Day Sculpture series. More »[1]
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For 27 years the Speight’s Coast to Coast has led the way in adventure sports. This year the world’s longest running
multisport event celebrates its 27th edition by celebrating the female multisporter. More »[1]
The 13th Monopoly World Championships is fast approaching and Hasbro, maker of the world's most iconic board game, is
inviting all Monopoly enthusiasts in New Zealand to roll and deal their way to Las Vegas in the search for a New Zealand
representative! More »[1]
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WORLD------------
The United Nations is sending a disaster assessment team to Papua New Guinea after severe sea swells hit the northern
shoreline, affecting up to 60,000 people, according to government estimates. More »[1]
The United Nations Security Council today called on Israel and the Palestinians to fulfil their obligations under the
so-called Roadmap peace plan seeking a two-State solution to the Middle East conflict, and to refrain from any steps
that could undermine ... More »[1]
This holiday season scores of projects aimed at improving the education of school children around the world are set to
profit from an IKEA initiative to the tune of €5 million (almost $7 million), the United Nations Children’s Fund (
UNICEF) ... More »[1]
More than 90 per cent of the nearly 17,500 United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are
now deployed in the strife-torn east of the vast country, including over 6,000 in North Kivu province. More »[1]
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A review of the progress made to date to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis has found that
while relief efforts are ongoing, they need to be stepped up, especially to ensure food security, a United
Nations-backed group said ... More »[1]
A senior United Nations official today told a meeting of African ministers that harnessing the continent’s largely
untapped water resources is critical in feeding and providing for its people. More »[1]
A United Nations-backed meeting concluded today with participants calling for greater cooperation to combat the rampant
piracy off the coast of Somalia, emphasizing that a durable solution to the problem requires peace and stability in the
war-ravaged ... More »[1]
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ENDS