TVNZ Appointment - Kofi Anan - Echelon Revealed - Ge Salmon - Vaccination Shortage - Spanish Assassination - Sentence
Appeal - Tongan Boy - Unilever Layoffs - Superyacht Theft - Galileo Mission
TVNZ APPOINTMENT: The new chair of the TVNZ board, Ross Armstrong, says his main ambition is to find the right balance
between the public ownership and related social obligations of Television New Zealand, and its status as a profit making
organisation. He believes he gained his position because of previous success finding this balance at New Zealand Post.
KOFI ANAN: The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Anan, held a meeting with Prime Minister Helen Clark today
with the main topic of conversation being New Zealand’s role in tbe UN East Timor force. He is also holding talks with
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff and Defence Minister Mark Burton.
ECHELON REVEALED: The Government is not commenting on a call for more defence scrutiny on its security organisations
after revelations that New Zealand spies are involved in Echelon, an international spy network involved in industrial
espionage. Green MP Keith Locke and activist Nicky Hagar say Echelon is not being used for the right purposes. Both are
calling for the New Zealand Government to follow the example of the European Parliament and hold an inquiry into the
network.
GE SALMON: King Salmon the Nelson based company trialing the use of genetic engineering in salmon, says while it has
been given permission to continue trials, it may not introduce the modified fish commercially.
VACCINATION SHORTAGE: An unprecedented demand for New Zealanders wanting to be vaccinated for the influenza flu before
winter has caused supplies to run out. Another batch of vaccinations is due to arrive next month.
SPANISH ASSASSINATION: A Spanish Socialist Party leader and his police bodyguard have been killed in their car bomb
assassination with a number of other people injured in the blast. The Spanish Government has blamed a Basque separatist
group for the bombing.
SENTENCE APPEAL: The Court Of Appeal has been told that a seven-and-a-half year sentence on a 14-year-old boy for rape
was too severe by the boy’s defence lawyer.
TONGAN BOY: The lawyer for a Tongan boy hopes he will not be deported for overstaying in New Zealand after a school
agreed to sponsor him. The Immigration Minister is currently reviewing the decision.
UNILEVER LAYOFFS: The Anglo-Dutch industrial giant Unilever is to lay off tens of thousands staff internationally in the
next few years because it wants to shrink it’s product list. Around 750 people are employed by the company in New
Zealand, in an office in Auckland and a factory in Petone.
SUPERYACHT THEFT: Superyacht owners say they are not concerned about security in the Viaduct Basin despite an attempt by
a 21-year-old woman to steal a superyacht yesterday.
GALILEO MISSION: Nasa’s aging Galileo spacecraft has flown through Jupitors dangerous radiation fields on its way to
chart Jupiter’s moon Io.