Maths Whizzes - Maori Business - Upton Leaves - Bottrill Problem - Lyprinol Prosecution - Helicopter Axed - Abuse
Scheme - Rwanda Book - ACC & Earthquakes
MATHS WHIZZES: Four maths whiz-kids have achieved what New Zealand athletes are struggling to do - win medals in
Australia. The number-crunchers have topped a field of nearly half a million in the "maths Olympics," the Australian
Mathematics Competition.
Aucklanders Richard Yu, aged
- MAORI BUSINESS: Maori men are struggling to keep afloat small businesses they have set up through a scheme which has
rarely failed Maori women. The Maori Women's Development Incorporation decided last year to allow men to apply for loans
from its development fund for the first time.
- UPTON LEAVES: National's young veteran, Simon Upton, will quit politics at the end of the year after 19 years in
Parliament. He will take up a three-year position in Paris as chairman of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development's roundtable on sustainable development.
- BOTTRILL PROBLEM: The medical profession has an attitude problem which caused lengthy delays in concerns about former
pathologist Michael Bottrill coming to light, says a women's health expert. Sandra Coney, representing the Women's
Health Action Trust at the cervical screening inquiry, said Dr Bottrill had failed the women of Gisborne but many others
had to share the responsibility.
- LYPRINOL PROSECUTION: The two companies that launched Lyprinol in New Zealand last year, amid claims that it was a
possible cure for cancer, have been successfully prosecuted. Drug manufacturer Pacific Pharmaceuticals and Lyprinol New
Zealand have both pleaded guilty to charges of selling the green-lipped-mussel extract as a medicine without official
consent.
- HELICOPTER AXED: ACC has defended its decision to axe a Northland helicopter trust's contract to transport accident
victims, saying its rescue service was not up to scratch. The Northland Emergency Services Trust, which has flown more
than 4000 patients in the nearly 12 years it has been operating, was told last week that it had lost the two-year
contract with the Accident Compensation Corporation to carry accident victims.
- ABUSE SCHEME: A scheme encouraging doctors to ask female patients if they are being abused, rather than wait for them
to ask for help, has proven successful in one Auckland hospital. This week, the Ministry of Health released briefing
papers compiled in response to the Commissioner for Children's report on the brutal death of James Whakaruru, the Hawkes
Bay 4-year-old fatally beaten by his stepfather.
- RWANDA BOOK: A UN mission was kept small and cheap while up to a million Rwandans died. GEOFF CUMMING reports on a
horrific new book. It is April 1994, and the world remains impassive as thousands of Rwandan Tutsis are massacred every
day.
- ACC & EARTHQUAKES: The Auckland City Council has defended its record on making sure the city's buildings are earthquake safe.
The council was forced to reveal that its list of more than 600 buildings that may not meet current earthquake standards
is out of date.