National Radio Midday Report

Scrapie Claim – Police Budget – Human Cloning – Aussie Flooding – Secondary Teachers Pay – Middle East – Paris Election – NZ Exports – Frequent Flyer Scheme – Queen Charlotte Track – Blue Bottles – Illegal Mods

- SCRAPIE CLAIM: The New Zealand Meat Board has given its German counterpart a deadline to sort out the controversy over false claims New Zealand livestock has scrapie in a pamphlet. It wants Germany to come up with a remedy by tomorrow. Minister of Agriculture Jim Sutton said the claim was a deliberate attempt to tar NZ product with the same brush as German beef. The Ministry of Agriculture claim says the German claim is serious, because NZ is internationally recognised as being free of the disease.

- POLICE BUDGET: Police District Commanders are pleased that the police budget is being topped up by almost $16m, but say it won’t stop further cost cutting. The money will largely go into pay rises for Police.

- HUMAN CLONING: The National Ethics Committee on Human Reproduction says there are adequate checks to ensure human cloning can not occur in New Zealand without approval.

- AUSSIE FLOODING: Emergency crews are working frantically to save a further 300 people in Smithtown, NSW, who were left isolated by floodwaters.

- SECONDARY TEACHERS PAY: Secondary school teachers have lodged their pay claim with the Government this morning, asking for more pay and less teaching time.

- MIDDLE EAST: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is refusing to begin peace talks with Palestinians until all is quiet in the Middle East. He has reiterated that proposals put forward by former US President Bill Clinton no longer stand.

- PARIS ELECTIONS: Paris has swung left in the first round of municipal elections that could end 130 years of right wing rule in the French capital.

- NZ EXPORTS: The purchasing power of NZ exports is now at its highest since March 1995, Statistics NZ figures show.

- FREQUENT FLYER SCHEME: The Consumers Institute is warning people who participate in the Pay Line frequent flyer scheme advertised on the Internet are likely to lose money and could be prosecuted. The Institute says it appears to be an illegal pyramid scheme.

- QEEN CHARLOTTE TRACK: The entire Queen Charlotte track in the Marlborough Sound is to be closed on Monday because of fire risk, until further notice.

- BLUE BOTTLES: Swimmers at beaches in the north of the North Island are being asked to look out for stinging blue bottle jellyfish.

- ILLEGAL MODS: Police are concerned at the number of young drivers making illegal modifications to their cars.

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