National Radio Midday Report

Spouse Stoush – Muriwhenua Hui – DWI Criticism – PNG Defence Force – Balkan Diplomacy – Foot And Mouth – Air Force Resignations – East Timor – Home Alone – Youth Prison – Dash Murder – Sinking Rig – Mir Monitoring

- SPOUSE STOUSH: Tension grows between Labour and National over the bringing of family members into political debates. Yesterday Prime Minister Helen Clark called for a truce, but there doesn’t appear to be any sign of either party leading the truce. This Morning National’s Wyatt Creech told National Radio he felt he was being slagged off for raising legitimate conflicts of interest. Miss Clark says her husband’s career is being torpedoed by scumbag attacks. Meanwhile, Bill English and Max Bradford have sought legal advice over attacks citing their spouses by Trevor Mallard in Parliament last week.

- MURIWHENUA HUI: Minister in charge of Treaty negotiations Margaret Wilson is in the far north for a hui on the Muriwhenua Treaty of Waitangi settlement claim, worth an estimated $150m.

- DWI CRITICISM: The Dept of Work and Income is coming in for further criticism for advice it allegedly gave to students in Wanganui, advising them not to enrol at Wanganui Polytechnic because of the institution’s financial problems. The Dept denies the allegations.

- PNG DEFENCE FORCE: The Papua New Guinean cabinet has endorsed The PM’s decision to cancel sweeping reforms to the defence force, as a rebellion goes on at the Port Moresby barracks.

- BALKAN DIPLOMACY: The threat of a new conflict in the Balkans has sparked a new round of intense international diplomacy.

- FOOT AND MOUTH: Britain’s chief vet has brushed aside pleas from angry farmers and vowed to continue a planned cull of healthy animals in a bid to contain foot and mouth disease.

- AIR FORCE RESIGNATIONS: The air force says the resignation of five senior pilots in the past few weeks will not affect the training of new pilots.

- EAST TIMOR: More than 60 NZ air force personnel left for East Timor today.

- HOME ALONE: Auckland police have laid charges against a mother who allegedly left her toddler at home alone in a house police described as a “disgusting mess.”

- YOUTH PRISON: Minister of Corrections Matt Robson has opened a new youth prison unit at Rimataka Prison in Upper Hutt.

- DASH MURDER: Man charged with 1999 murder of Wellington law student Gavin Dash has been excused from attending the rest of preliminary hearings on the charge against him, but must return for the closing stages. He is in remand at Porirua Psychiatric Hospital.

- SINKING RIG: The world’s largest off shore oilrig has begun sinking again off the coast of Brazil, following a series of blasts that killed 10 people on Friday. Hopes of saving the rig are gone.

- MIR MONITORING: Scientists are closely monitoring the Russian space station Mir, which is taking longer than expected to return to earth. It is now expected to come down between NZ and Chile on Friday.

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