Cancer Inquiry – Euthanasia – Ansett Safety – Canterbury Youth Offenders – Hutt Valley Polytech Closure – Israel – China Crisis – Kiwi Bank

CANCER INQUIRY: One of the women who had her smears misread in Gisborne says she does not trust the Ministry of Health to continue with responsibility for the smear screening programme. Meanwhile the Director General of Health says she feels ashamed about the failures in the programme. But she says that moving the screening programme to a new agency would not help. The Health Minister Annette King is considering meeting the women and their lawyer to discuss compensation. 40 of the women have initiated legal action for compensation.

EUTHANASIA: The Netherlands have become the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia. Euthanasia legislation has now passed the Upper House of Parliament.

ANSETT SAFETY: Ansett Australia is defending its delays in inspecting planes in spite of Civil Aviation concerns that engines might have fallen off because of the delay.

CANTERBURY YOUTH OFFENDERS: The Child Youth and Family Service is defending its decision to build a youth offenders unit in Canterbury. Residents near the planned site are strongly opposed to the plans.

HUTT VALLEY POLYTECH CLOSURE: The Government is shutting down the Central Institute of Technology at a cost of $14 million and 100 jobs. The courses at the CIT are being transferred to the Hutt Valley Polytechnic. CIT’s 220 staff have been told to apply for 123 jobs.

ISRAEL: Israel has fired missiles into the HQ of the Palestinian Naval Police and the Palestinian Intelligence services in the Gaza Strip. The missile attacks were in response to mortar attacks on Israeli settlements. Israeli PM Ariel Sharon says he has a plan to prevent the risk to Israeli settlements.

CHINA CRISIS: The Secretary General of the UN has asked China to resolve its dispute with the US. He has reportedly also asked the US to do the same thing. Former State Department spokesman James Rubin says diplomats are looking to find an acceptable form of words.

KIWI BANK: Papers to be released today are expected to show that the Government overcame a wall of advice to approve the Kiwi Bank proposal. The proposal was opposed by the Reserve Bank, Treasury and CCMAU.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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